by Yu Kang

Coming out as gay is never easy, especially in Asia. But for Singaporean singer-songwriter Willie Tay, alias Wils, revealing his sexuality cost him both his record deal and audience after his managers deleted all his social media accounts.

Despite being told that being open about his sexuality would kill his music career, Tay bounced back. He has just released his latest album, Don’t Leave Too Soon, an uplifting 12-track exploration of what it’s like to navigate the ups and downs of love as a gay man. But, as Tay describes it, surviving his rocky coming out was just the beginning.

“You think you come out of the closet and everything will be bright and colourful,” he laughs. “Then you realise that you have to go through dating as a gay man. And in gay culture, it can be quite challenging – there are lots of different subgroups and categories.

“It’s like for your whole life, you were put into a box for being different. And now when you’re out, you still have to do that.” Read more via SCMP

Empty is about the Loneliness of hookup culture. The hardest part of looking for love when the surrounding culture emphasizes casual hookups without meaningful connection…Sometimes the biggest challenge we have to face is the internal struggle we have with ourselves. ‘Empty’ is about facing that loneliness when we’re looking for love outside of ourselves instead of within ourselves.