Today we’d like to introduce you to Tim Ouyang.
Hi Tim, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
In 2007, during my last year of college, I started my band, “Tim Be Told,” in Charlottesville, Virginia. We quickly gained a following in the Christian music world and toured all over the US. But after suffering some mental and physical health issues, I moved to California in 2011 in need of a new environment. In 2017, after being in the Christian music industry for ten years, I made the decision to come out publicly as gay. It was one of the most terrifying and stressful decisions I ever made. But after spending so much of my music career hiding and pretending, it made me question why I wanted to do music if it made me unhappy.
After coming out, the backlash both personally and professionally was swift. Invitations to perform were rescinded, bookings dried up, and all of my social media accounts lost hundreds of followers. In my personal life, the denomination leader of the church I was attending immediately removed me from my worship leadership role. They informed the pastor that I could no longer serve in any public capacity. The pastor of my church tried to defend me and was subsequently fired. Eventually, the entire church was shut down by the denomination.
For a year, I stopped making music and retreated from public life. But as much as I didn’t want to write music again, the songs started to pour out. Three years later in 2020, I released a new album called “Love and Happiness” which documents the fallout of my coming out. The album has over 1 million plays on Spotify since its release in June 2020 and many LGBTQ people have reached out to tell me how helpful and inspiring the album has been. Sometimes the initial price for freedom is high, but it’s worth it in the end.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
The road has rarely ever been smooth. I imagine that is the case for most people. I was an Asian American musician who started my music career in time when there were not a lot of Asian Americans represented in the music/entertainment industry, especially the Christian music industry. Starting out, we could barely get our foot in the door at any of the local venues. Most of the venue owners wouldn’t even give us a chance. It was incredibly discouraging.
A couple of years into my music career, I started developing health issues particularly with my voice. This also led to crippling anxiety that would often keep me up at night. Dealing with health issues in my early twenties was particularly soul-crushing because it should have been the prime of my life. It prevented me from really enjoying what I was doing.
On top of all the health problems, I was also living as a closeted gay man in an industry that did not look favorably on people like me. This eventually led to a spiritual crisis of sorts and a season of constant panic attacks. The incongruence between my public and private existence was becoming increasingly untenable.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I try my best to be as honest as possible in my music. Telling my story in songwriting is not necessarily something terribly original, but my story is. Over the years, I’ve received so many messages from people, especially LGBTQ, who have found solace in my music. Many of them resonate with the struggle to find meaning and the yearning to belong somewhere. A lot of my following consists of people who grew up in religious families/institutions and experienced disillusion, rejection or trauma. There are not a lot of people writing songs about those experiences, so I’d like to think that I’ve made music that helps fill that gap.
Can you share something surprising about yourself?
Most people don’t know that I have a degree in Architecture and that I run my own interior design company in the SF bay area.
Contact Info:
- Website: http://www.timbetold.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/timbetold
- Facebook: facebook.com/timbetold
- Twitter: twitter.com/timbetold
- Youtube: youtube.com/timbetold
- Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/6L0mxhIWyV5ySKJvWrD70h
Image Credits:
Michael Thompson Josh Leung Dennis Shin
