Understanding Challenges, Get To Know the Artists: Codie Loh
FOUNDER’S NOTE
In this 21C era,
Dialogue, learning, and change can happen in many forms across digital mediums. Here is a raw and genuine conversation with emerging local emerging creative voices based in Perth.
This was a facilitated exchange with Codie Loh.
How would you describe your sound?
It’s an alternative. It’s minimal yet thick at the same time. I never really gave much thought about my sound because the thing that held more importance to me in my songs were the messages that I wanted to share.
What are some challenges that you face as a musician in the Singapore scene?
I’m not really sure how it works elsewhere from my experience so far in Singapore, it’s really all about the people you know. You may have a fantastic song but if you don’t know the right people and have the right channels to go through, no one would know how amazing your song is. I feel like it’s more of a marketing game now if not the quality of your track. Don’t get me wrong, branding is as important as your identity as an entertainer but not everybody is as comfortable as sharing a private side of themselves. I’m still having a hard time working on that really.
What would you suggest to counter these challenges?
Don’t get intimidated by it. Some other artists might have a stronger presence or know more people but if you have a message that you really strongly believe and want to share, you will have (or at least try to have) the capacity to make it happen.
Creatively express your favorite color.
The blues at the beach where the sea blends into the sky.
Tell us more about the meaning and origins of 515.
515 is the block number of a coffee shop that my friend and I always go for supper. Every time we hang out and catch up, we’d catch up and start chatting about what our future would look like, how we would live our lives and what we look forward to. It was through these sessions that I realized how different my outlook was from her.
As we grew up, she became busier so did the rest of my friends. I was still trying to find my way in this world, balancing between what I want to do and what needs to be done. I started becoming very upset and angry with myself because I started comparing myself to all of my friends and thought about how I’m so far behind them in terms of profession and career.
I guess ‘515’ came out at the end of the day to remind myself that I don’t have to fit into a particular formula of timelines that other people may have. I've always thought that it’s because I’m too useless and lazy to be at the same speed as my peers. I always forget that our differences and complexities are so vast that it’s damn hard to follow one formula for each of our timelines.
Hope it’s all good and here are the links to ‘Burst of Clouds’ and my socials:
Burst of Clouds: https://spinnup.link/337105-burst-of-clouds
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/codecaud/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/codecaud/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/codecaud/
Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/codecaud