Outside the large windows, Gloucester Road is teeming with traffic, but the only sound that fills the tranquil space in this Wan Chai building is the soft strumming of a guitar. “Oh man, I really need to tune this thing,” Joya laughs as she plucks away and goes through a series of adjustments on her tuning pegs.
We’re hanging out with this vivacious singer-songwriter at the beautiful Loveramics office, which the founder (and Joya’s friend) William Lee has decked out with a comfortable bean bag seating platform, musical instruments, and a fantastic coffee area. The air sparkles and hangs heavy between breaths as Joya softly sings about the pain of lost love, inevitability, and regrets. Sporting faded pink hair and a dusty blue tracksuit set, she makes it easy to lean into her warmth and feel a connection to her melancholic lyrics.
Joya, born Jodie Chan, has been through some interesting milestones in life, going from a theatre kid who started performing at a young age, to studying political science and working in tech. And now, life has brought her full circle, with Joya releasing her debut EP She Is Joya last year, and just recently dropping Confetti, her latest summer bop of a single, in May. Read on to learn more about Joya’s musicality and inspirations, and being a queer artist as someone who grew up in a traditionally Chinese and religious family.
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I’m definitely the same person! But expressing myself as Joya has allowed me to switch gears mentally when it comes to being creative. It’s taken a lot of reflection and coming into my own skin to really embrace my multitudes. I am – we all are – not one-dimensional. I really love and believe in the idea of a Renaissance person – one person who is varied and has many sides and skills to them.
Well, if you ask my parents, they’ll tell you I’ve been singing the moment I came out of the womb and writing silly songs since I could speak. As a super active kid, I’ve always been inclined towards singing, dancing, moving, and expressing myself in big ways, but I was about nine years old when I really ventured into music. I performed my first ‘big show’ at Teresa Carpio’s concerts at the Hong Kong Coliseum. I’ve also performed in musicals like Rent and Spring Awakening [when] I was a teenager.
I think I’ve been hooked since then, but as a practical, ‘good’ kid, I put that aside and pursued a degree in political science and global health. For a moment, I thought I’d end up working with the UN, but then in a twist of fate I ended up in the technology field after graduation.
It wasn’t until near the end of the pandemic that I began putting out my own music, so that was only about three years ago. In many ways, I feel like I’ve just started, though I could also argue I’ve been doing this for over 20 years!
I love that! If by theatre kid energy you mean a love of the stage and a bit of dramatism, then absolutely, yes.
I really hope that my music makes people feel seen, heard, and understood. What I’ve always found amazing about music is that it’s the closest thing to magic. When you listen to a song and it’s in the right moment and coming from the right place, it almost feels like it was written just for you, as if I was meeting you perfectly in that moment. I want to write timeless songs that do that.
It’s a little faded now, but I felt like my pink hair visually signalled a big, bold change. It marks a change representative of a time when I really felt like I was stepping into my own skin, as well as a pivotal point for me as an artist. I like the idea that it’s become kind of iconic, even if it’s on a small scale!
I’ve got quite a few! Singer-songwriters spanning Abba, Michael Jackson, Elton John, Jack Johnson, Sara Bareilles, Carole King, Dolly Parton, and Joni Mitchell. More recent artists [include] Ryan Beatty, Griff, Troye Sivan, Hozier, and I’m really paying more attention to production in the past few years. I think truly strong, powerful songs come down to the melody and lyrics.
So many! Griff, who is one of my favourite artists, producers, and creatives ever since I stumbled upon her YouTube ages ago. Sara Bareilles; I want to write a musical with her. It would be a dream to voice and sing for an animated Disney character. And I’m always down to do more with my talented friends in the music space, like Kiri T, Cehryl, Moon, Silvy, and others.
You Make My Dreams by Hall & Oates is my guilty pleasure of a song. Birds of a Feather, my favourite track from Billie Eilish’s latest album. And Guy I Used To Be by Lawrence.
I think I came out later in life than a lot of people – I was about 20-something years ago and at university. It wasn’t until I started dating a girl that I really considered the possibility, if I’m honest. Growing up in a more traditional Christian background, I had it ingrained in me that anything but a heteronormative relationship would be wrong. So I went through a major time of questioning my own identity, my sense of faith, my belief system, and also whether this was something that was a choice, if at all, for me.
I came out to my parents first, because I didn’t like who I was becoming in hiding the fact that I was seeing someone. There was a great distance that was starting to form between my family and friends and I, because there was such a big part of me that I felt like I could not share with them. I’m really glad I came out when I did, though I know it’s something that takes a lot of support and safety for a coming out to happen at all.
After that, it became a lot easier to be open about it, because my parents were the scariest ones for me to share with! I think my family took it really well. There were definitely tears, [but] their biggest fear was that the world would be tougher for me to be in as an LGBTQ individual. Because it came from a place of care, we were able to be open and less defensive, and I know their response and love is not something that I can ever take for granted.
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I met my wife [Editor’s note: chef May Chow, of Little Bao fame] through friends at an event they held at Happy Paradise! We would come across each other at events and friends’ houses. We were friends for a few years and never thought anything else of each other, until all of a sudden the stars aligned and we began dating!
There was a conversation that we had to have quite early on [in the relationship] about whether or not we wanted to be open as a couple, because there would be implications, perhaps professionally or even personally, in our lives. We both chose to live very open lives intentionally, where we share elements of our relationship in photos, in videos, on social media. Representation is important, and we wanted to be people who could share with gratitude and openness. The way that we choose to be advocates is just sharing portions of our life with the world as is.
At the end of the day, it’s always more challenging to be the minority – any minority – than the majority. As such, it’s important to find that support in your circles. When it comes to Hong Kong, I’m grateful that I have friends, LGBTQ+ advocates, and a creative community where who I love is not really a topic of conversation at all – just one aspect of who I am.
I love walking in general so I’ll go from Happy Valley to Central when it’s not too hot, where I’ll hang around Poho and Shin Hing Street – the Little Bao area, of course. I also like going to Sham Shui Po to visit galleries and have a coffee, and I also have lots of great childhood memories at Wan Chai Market.
I’ve got quite a lot of new music coming up, including my first-ever breaks remix release with Hong Kong’s own DJ Mengzy, a new release called Fireflies co-written with Juniper Care, and hopefully more shows!
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