Joya Sparkles with Her New EP Afterglow
Joya has always been enchanted by the stage. She recalls serenading birthday party guests with Celine Dion when she was four years old, performing in musicals and sharing the spotlight with Canto-pop legend Teresa Carpio.
Since then, Joya has performed at Hong Kong’s first Pride event at Apple and Music Matters in Singapore, to name a few, carving out a presence in the indie and pop scenes alike.
Her creative upbringing has had a major influence on her artistry, but beyond music, she’s also a force in the world of STEM, serving as a Google Women Techmakers Ambassador and leading a Software as a Service (SaaS) company in Hong Kong.
Now, with the release of her sophomore EP "Afterglow" on Mar. 8, 2025, Joya delves into the fleeting imprints we leave on each other. Couched in dreamy nostalgia, the record explores love, loss, and self-discovery in a way that feels both intimate and universal.
This EP sees Joya push her sound in a more experimental direction, working with producers like Cody Fitzgerald and Lushroom to create a raw sonic landscape.
The Beat Asia caught up with Joya to talk "Afterglow," her creative process, and how she balances the worlds of tech and music.
Congratulations on your new EP! What can you share about 'Afterglow?'
The theme for this EP is the invisible marks and emotional imprints we leave on other people and each other. Historically, my songs have all been love songs.
"Afterglow" takes you through the process from the moment you fall in love and have those butterflies, but you’re not sure, and you haven't defined the relationship yet. The title track talks about that first moment, that first imprint, and then as the EP goes along, you have moments of heartbreak.
There's one called “Inertia,” which is all about push and pull. Someone heard a preview of "Inertia," and they were like, "Oh, it's my toxic relationship, I can really feel that." That means I've done something right because the response is always what I look for. For me, music is so much about connecting, and having people respond to it is such a big part of why it’s so amazing.
Where do you draw inspiration from for your music?
A lot of the songs on "Afterglow" are drawn from my personal relationships. I always joke with people in my life, "At some point, I want to write about you." The love songs are about my wife, and the heartbreak ones are about relationships I've had in my past. There's also this book called "Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow" by Gabrielle Zevin, and there is a character in a toxic relationship in it, and I tried to put myself in that character’s shoes.
When you're living your day-to-day life, you don't reflect on your emotions much unless they're really intense. But I had this epiphany last year where I was like, "What is the role of an artist?" And I think we create something that's intangible. It's not like making a cup of coffee; it's more in the realm of deeply empathizing with someone to the point where you can express something they don't even know how to express.
What was your songwriting/creative process like for this EP?
When writing songs, I think of them as diary snippets. I'll look through my voice notes and write the song. It’s lyrics first, melody second, but if I'm lucky, they come together.
This EP is more experimental for me because I played with song duration and structure. I worked with three different producers on this EP, even though there are only six songs. Thanks to the collaborations with cool producers/friends of mine, I'm being encouraged to play more with my voice and my words.
Some of the tracks, like “wish u the best” and “Inertia,” don’t really follow a traditional song structure. It’s a voice memo. It's just me on a single vocal track with piano played around it.
How did you first get into music? Was becoming a singer-songwriter always a dream of yours?
According to my parents, I've been singing since I was like two years old, and writing songs to go in the shower — usual two-year-old stuff. Singing and dancing were something I've always done. I always thought I was so fearless then, but I think my parents thought I was a hyperactive child who needed a lot of activities.
I talked to a producer/label when I was 18, and they said you're Chinese, you should write Chinese music, but I grew up bilingual. I was like, that's not going to be for me, I can't give up university for three years just to do something that doesn't represent me fully.
So I got a job and ended up in tech, which I love doing, but I forgot about this other part of me — until the pandemic happened.
How do you balance such a demanding tech career with your passion for music?
I have a lot of productivity packs, and I constantly set iPad alarms. I have three to four Google calendars for work and to organize my life. I would answer by saying there's no perfect balance, but there are ways to achieve a life that you want if you're able to kind of curate the structure around it.
When we work, we think we’re in season all the time. But even NBA players have on-season and off-season. So it’s about training myself so I can be strong when I need to be and have the tools I need.
As a tech whiz and a creative, does your interest in tech influence the ideas in your music, or vice versa?
For me, an outlet for creativity is songwriting, and then there's technology and building a community. I love illustrations and drawing as well.
I think songwriting informs my interest in technologies and vice versa, but fundamentally, I'm a creative person and those are all outlets I play with.
Do you get creative blocks during your songwriting?
I have a little folder in my votes notes called song seeds. There are over 300 of them. If I'm really stuck and need to hit a deadline, I go through all my song seeds and think about which one I can go a bit further with.
A lot of artists have this phenomenon where they think, "I used to be creative," and then they hit this doubt where they wonder if they can be creative again, like when you need to put this song out, but you feel like you have nothing to say. I definitely have those moments, but I remind myself I've done this before and felt this way before.
Another thing that helps me is taking really long hikes. A hike is like a restart button.
If you could collaborate with any artist in Asia, who would it be and why?
That is such a difficult question to answer. I was born and raised in Hong Kong, but I've lived in Chicago, studied in the US and lived in Paris, so I feel like I resonate more with artists within the Asian diaspora.
Rina Sawayama is super cool. I love her story. She also started her career a little later than most, and I think at some point, she was a nail artist until she could pivot to music. She has a very strong vision and way of thinking that I really like as a human.
Are there any other artists you want to mention who inspire you?
I would highlight a lot of musical theatre. Andrew Lloyd Webber, Stephen Sondheim, Jason Robert Brown, because I grew up doing musical theatre, or Sara Bareilles, who’s contemporary/theatre adjacent. I relate to things that are really well written, like Wicked, which was one of the first musicals I grew up with. I think storytelling is really strong in musical theatre, and it’s what I draw from to make pop, my version of it.
What messages do you hope to share in your music as a queer artist in Hong Kong?
I like to leave the message up to the listener. What I will highlight is that some of my listeners have shared with me that they appreciate that I'm quite personal. I use “she” pronouns in my songs, so some people are really comforted by that. And I’m openly queer and married. My wife and I decided early on to be relatively open.
I recognize it's a privilege to feel that way and for my family to be supportive, even though there have been difficult times of coming out.
The fact that I grew up as a Christian and still feel very comfortable with it makes me feel very lucky.
I think visibility is so important. If my parents talk to their peers, their perspective matters to another parent who has an LGBTQ child. As someone who is who I am, I hope someone else can see elements of themselves in me and feel like they're not completely alone.
What’s next for you? Any exciting projects or plans on the horizon?
I’m doing a concert on Apr. 17, 2025 [at Soho House], and it’s also my birthday that day! I have a few speaking events that are coming up too. I'm talking about going beyond boundaries, so I'll talk about theories and what it means to break out of your own box that you build yourself. It's open to the public, so whoever's going to that event, come up and say hi!
Stream "Afterglow" on Spotify now. Tickets to her concert at Soho House Hong Kong on Apr. 17, 2025, are available for purchase here.
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