Nathan Hartono more sure of himself

Nathan Hartono is back at the Esplanade. And this time, he does not need any hand-holding.

At just age 15, the singer held his first solo concert in 2007 at the Esplanade Recital Studio – the youngest artist featured at the venue’s Late Nite series of gigs.

Back then, the Singaporean confesses, he needed to be “led around”.

“When you’re 15 years, you don’t know what on earth you’re doing,” says Hartono, now 22, of that sold-out Esplanade gig.

Come Jan 17, the suave crooner will return to the arts centre by the bay to play two solo shows at the same recital studio.

Then, audiences can witness for themselves the sea change that he has undergone.

“That was a very different experience,” he says of his last outing there, “mostly because I was a lot younger. I guess my musicality wasn’t fully formed yet. I wasn’t entirely sure of what I was doing and there was a whole concert production team behind me so it was a lot easier to have someone hold my hand.”

He is his own man now. Unlike his other shows, the upcoming sets will feature fewer cover versions and comprise mostly original tunes.

“It’s going to be a lot more of me,” he says.

“I really think that I can have an actual conversation with the audience this time because a lot of the songs were written, composed and arranged by myself. It feels very personal, almost like a storytelling session.”

The title of the show, Coming Home, is apt. He has been away in the United States for more than a year, studying at the prestigious Berklee College of Music in Boston.

He is currently back in Singapore for his winter break.

And while his early music leaned towards jazz, he has been expanding his repertoire in the last few years.

“Berklee expedited the whole process,” he says of how his music has branched out and incorporated other genres such as funk, soul and country.

“Berklee is probably the most diverse school in the world. The amount of people that you meet there and different cultures and musical influences, it’s pretty crazy what everyone has to offer.”

Hartono, who is single, first came into the spotlight when he won singing contest Teenage Icon in 2005. Later in the year, he performed at The Straits Times’ Child Aid Charity Concert.

The following year, on his 15th birthday, the then Anglo-Chinese School (Barker Road) student released his debut album, Let Me Sing! Life, Love And All That Jazz, a CD that stayed at No.1 on the HMV Jazz Charts for two weeks.

His 2007 Esplanade show was released as a CD and DVD, and he released his eponymous third album in 2012.

Hartono, who has also performed at events such as the 2008 National Day Parade and the 2009 Asian Youth Games, has also ventured into acting.

He played the male lead in local theatre company Pangdemonium’s production of Spring Awakening, a musical about teenage sexuality, in 2012. Last year, he played the son of the mentally ill protagonist in the musical Next To Normal, also by Pangdemonium.

Music is still his first calling, though. He is already working on his fourth album, which he plans to release by the end of this year.

The singer is also planning to take a year off from Berklee, starting some time this year, to concentrate on more music projects here and in the region.

“I’m taking a break from school to really focus on staying in Asia because there are a lot of things trying to happen, but they’re not quite happening because I was away in the US,” he says.

“I’ve already spoken to my parents and teachers and everything, so taking a one-year break from school seems the best option.”

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