Today we’d like to introduce you to Raph.
Hi Raph, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I was born in Hong Kong, and like many other kids my age learned to play the violin and piano growing up. In middle school, my friend gave me his cheap $50 knock-off stratocaster and I used that to learn through YouTube tutorials and covering songs. I also started playing for church and did as many gigs as I could, like charity shows, talent contests and fashion shows, etc.
I really wanted to pursue music as a career after graduating high school but my parents understandably persuaded me otherwise, so I flew to San Diego in 2018 to study computer science. Though long story short, I connected with a few people and ended up joining a metal band. That summer after my freshman year, I flew over to Florida to work on their third album with Andrew Wade, a record producer and engineer who’s pretty well-known in the heavy music scene.
That entire experience made me decide to fully commit to music as a career, and I transferred over to Berklee College of Music the following semester. It was a pretty rewarding time there, and I met a lot of people who I still work with regularly now. I even went back to Andrew’s studio to intern for a summer and also released a couple of songs as an independent artist.
I graduated last May and fully moved over to LA in September, and have been working here since then.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
The entire journey has been honestly kind of rough. I had a pretty strained relationship with my parents throughout high school and college due to my career choice. I was also really lost artistically too while I was studying in Berklee and didn’t really know what I wanted to be, let alone the steps to get there. Even coming here to LA was a struggle – I was doing a lot of uncompensated work starting out, and it was hard to know what people’s intentions truly were.
I started picking myself back up at the start of this year and pushing myself out of my comfort zone to connect with more people and really hone in on my artistic weaknesses. Things have been going a lot better since, but there are definitely still times when I question myself if this lifestyle was even worth all the effort and the arguments with my family. I feel like this is almost akin to a rite of passage that every creative has to go through, and it’s definitely transformed me for the better as a person.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
Most people probably know me for the songs I release and the artists I’ve collaborated with under my artist name “raph” (recently rebranded from “RAFA”). I’m very humbled to have worked with artists like lullaboy, Gareth.T and Thomas Ng, who all gave me a chance and taught me a lot throughout the process. The first song I ever released was written for a fairly popular League of Legends streamer who goes by the name “xFSN Saber” – he was actually my roommate back in San Diego. I would say my music started off being really influenced by EDM, but now has been leaning more towards “sad, edgy pop”.
I also do quite a lot of freelance production, songwriting and guitar recording work on the side, and it’s been fun exploring different genres and styles outside of my own artistry.
What matters most to you?
Personally, I think what’s been impacting me the most recently is learning the ability to become truly self-aware. It’s massively affected my artistic identity, my insecurities and struggles with perfectionism, as well as the relationships I’ve built with all sorts of people. I still find it incredibly discomforting to directly face my own vulnerabilities, but it’s definitely been a huge factor in becoming more comfortable in my own skin and being more genuine with the people around me.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.tiktok.com/@raph.ll
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rafatheguitarist/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIr-8asYW_6wODbfxBCN9kQ
- Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/4dnl0VOP7cS57VQOWxr3ND?si=CyJtWr7qQBiCCIq_kkQJCw
Image Credits
@junsummerpark @timothymahguitar
