We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Hemans Erilia. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Hemans below.
Hemans, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Are you happy as a creative professional? Do you sometimes wonder what it would be like to work for someone else?
I don’t think I can be happier anywhere else except for when I’m making music. Sure, there are times when there’s a voice in the back of my mind that goes, “hey having a stable job sounds mighty enticing right now”. Usually when I have no idea if what I create will ever be heard, if I can earn the next pay check (or even any at all), or when someone from school just dropped their first deposit in a house and you’re still trying to figure out if this is the career path you want. When you’re at your annual family dinner and your uncle goes “how’s that cute little hobby going?”.
On many levels, yes, being a musician has trials and tribulations, fear and hesitance. But my favourite part about being a musician? Well it’s the people I get to meet along the way. And that in itself, is worth all of it.
Writing music and being able to share it in the world has always been the must fulfilling part of being a creative for me. When I write, I get to connect with people from different backgrounds with difference experience. Most of my closest friends now are people I’ve stumbled upon miraculously because of our shared experiences with music. I will never forget that feeling, when a bunch of friends and I would just sit in a room for hours, and we would get so excited over this lyric we just wrote about a friend’s toxic ex. It’s exhilarating to know that there are people out there who enjoys expressing themselves the way I do, and nothing can really replace that precious warm glow that basks you when you listen to something you handcrafted for the first time.
Most importantly, creating music helps me get to know myself better. It lets me learn all the pretty and all the ugly parts about myself, and how to be ok with it. I will always find a new and interesting way to live in my own skin, to live in this world, and it is only because music invites experiences and people that shapes me. I would never give that up.
Hemans, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
I’m Hemans Erilia, and I’m a Chinese-Australian bubble diva-pop artist currently doing my Master at Berklee New York City. I’ve always been around music, starting at 4 years old when mum said it’s time to pick up the piano. However, I’ve only started writing music because I was never picked as the lead singer in high school, so I decided I’ll just have to write songs for myself to sing instead.
My music is all things pretty, emotional, fun and dramatic, as I blend early 00s to 2010s Western pop with a whirlpool of Canto-pop, Kpop and anime soundtracks together. It is a kaleidoscopic soundcloud of luscious vocal harmonies, cute synths and playful strings, underlining sassy yet sweet lyrics that explores self love and feminine empowerment. Someone once called my music “pure savagery wrapped in a thin veneer of bubblegum princess”, and I think that pretty much sums it up. I look up to artists like Taylor Swift, Ariana Grande, Sabrina Carpenter, Joey Yung, Joyce Cheng, Red Velvet and Joe Hisashi. I’ve played in many known Sydney live music venues and sold out my first headline show. My music is out on all streaming platforms currently (or at least, I sure hope they still are).
Most of the time, I’m just out here having fun.
How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?
Stop thinking creative avenues are only hobbies, and are less important than other professions out there!! When you think that, you are disrespecting someone’s hard work and way of expression. Art is everywhere around us. If we didn’t have any creatives, we wouldn’t have half the things we have nowadays. I think the best support artists can get is to be taken seriously and not dismissed as a frivolous future. I’ve known way too many people who gave up on music or other arts wonder ‘what if?’, simply because someone in their lives said “don’t be silly, that was just a hobby that looked good on your resume”.
What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?
That I’m running out of time to make anything out of my music. With so many of the artists that I look up to being famous by 18, and a lot of current top charting artists being my age, it’s so easy to feel like I have missed my time and feeling like none of it is worth it. But it’s so important to remember that most of these artists aren’t one hit wonders. They don’t get famous and stay famous because of one song. A lot of these artists started when they were really young, and has had at least 10 years under their belt before they even start to make it out of this oversaturated market. So for me, I have to constantly remind myself that I am not too old (imagine being 23 and thinking you’re too old), it just feels old because I don’t see everything else that happens behind the scenes. Yes, I’m no Grammy winner yet, but I am at the peak of my life right now – living in New York in my dream university with people that actually enjoys what they’re doing – and I know it’s only up from here because hey, I still got a Grammy to win. So no, I’m not too late, I’m just working on my behind-the-scenes.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hemans.erilia/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hemanserilia
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hemans-chan-66b1922b3
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@hemanserilia
- Other: Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5t8K7MXyK6jDXX51t6sfQQ?si=qpTVVGLEQTOJaxb56fwjVw
Image Credits
Gzeepix
Nicholas Mok