ST Sessions: Pop singer Falling Feathers taking flight

Pop singer Falling Feathers wants to take Singapore music to the world

Before making his debut as a pop singer, Falling Feathers (above), whose real name is JJ Ong, fronted rock band JJ And The Paperplanes.
Before making his debut as a pop singer, Falling Feathers (above), whose real name is JJ Ong, fronted rock band JJ And The Paperplanes. PHOTO: T.K. RAJU & SAMUEL RUBY

He might be a rising name in the home-grown music scene, but pop singer Falling Feathers is already developing a global outlook.

"When I started Falling Feathers, I wanted to make music that people recognised as something that could be on the top 10 of the Billboard charts," says the 22-year-old, whose real name is JJ Ong.

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Falling Feathers is unapologetically pop, and the man behind it, JJ Ong, is using the genre's accessibility to shine the spotlight on the Singapore music scene.

He appears in the latest episode of the fourth season of ST Sessions, The Straits Times' online video series featuring rising talents in Singapore's music scene.

Ong is filmed performing an acoustic set in front of an audience at Artbox Singapore, a pop-up fair at Marina Bay.

Besides playing gigs around Singapore, including a set at upcoming Esplanade music festival Baybeats - it takes place from Aug 17 to 19 - he is also planning to take his songs, as well as music by other home-grown acts, to the region.

"We're going to South Korea in October and, hopefully, to other countries to share Singaporean music with locals there and work together with indie bands in that country to sort of have an exchange, so they can bring their music here and we can take our music there."

Before making his debut as a pop singer, Ong fronted rock band JJ And The Paperplanes, which also comprised his schoolmates from Singapore Polytechnic's diploma in music and audio technology programme.

In 2016, he released Perfect, his debut single as Falling Feathers. A five-track debut EP, Pipe Dream, was released in May this year.

ST Sessions' fourth season is part of a series of digital video programmes produced in a partnership between the Info-communications Media Development Authority and Singapore Press Holdings.

Besides Falling Feathers, the season features seven other acts, including singer-songwriter Abbey Simone and synthpop/alternative rock band Strangerfox.

• View the video at www.straitstimes.com/videos

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on July 19, 2018, with the headline ST Sessions: Pop singer Falling Feathers taking flight . Subscribe