ARTISTS TO LISTEN TO FOR ASIAN HERITAGE MONTH (AND ALL YEAR ROUND) PT. 2
BY BRENESSA ROACH | MAY 13 2023
Happy AAPI (Asian American/Pacific Islander) Heritage Month! If you didn’t know, last weekend we released a part 1 to this article where we shared 10 Asian-American artists from many genres. We noticed amazing feedback and traffic after that blog so, we decided to share 8 more artists (7 Asian-American artists and 1 Pacific Islander artist).
We have The artists we are sharing range from below 100K monthly listeners on Spotify to over 1 million but, regardless of numbers, you may not know them so, hopefully you discover some new artists today.
Let’s get started…
MANILA GREY is a Filipino-Canadian R&B duo consisting of GhostrideNeeko (left) and Soliven (right). The duo are childhood friends who grew up in Vancouver and decided to form MANILA GREY in 2016.
Their debut song “1z” was released on October 1st, 2016 and currently has over 1.5 million streams. On October 13th, 2017, MANILA GREY released their debut EP No Saints Under Palm Shade. This EP consists of 6 songs and includes their second most popular song “Timezones” – which has over 18.5 million streams.
MANILA GREY continued to release singles throughout 2017 to 2018. In July 2019, they released their single “Silver Skies” as a pre-release track for their first album No Saints Loading – which is the second part in their No Saints trilogy. “Silver Skies” is their most popular song of over 20.5 million streams. This is also the first MANILA GREY song we listened to (but, we discovered it in 2022).
Following the release of No Saints Loading, they released a few more singles and then on March 26th, 2021, they released their third album No Saints on Knight Street to complete the No Saints trilogy. After the release of this album, they were nominated for Breakthrough Artist at the 50th Juno Awards. In 2022, MANILA GREY started a new era and released more singles, followed by the release of their album Spirits on September 9th.
For 2023, MANILA GREY released their single “Turbo” with Arthur Nery on April 12th. This was the pre-release track for their newest album SOUND DRIFT which came out on April 13th. With the release of this album, MANILA GREY are going on a North American tour which you can get tickets here.
Listen to “Silver Skies” by MANILA GREY on Spotify:
Check out MANILA GREY on Instagram: @manilagrey, @blamesoliven and @ghostrideneeko
Chrmng, is a Bangladeshi rock band from Orlando, Florida. The band consists of 4 members; Avi Kabir, Keith Lecher, Julian Rivera and Tom Chirafisi. They released their first single “Usual” to digital streaming platforms on February 1st, 2019.
On August 10th, 2019, they released their debut album Vol. 1 which consists of 8 songs. In April 2020, Chrmng, released the single “Are You Lying To Your Therapist About Being Sober Again? Yes.” which is currently their most popular song with over 3.3 million streams. Their second most popular song with over 900k streams is actually the slowed+reverb version of that song.
On August 8th, 2022, Chrmng, released the song “DOSHTI” with milo.. This is the song that got us listening to Chrmng, in the first place. Chrmng,’s latest release from January 1st of this year are two singles; “777 (ALLAH’S FAVOURITE)” and “ON&ON” – which is a collaboration with 8485.
Additionally, Chrmng, are performing in Brooklyn, New York on June 8th and you can get tickets here if you want.
Listen to “ON&ON” by Chrmng, and 8485 on Spotify:
Check out Chrmng, on Instagram: @chrmngcomma
Roman Kayz is a South Korean singer and songwriter from Los Angeles and the Bay Area. In 2019, he released his first single “Bounce!”. His first single on digital streaming platforms is “don’t call me dude” which was released on June 30th, 2020.
In September 2020, Roman released the single “it’s okay to not be okay” which is currently his most popular song of over 1.3 million streams. This is also our favourite song of his at the moment.
For 2023, Roman released the single “like you said you would” on January 20th followed by the release of “how do i make you stay?” on March 17th. Roman has an upcoming single titled “i can’t afford to love you” coming out later this month so, make sure to check out our “new and upcoming releases” page where we will be featuring the song + pre-save link.
Listen to “it’s okay to not be okay” by Roman Kayz on Spotify:
Check out Roman Kayz on Instagram: @romankxyz
Kyle Ing, known by his artist name C.Y. Ing is a Taiwanese-Canadian singer, songwriter and producer affiliated with the BAD KIDS collective. He debuted on May 12th, 2022 with the single “Rebound” – which is heavily influenced by Mandopop ballads. In June 2022, he released the single “Snowing in May” which is his most popular song with a little over 5K streams. “Snowing in May” is a peaceful but melancholic song that people have said it would fit perfectly into a Korean Drama OST. In 2022, C.Y. Ing also released the singles “Come True” and “Lucky Guy”.
For 2023, C.Y. Ing released the single “Hear My Name Again” on February 3rd followed by his latest release “Love Redeemer” which came out on April 28th. “Love Redeemer” is his first song in the Korean R&B sound and we definitely think this is his best song yet. We cannot wait to hear what other songs he will release in the future.
Listen to “Love Redeemer” by C.Y.Ing on Spotify:
Check out C.Y. Ing on Instagram: @c.y_ing
Tealousy is a singer-songwriter based in Los Angeles, United States. Tealousy’s artist name is a combination of his favourite colour teal and the word “zealous” which means the enthusiasm of attaining a goal. This persona of his allows him to combine themes of love, self-discovery and heartbreak and portray his vulnerability and emotions through his music.
He made his debut on November 13th, 2020 with the single “Numb”. On January 15th, 2021, he released the single “U NVR LVD ME” – which is his second most popular song with a little over 84K streams on Spotify. Followed by that, Tealousy released his debut album SYBERSØL on March 12th, 2021. This album consists of 10 songs and all have a retro-futuristic R&B sound.
He released a lot of singles throughout the rest of 2021 and through 2022. His most popular song with over 200K streams is “I Still” – which is a collaboration with an artist named Yalamusiq.
Tealousy’s latest release is a 10 song album titled SHIFT.WAV and it’s in collaboration with producer SP3CIAL.T. The whole album is so different from his other music but, definitely it’s our favourite album so far of Tealousy’s, especially the song “Cruise”. Going forth, we cannot wait to see what other music Tealousy comes out with in the future.
Listen to “Cruise” by Tealousy and SP3CIAL.T on Sptoify:
Check out Tealousy on Instagram: @tealousy
Justin Magnaye is a pop-rock singer and songwriter from New Jersey, United States. He made his debut to digital streaming platforms on October 18th, 2018 with the song “Hurt”. In 2019, Justin posted a few singles and released his debut EP Paradise on October 18th. The EP consists of 6 songs and includes his second most popular song “Foolish” which has over 250K streams.
Justin’s second EP 20 Something released on July 10th, 2020, followed by the release of 20 Something (Deluxe) which was an 8 song album. In April 2021, Justin was featured on Phoneboy’s album Phoneboy for the song “Nevermind”. This collaboration garnered over 4.7 million streams, making it Justin’s most popular song.
Following “Nevermind”, Justin released the EP Identity Crisis in July 2021. On June 24th, 2022, Justin released his 13 song album Knowhere.
After almost a year of no new releases, Justin came back this year and just released a single yesterday titled “Teenage Angst”. We love this song and cannot wait to hear what else he releases.
Listen to “Teenage Angst” by Justin Magnaye on Spotify:
Check out Justin Magnaye on Instagram: @justin_magnaye
Rhea Raj is a South Asian-American singer-songwriter and actress from Connecticut and now based in New York, United States. In 2016, Rhea auditioned for American Idol’s 15th season. She made her debut to digital streaming platforms on January 12th, 2018 with the single “All Your Love” – which was a collaboration with GUDI.
She released a lot of singles throughout 2019 and 2020. On January 29th, 2021, she released “MVP” which was a pre-release single for her first album MVP which was released on March 19th, 2021. “MVP” is one of her popular songs with just a little over 2 million streams.
Followed by the release of her album, she released “Venom” in October and this song also has a little over 2 million streams. On March 25th, 2022, Rhea released the single “Devil In A Dress” – which is currently her hit song with almost 6 million streams on Spotify. We think this song was kind of a turning point in Rhea’s sound, and we think it really suits her style. Shortly after “Devil In A Dress” was released, she released “Outside” in September, which has over 2.4 million streams.
For 2023, Rhea released “Taste That (Mwah)” on February 17th followed by a Spanish version and a remix of “Devil In A Dress”. Her latest release “Atmosphere” is from yesterday and we love the song so far!
Listen to “Devil In A Dress” by Rhea Raj on Spotify:
Check out Rhea Raj on Instagram: @rhearaj
Common Kings is a Pacific Islander pop/rock band with Reggae influences. The band consists of 4 members; Taumata Grey (guitarist), JR King (lead singer), Ivan Kirimaua (bassist) and Jerome Taito (drummer). The members have roots from Hawaii, Samoa, Fiji and Tonga and are from Orange County, United States. They started self-producing singles in 2011 and debuted on August 13th, 2013 with their first album Summer Anthems.
Summer Anthems is a 12 song album and includes their most popular song “Wade In Your Water” which has over 57.5 million streams. The album also includes their other hit songs; “24/7” (at 25 million streams) and “Alcoholic” (at almost 25 million streams). In total on Spotify alone this album has over
In October 2015, they released their second album Hits & Mrs. This album consists of 12 songs and includes “Before You Go” – which is one of their popular songs with over 14 million streams.
They continued to release singles and albums throughout the last 7+ years. Their latest release is from February 3rd of this year and it’s a single titled “Raggamuffin”.
Listen to “Wade In Your Water” by Common Kings on Spotify:
Check out Common Kings on Instagram: @commonkings
You can find all 8 songs mentioned in this article on our Spotify playlist below:
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