interviewed by Sebastian Snow

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Rob Sanders, stage name Hong Kong Boyfriend, recently released a new single called “Sharlene.” The music video opens with a shot of a passing flight, progressing to clips of Hong Kong Boyfriend singing along to the song with his friends in a car and an open field. The hook, “I got you, I got you,” is sung by Hong Kong Boyfriend and his friends as day turns to night, the fading sun replaced by stadium lights. The video captures the heart of Hong Kong Boyfriend’s music, a combination of indie and R&B, flushed with the longing and celebration of love, something both deeply universal and unabashedly personal to Hong Kong Boyfriend.

Hong Kong Boyfriend launched his career last August after releasing his first single, “Cold Waters.” Despite starting out amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, Hong Kong Boyfriend remained confident in the music he produced, describing himself as a “self reliant musician.” His latest song and music video, “Sharlene,” was released on April 7th, and paints a joyful picture of unconditional love and belonging.

Sebastian: Tell us about yourself!

HKB: I don't know where to start. I was born in Shizuoka, Japan, and moved to the Bay when I was a kid. My family put me in violin and orchestra like all good Asian kids. Around high school, I started losing interest in violin, stopped practicing, and got kicked out of orchestra. But I still wanted to express myself musically. For some reason, I joined choir. I don't know what made me want to join choir, because I didn't even sing before I joined choir. But I started really learning and loving to sing. I taught myself guitar and started to post YouTube covers.

And finally, somehow I got into USC for songwriting. I’ve been putting out music under Hong Kong Boyfriend for a couple of years. It's been weird to have released music only in quarantine. I can’t wait for the world to get back to normal, I want to do some shows.

Seb: Did quarantine change your writing process or the things that you wrote music about?

HKB: Probably in ways that I don't really understand. I've always been a pretty self-reliant musician. I produce my own music. I play the instruments that you hear in my songs. It just kind of confirmed that being reliant on myself was a good thing. And it really made me get tighter with the people that I was already collaborating with.

Seb: What music did you listen to when you were younger?

HKB: I listened to pop music for the first time in seventh grade. I think it was probably a dumb pop song- it was probably “Dynamite.” Up until that point… my parents don’t listen to pop music. My mom used to play Beethoven in the car. No exposure to pop music when I was a kid, except for my dad playing Beatles CDs in the car. But when I first got into pop music, I went straight into rock, like Green Day. My brother was always playing Bay Area rap, so I got into Mistah F.A.B and all these Bay Area hifi rappers. Then, I got really into punk- I used to love punk music, Paramore, all those bands… Frank Ocean, when he put out Blonde, or before even when he put out Blonde, I was on Channel Orange, but he really changed my mind about songwriting, and being able to create a world within a song. Not just sing nice words, but really create something that you could go back to. And it’s like a TV series or something- you know, the characters, and it's this world that you can disappear into. That was the first time that I really experienced anything like that. And Bon Iver was also a really big influence. I like to pull from a lot of different places. I try to pull from everywhere, not just one place.

“Being able to create a world within a song. Not just sing nice words, but really create something that you could go back to."

Seb: What got you into the music industry specifically? What are your influences, and what made you choose the style of music you do?

HKB: Getting into the industry was definitely just being at USC and meeting other musicians. I've definitely learned the most from other musicians, just making friends with as many people as possible. With people I really respect, watching over their shoulder as they work, is a way to get your foot into circles. I don’t know, I just found myself around the right people. I'm so blessed to have the managers that I do, and that they believe in me the way that they do.

For the second question, I put out pop and R&B music. Part of it is because I want to relate to people in a way that I think that they'll understand. I do consider myself a pop musician in the way that I do want to appeal to-I want to be understood. Aesthetically, I wanted to fit in in that respect, and let myself and my lyrics, be what brings it off of the page. Definitely still trying to figure out where I live sonically in this industry. Always changing, always changing.

Seb: Why did you choose the name “Hong Kong Boyfriend?”

HKB: A couple of years ago, a while ago, I was in love with this girl in LA. She had a boyfriend in Hong Kong. And at the time, that's who I wanted to be, when I was coming up with my name.

And that's the story. I'm not from Hong Kong, but I do want to go Hong Kong, because to me, it represents a place of new ideas, in a a kind of “going away” from the past, which I really f*ck with. Because that’s definitely been my struggle, as a half-Asian person, knowing that I’m an American, but also trying to not let go of my childhood and stuff.

Seb: Can I ask -did that LA Girl ever find out that you named yourself after her boyfriend?

HKB: Yes, she definitely does not. Well, as far as I know. Yeah, it was unrequited.

Seb: What was the inspiration behind your latest song “Sharlene?” What made you want to write it, and what’s the inspiration for the vibe and the lyrics?

HKB: That was one of the first happy songs I'd ever written. I liked that the chorus was a positive thing, rather than something about oh, heartbreaking stuff. That was what I was feeling for the person, and I was just happy that I could get to achieve that feeling with the song.

Seb: Did “Sharlene” have a special significance to you in any way?

HKB: It does, it does. I didn’t even come up with the name “Hong Kong Boyfriend,” when I wrote “Sharlene.” I didn’t believe in myself. That’s song was just a marker where I was like, “Oh, I could actually do this sh*t.”

Seb: What do you think is the most difficult part of the process for you in terms of writing a song, making the music video, and getting it out there?

HKB: Probably the hardest aspect is getting the song to sound right? There's this whole thing called demoitis, where you first write the song, and you fall in love with the way the demo sounds. And over the next month or two months that you actually finish it, it’s really hard to feel as good about it as you did when you first finished the demo. Even though the demo is really shitty, it’s so much easier for a demo to just live in potential than to actually do the work and finish it.

“Releasing music has taught me a lot about who I am and what actually matters to me. It can be stressful trying to get everything right. It's a growing experience to not be able to touch it at all anymore, and to just release it to the world. You’re letting go of a lot of control.”

Seb: I watched your music video for “Sharlene.” It seems like friendship and interpersonal relationships are like a big thing for you.

HKB: Yeah, sometimes I'll shut people out too much. But friends, or people are the only you reason do anything, you know?

Seb: What is your favorite part about being a musician in terms of writing, and then being with the audience?

HKB: It's been a while since I've been in front of the audience. I love performing. There's something about when you close your eyes on stage, and you don't realize that you've been singing for three minutes, and you open your eyes again. And all those people are listening to you. That's a crazy feeling. That's probably the highlight of my career as an artist, those moments. But my favorite thing about being an artist is being able to do whatever I want, most of the time. I feel very lucky to be able to make music, because it’s what I love to do.

“There's something about when you close your eyes on stage, and you don't realize that you've been singing for three minutes, and you open your eyes again. And all those people are listening to you.”

Seb: How has getting more reach with people changed the way you experience music and being a musician?

HKB: I used to want to hide a lot. Especially on the Internet and just social media. I just was never that open of a person, in that way. I like being open as a musician in my writing, but I never found that as an outlet for myself. But after seeing all these messages from people and having human interactions with random people on the Internet, it's really making me want to want to show my face more.

Seb: How has your view on music been changed by the music industry? What have you learned from being in the music industry?

HKB: I'm definitely a rookie. I would not call myself any sort of industry person that could speak on it. But if you want to be an artist, you have to know what your message is and know what you want people to think about you, before you even put music out. If you don't have a clear intention behind the music you’re putting out, people won't be able to follow. They won't be able to see you through your music, and those people won’t resonate with you.

Seb: What's your message? What do you want people to take away from your music?

HKB: I put time and care into my music, and I hope that energy resonates with people, and makes them want to put time and care into their own lives- whether it’s their mental health or their relationships. I try to explore ideas as wholly as possible; I try not to see sh*t from one side. I’m trying to give people some perspective. I want people to live their lives more fully.

Seb: Has your Asian background changed your experience in the industry with making music or writing music?

HKB: In music school, I was one of maybe a couple Asian kids, in pop music, at least. So there’s not a lot of us. So it's hard for people to understand us. And that's why I feel like part of my role as an Asian American artist in this generation is just being myself on a platform, and telling my story in hopes that it’ll help understand Asian people, or just people better.

Seb: You've mentioned a bit about telling stories through music. You said that you want to do more concept albums. How do you tell narratives, and what kind of narratives would you want to tell?

HKB: I'm a pretty over-emotional person. I fall in love really, really fast. I am definitely a romantic person. But that definitely has led me to some problems in relationships. Part of dealing with your emotions is just recognizing that they're there. And if you don't even recognize that these feelings are there, they're always just gonna continue to haunt you. So I like telling my mistakes, and hoping that people can learn something from it. Yeah, I made a lot of f*cking mistakes.

Seb: Do you feel like songwriting is an emotional catharsis for you at the same time as being your art? How much do you feel like your art is attached to you as a person?

HKB: A lot. Depending on the song, I might use my own life try to imagine a story. The first song that I really realized that “Oh, songwriting is powerful” was… it was New Year's Eve. And I was 15 or something, and my dad was just a wreck for some reason, he was just really sad that night. And I just wrote a song to try to make him feel better.

I think that whenever I get too lost in songwriting, I pull from too many influences, and I lose my center. I always try to think about that song, and in other ones that just have the pureness of what songwriting can be. If you feel something, you can find the right words to express that feeling, and now that feeling is no longer bottled inside of you. It's out for other people to enjoy and experience and relate to. That's a super powerful thing. Holding stuff inside is probably like the worst thing you can do, if you're trying to get better as a person.

“If you feel something, you can find the right words to express that feeling, and now that feeling is no longer bottled inside of you. It's out for other people to enjoy and experience and relate to.”

Seb: What's your favorite song that you've written?

HKB: I don't think I have one. Whatever I'm writing right now and currently working on. ‘Cause if you don’t think it's the best thing you've ever done, you're not gonna finish it.

Seb: What's the process of making music videos for you and your team?

HKB: Our process comes together in the editing more than the shooting, because we're still learning the ropes of it. The editing process is long. “Sharlene” took more than two months to edit. We just tweak it till it feels right, no matter how long it takes, which is definitely not a good thing. For the first time we ever made a music video together, we tried all these very large stories, really deep narratives. But I'm sort of realizing now that there's always a time and place for those narratives and for those stories.

Seb: Can you imagine yourself doing anything else besides music? Is there any other career that you would have besides being a musician?

HKB: After getting into music, I found that my creative instincts and skills can be transferable. Creativity is transferable - cutting in music videos is a lot like chopping up a sample. I'm definitely gonna direct some music videos; I want to create a direction for people. I’m down for whatever I find that I’m good out, I just have to figure out what that is.

Directed by Aamir Khuller / Cinematography by Cade ML / First AC Elias Ginsberg / Gaffer Jon Bass / Edited by Aamir Khuller + HKBF / Produced by Nick Scully + HKBF + Aamir Khuller / Styled by HKBF + Aamir Khuller / BTS via Kitty Huang / Vibe Curation by Mitchell Zaic / Special thanks to Ourros

Hong Kong Boyfriend Lets Go