Emerging Canadian-Korean indie-rock duo PRYVT are set to bring their emotionally charged sound to Singapore as part of their Back To Reality World Tour, marking their first-ever headline show in the country. The duo — made up of lead vocalist Sam Hanuel and producer-guitarist Justin “JT” Tecson — will perform in Singapore on 11 February at Esplanade Annexe Studio, closing out the Asia leg of their tour.
Having previously opened for wave to earth across North America, this run represents a major step forward for PRYVT. It follows the release of their sophomore album BACK TO REALITY, a project shaped by life on the road, personal reflection, and a desire to make music that connects deeply in a live setting. Written with performance in mind, the album captures the emotional highs and quiet in-betweens that come with constant movement.
With songs that drift between English and Korean, and themes that touch on love, longing, and growth, PRYVT have built a world that feels intimate and cinematic. Ahead of their Singapore show, the duo spoke about touring, songwriting, language, and what “going back to reality” really means once the lights go down.
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You’ve previously opened for wave to earth on their tour and now you’re headlining your own show in Singapore. Congratulations, by the way, on the tour. How does that feel for you?
Hanuel: It’s definitely surreal for us to be going on tour, especially since these are our first shows in Asia and in so many of the cities we’re visiting. It’s exciting that we get to see these places and perform our songs, so I think it’s safe to say we’re pretty excited.
JT: Yeah, especially being on our own headline tour. We did open for wave to earth last year, but that was only in North America. Now that we’re coming to Asia, we’re really excited to see what it’s like here.
Compared to your first album, &SCENE, how do you feel your songwriting or production approach evolved on BACK TO REALITY?
JT: Compared to the last album, with BACK TO REALITY we wanted to base a lot of it on our experiences touring with wave to earth and seeing how they did things. That really impacted how we approached writing this new album.
Hanuel: From a writer’s perspective, the songs on this album felt more personal compared to our first album. We also had more time to put it together, and it didn’t feel rushed, so I think the end result turned out really nice. We wanted to focus on making sure the songs would sound good in venues and live settings, so this upcoming tour definitely feels like an important moment for the album.
You mentioned that you wrote a lot of this album while touring as a support act. Were there any specific parts of touring that made you write more, or were there parts that made it harder to write?
Hanuel: The main thing I took away from touring was experiencing very different scenarios and a completely different pace compared to everyday life at home. The emotions, situations, and events we were fortunate enough to go through really opened my eyes and gave me a new perspective on how I view the world and music in general. A lot of the ideas came from touring with slchld and wave to earth and learning from how they function as artists. Touring was definitely the biggest source of inspiration for me.
Many tracks balance lyrics in English and Korean, and you also have a track fully in Korean (‘NOON’) on the new album. How did you decide where language best served what you wanted to express?
Hanuel: Growing up, I spoke both languages, so there are certain emotions I feel more comfortable expressing in Korean, and others in English. When I was writing, I just thought about what felt the most personal in that moment and went with that. Whatever sounded the best together was probably the biggest priority.
Writing a song that was fully in Korean was also a challenge for me, just to see if I could do it and still make it sound good.
After releasing BACK TO REALITY and taking it on the road, what have you learned about yourselves or PRYVT as a project that you didn’t know before?
JT: On the touring side, I learned that we can survive on one hour of sleep every night — we don’t really need sleep. On a deeper level, I realised that I really love touring. I love making music, and I couldn’t imagine doing anything else.
Hanuel: I agree. As a band, we’ve grown in a lot of ways, not just musically, but also through meeting fans and interacting with them. The experiences we get to go through are really unique, and that’s something special to me.
Singapore is the final stop of the Asia leg of the tour. How does it feel to close this chapter here?
Hanuel: We’re really excited to play in Singapore. I think we both are. It’s the furthest flight for us from Vancouver, so ending the Asia leg of the tour there feels really nice.
JT: I’ve never been to Singapore before. I have family there, but I’ve never actually visited.
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What does going back to reality look like for you after this tour is over?
Hanuel: I think it looks pretty similar to what we’ve already been doing — just writing more songs. Through this tour, we’ll experience more of life in general, not just music, and we’ll use that to figure out what messages we want to write next or what direction we want to go in sonically.
JT: Yeah, pretty much the same. We’re traveling with a bigger crew this time, and they’re all our friends. Experiencing the tour together, seeing how they view it and how we view it, and combining those perspectives will be really meaningful.
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