Artist Spotlight: Max Aidan Sings to the Human Experience
To become a space where people are happy and bring them out of a slump is a goal singer-songwriter Taiwanese Mexican singer Max Aidan lives by. Starting his journey off with online singing covers, the self-producing artist makes waves among the youth with his emotive pop tracks and reflective narratives. With his most recent collaborative single with Boxi Chen “Us to Love,” Max Aidan continues to capture the ears and hearts of many with his infectious hooks and resonating lyricism you can’t help but dance along to. Rising pop R&B artist Max Aidan spoke with EnVi via Zoom about his approach towards creative production, artistic resilience, and discovering his unique vocality as a multifaceted artist.
Taking One Stage At A Time
On March 2, iQIYI’s hip-hop variety show, Rap of China, hit Queens, New York for the final stop of their overseas auditions and served the last competition before the main stage. For the show’s first live audience of the season, the night consisted of performances from not only the Top Six, but from talented guests Michelson, AK Liu Zhang, and many more, including Max Aidan. Attaining the fateful opportunity to perform as a guest on the biggest reality show in China was an experience Max will never forget.
When spontaneously reached out by the producer of Rap of China, Max had less than a month to prepare for the event, let alone process the great news. Miraculously, the artist just happened to have a song which fit the event’s environment, and the rest was history. “It was an amazing experience! I had a really good time because it was the first time I hadn’t performed in a while. On top of that, it was the most people I’ve ever performed for my life. So I was really excited!”
Growing up in Asia, Max was no stranger to the clubbing scene, so the stage was not too far from what he was familiar with. Although he hadn’t performed on stage for a while, the event’s well-known vibes allowed him to feel comfortable and envelop himself in the energetic environment. “People were all really nice and willing to talk to me even though my Mandarin can be a little shaky.” Max said while laughing at himself. “I had so much fun. I think it was just a great experience being able to share my song with the world in a way that I didn’t expect.”
Performing on stage is also nothing new to the artist as he used to perform in venues for charity concerts during high school. Originally accustomed to the relaxed and laid back sounds of chill backing tracks, Max’s music eventually evolved into more emotionally intense compositions more suitable for settings such as Rap of China. “That’s why it was pretty new and a little bit foreign to me. But in that sense, I felt really comfortable because I had been in those types of venues before, but I hadn’t performed at those types of venues before.”
At the mention of the exhilarating experience to perform on China’s most popular rap show, Max Aidan couldn’t agree anymore on the perfect night. With friends visiting from Taiwan and his fellow classmates from NYU, the crowd showered Max with love and support. Thinking back to the event, Max couldn’t help but express his appreciation and sentiment to those who came to love his music, “When you’re on stage, sometimes if you’re really uncomfortable, you don’t really know where to look and it’s kind of awkward. But I was able to look at them and feed off their energy. It was awesome and I felt amazing, that night was perfect. I remember after the show I told my friends, ‘Oh my God, if I can’t have this as my life I’m gonna be so sad.’” Max laughed.
When asked what this overall experience and opportunity means to him as an aspiring artist, Max immediately expressed his utmost gratitude to be a part of an impactful show such as Rap of China. “It meant a lot to me to be honest. I put myself out there through social media and that was one of the reasons how the producer was able to find me — because I put in the work to try to get myself out there. People could see what I do, see what I’m all about, and potentially find me for things like this. [While] on one hand, I’m super grateful, I also think it’s a testament to the little bit of hard work I’ve been doing so far paying off. And so I was really happy about that.”
Why U Texting?
Originally released on March 22, Max and rapper Reggi Condos dropped their heartbreak anthem “Why U Texting?”, a song sung during his live performance in the competitive event. Alternating from their previous innocent take on love from their collaborative 2023 single “Know You Better,” the two artists exhibit a new side of love as they express the internal conflict and negative repercussions caused by mixed signals, false hope, and manipulative actions. Max revealed the vulnerable track to be based on a true story of a failed relationship. After receiving a specific call from the other party, Max’s world broke down for seconds. Being used as a form of attention and as a provision for the other person, Max underwent abandonment and emotional turmoil through this series of unfortunate events. In spite of this, Max optimistically took advantage of his experience as a form of inspiration behind the bittersweet lyrics.
Max described the artistic freedom as he produced the emotional pop R&B track from scratch and his satisfaction with the result of the powerful lyrical piece. “I think this was the first time I had really written a song about my true emotions. And I was really happy about that. Previously when I was writing music, I was really afraid that I wouldn’t be able to convey any genuine emotion in my songs because I really didn’t have any stories to write about. But I think even though this was a terrible event that broke me, something really good came out of it, because I was able to express myself emotionally and genuinely.”
It Started With A Mic
Growing up in different countries, Max Aidan came face to face with numerous cultural influences and various musical genres. Born in San Francisco, California, Max began his traveling arc at the end of sixth grade where he lived in locations such as Taiwan, Belgium, and Los Angeles throughout his education. The artist confessed to growing up without a phone and lack of interaction with social media, so most of the music he digested came from the radio and consisted solely of mainstream names.
It wasn’t until moving to Taiwan that Max began to bounce songs between his friends on Spotify and discover ranges of sounds, artists, and genres unknown to him. Through his interactions with local Taiwanese kids, Max learned about Taiwanese R&B artists, American artists, and club music. Combining his new music findings and prior grasp on radio artists, Max finally began to shape his musical identity. Max credited his growth to his friends and idols, “[…] The people in Taiwan and Taiwanese artists have shaped my musical identity…and after going to clubs a lot I really wanted to make music that moves people in that way. I wanted to be able to jump around to my music. I wanted to try to recreate that environment, which is kind of what ‘Why U Texting?’ is.”
But when exactly sparked his love for singing? For Max, singing has always been a part of his life yet never perceived as a viable career. Being a tennis player for high school and focusing on college athletic applications, Max had no time to think of the art as a profession, let alone a pathway for his education. The process of university applications and discussion with coaches started sooner for Max than most other students. So as the hidden artist applied for architecture, music was only approachable through his voluntary participation in charity concerts.
It wasn’t until Max got a microphone for Christmas that he started thinking maybe he can actually pursue this as a career. “I don’t even remember why, but I started doing covers, I think just for fun! But then when I recorded them, I didn’t know how to mix the audio, so it would just sound terrible.” Max laughed at his past attempts. “I wanted to make my covers sound really professional like other people’s covers on YouTube. So that’s basically when I started learning how to produce, not because I wanted to produce music, but because I wanted to learn how to mix my covers properly.”
From there, Max got introduced to production technology and software, self teaching himself in the process. After mixing plentiful covers, the desire to write his own songs and publish his pieces began to grow. One song after another, Max released his original works on YouTube and received positive feedback from the public. “That year, I started releasing music, still kind of just for fun, I think, like not really expecting anything. And then COVID hit and so I was basically like in Taiwan all the time online school. Due to this, I really started ramping up like my learning how to produce, learning how to mix really well, learning how to write amazing songs, and that’s kind of where I transitioned from a cover artist to like a true artist.”
However, even after becoming proficient in music, Max struggled greatly with his artistic identity. Max initially believed that to become an indie artist, you had to learn how to produce your, edit audio, and sing on your own. Thus, the young artist came to learn all three and dealt with the dilemma of becoming a singer, a mixing engineer, or a producer. “I think I needed to truly assess what I wanted to do,” he recalled. In the past, he would tell people he wanted to be a producer and a mixing engineer instead because he was scared becoming an artist wouldn’t work out.
Despite the underlying fear of uncertainty, Max continued to polish his skills and eventually took the risk to become the indie artist he’s always wanted to be. “At that point I’d gotten much better at all of it and I was confident enough to be able to show people my stuff and release my music to the world again!” Max said cheerfully.
Max Aidan seamlessly blends the influences of many cultures and genres into his music. By combining emotive pop song elements with modern relatability in human emotions, Max evokes reaction and engagement with his tracks for all who listen and connect. “I think expressing myself creatively has always been about being genuine. And I think the biggest part about being genuine is having everything be done by you. In order for you to preserve artistic integrity you have to steer the direction of the project. And if you don’t and if it doesn’t go in the direction you want, I feel like that’s not genuine creative expression.” Max affirmed. “And so I think being able to make my own content and not have someone else manage it has really helped me bring the genuineness into my creative expression. And that’s something I value very highly.”
Behind the Scenes With Max Aidan
With over 37,000 followers on Instagram and 1.7 million likes on TikTok, Max Aidan revealed to take different approaches when it comes to producing social media content and music. From promotional videos to comedical skits, Max’s entertaining uploads never fail to gain mass attention and love across the internet. When it comes down to content producing, Max likes to plan content every day of the week even if it doesn’t go his way. Admitting to the rough moments promotional content brings, Max’s love for creating and being a source of enjoyment for others overcomes said slumps, “I love entertaining people. I think I’m able to express myself through comedy because I love having fun, making jokes, and being really carefree. I’ll plan a lot of the content but usually I don’t end up going with the plan to be honest.”
In regards to music production, inspiration comes in forms of spontaneous bursts and Max wouldn’t have it any other way. To Max, the best songs are made on a whim.“If I have inspiration or I have emotional inspiration from a loop, it never really starts at the exact same place every single time. Sometimes it could be something that I’m feeling, a certain sound or even a word could be the start of a song. A lot of times I’ll just sit down on my computer and just play with sounds, and songs definitely come out of that. I think most of my good songs are when I have a thought that pops up into my head and I want to make it into a song.”
Max also revealed that living in a small home studio apartment in New York is always chaotic and that a day of work is never dull. “My favorite part of the process is when I’m making music with other people. I have friends come over and make music and just like jumping around and screaming, there’s just something magical about that I really enjoy.” Max described. “It’s not even about writing the lyrics or making the sound even better. Making music by yourself is fun, but I think things are best enjoyed with other people.”
Encapsulating sincerity through his tracks, Max ensured he naturally composes tracks that echo human emotions during moments where his emotions are at absolute and never forces an emotion he’s not feeling. “There’s a huge incongruence between what you’re thinking in your mind and what goes into the laptop. It’s really hard to get a sound from your mind into the computer. At first, it seemed almost impossible to me since I was just trying to get the thoughts in my head down into the computer, but once I learned how to produce it made it much easier for me.”
Max asserted that music is a craft to be honed through time and dedication. From perfecting your writing skills to learning how to put your emotions on paper, producing music is a technique to never be rushed. “You really do have to be writing a song when you’re feeling that emotion. Otherwise, it’s just not going to come out. With the emotional inspiration being there… I was able to get all my emotions out onto paper really fast, because it was truly how I was feeling in that moment. So that’s kind of how you capture the emotional aspect.” Max described.
A Letter to Future Creatives
Max took a moment to reminisce and confess his thanks to the many who have supported him and those who continue to do so. “It feels great… things that I’ve been working on for a long time and skills that I’ve been honing are now becoming known to the world. The end goal for me is to make people’s day or make them happy… my core values align with taking care of other people and making sure that they have a good life as well.”
Before giving our goodbyes and ending our interview, Max left a few words of motivation for fellow aspiring creatives in the field. “When people say, ‘just just keep trying’ once you actually do it, and it works and it succeeds, you really start to find the true meaning of what it means to just keep trying. It doesn’t mean to bang your head against the wall constantly, right? It means to adapt, iterate, it means to kind of transform yourself and try to take yourself in different directions to see what works. Be resilient, and find what works and what doesn’t.”
He continued, “If you truly do it in a way where you do it correctly, I think things could definitely work out. So to all creatives out there, just keep trying. And if it doesn’t work, try something else. If you really want it, definitely just keep going until something works, because something will work. Everybody has a special quality about them. Everybody has a differentiator. You have to figure out a way to convey that to the world and find a way to tell your story.”
Listen to Max Aidan’s recent collaborative single release “Us To Love” with Boxi Chen on Spotify and Apple Music! If he’s still on your mind, explore the world together with him and follow his social media accounts on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube.
Searching for more male artists to add to your rotation? Check out our recent Artist Spotlight on illustrious Korean singer-songwriter Vincent Blue here!
