Latest / 987 The Shock Circuit / INTERVIEW: MAX

Transcript

INTERVIEW: MAX · 987 The Shock Circuit

• 0:03
  Speaker 1: OK, this is where I say I wish Sonia were here,
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: but she's busy for wedding prep. That's totally OK. I'm
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: not alone in the studio right now. Please give it
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: up for my special guest at this point in time,
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: performing for cloud nine tomorrow. We have him live. Say
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: good morning to Max, live in the studio.
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: Thank you so much. Thank you, thank you. Max, given
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: how we just played Stupid in Love live on Singapore radio,
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: I mean, are you used to hearing your songs being
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: played live on radio stations or any weird venues so
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: far in your life?
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: Oh my
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: gosh, I've heard them all over the place, you know,
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: I love hearing on the radio.
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: Radio. I love being at a random grocery store and
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: hearing it while I'm shopping. It's, uh, it's always surreal
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: for me. It's, it's crazy just to be in my
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: little studio and then suddenly it's in the world. So yeah.
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: I want
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: to start by congratulating you because it's been 10 years
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: since this, I think, triple platinum hit dropped for you.
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: Have a listen.
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: Lights down low. How do you feel about this 10 years,
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: a decade old, this song,
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: it's so special. It just goes to show that it
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: is something that's so, you know, honest and real to
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: you for for music, it it just it just lasts
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: and it feels like what it felt like the day
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: I wrote it, which is really cool. So I'm, I'm
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: so glad it's connected in such a real way. So
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: you just.
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: Got to Singapore at 7:30 a.m. yesterday you were sharing
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: with me off-air. How has it been for you? Is
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: this your first time in Singapore? Have you performed in
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: Singapore before?
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: I've performed
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: only one time before, yeah, this is my second time.
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: I think that was like 6 years ago, 5 years ago, yeah, yeah,
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: right before, uh, yeah, it was 2020, I think, yeah.
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: It was, it was amazing. I had a great time and.
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: And uh you have an incredible country here.
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: It's so cool. What is your best memory of Singapore
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: so far?
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: I mean, the food was amazing. I had that chili
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: crab I was saying before we got on air, which
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: is so delicious. You guys have incredible food, such wonderful people,
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: and the sights are just amazing. I went to the
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: top of the Marina Bay Sands, which is, you know,
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: classic and it's just, uh, yeah, it's
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: amazing. So looking at the songs that we play here
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: on 987 of yours, by the way, a very big list,
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: a very big discography as they call it.
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: Loads of very interesting collabs. The Seraphim, Sugar of BTS.
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: How do these collabs actually happen and what's it like
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: working with, you know, K-pop artists, I dare say.
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: Incredible, honestly, I love collaborating. Um, my favorite is when it's,
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: it's organic, you know, I think with, with, with Sugar
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: of BTS he had given love to a song of
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: mine called Love Me Less when it first came out
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: and then we hung out in Korea for the first
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: time and I'm a diehard Knicks basketball fan and he.
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: I didn't realize he was a diehard basketball fan, so
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: we just bonded over, you know, mutual love of, of
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: sports and then I brought him to his first game
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: in LA to see LeBron live and that was just
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: really incredible and, and then we just, of course we
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: made music afterwards. So I feel like whenever I do
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: a collaboration I I have to have something in common
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: on a human level and then we make music and
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: same with Eun Jin, you know, she's from New York
• 2:53
  Speaker 2: as well. We met in Korea and, and, uh, and
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: I just loved I saw her performance in Korea and
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: I just thought she was amazing and she joined the
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: Stupid in Love song so.
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: I feel like it just has to start from a
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: um a natural place and then we make music.
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: Where did your love for music actually start? Maybe give
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: us the backstory of Max for those who might not
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: be familiar with it.
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: Sure, yeah, you know, I grew up in Hell's Kitchen,
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: New York City and just I was busking on the
• 3:15
  Speaker 2: streets and on the subways and I just was obsessed
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: with it, right, right at a young age. I, I
• 3:20
  Speaker 2: loved like theater and I started on Broadway when I
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: was a kid and, and uh I just loved like
• 3:25
  Speaker 2: soul music like Stevie Wonder and Prince and Michael Jackson
• 3:28
  Speaker 2: and everything.
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: And uh yeah, I just, I just couldn't stop playing.
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: I think my, my family realized they weren't gonna get
• 3:34
  Speaker 2: it out of me. I had to just do this forever.
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: Only
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: because you brought up Michael Jackson. Have you seen the
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: Michael movie? I haven't seen
• 3:39
  Speaker 2: it, is it?
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: It's screening in Singapore, so maybe catch it in IMAX
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: or something tonight before cloud nine tomorrow and you know,
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: be hyped up for it. So there you go. When
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: we come back, we have more.
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: Questions for Max. We're gonna talk about cloud nine happening tomorrow,
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: but before we go for a quick break, actually an
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: interesting question that Sonia prepared for you. My radio partner
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: is getting married next week, so I think she's busy
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: doing wedding prep. So I think for a man, we're
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: OK with kind of revealing our age a little bit,
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: having just crossed the 30s mark, I believe.
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: What were the three pivotal things you learned in your twenties?
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: Oh, pivotal things. Um, I think that I learned, you know,
• 4:20
  Speaker 2: some of the cliche ones like just really accepting deeply
• 4:23
  Speaker 2: who you are and not trying to hide that is,
• 4:25
  Speaker 2: is so important.
• 4:26
  Speaker 2: Um, leaning into what you're passionate about for sure for
• 4:29
  Speaker 2: me it's like the type of music like I love
• 4:31
  Speaker 2: R&B and soul and pop music. I've just always loved
• 4:34
  Speaker 2: pop music, so just like love what you love and
• 4:36
  Speaker 2: don't be ashamed of it, um, and the third one
• 4:39
  Speaker 2: is just like I don't know, stay in shape, just
• 4:41
  Speaker 2: just just stay, stay on it, like stay active and
• 4:44
  Speaker 2: and keep, keep.
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: But keep your body in a good place.
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: All I
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: can say is staying in shape after 30.
• 4:50
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a commitment, baby. That's right. That's right.
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: The metabolism isn't what it's supposed to be anymore. I
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: don't know. If you just joined us here on the
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: show and on TikTok Live, I say hello and welcome.
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: Hopefully having a great Friday morning so far because we're
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: not alone. We've got Max live in the studio.
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: Appreciate you. He is here and performing for cloud nine
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: tomorrow live at Arena and Expo being joined by 7
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: other artists, regional and international. Limited tickets still available over
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: at Ticketmaster.sg. But in the meantime, Max, back to more
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: questions for you. Yeah, yeah. And another one prepared by
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: my darling co-host, Sonia Chow. We've played stupid in Love
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: and the Thing I Love on repeat. Oh yeah.
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: What is something that you continue to fall in love
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: with over and over again? Don't, don't say music. Give
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: us something spicy.
• 5:39
  Speaker 2: I have a 5 year old daughter and I fall
• 5:41
  Speaker 2: in love with her every single day, every single day.
• 5:43
  Speaker 2: So that's, that's a nonstop. She's, she's amazing. So that's my,
• 5:47
  Speaker 2: my one.
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: Is she
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: at that age where whenever you fly for a concert
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: or a tour, she goes, no, daddy.
• 5:52
  Speaker 2: Oh yeah, yeah, it's the worst. I know I have
• 5:54
  Speaker 2: to keep.
• 5:56
  Speaker 2: Short, but I like, I like missing her just a
• 5:57
  Speaker 2: little bit, you know, but yeah, no, she's she's really sweet.
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: She's uh she's playing music now too, which is really
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: amazing.
• 6:05
  Speaker 2: Yeah, she's got her guitar and she's like play guitar.
• 6:07
  Speaker 2: She just tells me to play guitar all the time,
• 6:08
  Speaker 2: which is sweet. Will
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: you sample
• 6:12
  Speaker 2: her voice in future maybe, who knows, yeah, yeah, I want,
• 6:14
  Speaker 2: I want it to be on her terms, but yeah,
• 6:16
  Speaker 2: I mean she's she's been an inspiration for a lot
• 6:18
  Speaker 2: of amazing stuff for me.
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: OK,
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: a bit of a.
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: Personal one coming your way because I know people sometimes
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: are a bit iffy when we discuss tattoos or ink. Uh-huh.
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: But for you, do you want to share any stories
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: behind some incredible thing that you have? Oh, Dale, look
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: at that.
• 6:31
  Speaker 2: That's a full sleeve. Yeah, I just got this a
• 6:33
  Speaker 2: couple of months ago. It took me 2 months, 25 hours.
• 6:36
  Speaker 2: It was long, so this one was, will
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: we see it on stage tomorrow? Will you cover it
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: up in a jacket
• 6:40
  Speaker 2: we'll see. I don't know.
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: This is a perfect Singapore outfit for a concert. There
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: you go.
• 6:44
  Speaker 2: It's hot, it's hot, yeah, but this one, I wanted
• 6:46
  Speaker 2: this for forever, so it took me a long time
• 6:48
  Speaker 2: to do it. Now, now I wish I had clean
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: other arms so I could just do full sleeves instead.
• 6:53
  Speaker 2: I feel like it's such a commitment, but once you
• 6:54
  Speaker 2: do it, you just want to do it everywhere.
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: OK, so maybe what, what's the story behind the dragons
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: that you have here?
• 6:59
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's an incredible, uh, Korean artist named Uzi that
• 7:01
  Speaker 2: did it for me, and, and, uh, you know, it's
• 7:03
  Speaker 2: the symbolism. It's a, it's a dragon and two tigers,
• 7:05
  Speaker 2: and you know, it's the, it's the, the yin and yang,
• 7:07
  Speaker 2: you know, the feminine and masculine and.
• 7:09
  Speaker 2: And I've just always kind of battled that within myself
• 7:11
  Speaker 2: as well, my feminine and masculine, so yeah.
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: So based on your social media posts and given how
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: you're performing in Malaysia, a day after cloud on the 10th,
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: not to worry, it's a one hour trip away, you're fine. Yeah.
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: What were some things about this part of the world
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: here in Asia that inspired you and your music?
• 7:29
  Speaker 2: The food, obviously, you know, I'm always feeling fulfilled and,
• 7:31
  Speaker 2: and refreshed. Uh, no, I just, I love that, you know,
• 7:34
  Speaker 2: what's an amazing thing about putting out music and also
• 7:37
  Speaker 2: Touring with it is it's incredible to see how different
• 7:39
  Speaker 2: songs connect in different parts of the world and I
• 7:42
  Speaker 2: think it's been really amazing for me to come to
• 7:44
  Speaker 2: Southeast Asia and see some songs that are my favorite
• 7:47
  Speaker 2: that maybe didn't connect as much in other places really
• 7:50
  Speaker 2: connect here, which is so special. So I love that.
• 7:52
  Speaker 2: I have like a song called Checklist that's been one
• 7:54
  Speaker 2: of my favorites to perform and another one called Acid Dreams,
• 7:57
  Speaker 2: so it's, it's really special that some of my favorites
• 7:59
  Speaker 2: end up connecting even more
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: here. To which again are plenty of people looking forward
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: to your set tomorrow for cloud night. Now is the time.
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: Ask him the question. Yes, I know. Be patient, TikTok,
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: be patient. What can we expect tomorrow from your set
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: without spoiling too much?
• 8:13
  Speaker 2: I might have
• 8:13
  Speaker 2: to crowd surf if the crowd is, uh, I might,
• 8:16
  Speaker 2: I might if it's allowed.
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: I can't imagine
• 8:19
  Speaker 2: they're like, wait, no, I know every time I try,
• 8:21
  Speaker 2: I love because I do it in the states. I,
• 8:23
  Speaker 2: I crowd surf at every show, so that's fun, but
• 8:24
  Speaker 2: maybe I won't do it tomorrow. We'll see if you
• 8:26
  Speaker 2: guys want it. We'll see. But if it's safe, if
• 8:29
  Speaker 2: it's safe, it's safe. Um, I'm not trying to get
• 8:30
  Speaker 2: arrested while I'm here in Singapore because like I crowd surfed.
• 8:33
  Speaker 2: But uh, but no, I would love to, you know, just,
• 8:35
  Speaker 2: just make sure that the energy's high. I'm singing all
• 8:37
  Speaker 2: the songs and I love to make an entire audience
• 8:39
  Speaker 2: feel like one giant choir. That's always my favorite thing
• 8:41
  Speaker 2: in the world when all the voices are united. So yeah,
• 8:44
  Speaker 2: I'm hyped for
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: that. In terms of songs, what should the audience prep
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: to sing along with you?
• 8:48
  Speaker 2: Oh, songs. Oh my gosh, we're definitely doing Blueberry Eyes, uh, and,
• 8:52
  Speaker 2: and what else? Stupid in Love, Lights Down Low, and, uh,
• 8:56
  Speaker 2: you know, I'll keep some, I'll keep some surprises of
• 8:57
  Speaker 2: what else is on the set list.
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: OK, so you've heard 3 songs to prep for before.
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: Tomorrow's concert over at Cloud nine happening at Arena at Expo. Max,
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: a big thank you for joining us here on 987,
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: but we're not gonna let Max go as of yet.
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: Join us on TikTok Live. I want to do a
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: TikTok exclusive meet and greet giveaway right here on 987's TikTok.
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: So join us, and I have not decided on what
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: to do. I'm gonna leave that to Max. Yeah, I'm
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: gonna leave it to Max. So here we go. Keep
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: it here on 987 as we play you some Max
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: live on the show.