WILLIE TAY
Coming out of the closet is always a daunting experience. The risk of backlash in one’s personal and professional lives means that many members of the LGBTQ community never reveal the truth about their sexual identities. It is a struggle familiar to 32-year-old singer Willie Tay, who had known he was gay since he was an adolescent, but had hidden his sexuality from his old record label for fear of the consequences.
Works produced under his Wiltay imprimatur were often heteronormative in nature. Music videos for his songs, like “Nothing Can Stop Us” and “Hola,” featured female love interests who Tay serenaded, romanced, and pined over.
“I remember being in this dark moment where I just couldn’t write anything because I felt like I was living a lie being in the closet,” said Tay of his past works. “I felt like I was singing about things that didn’t relate to my heart — like having a canvas that was painted for me.”
When Tay came out to his label, his earlier fears were not unfounded — his managers swiftly dropped him from their roster, but not before deleting all of his painstakingly cultivated social media accounts.
“They were concerned for the image of the label, the image of me as an artist — I think they reacted out of fear,” says Tay ruefully. “They said: ‘You shouldn’t let people know about your sexuality — it’s just not going to work in Asia’.”
This story is from the February 2021 edition of T Singapore: The New York Times Style Magazine.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the February 2021 edition of T Singapore: The New York Times Style Magazine.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
Look At Us
As public memorials face a public reckoning, there’s still too little thought paid to how women are represented — as bodies and as selves.
Two New Jewellery Collections Find Their Inspiration In The Human Anatomy
Two new jewellery collections find their inspiration in the human anatomy.
She For She
We speak to three women in Singapore who are trying to improve the lives of women — and all other gender identities — through their work.
Over The Rainbow
How the bright colours and lively prints created by illustrator Donald Robertson brought the latest Weekend Max Mara Flutterflies capsule collection to life.
What Is Love?
The artist Hank Willis Thomas discusses his partnership with the Japanese fashion label Sacai and the idea of fashion in the context of the art world.
The Luxury Hotel For New Mums
Singapore’s first luxury confinement facility, Kai Suites, aims to provide much more than plush beds and 24-hour infant care: It wants to help mothers with their mental and emotional wellbeing as well.
Who Gets To Eat?
As recent food movements have focused on buying local or organic, a deeper and different conversation is happening among America’s food activists: one that demands not just better meals for everyone but a dismantling of the structures that have failed to nourish us all along.
Reimagining The Future Of Fashion
What do women want from their clothes and accessories, and does luxury still have a place in this post-pandemic era? The iconic designer Alber Elbaz thinks he has the answers with his new label, AZ Factory.
A Holiday At Home
Once seen as the less exciting alternative to an exotic destination holiday, the staycation takes on new importance.
All Dressed Up, Nowhere To Go
Chinese supermodel He Sui talks about the unseen pressures of being an international star, being a trailblazer for East Asian models in the fashion world, and why, at the end of the day, she is content with being known as just a regular girl from Wenzhou.
