Spotify: Mic Check: Mad Tsai on Rewriting Pop Music; His Queer Identity & AAPI Representation

Music is the product of who we are, our ethnic and cultural background, and what we think of the world. That intersection of thought and creativity is what makes music such a dynamic and fluid art.

The latest episode of  Spotify: Mic Check -- aimed at connecting fans with the world’s biggest creators from around the globe through exclusively intimate conversations -- features an insightful interview with Gold House Futures Accelerator Musician and pop singer-songwriter Jonathan Tsai a.k.a Mad Tsai. 

You can listen to the full episode here.

Mad Tsai is of Taiwanese and Peruvian descent. He released his debut single, Young Nights in April 2020. He also made an alternate version of Here Comes the Bride that gained over 13 million views.

As Asian-American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month concludes, and Pride Month begins, Mad Tsai joined Spotify: Mic Check to discuss the barriers he experienced getting into music, his early musical influences, his first viral hit Young Nights, how his queer identity plays a role in his music, being a part of Spotify and Gold House’s Futures Accelerator list, and AAPI representation in the entertainment industry.

Each year, Spotify partners with Gold House – the influential non-profit collective of Asian and Pacific Islander leaders – to name a class of Gold House Futures Accelerator Musicians. The group selected each year highlights rising AAPI talent in the music industry. To mark his Gold House recognition, Mad Tsai recorded two exclusive singles at Spotify Studios in LA that can be streamed here.

  See below for interview highlights in the episode.

Mad Tsai on his earliest musical influences growing up. “So the funny thing is. Honestly, music has always kind of been like a struggle for me. None of my family is musical. I honestly really did not listen to that much music growing up either because my family wouldn't let me listen to the radio. They thought it would corrupt me or something like that. So we had like a few CDs in our house, and that's all I would listen to. It was like an Enya CD. I listened to Enya religiously. Madonna and Chicago. Those were all my mom's CDs. And also Kidz BOP, we listened to a lot.”

Mad Tsai on joining the choir in school and the barriers he faced from lack of one-on-one attention in the classroom. “And then when I was in high school, I joined choir, and choir was a different kind of ballgame because I eventually forced myself to learn how to read music. And let me tell you, my voice was not great when I was beginning in choir. My instructor in the choir, like, would just prioritize other students over me. And I just never felt like I was musically good enough. And I almost fully gave up on music. And I think because I was beaten down so many times just by bad music teachers or my lack of proper, like music education, I think that kind of led me toward songwriting because, you know, when you're songwriting, you got to make up what you sing, and you get to make up all the compositions, and you got to figure things out on your own. So I think what actually turned me on to music was the fact that, like, I was so turned off by music.”

Mad Tsai on going viral for the first time during the pandemic with his original music. “So I posted a song that I wrote on the last day of high school called "Young Nights," and the entire song is just kind of me talking about like how I was kind of disillusioned with a lot of my high school experience. And then the next morning, I woke up, and it had 60K likes. And I remember going like, Oh! [LAUGHS] I was just like, This is insane. And I literally freaked out, and I was jumping up and down. I was telling my mom about it, but I remember at that moment I was like, for the first time, I was just like, Oh my God, like, maybe I have a chance with this music thing.”

Mad Tsai on how his own queer identity plays a role in his music. “But then I think after "Boy Bi," I kind of wanted to dial back a little bit more. And I think now that Stacy's brother is out and that song was it took a while to release, and I wrote that song so long ago. Now with “In My Head,” I want to make sure that the songs that I'm releasing aren't, you know, just solely focused on LGBTQ-like themes. Even though that is very, very important to me, and that's like, I adore writing songs about that. There is a balancing act of wanting to be completely overt and also like being a bit more subtle as an artist. And I feel like I'm finding that subtlety more and more, especially with this new project because I still want to give the fans something that relates to that while also moving on to this more mature sound that I'm like reaching towards. “

Mad Tsai on being a part of Spotify x Gold House Futures Accelerator Musicians program and AAPI representation in the entertainment industry. “AAPI creators have been severely overlooked in terms of the entertainment industry, whether it be like movies and film or just music or fashion. And I think a lot of people are realizing, like, like, we have a voice and a story to tell, and we have such unique experiences that make us who we are. And we need to be represented on screen, and we need to be represented through music. Uplifting AAPI like music artists is so important for me. And I, I mean, it's not just me writing music, and it goes out there. There's like producers, there are writers, there is like music video directors.” 

 You can listen to the full episode here.