Rachel Wong Finds Her Second True Act as an R&B Pop Artist

2–5: Rachel Wong

Sounds like: a soundtrack for self-love and situationships.

Rachel Wong is glad to reintroduce herself to audiences as one of Portland’s Best New Bands. A seasoned professional musician, Wong, 36, rebranded from an Obama-era singer-songwriter into a soulful pop artist after an eight-year hiatus. In that time, Wong not only accepted her queer identity and started a family with her wife and kids, but came to understand her mental health needs while living with depression.

“Part of my shift in artistry, and the gap that I took in coming back full force now, is because I lived life a little bit more,” she says.

As a child, Wong moved to Vancouver, Wash., from Portland with her family but returned to Portland Chinese Christian & Missionary Alliance Church on Southeast Foster Road every week, where she and her brothers performed with the worship team. She moved to Seattle for school in 2006, getting started in open mics but eventually flying to New York, Los Angeles and Philadelphia to work with different producers. The first act of her music career began in 2010 and closed in 2015, filled with showcase achievements and radio plays in Canada and the Philippines.

“I think for a while, because I play piano and guitar and drums, I kind of just defaulted to the singer-songwritery stuff with the soulful vocal, and it never really felt quite like me,” Wong says. “Even though that does really well in Portland, I didn’t want to sound like that anymore.”

Wong disavows her early work, yet it stands as a time capsule of not only the years they were released, but of an artist figuring out her identity amid the era’s twee trappings. Her brother, Matt Wong, produced her early work. He won a Grammy as part of the production team for Jazmine Sullivan’s 2015 album Reality Show, while other producers from Wong’s second EP went on to win Grammys on Ariana Grande’s album thank u, next.

“Especially as an Asian American, I always loved pop R&B, but I was always very scared to sing R&B and to push more on my producers to actually create that sound that I really loved in the ’90s and 2000s,” Wong says. “I love Jojo, I love Tori Kelly, and back in the day, I was listening to Destiny’s Child and pop Usher, and I was always nervous in my internalized insecurities of thinking I can’t sing like them or I can’t write like them, so I don’t want to culturally appropriate or step into that world.”

Pop and R&B were looked down on both in Wong’s childhood and during her early career. Her modern influences, like MySpace-era Beyoncé and Adele, weren’t as easy to openly embrace without attracting ridicule. Other artists like Michael Jackson and Lauryn Hill seemed more highbrow than turn-of-the-millennium pop acts like Aaliyah and TLC. But Wong feels they’ve stood the test of time.

“It’s that feel-good bounce and hardening beats with a really soulful, authentic vocal,” Wong says. “It’s a very addictive music genre.”

The music industry has shifted seismically over the past decade, but Wong makes it work for her. Instead of full-size albums, Wong releases singles, so far averaging a half-dozen a year. “Do It,” Wong’s second-newest and second-most-played song on Spotify, sounds like what might happen if Evanescence singer Amy Lee joined the elite pop girlies’ ranks, while “Rise Up” possesses an unshakable Leona Lewis spirit. “Secrets” conjures moody, cinematic scenes of love on a dark beach headed for the rocks. Wong admits some of her songs are inspired by reality show muzak featured on Love Island and most of the Bravo Network’s programs, which works well for when she pitches songs to licensing agencies.

“It’s so fun to be able to write songs about being cheated on from that perspective, but build a whole emotional moment around that,” Wong confesses. “That’s something I never pushed myself to do in my career because I was so scared that nobody would care.”

LGBTQ+ Pride festivals, Jade Night Markets, and hip-hop showcases are where Wong can most often be found performing. This Friday, she releases her newest single, “Monster,” which gives voice to her experiences with her mental health.

“It’s another pop/R&B booty beat, but it’s about that duality of figuring out how to live and cope with depression but knowing that it’s with you and you’re not alone,” Wong says.