Independent electro-pop artist XTIE talks individuality, musical influences and the creative process and inspiration behind latest single ‘Spaceship’

XTIE

XTIE is an independent singer-songwriter / electro-pop artist from Hong Kong. She weaves ear-candy pop beats with candid storytelling and her warm jazz-tinged vocals.  As a self-produced artist, she writes, arranges, produces, and performs her songs.

What or who inspired you to begin a career in music?

My musical influences are mainly from Nordic / US pop artists. When I was a teenager, I was very into Disney Channel and love their artists, they inspired me to become a singer-songwriter-producer. I realised there are not many female producers, so I decided to work hard to become one.

What differs you and your sound from other rising singer-songwriters in the music industry?

I think every artist in this industry is very unique and this is how valuable we are to be able to tell our own story. I identify myself as an electropop / dance pop self-produced artist which makes my sound speaks for myself cos I write and produce everything on my own.

Your new single ‘Spaceship’ is out now. Can you please describe the creative process and inspiration behind the release?

I started to have an idea of writing a song from a perspective of an Alien. This alien has been living on Earth for thousands of years and had seen human repeats their mistake and history repeats despite of technology advancement. I was like – how frustrating it’d be as a living creature who has been “immortal” yet so emotional seeing people and humanity comes and goes.

The song is about running away from the absurdity of the human race – the Earth is not safe anymore. We used to think a utopia existed when we were young, but the world is a mess. There’s war, human absurdity, climate change – the world is not safe anymore. The song and MV have a story saying no matter how hard we try to “fix” the world, we are still very helpless in some ways.

Could you please tell me a little bit about the music video?

It’s a music video inspired by the aesthetic of Wes Anderson, and the story line echoes my first single ‘Flower Town’. This is the first time I’ve involved a dancing component in this MV, and the movements have specific meanings to them.

Could you please tell us more about the artistic direction, set and costume of your ‘Spaceship’ Video?

Mastermind behind the visuals include art director Carey (IG: fanshu.f) & creative /film director Kaho. The concept of a spaceship has given a good eccentric creative space and surrealism for the MV direction. The team came up with an idea to build a “fun & bold” wowing kind of spaceship for the track music video. The visual idea is to create an ideal interior where XTIE would enjoy having her private little space and me time to restore tranquillity from all the chaos outside. A hexagon-window must be present for both purpose of recon on spaceship while creating a private room vibe. Tone of the whole cabin is in pastel coloured, and layered with chrome. When it comes to colour palette, Carey shared pastel of blue and purple were the top priority, though bluer colour was added to prevent ambiguity with XTIE’s previous work in ‘Virgo’.

The element on CD & Cassette on the set design also further creates reflective surface and techno vibes for the set, while presenting the original persona of XTIE as a music producer herself. In contrast to the shimmering element, a fluffy floor mat is added to expresses the message that despite the world is a mess, listeners can always jump on XTIE’s spaceship and embrace our flaws and emotions.

Could you please tell us more about the props? I saw there’s a few interesting items showed in your music video.

We used some rocks of irregular shape, this a hint for extra-terrestrial minerals collected by XTIE as trophies during her space travel. This was inspired by a lot of Marvel movies and Stranger Things. We also included a lot of retro elements, e.g. radio with cassette players, archaeological items on cupboard that can create retro-futurism visuals.

Some of the props in the MV include a manual which has the title “Life from Nothing – A Directory”. The set and art direction designs are a mix of 60s, 70s, retro-futuristic, and Y2K vibes. The bedroom is inside a Spaceship and the laboratory is like it belongs to an Alien Witch.

Could you please tell us more about the costume? Is there a special meaning behind?

First costume: 60-70’s retro, pastel coloured, windbreaker, provided contrast of American vintage & modern style; added glasses as coloured lens eye-wear were essential to the whole styling of the era.

Second costume: Y2K, alien-silver toned, silver boot-cut pants, transparent jacket was added to attenuate the tone & to add some layers; Hair pin is an important element, together on the extra dark & straight & pointed & punk hair style to further brings up consistency of Y2K.

I spoke to our costume stylist Vivi earlier during the creation of the costume, she shared she was really proud of the costumes she made for the “Spirit of Earth”. In the plot, “Spirit of Earth” represents the bad and the good of humanity. First spirit: concept of an exhausted, out-cast outfit, hard to find in any window & internet shopping, need to produce from basic piece of cloth, extra burning, sewing, graffitiing effort for the product. It also expresses the concerns on “Fast Fashion” encourages viewers to rethink and reflect on our values as consumers before making a purchase. For every piece of fast fashion, we refuse to buy, we are also making a difference to the future of our planet. The flowery costume is her most emotional & loved product of this production, because it is the most time-consuming and fun one to work with; stick over 300 fake flowers over one jacket.

In your own opinion, what is the most meaningful song you wrote? What makes you say that one?

‘frenemy’ I always love to explore juxtapositions cos life is complicated. I wrote and produced this song during the time I felt really lonely pursuing music independently and how social media created such an unhealthy comparison of yourself with the others. This inspired me to create ‘frenemy’.

Throughout your musical career, have you experienced any ‘wow’ moments?

Yes! Have been working hard for so many years, one of the most memorable moments is I got to be able to produce for my favourite artist after establishing my own sound.

What does the foreseeable future hold for you as an artist?

I am currently writing and producing for my debut album which will come out next year around March. The album is called ‘Oxymoron’. I came up with the title as I enjoy juxtaposing concepts and ideas, and showcasing my uniqueness by encapsulating the embodiment of many different contradictory qualities within one single person. I have been writing and producing music on my own and this time, I will work with other female writers and producers for this album to expand my artistry further.

‘Spaceships’ is available now via Spotify and all major platforms.

Connect with XTIE

Instagram | Facebook | YouTube | Twitter

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.