Dawen Shares His Chicago Pride

Dawen Performing at The Abbey Pub

It’s pretty rare to find an artist who’s as talented as he is down to earth, but that’s Dawen.  If you haven’t heard of him by now, Dawen is (among other things) a Taiwanese American singer-songwriter very rooted in R&B and neo-soul. He has been getting quite a buzz for his YouTube covers—particularly his covers of Rebecca Black’s “Friday” and of “Just the Way You Are” by Bruno Mars—as well as his first album American Me which was released at the end of 2009.

He has been performing a rather impressive collection of tours at local venues and colleges around the U.S. And he even recently completed a world tour which included stops in Taiwan and Hong Kong.  Now he’s busy working on his next album (an EP) to be released later this fall.

I recently learned that Dawen got his start as a singer-songwriter in the Windy City, and I was curious to learn more.  As we talked about the eight years he spent in Chicago, it quickly became clear that his experience here was both positive and pretty influential on the themes in his music.

Love for the Windy City

One of Dawen's Favorites

Right away, we got into the discussion that most Chicagoans have upon first meeting: “Which deep dish pizza is the best?”  After rattling off some good places (Giordano’s and Lou Malnati’s) he very unexpectedly named “Philly’s Best” as his favorite.  We chatted about his love for the iconic Chicago cityscape and places like Millennium Park and the Villa.  We talked about the character of city, which Dawen described as unpretentious, resourceful, and tough—qualities which I would say he exhibits himself.

Having lived off the purple (Evanston), red (River North), and blue (Wicker Park) lines, he’s had a chance to take in a lot of the vibe and energy of Chicago.  And aside from maybe the unpredictable weather, there was very little that he didn’t absolutely love.  That’s why he’s always excited to come back to perform here, like he did recently on his college tour.

Chicago’s Influence on Dawen’s Music

We also spent some time talking about his early years in Chicago.  Originally, Dawen came to the Midwest for college where he studied Theater, Opera, and English Literature.  Later, he stayed to pursue acting, and to do some self exploration along the way.

A Glimpse of Chicago from the West

As Dawen spoke, he conveyed a very frank understanding of how his identity as an Asian American shaped his experiences in Chicago.  The city has long had a reputation for being segregated.  And the Asian American population here is much smaller than in cities like LA or San Francisco.  These facts set the stage for Dawen’s education on racism, discrimination, and other social justice issues.  He shared a number of personal experiences with me about times in which he faced discrimination as an Asian American both professionally and in his personal life.

These experiences inspired a lot of the early material for his first EP which he released with five songs in 2007.  Officially carving out an identity as a singer-songwriter, Dawen started performing at local venues in Chicago like Subterranean and Elbo Room.  He’s always looked up to neo-soul icons like Maxwell, Lauryn Hill, and Erykah Badu, as well as Motown Era greats like Curtis Mayfield.  Considering Dawen’s socially conscious outlook with regard to the Asian American community, his attraction to neo-soul, which has a reputation for conscious-driven lyrics, doesn’t surprise me.

Dawen: Present to Future

For the last three years, Dawen has been living in Los Angeles pursuing his singing career full time.  Since then, he’s gained quite a following mostly aided by the Internet.  He posts videos on YouTube.  He actively engages with his fans on Twitter and Facebook.  He promotes his music (with a link to all of his lyrics) on his website.  So he’s pretty hard to miss.

I’m constantly struck by how gracious he is towards his fans, and by how much he collaborates with and supports other extremely talented musicians (many of which are also in the Asian-American community).

It’ll be exciting to see where he takes all of us with his new album this fall.

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