Leon Markcus, Singapore’s first out musician, took the independent music scene by storm in 2017 with his electro dance his Alive. Now he’s back with a his new single Hot City – a taste of what’s to come on his upcoming EP, Welcome To Hot City.
Markcus teams up with LGBTI recording artist Bilal Hassani, a The Voice alum from France, on the new single to mock pop culture phenomena and the ubiquity of technology on their new track and mobile oriented video.
We caught up with Markcus to find out about queer life in Singapore, and collaborating on tunes from the other side of the world.
“Compared to the first time I came out when I was in secondary school, people are a little more accepting,” said of the current climate for LGBTI+ people in Singapore.
“But I think in general… there is very little queer representation in Singapore, especially for youths who are coming to terms with their sexuality because there’s a taboo to speak about it.”
Markcus mentions that homosexuality is still against the law in his home nation, as is adoption for queer couples, despite a growing LGBTI+ community.
“In general, people should be allowed to be with and love whoever they want to love. I don’t think it really lies with the younger generation in Singapore, it’s more people the same age as my parents and grandparents who haven’t caught up with the new generation… they don’t think people like us are real, it’s almost like a myth. They need to come to terms with the fact that people like us exist and live among them,” Markcus said.
“I think it’s still a long way for the queer community in Singapore. The transgender community is very underrepresented and when it comes to education on sexual health for queer youth… it’s there but it’s not as prominent as it should be.”
Markcus tells us aims to use his music to bring queer issues and culture to the forefront from a Singaporean perspective.
“On my previous album I thought a lot about mental health awareness and touching a little on queer representation, so this time around I wanted to create a pop single encompassing things I don’t agree with about the way things are run back in my hometown. I give nods to the education system, queer rights and stuff like that.”
Markcus says he was drawn to reach out to Bilal Hassani after noticing the fellow musician on social media, realising artistically they had a lot in common.
“I was online looking through Instagram and I happened to stumble upon Bilal’s Instagram page and I thought ‘Oh this guy is really cool and we kind of do the same thing!’ so I dropped him a message… I didn’t expect a reply but he did, so that’s how we got the opportunity to work together.”
“Everything was through email, the sad thing is he had been to Singapore a couple of times but we hadn’t had the chance to meet. Either he would be out partying with his friends and I’d be working, or I’d be partying and he’d be working, ” Markcus laughed.
Leon Markcus’ Hot City is out now. Check out the video below!
