Keshi, born Casey Thai Luong, is probably Sugar Land’s largest pop star.
On a latest summer season night time at White Oak Music Corridor, the live performance venue buzzed with hundreds of excited followers, wearing an aesthetic that may solely be described as “various cowboy.” Black cowboy hats, boots, and dangly silver piercings fashioned the unofficial uniform for followers of Houston-bred pop star Keshi.
Because the solar sank behind the downtown skyline, anticipation constructed. When Keshi lastly takes the stage—bare-chested in a black zip-up hoodie and cowboy hat—his hit track “Amen” blares by means of the audio system. “The entire glory, all the weight of the world, on my shoulders crashing down on me,” he croons. “However I would like extra, I would like extra!” When the track ends, Keshi turns towards the group. “Houston f—in’ Texas!” he screams. “Holy f—, it’s good to be dwelling.”
Contemporary off a profession milestone at New York’s Madison Sq. Backyard, the Vietnamese American singer-songwriter, formally generally known as Casey Thai Luong, returned to the town on August 4 for his homecoming cease of his Requiem World Tour. His music has taken him all over the place—from London to Jakarta—however Houston, he says, nonetheless holds his coronary heart.
Luong returned to Houston on a cease of his Requiem World Tour.
Since importing his first tracks to SoundCloud in 2017, Luong has amassed a world following enamored along with his lo-fi, genre-bending sound. Songs just like the mellow “Gentle Spot” and dreamy “LIMBO” have change into smash hits, cultivating over 300 million streams and greater than 7 million month-to-month listeners on Spotify. However whilst his stardom grows, hometown followers have held Keshi down by means of his meteoric rise.
Longtime listeners Ashley Navarrede and Briza Morales camped out for almost 5 hours earlier than doorways opened at White Oak Music Corridor. They’ve adopted Keshi throughout his early streaming days on YouTube and SoundCloud, nicely earlier than the discharge of his debut album, Gabriel. The pair turned such followers, they even attended a number of of the singer’s espresso store meet-and-greets. “[He’s] positively representing Houston right here, all over the place,” Navarrede says. “He’s our pleasure and pleasure.”
Whereas Keshi now performs on world phases, his roots hint again to Sugar Land. Earlier than dedicating his life to music, Luong labored as an oncology nurse on the Texas Medical Middle. His ardour for music was a aspect hustle—recording music half time and importing songs and brief snippets to SoundCloud in 2017. Two years after gaining an in a single day following, Luong made the leap. He give up his nursing gig and dove into music head-on, signing a cope with Island Information. Early followers might bear in mind his musical “how-to” and behind-the-scenes YouTube movies that supplied a glimpse into his inventive course of and music manufacturing. In one in all his earliest uploads, Luong, then a short-haired, fresh-faced newcomer, sits on the ground of an unfurnished room with a MacBook, including in layers of kicks, snares, and triangle sounds to “like I want u,” which appeared on his breakout EP, The Reaper.
Luong discovered in a single day success after posting his music to SoundCloud in 2017.
Since then, his artistry has deepened and grown extra private. Keshi’s love for the Lone Star State is incarnate in his Requiem hit, “Texas.” Within the observe, Luong yearns for dwelling, asking listeners to take him again to the place the “solar was third-degree” and the nostalgia of driving alongside prepare tracks, a reference to a stretch of US 90 close to Sugar Land. (On the Houston present, followers handed him a Texas flag, which he draped over his shoulders mid-song. “It’s Texas, b—-!” he shouted, whereas strumming his guitar).
To followers, Keshi isn’t only a Houston artist—he’s an emblem of Houston tradition. Houstonians Kathryn Mey and Adam Bueno drove in from Austin and acquired a rushing ticket throughout their three-hour drive again to high school. “It’s wonderful to see an Asian American from Houston succeed,” Mey says, particularly in a metropolis with a large Vietnamese inhabitants. Seeing Keshi carry out fosters “a way of group” for the town’s Asian Individuals, she says.
Some followers traveled even farther. Maribel Petraza and Jake Martinez made the trek from San Antonio to listen to Keshi’s “angelic voice.” “It’s simply good to have anyone from Texas that’s actually getting on the market and representing Texas,” Petraza provides. Sisters Jazmin Davila and Dariella Davila drove in from Eagle Move, 5 hours east of Houston, and superfan Estelle Wang, who hailed from the UK, marked the Houston present her twenty first Keshi live performance since discovering his music in 2019. The Houston present, nonetheless, was additional particular, Wang says. “Seeing Keshi carry out in Houston is a type of celebration of his private journey. It’s not only a live performance, it’s…a return to the place his story started.”
Beforehand a nurse on the Texas Medical Middle, Luong is now a world sensation.
The hometown love was simple. Mid-show, a gaggle of followers held up a poster of Luong’s highschool yearbook picture from Stephen F. Austin Excessive Faculty in Fort Bend County. One other fan fainted, prompting a quick pause within the efficiency. And through his encore, a sea of palms threw up the “H” signal as the group scream-sang his lyrics from “Id”: “Three 7s, H-town reppin’…needed to play at MSG so y’all may get the message,” referencing Keshi’s hometown roots and largest tour cease.
And it appears Keshi felt the power, too. He debuted his then-unreleased single “Wantchu” reside on stage for the primary time. And through “Drunk,” he took out his ear screens to revel within the roar of the group.
“Rising up, [I] performed reveals the place there was nobody,” he defined. “To see this huge crowd—it means every part to me.”
