Whether it’s as part of a CFA Arts Excellence Group, a cultural activity club or taking advantage of CFA’s various performance platforms, every person’s arts journey at NUS will be different. Like creativity its self, no path is a straight line, and achieving success is often a story in itself.

Following her stunning performance at Kent Ridge Family Day in August, we spoke with renowned singer and NUS Jazz Band alumni Joanna Dong about how she came to jazz and the winding path she took to become a household name.

How did you come to play Jazz?

I fell in love with Jazz because of my time at NUS. Before university, I was in choir without much exposure to the genre. I went to a Jazz festival with my friends and fell in love with the lindy hop, which is danced to Swing, a subcategory of Jazz music. The next thing I knew the Jazz Band auditions came up and my friend asked me to go. The rest is history!

Would you have gone for another music genre if not for Jazz?

I might not have been a part of CFA at all if it wasn’t for the Jazz Band. I was already involved quite heavily in choirs outside of NUS so it was quite unlikely that I would have joined another. The diversity of things being offered at NUS … meant that I could try something else and back in my time there weren’t that many institutions that had a jazz band. I think NUS was one of the first tertiary institutions to have its own jazz band which was kind of fortuitous!

How do you balance your musical interests and your studies?

The thing about tertiary education … is that at the university level, you have to be responsible for managing your own time. Being mollycoddled … should only happen at the younger ages. By university, your education and what you take away from it is of your own doing.

It’s in your hands; you can do as much or as little as you want. In my case, I was very invested in my academic studies. I majored in sociology which was a subject that really engaged and excited me, so I wanted to spend time to write my papers well and conduct research, so it was a very self-motivated form of distributing my time. I did spend an inordinate amount of time in the Jazz band as well. I actually managed to arrange my courses [in some semesters] so I had only three days of school and the rest of the days to do other things such as Jazz Band. Band mates would book a rehearsal room and we bring laptops to do homework and papers until others came along and we would jam. It was such an inviting environment to be in.

Your university life is what make of it and if you prefer to spend it on the other resources that the university has to offer, that’s your choice to make!

You’re a big name now, but what was your journey beyond NUS really like?

The first thing I did out of NUS was Singapore Idol which contributed a lot to my direction as a performer. If I had done better, I might not have spent that much time doing jazz. The … outcome of [the experience was] that was that I felt that I was not meant to be popular, not meant to be mainstream so I consciously tried to do things that were more experimental and more niche, which was very fruitful and productive.

In one of my first experimental bands there was a DJ a pianist and a trumpeter. Two of these people came from NUS. The shared experience of being in NUS Jazz Band gave us a sense of trust, and being young and fearless enough try something experimental. It was definitely an important part of my growth as a musician.

A lot of my new fans may not know that I once did these sorts of improvisational experiments, or that I was once “cool” and “avant-garde”! I could not have done that without friends who were trusting and willing enough to try stuff like that.

I’ve [since] been involved in other things, such as theatre, and musical theatre. I’ve also done hosting on TV. After all that I ended up having my big break in the performing scene, not because of my singing, but when acting as a lead character in a Chinese language musical. This was how I was propelled into the public consciousness.

In retrospect, no journey is ever wasted. I’ve had a very round-about but very beautiful and productive journey.

What would be your advice to a young emerging artist?

In examining my own journey, I believe you should develop yourself not just in the creative craft you are specialising in, but also exploring other crafts. This can be done through living a rich and varied life. If you are holed-up all day working on your instrument, you will arrive with great technical expertise but miss out on other aspects of life. You will lose out on understanding what it means to be relevant to the rest of society. I have a diverse experience in performing due to my variety of interests. I took Tabla lessons for a year and because of that, I was interested in Indian music. I am in no way proficient in it, but it gave my ears and my music exposure to a different texture. No detour in your journey is really wasted as you never know how it will all add up.

Learn to learn, and learn to understand yourself.

So what’s next?

I’m about to embark on a very exciting transition in my career. From November, I will be managing my own talent company and I have had to quickly learn how to be a business person! Having to learn to lead my new staff is a new challenge for me.

With my own company I will have more creative agency as a performer, as well as more responsibility to my team and to my clients. I admit that it is terrifying to embark on, but it also renews my motivation; I’m re-looking at the things I want to achieve for myself and the scene as an entire ecosystem.

Veteran musicians have taken care of me in the past and I believe that paying it forward is very important. I’m hoping to help to support some of the younger and emerging acts in our scene, to cross pollinate genres and languages and also to find ways for our local artists to expand to regional markets. These are the conversations I’m trying to have, that I’m putting time and effort into.

Do you have a long-term goal as an artist?

My only long term goal is to keep singing. My ideal way to go will be to sing until I die on stage!

I want to learn enough and I want to be involved enough so that I’m constantly relevant and people still want to hear me sing on stage. I’m taking on big challenges but I think I have the capacity to become a manager, producer and director all while singing.

Just like in my time in NUS, I have to learn to manage my time and prioritise things. If I’m conscious enough about this, I can manage it. I’m optimistic!