Nathan Leong’s Music Lays it Bare
The pop-punk aritst shares reflections on his musical influences, how past lives take shape in music, and notes on finding authenticity as an artist in our age of political correctness.
I remember, during middle school, when rebellious, grunge-y teens ruled Tumblr, and everyone was listening to pop-punk. On my long, traffic-jammed rides home from swimming practice, I’d turn on the local radio station, and 5 Seconds of Summer’s “She Looks So Perfect” would always play. Back then, melodies of heartbreak and angst ruled music, introducing my younger self to feelings that he would come to know in the high school years that followed.
In pop music today, artists with the same guitar riffs and shouty verses as 5SOS or Green Day are few and far between. And while these bands have long fizzled out, the need for a pop-punk-fueled teenage angst hasn’t.
24-year-old musician Nathan Leong is new to Hong Kong’s music scene, beginning official releases just last year, but his work fills the void left by pop-punk’s departure from the global mainstream. Already, Nathan’s following is growing fast: his song covers on Instagram are viewed by hundreds of thousands, and 28,000+ monthly Spotify listeners tune into his growly choruses and cathartic bridges in songs like “DOG DAYS” and “INSOMNIA.” His discography of aggressive electric guitars and gritty vocals is influenced by Machine Gun Kelly, Lil Peep, and cult-classic bands like Green Day and Paramore. And his lyrics are unapologetic and unrestrained — ringing of confusion and a painful journey towards self-discovery. Raw, unfiltered, and growing into a new pop-punk sound, Nathan Leong is an artist to watch. His upcoming project, Emo and Ego, releases this summer.
Nathan is bringing a genre back, reviving a sound and a feeling that’s “been very dead to Gen Z,” he says. In the first of THE CHOW’s interview essays, Nathan shares reflections on his musical influences, how past lives take shape in music, and notes on finding authenticity as an artist in our age of political correctness.
PATRICK KHO: Every singer has their idols, artistic influences, or legends they admire. 5 Seconds of Summer was inspired by Green Day, who was inspired by the Sex Pistols before. Who’s a musical influence to you?
NATHAN LEONG: Machine Gun Kelly. Everyone in my life hates him, or dislikes him enough to not give his music a try. Despite what they say, MGK is one of my biggest influences because he made me realize there is a demand for rock music. He released Tickets to My Downfall in 2020, a pop-punk revival album. The sound of that album was, to me, very nostalgic, capturing the pop-punk scene I grew up loving in the 90s/00s, like Green Day, blink-182, Paramore, Sum 41, The Offspring. But Tickets was also very modern and fresh in the way that it captured the essence of adolescence. For the most part, punk pop’s been very dead to Gen Z. But MGK showed that reviving its sound was possible.
Rock — especially punk — is often abrasive in its sound. This unfiltered-ness often makes it one of the most honest and emotionally-raw music genres out there. As a pop-punk artist yourself, how do you navigate honesty and authenticity?
In rock music, there’s a fine line between brutal honesty and being considerate. For example, Nirvana has a great song called “Rape Me.” It’s not literal, of course. If anything, the message of the song is anti-rape, condemning the act by through sarcasm.
Our generation is so sensitive and gets offended by everything, but my job requires me to be authentic. Being brutally honest like earlier rock artists is hard, even when my deeper message is a good one. Part of me is fearful that someone will misinterpret something I say and then just crucify me for it.
There’s a very strong thread of teenage angst in your music. A lot of your song lyrics are about romance, or the girl you like (or just hating the father of the girl you like). Where’s this coming from?
All the angst in my music is real, drawn from source material in my life, from all the emotions I held as a teenager. If I didn’t have music, I wouldn’t be very likeable — not with all the negativity and heartbreak repressed inside. This is such a terrible analogy, but I feel like I’m taking a shit by releasing music. Or shedding skin.
Right now, the music I’ve put out into the world is has a very “fuck love” vibe. But that couldn't be further from the truth now. The emotions I once felt feel like a past life. And at 24, love is great and beautiful to me. Now, I’m at a crossroads: to either keep identifying with this angsty brand of music or close this chapter in my work as an artist.
Now that you’re debating changing music styles, are genres still an important concept to you or the rest of the music industry?
Genre boundaries are so broad. Music is becoming — or it already is — genre-less. Some good examples of this are Billie Eilish and Charli XCX. Both artists are mainstream but somehow also alternative, almost like both are doing their own genre.
To be mainstream and to stand out today, you have to be one of one. And specific genre-focus is more often found in artists more creative-driven and less commercially focused. Think of Dominic Fike, Omar Apollo, and Brockhampton. You can clearly trace the lineage back to a specific genre.
Tell me about your craft. How do you make music as an indie artist? How does that differ from the approach that other artists have?
The first way to produce music is like drawing: you sketch out the song, make it from scratch, and oversee the process from start to finish. The other way is more like taking a photo, where you’re recording a live performance.
The second way is the more common way of making music, but independent musicians like myself are both the artist and producer. And by that, I mean I make all my songs from scratch, recording all the separate parts myself — guitar, voice, drums — and bringing them all together.
Is there a piece of media that can capture your process some more?
My favorite novel encapsulates the process I feel when making music. It’s Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes. The book is about a mentally retarded patient given a nootropic to make him smart. In the first few chapters, it reads like a mentally retarded person was writing it — terrible spelling, messy prose. But as the book continues, he gets smarter, more eloquent. It’s a weird way to highlight progression and self-development, but it’s almost relatable to my journey as an artist: doing something new and sucking, and then slowly getting better.
You post a lot of poetry on Instagram. Are there other works that speak to your identity as an artist?
I post a lot of poetry by Charles Bukowski on Instagram. He’s an American poet that was based in L.A. His family was German, immigrating in the early 50s. His entire vibe is that he’s an absolute loser. Before he decided to go full-send in working as a poet, he couldn’t keep a job. In his own words, he describes himself as an eyesore to people, and he knows he makes others uncomfortable. But what’s cool about him is that he owned it. Like, fuck it, I’m a loser, so I’m gonna write about being a loser.
And in doing that he’s produced some of the best literature in the world. His style is blunt, no filter. If he were alive today, someone would definitely cancel him. For sure they’d say he’s misogynistic. He was very extreme, but at least he was completely honest in his work. If you read some of his stuff, you can see how it’s shaped my music.
You’re a huge Muay Thai enthusiast. Can you tell me more about that?
I hate parts of myself that are aggressive and competitive, but they’re part of human nature. In high school, I never played any sports, never stood up for myself. I have at least 20 years of competitiveness and aggression. As I grew older though, I realized that aggression, in the form of fighting for yourself, is a part of having self-respect. And Muay Thai has been the best way for me to express this.
My coach once made me spar against a retired pro. Of course I got bodied, but competitive experiences like these remind me that the sky’s the limit, and that there’s so much more to learn and do.
As an artist, do you have a specific aesthetic that you’re going for in the way you dress? Like a __-core or something?
My wardrobe evolved every year, but one kind of style that I’ve always identified with is grunge, from the Kurt Cobain types of the world. No brands, just textures and minimalist pairings. I draw a lot of influences from rock music and the early internet age. I’ve been stereotypically called an e-boy, a fuckboy and all. I have a whole tattoo sleeve, some piercings, but it’s all part of the job. As a musician and an artist, style is the most important dimension to your work besides personality. The listener sees first, then hears and understands.