Andr is a musician from Taiwan that we caught up with recently at SXSW Sydney for the Taiwanese Beats Showcase. She shares her excitement about performing at Sydney and the enthusiastic crowd. She discusses her musical journey, starting with learning guitar in junior high and writing songs at 15. Her upcoming album, “Under Your Bed,” features 13 songs and has just been released on Spotify. Andr has a unique blend of Taiwanese and English in her music, with the song “Her” being a great example. She’s collaborated with artists like mindfreakkk and is influenced by Frank Ocean, Tyler, The Creator, and Clairo.
How are you enjoying Australia and the reactions to your performance at SXSW Sydney?
I’ve been loving it. Weather has been great the past couple days. I think the crowd is like, way more enthusiastic than I expected. So, I feel very welcome. Yeah, this is my first time ever playing at an abroad festival, so it’s pretty special for me. And I had a great night.
How did you first get into music?
I started learning at quite a young age. I picked up an acoustic guitar when I was in junior high school, and then I started writing at about, I’d say, 15 or 16. At first, it was just a passion of mine. I didn’t really consider it as a career, but then my label found me, and we decided to give it a shot, and now I’m here.
You’ve just released an album shhh, it’s under my bed. Are you excited about that?
Very excited. Yes, it’s a big project. It contains like 13 songs.
One of the singles is “I don’t lose sleep anymore”. That’s a really catchy song.
I performed that song at SXSW. Yeah, I think the reaction is great.
Some of your songs, like “Yarn” is in Taiwanese and English, right? How is the feedback from that? Is that being well received?
Yeah, I think it’s refreshing. I think not a lot of Taiwanese artists, or just artists anywhere are doing this kind of combo, especially like people usually write English as their hook. In Korean pop music that’s pretty popular. But for me it’s really like half and half, and I try to really mix it and blend it into my craft, into my creations.
One song I also really liked was “Her” with an image of a floating head.
I created the monster with one of my great designer friend, and the character is like a girl with a balloon head with thorns. Yeah, I think just the contrasting image really just matches the song perfectly. I think it’s a vulnerable song, and even without the lyrics, you can feel like it’s intimate.
Do you do the artwork yourself?
Well, no, I usually collab with other artists, but I’m really passionate about arts and designing as well, so I really try to involve myself as much as possible in the process.
Speaking of collaboration, another song, “Swapping Socks” was a collaboration with mindfreakkk.
Yeah. She’s a wonderful, amazing artist from Thailand. She’s also performing at South by Southwest. She’s amazing. For the song we shot the music video in Thailand and in Taiwan as well.
What’s your favorite song on the album?
Recently, I’d say, “Does Your Boyfriend Know?” Okay, it’s just a very fun song to perform live. It’s yeah, a like indie band vibe. I love Wet Leg, and the song reminds me of that kind of music.
You played that last night, and said there’s a story behind that, but you didn’t have time to tell it. Can you tell us now?
Sure, yeah. So, the main story about the song, is just imagining a scenario where you and a friend, you guys are very close, and you do all sorts of things together. You know, when now, sleepovers and stuff, and one day you just realized, oh, wait, but you have, don’t you have a boyfriend? Like, why are you spending all this time with me alone? Doesn’t he like mind, or it’s that sort of like awkward scenario.
What about the other artists that you traveling with for the showcase, Yenting Lo, Scattered Purgatory and I’mdifficult. Did you know them in Taiwan before as well?
Some of them are my friends and I’ve known them for quite a while, but I actually met a couple of the artists that performed last night just this trip. It’s wonderful to you know, meet new people.
Where do you get inspiration for your music from? Who or what are your influences?
Just a whole lot of things, I think mainly from other music and other art forms, like movies and stuff. One of my favourite artists is Frank Ocean, as well as Tyler, The Creator. Recently, I’ve been really loving the new Clairo album as well. Those three are just the recent ones.
Have you had much chance to see a bit of Australia since you’ve been here?
We try to do like, little traveling here and there, but yeah, so far, we’ve been to the Sydney Wildlife Zoo. Okay, I love zoos somehow. Yes, and get hold of koala. I would love that. But no, I just, I stared at them from afar, took pictures, a lot of pictures.
What’s next for you once you head home?
The plans for next year still a bit vague, but my main goals are just to try to travel to as many places and play shows everywhere. I’m hoping my music can take me as far as I can. And, yeah, we’ll definitely do a bit more touring and shows back in Taiwan. Yeah, the music in the music scene is really thriving in Taiwan. Hopefully with this trip, I’ll get much more opportunities, because trips like this obviously expose you to a lot more people and that gives you more exposure.
Do you have any other plans around the album release?
For the album releasing, we’ve got a music video lined up and the visuals for it. I think it’s pretty edgy and fun, so I hope people look forward to it. And other than that, we’ve got the physical album releasing sometime soon, but a bit later than the digital release.
