The Vietnamese-Chinese musician reflects on growth, identity and starting again.
Photo: Katie Riley
For much of his career, Hongza has explored the complexities of love, identity and belonging through his songwriting. The London-born Vietnamese-Chinese artist first emerged with a sound rooted in dreamy guitars, shoegaze textures and unflinchingly honest songwriting, crafting songs that captured everything from first love to identity crises with startling clarity. Now, as he revisits his breakthrough project, Coming Of Age, through a newly expanded deluxe edition.
“I feel like I was such a different person when we made those songs,” he says. “But that part of my life is still so ingrained into who I am now.”
Raised between Hackney and Tottenham, Hongza grew up surrounded by London’s rich multicultural landscape while often feeling disconnected from it. As one of the only Asian students at school, he spent much of his youth navigating questions of identity and belonging-experiences that would later become central to his songwriting.
“I’ve always kind of never really fit into different communities,” he reflects. “A lot of my music comes from trying to understand where I belong.”
That search has become the emotional backbone of Coming Of Age, a project that explores love, mental health, self-acceptance and the often painful realities of entering adulthood. Revisiting those songs years later has been a surprisingly emotional process.
While his recent writing has drifted into darker territory, returning to tracks like Lovesick has reconnected him with a younger version of himself. Originally written after spending Christmas apart from his partner, the track captures the intoxicating mixture of longing and euphoria that defines long-distance love.
“It was just me missing someone I loved,” he laughs. “But I think that’s why people connect with it. Everyone knows what that feeling is like.” The song has become one of Hongza’s defining releases, produced by longtime collaborator Larry Hibbitt, whose credits include Nothing But Thieves, Sea Girls and Sundara Karma. It remains a perfect entry point into Hongza’s world.
Hibbitt’s influence can be heard throughout Coming Of Age. Together, the pair transformed rough bedroom-pop demos into expansive shoegaze compositions, pushing tempos, experimenting with textures and embracing happy accidents along the way.
“He’s just a genius,” Hongza says. Working from Hibbitt’s home studio gave the pair the freedom to experiment without the pressures of a traditional studio environment. “He used this really shitty little keyboard and recorded one of the speakers, reversed it and then put it back into the track,” he recalls. “There’s loads of stuff like that. You can just try things and see where they go.”
Like many independent artists, however, the music was created alongside the realities of everyday life. Until recently, Hongza was balancing songwriting, touring and releases with a demanding corporate job.
“Being an artist is already a full-time job,” he admits. “Trying to do that and work a nine-to-five at the same time is really difficult.” Then came an unexpected turning point. After losing that job, Hongza signed to independent label Killabop just a week later. “I feel like it’s a sign from whoever’s up there,” he jokes.
The partnership marks the beginning of an ambitious new chapter. While the deluxe release celebrates where he’s been, his next body of work promises to push much further. Drawing inspiration from Deftones, Hum and The Smashing Pumpkins, Hongza is moving towards a heavier, darker sound without losing the emotional intimacy that defines his music.
“Coming Of Age was still on the lighter side of shoegaze,” he explains. “The new music is definitely moving into a darker world.” For an artist whose music has always existed somewhere between catharsis and confession, that evolution feels less like a reinvention and more like a natural progression.
“I hope people can live their own coming-of-age story through these songs,” he adds. “Whether it’s falling in love, struggling with mental health, or coming to terms with who you are. I just want people to connect with it.”
For now, Coming Of Age stands as a snapshot of a formative period-one that continues to echo through the music he’s making today.
All photos by Katie Riley.
You can also find this interview in print. Order Issue 2 of The Indie Scene Magazine here.
