The homegrown jazz-pop singer who shines at Sing! China is slated to release a new bilingual EP.

 

Chinese might not have been Nathan Hartono’s strong suit back in school, but singing in Chinese?

No sweat for the homegrown heartthrob, who first found fame with his jazzy English numbers.

After a stint at China’s top-rated reality contest Sing! China, the 25-year-old now seems equally adept at delivering heartfelt renditions in Chinese. His upcoming EP, slated for release in June, will also contain a mix of English and Chinese tracks.

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Nathan Hartono delivering a song passionately. Photo by: Megan Cheah

Some 600 fans were recently treated to these yet-to-release tracks at a Jan 21 music showcase at Millian Singapore. “Justify” and “Thinkin Bout Love” were among the new tracks that Nathan performed.

The guitar-strumming heartthrob also pulled off a high-energy mashup of his own composition “Moondance” and Jay Chou’s “Moonlight on Rooftop”. This was the same mashup that he performed at Sing! China, where he finished as first runner-up.

The widely followed reality show has since propelled him to superstardom in the Chinese-speaking world.

To enthusiastic cheers, Nathan also performed “The Longest Movie”, a song by his Sing! China coach, Mandopop king Jay Chou.

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Lucky fans at the exclusive performance listening intently at his mesmerizing voice. Photo by; Megan Cheah

“The guys (in his band) like to make fun of me, because I hit the wrong note during my performance (at the competition),” he quipped, drawing laughter from the crowd.

While fans in Singapore are happy for Nathan’s breakthrough in China, some of them said they are heartened that he’s not abandoned English songs.

“(Although) he had to break out into a market that he may not have been comfortable with just to get his name out there, he (still) sticks to what he’s always done, so I admire him a lot,” said long-time fan Nur Aliah Dafir, 23. She was 1 of the 2 lucky audience members invited on stage to take a wefie with Nathan.

 

Aliah (far right) has followed Hartono (far left) since his win at singing competition Teenage Icon in 2005. Photo by: Nathan Hartono (Taken from official twitter page)
Aliah (far right) has followed Hartono (far left) since his win at singing competition Teenage Icon in 2005. Photo by: Nathan Hartono (Taken from official twitter page)

 

The performance closed with Nathan’s latest single, “Electricity”.

Check out the MV here:

 

Setlist:
Waves

最长的电影

Justify

Tell Me Something

爱爱爱

Careless Whisper

Weight of Her Love

天台的月光/Moondance

有没有

She

Thinkin Bout Love

Somebody That I Used To Know/Hotline Bling

Electricity