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There is something ironically poetic about the fact that Regina Song, whose name literally translates to "Queen of Song", decided to go for a career in music. She'll tell you she never made that connection herself, and that kind of unassuming charm is exactly what makes her so easy to root for. 

The 22-year-old singer-songwriter from Singapore is gearing up to release everland, her sophomore album, a project where she explores the maze-like feeling of love in a way that feels bolder and cheeky for her. “In my first album I was yearning a lot because I didn't know what love was. In this album by having actually experienced love and having matured, I think my songs have become a lot more playful and self assured," she says.

everland is Regina's Alice in Wonderland: a world she built herself, full of shores, nature and rabbit holes, where love is less of a fairy tale and more of a journey you navigate without a map. Created at Singapore's PK Records with producers ALICIA DC and Ian Lee, the album has gotten Regina out of her comfort zone by exploring more live instruments and genres like UKG, giving the project an emboldened feel. 

And the lyrics are almost entirely true, only being changed when she doesn’t want someone to know the song is about them. “I would say my songs are like 90% of the time accurate to a T, it's basically like my diary entry a lot of the time”. Her words feel deeply relatable and come from a place of starting to navigate love without a roadmap. Especially in Singapore where dating is as pragmatic as possible, with a small side of drama as many people in the small island know each other and probably have history. “That can really inspire my writing”, she tells me.

Although Regina has always been in music, starting by studying at School of the Arts Singapore, getting to the point of having an established career and releasing a sophomore album hasn’t been straightforward. “I remember finding out how much producing a song costs, and my jaw dropped because I was like, “is it really that expensive?" Singapore’s infrastructure to support the arts is slowly growing, but in the meantime she had to take risks and persevere in order to make this her full-time job. The reward is an album she is genuinely proud of, and one she hopes will inspire others to do the same. So, I invite you to go down the rabbit hole and explore the shores of everland!

OnesToWatch: Hi Regina. How are you?

Regina Song: Hi Dany, I’m good just getting home.

How are you feeling for the release of your sophomore album everland? 

I'm feeling so many things. I'm feeling excited, stressed and anxious. It's always like this when something big is coming out, but I'm mostly really excited. 

The first song on the album is called “Opening Line”, so I was wondering what your opening line would be?

My opening line to anyone would be ”Hey, oh my god, nice to meet you”, so, nothing interesting [laughs]. If it's someone I like, I'll probably stay mysterious a little bit, so I would not have an opening line. Because I have been through a few romantic experiences, I used to be a little bit more enthusiastic. Now, I just want to keep it a little bit more chill so they have to be curious about me first.

As they should! In the album you describe love as a sort of maze. So I was really curious as to why it feels like that to you?

In one of my song lyrics from “Mourning Rain” I say: “Love at 19 / It was a race / It was a maze we couldn't finish." I feel like young love is so interesting in a way where nobody gives us a roadmap of where to go. It's just something our parents can only teach us so much about, so we have to go through it on our own, both the sad and the fun parts. And also trying to figure out what works for us, what our needs are. I also realized a lot of times when it comes to romantic relationships, people tend to repeat a lot of the same cycles. It's really fun trying to figure all this out, but it's also really confusing.

And that's the maze.

Yes! That’s why I ended up naming my album everland, because to me it felt like I was in a wonderland of my own trying to figure everything out. I was going down rabbit holes and taking the wrong turns. So yeah, that is the concept behind the album.

Do you ever feel like we get out of the maze or find its center?

That's a really interesting question. I feel like being in love is like being in a maze with many different entrances and exits. Being in the center of the maze is when you truly found the one and you're truly in love. Yet, things can change or maybe you don’t want them to stay the same, so what if you have to eventually leave the maze and take an exit that you did not expect?

Really good metaphor and question. What is something you hope will stay with the album’s listeners?

Well, I hope it reminds them that even if being young and in love can be messy and it can make you feel a lot of things that you may or may not want to feel, it is so fun and it is so rewarding. These kinds of experiences that I've written about are kind of what makes my life exciting. 

Do you feel like a lot of the things you write about then you're drawing directly from experiences you're having?

I would say my songs are like 90% of the time accurate to a T, it's basically like my diary entry a lot of the time. And the reason why is because it just makes me feel so much more truthful when I perform them. I guess it's more natural for me to really sing lyrics that I know I felt at a certain point in my life. It's very rare that I would come out with a lyric that is not true, and if I do it's only because I want to make sure that the person I wrote the song about does not know that it's about them. 

I always used to come up with code names for my crushes in high school so that no one would know it was them. Did you have any?

The code names, wow! My friend group had a lot of code names.I remember my friends' ones were “Cucumber” and “Mickey Mouse”; and mine was “Blue” because he’d always wear a blue sweater. It’s ironic because my album cover now is also blue.

That’s so funny. In the theme of your album cover, the name of the album, and a lot of the references you make as well there's a nod to Alice in Wonderland. So I was wondering, what your relationship to that story is. 

I have to admit, I don't think I remember watching the animated Alice in Wonderland, but I did watch the live action. I think what I like most about it is how fantastical and uncanny it is. I really like the concept of building my own world, and so it's kind of like a parallel almost to Alice in Wonderland.

What are some elements in your everland?

I like to talk about the shore a lot. I've got a song called “Kisses by the shore”. I wanted to add very natural aspects in my music, for example I also have another song called “Mourning Rain” and one called “Mars”. So I wanted to add these natural elements into my song titles and my writing because I was writing with the album in mind. The world building for me is really fun, and I just really like to, you know, with every era, have a really strong concept. Because I just love how it can tell an infinite amount of stories. 

And musically what was also important for that concept? Or how has it changed from your previous album?

I really wanted there to be more of a playful aspect to a lot of the music. In my first album I was yearning a lot because I didn't know what love was. In this album by having actually experienced love and maturing, I think my songs have become a lot more playful and self assured. Looking back at Fangirl, my first album, I realized I have changed so much. So, to put out this album and have it align with me at this moment in time is really fun. I'm a bit more sure of myself and more playful, hence I have a lot of cheeky lyrics in this album, so it's quite enjoyable.

What's a favorite lyric that you were like, “oh, this was really cheeky or this is really good?"

The chorus of “Kisses by the shore” is “When we get alone / Sunset galore / There's only so much I'll withhold." So it's a statement like, we're here together at the beach and it's so romantic. So you think I'm not gonna kiss you [laughs]? I don't usually like to admit this kind of stuff so, I feel very bold.

You’re in your bold era! And speaking of which, I even felt how in the production something switched and felt more playful too.

Well, I produced it with different producers than my first album, so I think naturally that's where the different sound comes from. I worked with this production house in Singapore called PK Records and they're known for a lot of soulful music. They're also really good at live instruments. I think with my previous album, I did try to incorporate some of that, but I stuck to mostly one program sounds. And in this one, I just really wanted to have that sound that makes you wonder is this live or is this recorded? Like the sweet in between where it sounds so textured. I just feel like having life instruments and working with new producers really brings out different sides of me. I think I have so much fun with my producers, their names are Ian and ALICIA DC. I just naturally laugh a lot around them so my cheeky side comes out. I definitely think that there are some songs that I took more of a risk for. For example, "Your Charm", which is my second single. It's definitely a genre I've never dabbled into.I would say it's more like UKG. I've been really inspired by the mindset and the idea of stepping out of my comfort zone and seeing where it takes me, because that’s where I truly get to know more about myself.

What inspires you about Singapore (your country)?

Actually, I've never been asked that question before. If you ask a lot of Singaporeans, they would say that Singapore is not that inspirational because there's a lot of focus on being academic here. So, usually, the arts are not that supported, but definitely, there's still a very vibrant art scene in Singapore. Although it's small, the community is very small and very tight. So, I feel like what inspires me about Singapore is how everyone is doing their own thing, but we're still very willing to help each other. Everyone is also really driven, which is really nice to have. I just enjoy how hard working everyone is because that motivates me to be a better artist and to put my best foot forward. And also because Singapore is so small, people are always running into each other, which is why the stories are so crazy because everyone is seeing each other, everyone is like everyone's exes, everyone is dating [laughs]. So that can really inspire my writing.

How is it to date people in Singapore? 

I think in Singapore, we are not that romantic. We are very practical people. Singapore is so small, and like we put a lot of emphasis on convenience, and so, usually getting together in Singapore is very lowkey. At least for me both times I’ve been in relationships it hasn’t been so romantic. The guy was like “Oh, so what are we now?"And then I regret it because I didn't get him to ask me properly. And then I remember always bringing it up.

Are you someone that values romance?

I was listening to Olivia Rodrigo's new album and she has this song called "expectations." The fake job thing just gets me so hard every time because a lot of times in this industry I meet people and I truly don't know what they're doing for a living. So yeah, I won't settle for a guy with a fake job. You know, these days I have expectations so, I just want every start up with the relationship to be slightly better than the previous one. That's where I'm at. 

That's the bar. You also said that it's a very academic country and that the arts aren't always the priority. So, how was it for you to decide to be part of the arts and do that transition? 

Well, I think it really helped that I did music since I was very young, and that I went into School of the Arts Singapore. I played the classical piano there and was always surrounded by very talented, very artistic people. But to truly turn it into a career was really difficult for me. I remember finding out how much producing a song costs, and my jaw dropped because I was like, “is it really that expensive?" I took up some part time jobs to support my career, but then I realized how unsustainable it was because I would get so tired and just wouldn't have time to be creative. And so, I told myself I'm gonna just focus on doing the music and just cross my fingers and pray to God that it works. It has been an incredibly rocky journey since the beginning. I would have to take up the weirdest gigs or go to my producer's house, which was literally producing in some man's bedroom. These kinds of weird things that could have turned out really horrible, but thank goodness they, you know, turned out fine. 

That’s insane and I think the reality for so many artists. 

Yeah, it was just like taking a lot of risk and trying to believe in the process. It's really bittersweet. I think in Singapore, you know, as I said, it's very small, there’s not much support in the arts, so there's no proper infrastructure. I think it's starting to get better as the scene matures, but when I was first starting out, I literally had no idea what I was doing, so I was just dabbling here and there and really trying to figure things out. It's especially important to persevere and I have so much more reason to keep going because I know that there are many people out there who are expecting things from me, and they have told me that they look up to me. It's like my responsibility to be the best version of myself and just keep putting out music that really resonates with me and inspires someone.

I love that. Can we also just appreciate how meant to be it is that your last name is literally “Song” and you live in Sing-apore?

Oh my god I've never made that connection, that's crazy! Last year I went with my friend to Berklee summer camp. It really changed my life because I just realized how big the world was. I had this vocal coach who really made me confident and really made me believe in myself. I don't think he knows how much that experience with him as my vocal coach has really transformed me. He told me once: “Oh, Regina, literally means “queen”, and your last name is “Song”, so your name is literally "Queen of Song." When I came back to Singapore after that I felt like I changed, I became a different person.

Who are your OnesToWatch?

I'm gonna say I'm watching out for one of my best friends. Her name is Raine. Her stage name is Rhyu, one of the most talented singers and most amazing people I've ever known. I think she is definitely one to watch out for because her music is so soulful and it just really touches my heart every time.

Listen to everland below: