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Singaporean singer Willie Tay, alias Wils, had to rebuild his career after his record label dropped him for being gay. He has just released his new album, Don’t Leave Too Soon. Photo: Jeffrey Beasley

Dropped for coming out as gay, Singaporean singer Wils releases new album and wants his music to help others struggling with their identity

  • Rising pop star Wils refused to be disheartened when his record label dropped him for coming out and deleted his popular social media accounts
  • Now based in Los Angeles, he explores what it’s like to navigate the ups and downs of love as a gay man on his new album
Singapore
Yu Kang

Coming out as gay is never easy, especially in Asia. But for Singaporean singer-songwriter Willie Tay, alias Wils, revealing his sexuality cost him both his record deal and audience after his managers deleted all his social media accounts.

Despite being told that being open about his sexuality would kill his music career, Tay bounced back. He has just released his latest album, Don’t Leave Too Soon, an uplifting 12-track exploration of what it’s like to navigate the ups and downs of love as a gay man. But, as Tay describes it, surviving his rocky coming out was just the beginning.

“You think you come out of the closet and everything will be bright and colourful,” he laughs. “Then you realise that you have to go through dating as a gay man. And in gay culture, it can be quite challenging – there are lots of different subgroups and categories.

“It’s like for your whole life, you were put into a box for being different. And now when you’re out, you still have to do that.”

That was the impetus behind his 2019 single Empty. Part critique of queer hook-up culture and part eulogy for a fading love, the song eschews the typical stereotypes of a promiscuous gay man only looking to jump into bed – instead, Tay reveals a less-discussed aspect of gay culture.

As he laments: “Why am I looking for the wrong kind of fun in a dark place?/ Why do I keep on coming back for more?/ It’s an empty space.”

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In many ways, Tay considers that single to be his debut, despite having released numerous tracks and an album under his former persona, Wiltay, in the previous five years.

“At times, I would look at my previous work and it will remind me of painful moments where I had to hide my identity,” the 31-year-old says. “I always sang from my heart, but I never felt like I was 100 per cent authentic. There was a lot of that pain in my past works.”

He describes producers who would insist that he write the pronoun “she” into his love songs, and having to hold his tongue around certain people in the industry for fear that he might accidentally out himself.

“Slowly learning to accept all that is part of my journey. Even though I sang those songs in the past, with a different artist name, it was still part of my process of growing and becoming who I am today,” he says.

The singer had to hide his sexuality for years in conservative Singapore. Photo: Serrandon

His struggles have shaped the sound of his music today, and though Tay now enjoys being able to create music as a proudly gay man, his past occasionally comes back to haunt him.

“Sometimes, I want to express myself, but I do have the voices in my head from the past – the judgment from people, and so on,” he says. “I’m still trying to get that out of my mind and focus on my art, but when you grew up in an environment that allows such bullying to happen, which is what I grew up with, that stays with you.”

Now based in Los Angeles, Wils says he will always be a Singaporean at heart. Photo: Jeffrey Beasley

Tay speaks candidly about his struggles with growing up gay in Singapore, which still criminalises sex between men. It wasn’t just that he grew up with the notion that being attracted to men was wrong – it was that he grew up feeling like he was the problem.

“That law is very upsetting,” he says of Section 377A of Singapore’s penal code. “When you have a law that criminalises homosexuals, it makes you feel like you are wrong.

“As a Singaporean, having grown up in Singapore, I’ve always loved my country. I still do. The hard part is that we’re all law-abiding citizens, but when there’s a law like that, it feels like we’re going against it. It makes us feel like we’re not guarded by our own country, and that’s painful.”

The cover of Wils’ new album, Don’t Leave Too Soon.

That said, Tay, who is now based in Los Angeles, is still a Singaporean at heart, and says he is open to returning home as an artist. Now he wants to use his music to share his journey with others who might be facing the same challenges that he once did.

“What I really want to share with people – those who are in the closet, those who are struggling with their identity – is that when you are authentic and honest about things, life will bring only the best for you,” he says.

“You just have to be able to look at it, and accept who you are.”

Listen to Don’t Leave Too Soon here.
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