Bandier student releases single ‘Bedroom Disco Ball’ with a second album to follow
Bandier student to release second album
Derek Ouyang, a junior in the Bandier program at Syracuse University, performed at a house concert a week before the release of his new single. The show reached capacity half an hour before Derek started to play, where a huge crowd lined up in the backyard waiting to get in.Â
âThis show is crazy and has so much energy,” Ouyang said. “I remember having all the adrenaline and excitement to go on stage and then being completely exhausted after the performance and losing my voice just because of how much energy we gave and how crowded the venue is.
Itâs Ouyangâs enthusiasm for producing and playing music that allowed him to grow big in the music industry. During Ouyangâs first year in college, he wrote three EPs for Yuqi Zhang, a Chinese pop star with more than three million followers. Ouyang established a genuine friendship with Zhang after the productions. Early this year, Zhangâs song âMoonlight,â co-written by Ouyang, won the Asian Pop Music Award.
âDespite that the label only puts my name as lyricist credit, I indeed wrote all the music and did the primal productions for her EPs, ” said Ouyang.
Now an award-winning musician, Ouyang gave us a sneak peek of his new album with the release of the single âBedroom Disco Ballâ on Oct. 25. Ouyang has been working on the new album for almost two years now, spending days and nights in the studio and his bedroom.Â
âMy life is filled with emotions and contents, and music is my way of documenting it and trying to make sense of it, â Ouyang said. In conjunction with his new single, he wrote a poem as an abstract concept derived from the new single âBedroom Disco Ballâ.
In my bedroomÂ
Crave for the dopamine intake that devours my soul
Just so we can escape from facing ourselves for one more secondÂ
Restrained by 4 walls
But protected by the facade Â
Somehow I realizeÂ
That It is the fear to face myself that has stolen me
Influenced by Bruno Mars, Dua Lipa, Katy Perry and Troye Sivan, Ouyangâs second album ‘Bedroom Disco Ball’ is a disco-funk dance album with a meaningful lyricism that allows people to dance and listen along when they need a little uplifting spirit from music.
The singer hates how depressing music and lyrics have been oversaturating the music market and becoming increasingly popular.
âEmo has gotten way too far,” Ouyang said. âI think itâs healthy to be sad and write honestly about it, but now people wanna just be extremely sad in their music because thatâs whatâs popular. I want to make a dance album that makes people feel like itâs okay to be sad, but will dance through it.â
Besides producing and writing music, Ouyang founded a music management company called Planet Derika. He signed his first artist Mike Spector this summer while interning at Atlantic Records in LA, where he was inspired to begin his own business in the industry.Â
âI know the way that I want to be, but I’m not the person who thinks expectations can be met easily,” Ouyang said. “I hope that my music career takes off, but I canât set a specific goal because what if life doesn’t go that way.”
âWhat Ouyang did in the music industry was phenomenal among his peers, and people loved him for his straightforward but also caring personality,â said James Xu, a junior in the Bandier Program.
Ouyang took down his debut EP ‘Forest Flame’ (2019) from all platforms because he sees himself as more mature in songwriting and production now. He is more confident now to release new music that showcases his ability to put out quality and meaningful bops.Â
Along with releasing his new song, Ouyangâs music video for âBedroom Disco Ballâ is also coming out soon. He plans on releasing songs every three to five weeks for his second album, which will be available on all platforms. He criticizes the current fast-paced music production for new upcoming artists, commenting that a quick single canât always show the full picture of the music production. He chose to make his album with consistent storylines, and every song is supporting the big picture of self-saving therapy.
