Week 10: Jason Yu – The Occasional Busker

Decked out in a crisp white shirt toned down with trainers, Jason definitely stood out from the crowd as he approached us, immediately introducing himself and offering a quick round of handshakes without hesitation. As we struck up conversation and got down to business, his casual confidence came through in all his answers and it became easy to see why he was such a crowd favourite.

It started as a post-ORD hobby

Even though Jason briefly considered doing music at 16, he only ventured into busking recently after he ORD-ed from National Service about five months ago, after feeling especially inspired by the crowd’s reception to a busker’s performance:

“I have a friend, who has a friend who busks, and he showed me a picture his friend took of the crowd when he was busking and it was HUGE… and I was like, WOW,” shared a visibly awed Jason. He added that fellow buskers and youths in the local music scene acted as the final big push for him to begin his busking stint:

“I looked at the musical acts in Singapore and I was like… the people on stage are all really young, and I should be doing something. A bit of peer pressure lah, but it’s good, cause it got me started in busking."

Jason has never looked back since, and has been enjoying the freedom of busking whenever he wants to and loves to go with the flow, opting not to stick to a fixed schedule unlike most buskers. He typically chooses to perform when and where he foresees heavy human traffic and large crowds, as the public’s response is what ultimately keeps him feeling motivated and fulfilled at the end of a hard day’s busking.

Jason professed that he particularly enjoyed the nighttime crowd at Orchard Road (Mandarin Gallery), what with its wide diversity of people ranging from locals to tourists, schoolkids to adults. The crowd-pleaser also loves to jam out to his staple song on his guitar – Baby One More Time by Britney Spears – which he slyly reveals is always a crowd-favourite that never fails to get the crowd going. Heck, it has even gotten passerbys to jive and rock some serious dance moves!

NAC’s audition was “a lot stricter than I thought"

Speaking about his NAC audition under the Busking Scheme, Jason interestingly revealed that his experience was unexpected.

“I really was surprised when I went there! There was so many people auditioning for that day… about 40-50… and they were all very serious and were in their corners practicing and all,” Jason expressed with astonishment as he recounted his audition day.

He also gave us a little glimpse into the audition process, where he said that you could actually see the performances of the buskers just ahead of you, which could potentially make you quite nervous.

And when he performed his three songs, the judges all “ding-ed” him before he could reach the choruses.

“But I got the license in the end lah, and it’s been four good months since,” Jason laughs.

Jason also longingly shared how other countries like Melbourne do not require buskers to apply for licenses to perform publicly, which added to the “freedom factor”. Though so, he acknowledged that NAC’s auditioning process actually helps to maintain the quality of busking acts within Singapore, to ensure performers remain dedicated to their craft and not be public nuisances.

Busking scene in Singapore still “relatively new”

Jason then shared how he found that Singaporeans generally were more receptive to buskers compared to overseas, as the busking culture here remains rather new and an unconventional concept that stops people in their tracks:

“When locals see a busker, they are usually surprised and it attracts them, and they will stop to listen to us. It’s easier to catch their attention, unlike overseas where busking has been around for ages, so people are very used to them hanging around and will only really stop when the busker is really amazing.”

Jason also unabashedly admits that rather than shy away from the camera, he enjoys it when passerbys take videos of his performances: “I feel appreciated and validated… and you always need a pat on your back once in a while.”

Despite so, he agrees that Singaporeans still generally consider busking a “lower art form” and not a “real job", where “residential performers at a bar or pub are seen as better”. However, Jason feels that the government’s more recent efforts to bring back the arts scene is heartening and if kept up and amplified via mainstream media, can help raise the profile of the busking scene locally.

Most memorable busking moment: The London dude encounter

While locals commonly go up to Jason and applaud his music and passion, it was an interesting encounter with a foreigner that really stuck with Jason:

“This middle aged London guy just came up to me, and he praised my music and said it was incredible – I was really touched. And he told me he didn’t have money on him right now but wanted to send me some to support my busking… and it was quite a lot!" quipped Jason with a cheeky laugh.

Future music aspirations

While busking remains a passionate hobby of Jason’s, he admits that he really sees busking as a springboard and a “jump-start” to a full-fledged musical career:

"I never thought of the monetary aspect of busking, because I just love performing lah, but I actually wanna do music as a full-time career, so it’s a good place to start to get exposure and experience.”

He also shared how busking allowed him get used to performing in front of a crowd, and helped him expand his music repertoire to prepare him for gigs in future. He also gradually built up a lot more stamina after singing for two-hour sessions – longer than he was ever used to prior to busking:

“Before that, after two hours, my voice would be gone. But after awhile, you get used to it and the longest I’ve busked now is 4.5hours… and then again that was only because the speaker broke down.”

However, Jason also reflected on the challenges of building up his music career here:

"In Singapore, there is a very “bao ga liao” (cover-it-all) culture, where if you do music right, you are your artiste, your own agent, producer, mixer, booking manager, music arranger – everything.”

He also hopes to see more coverage on the local buskers or music scene in general on mainstream media to make Singaporeans more receptive to local music and originals, to smooth out the often difficult transition from busker to full-time musician.

Final thoughts

Jason then left us with a very potent quote, which, as fellow music fanatics, we kept nodding our heads to in strong agreement:

“I like music because there aren’t many things that can achieve what music does. When you listen to a song, one that you like a lot, you just listen and you can feel so touched and start crying – that’s… damn special, and why I think music is incredible.”

And so do we Jason, so do we.

While the future remains unknown, one thing is for sure – the busking community in Singapore has gotten more favourable reception in recent years, where locals are more appreciative towards buskers and how they add colour to our otherwise sterile streets, as seen from generally positive busking experiences like Jason's. For now, we wish Jason all the best in his studies in Melbourne, his busking journey and ultimately his music career.