" I ’m so happy that everyone ’s still waiting . I ’m so grateful I have an interview that still waits eagerly to listen to my music , and that ’s the most validating thing in the entire world . "
If you are well-versed in the Asian American music space or are into vibey music, you may know Keshi.
Keshi, born Casey Luong, is a Vietnamese American singer-songwriter originally from Houston, Texas. Although his love of music stems from his childhood, his musical career began by him self-producing music from his bedroom under the moniker “Keshi.”
BuzzFeed sat down with Keshi to talk through his sophomore albumRequiem, his upcoming tour, and more.
First off, congratulations on your new album! With the release ofRequiem, what are you most excited about?
What isRequiemabout?
Keshi : In the record album itself , you may feel the drama and this grandness . you could experience a hatful of hubris — I call up my lifespan got really contentious the past couple of years with how big everything ’s kind of gotten , the pressure and the plate . And it was about my kinship with my partner , with the people that I work with , my human relationship with my own art , and I find like I tried to capture that as well as I could . Requiem itself , the title of the record album and the title cart track of it , is about expiration , and that ’s something that I ’ve wrangled with the past couple of years . As you know , I ’m take up to roll into being 30 years old , and I ’m really grateful that I did n’t have to deal with it until now , but experiencing this has really changed my perspective on my life , my meter , and how I prioritize thing . And it was such an impactful here and now for me that it just matte right to name the entire record about it . Also , requiem just such a beautiful sounding word in general — in classical medicine , it ’s like the birdsong that you play at someone ’s funeral . So I ’d write a good deal of songs about that experience , but none quite as touching as " Requiem " itself . So yeah , I think it was a very fitting sort of name for the record .
Out of all of the songs in this album, do you have a song that really speaks to you the most, or means the most to you?
That’s one of the reasons why you have such a devoted fan base — your music speaks to them. So much so that you’re informally known as the musician for the “sad boys” that are “in their feels.” What are your thoughts on that informal title?
Keshi : So , it ’s funny . My euphony has shoot a hatful of shapes ever since I started . I started in Lo - Fi , andthen I part spell lyrics to my music that was kind ofemo — very emotionally driven and bittersweet — because that ’s the kind of emotion that I like to write about and tapdance into . And then it was just " Oh yeah , this euphony ’s for the pitiful boys . “Then , I was like , okay , well , let me make some songs where I ’m a small bit more confident , that harken back to R&B and feeling sexy . So then I come out with " Beside You " and then " Somebody " onGabriel , and then suddenly public percept shift to a fuckboy story . And I was exceedingly confused by that .
I require to be very , very clean with you because this conversation is so nuanced , and people can run with whatever they want to run with . But I ’m a player . I make all kinds of different music . That ’s all that I deal in . I do n’t dispense in dictating culture , or advertize fuckboy or simp position . I just make music . And I think it ’s rum that masses can run with these idea and stuff . But it starts to get uncanny when multitude start to trap me as a sealed type of person . Like , I ’m happily settled , and I ’m cool at family . I do n’t excuse or enter in anything that may or may not be suggested . But it ’s an interesting twist on something that I never had control of . That ’s the weirdest part about everything . You do n’t really control how you get perceive at the conclusion of the mean solar day . And that ’s also kind of the most frustrating thing that ’s been a part of being in scrutiny for five or six years .
Going back to what you just said about your experience with fame, people’s perceptions, and overall being in the music industry, how do you feel your culture and heritage has shaped your experience in the industry as a Vietnamese American?
You originally learned the guitar because your grandfather gifted it to you. How has your childhood influenced your music?
Keshi : I do n’t speak any Vietnamese , so my fundamental interaction with my grandparents are limited to say hello and adieu , I love you , did you eat ? And those sorts of thing I ’m sure anyone would be able to connect to . So my grandpa giving me his guitar was such a momentous gesture of sexual love from him , and I resonate with it that very first day it was in my lick . How it pertains to how it shaped my music , I feel like I had a very typical American childhood despite the fact I exhaust slimly different food and listened to more or less unlike metier — stuff like that . It was never to the full stop where I felt discouraged from trying out thing like play the guitar . Like John Mayer — I do n’t place with him , but I opine that we ’re both musicians , and we like songwriting and crap like that . But I would n’t say it really affected me , but that it ’s like a subconscious matter that affect the kinds of flavors that I like in my intellectual nourishment , or possibly the kind of fashion that I ’m uncoerced to try out . But besides that , no , I think my artistic creation is my own . Like , it ’s kind of all of your experience , just transferred into your music , and that ’s who you are . I ca n’t deny that it ’s had some sort of influence on it . But I sense like it ’s more of a holistic one than a direct one .
When you’re not in the studio or writing new music, what do you do for fun? So, completely isolating music from the equation, what does Keshi or I should say, what does Casey like to do?
Longtime fans of yours have witnessed your evolution as a musician. And you’ve accomplished so many things — you’ve sold out stadium tours, were featured on theShang Chisoundtrack, and have millions of streams under your belt. Looking back on your growth throughout your entire journey, what do you have to say about where you started and where you are now?
Keshi : There ’s one ethos that has always keep me afloat or sailing in the veracious direction , andit really is this unabashed love for music . I was reminded of that really recently because I still deal with depression , and rightfully , the only affair that take in sense to me at the end of the day is cause euphony . It add me so much joy , and it prepare me feel like I have control over my life story and that I can make something . I can create something out of my mind , out of tenuous gentle wind , out of the legal document that I love . It ’s like a metaphysical sort of fulfillment that I ca n’t really describe , and I just get it on it so much . And I have to remember that , and I have to cue myself of that , and especially when it gets into promo mode , and it gets into blab about numbers and metrics , which all feed into this estimation of necessitate to keep getting big . But when I go back into the studio apartment and I start recording again , I do n’t care about anything . I just desire to make medicine ; that ’s all I love .
BuzzFeed : That ’s what ’s important — to just really focus on what in reality matters , even when there ’s a bunch of other things going on in your head teacher .
Keshi : Yeah , and they ’re good problems to have . But I ca n’t block why I do this .
Do you have a message you’d like to share with your fans?
Keshi : I would care to say I ’m sorry for keeping you waiting for so long . I ’m very dense at what I do . And also , I was on the road for a very foresightful metre . I like to do thing on my own — I like to write , produce , locomotive engineer , record , arrange , staunch everything , pre - mix , and fade everything . I have OCD , and I ’m psychoneurotic about son of a bitch , but I ’m so felicitous that everyone ’s still waiting . I ’m so thankful I have an audience that still expect eagerly to hear to my shit , and that ’s the most validating affair in the entire earth .
What’s next for Keshi?
Keshi : What ’s next ? Well , it ’s a Earth term of enlistment in the works , and play lots of shows with his dance band and being exceedingly drunk but happy at the same time .
Thank you for sitting down with us Keshi! Be sure to check out Keshi’s sophomore albumRequiem, outnow.
For more of Keshi , check out his societal media accounts and happen upon his tour dates on hiswebsite .
