ShiGGa Shay’s drops new album on Nat’l Day

SINGAPORE — You could say ShiGGa Shay is a brave soul. The Singapore rap star is choosing to release his eponymous album on the busiest day of a very eventful year: Singapore’s National Day.

“Nobody has released an album on National Day, because there is too much (happening), and nobody is going to pay attention to my album. But the date is significant to me and I feel that it represents where I come from,” said the 22-year-old rapper, whose real name is Pek Jin Shen. “I want to be able to look back in five or 10 years and go, ‘Wow, I dropped my album on Aug 9’.”

This is his first full-length album — featuring 11 tracks written as far back as 2012 — but one that speaks for the years of hard work and determination the young artiste has invested. In the past two years, ShiGGa has also been particularly successful on social media, accumulating hundreds of thousands of views for his music videos such as Lion City Kia, which features cameos by well-known faces such as Dennis Chew, Patricia Mok, radio DJ Rozz and Jade Seah, and ShiGGa Morning (a one-take video that also features cameos, this time personalities such as YouTubers MunahHirzi and Yan Kay Kay, and musicians Inch Chua, Narelle Kheng and Sandra Riley Tang).

It is truly a feat, especially when you consider how rap as a genre was almost non-existent in the local music scene four years ago. And even though ShiGGa will be too busy performing at the National Day celebrations to promote his new album, he feels he can rely on social media to get the word out.

“Nowadays, people listen to music on Spotify or on iTunes. It’s very mobile,” he said. “People no longer go to a certain place to wait for a physical copy (of the record). So it doesn’t matter where I am — I could be travelling or performing. As long as I am promoting my album on social media, and as long as my listeners are talking about the album, that is all that matters.

“I am not looking for overnight success. I am looking for longevity. (The album) is something I really believe in, and I want people to really (spend time) listening to it.”

ShiGGa will, however, begin promoting his album after National Day, and plans include shows and promos lined up in Singapore, Malaysia, and possibly Indonesia and the Philippines. He also aims to perform in Los Angeles, although details have not yet been finalised.

ShiGGa will also be releasing more music videos in the coming months. And although his videos so far, including his latest single Wassupa, have all featured some element of comedy, the hip hop star said he will be trying something new with the next few tracks.

“I guess it’s just me. I like to tell jokes. Rap and hip hop are very serious,” he said. “(But) my music is all about injecting my personality into something. There is a serious and a very honest side to me. There is also that funny side, and I try to find ways that I can wriggle it in somehow.”

“But there are a few music videos coming out that are not funny at all. (They are) really serious and very gritty. And I say certain things that will make people go, ‘oh, did he just say that’?”

Even though it is only a matter of days before his record’s big release, the self-professed workaholic (who will make his film debut in Royston Tan’s upcoming movie 3688 next month) has been so consumed by upcoming projects and gigs — including an EP which he hopes to release next year — that he has had little time to process it all.

“I don’t think it has hit me that my album is coming out next week,” he confessed. “I have been so busy working on it and trying to figure out what music videos I am going to be doing next, and working on shows at the same time.”

In fact, ShiGGa’s schedule sounded so packed, we couldn’t help but ask if he was going to reward himself with a holiday. (The short answer is no.)

“It’s not like I work all the way without rest, but I really enjoy what I am doing,” he mused, adding that the last time he took a holiday was when he was 16 years old. “If you are tired, but you love what you are doing, you get physically tired, but you don’t feel the fatigue. I guess you have to always remind yourself why you started doing this in the first place, and not get blinded by the material stuff, and the money.”

The digital version of ShiGGa Shay will be available digitally on iTunes and streaming services, including Spotify from Aug 9. Physical copies of the album will be made available for order on http://www.shiggashay.com at a later date. Hon Jing Yi