NoSo – aka Abby Hwong – has announced their debut album, ‘Stay Proud Of Me’.
Set for release on 8th July via Partisan Records, it comes alongside news of their first ever UK performances at Bluedot Festival, as well as a 20th July headline show at London’s The Waiting Room’.
The news also comes with a new track, ‘David’. Hwong explains: “One summer night, I had a dream that I was a white dude sitting in a church pew; I saw the way girls giggled and whispered to each other excitedly upon noticing me, and other men gave me nods of respect. The way I was perceived in such a positive and palatable way hit me in the gut; I even recognized it was a dream when it was happening.
“I woke up emotional and so disappointed in myself; I had done a lot of work to unlearn internalized racism, and I had been feeling so proud of my identity. But I had to be gentle with myself and remember that it’s a plethora of issues; bullying from peers, the media we consume that spotlights euro-centric beauty standards, and the desperate desire to not feel like you inherently take up too much space. It seems to be a universal experience for POC (especially during childhood) to look in the mirror and resent your own features.
“That dream (and writing this song) reminds me that these kinds of issues don’t disappear overnight; it sneaks up on your subconscious in layered ways.”
It comes with a video directed by Marco Choing, who adds: “NoSo’s moving story behind ‘David’ deeply resonates with me because I have trouble imagining what my old self will look like, since old queer people of color with romantically fulfilled lives rarely receive adequate representation. With that being said, I was very pleased to gather such a strong crew of all queer Asians and people of color to materialize some of my deepest held imaginations into a music video highlighting the extremely talented NoSo and their incredibly supportive crew.”
You can check out the video for ‘David’ below.
