Rachael Yamagata is returning to Singapore for a long-awaited reunion with fans. Taking place on 16 September at Foo Chow Hall, the concert marks the singer-songwriter’s first gig here since 2018, her 10th Singapore performance, and her only Southeast Asia stop for the tour.
Across more than two decades, Yamagata has built a loyal following through her unmistakable voice, cinematic songwriting, and emotionally raw performances. From her early breakthrough with Happenstance to fan favourites from Elephants…Teeth Sinking Into Heart, Chesapeake, and Tightrope Walker, her songs have travelled through albums, live rooms, TV soundtracks, and K-dramas — most notably Something in the Rain and One Spring Night. With her fifth studio album, Starlit Alchemy, Yamagata returns with a record shaped by grief, resilience, transformation, and release.
Ahead of her Singapore show, Bandwagon caught up with Yamagata to talk about her relationship with Singapore fans, the journey behind Starlit Alchemy, being discovered by a new generation through K-dramas, and what independence has taught her.
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You’re returning to Singapore for your first show here since 2018, and it also marks your 10th Singapore performance. What comes to mind when you think about your relationship with audiences here?
Wow — 10 shows! I didn’t even realise that.
When I think of the Singapore audience, I think of beautiful moments with the audience after the shows, actually. I’ve done some really long meet-and-greet lines there in particular, and the patience of fans to stand in line for hours to say hello has really touched me. We have such a brief moment together, a hug, or quick story, but the depth and emotion from those interactions always leaves me in wonder.
Singapore has been a recurring stop for you over the years. Do you remember a particular show, fan encounter, or moment here that stayed with you?
I remember a montage of moments — being jet-lagged with the band and walking to find chicken and rice at 2 AM, soundchecking at the Esplanade when the secondary keyboard broke and we were scrambling to fix it, seeing that infinity pool on top of that one hotel and someone telling me Katy Perry made her press interviewers jump in the pool. Crazy things like that.
With the fans, I have every gift I’ve ever been given hanging in my office, so I always remember trying to fit it all in my suitcase the morning of our flight. Mostly with the audience — I remember the hugs, tears, and love exchanged.
This is your only Southeast Asia stop for the Starlit Alchemy tour. For fans travelling in from around the region, what kind of night do you hope they walk into?
I hope my show can help to move the deep emotions through the audience so they feel lighter when they leave. We are in such evolutionary times and it is a lot for our hearts and minds to process.
The songs I’ll be playing from Starlit Alchemy are made for alchemising those things weighing on your heart into something empowering, rich, and recognised. We always mix in the songs people have come to know and love, and there is a lot of laughter in the show as well. I’m hoping to do whatever I can to offer healing to the weary.
Starlit Alchemy arrived nine years after Tightrope Walker. Looking back on that time between albums, what changed in your life and your creative process?
There’s too much life to speak about in those nine years really, but when I think of those two albums side by side — Tightrope Walker is a collection of songs highlighting a search for balance, resilience, and grit really — coming into your own strength and using it to stay steady. Starlit Alchemy is falling off that tightrope and remembering you can fly.
Starlit Alchemy is described as “a map made after the journey, not before.” When did you begin to see the emotional thread connecting these songs, and how did that shape the final album?
I wrote many of the songs before 2020 and had planned to record during that year. Of course, that year changed everyone and I ended up writing more songs as my own expression of what I was experiencing through that time.
It was like weaving a tapestry without knowing what the final image would be. I initially tried recording five of the songs as one full take — they were in the same key and I would play with interludes connecting them.
As time went on and I had my own journey of highs and lows, I began to see the thread where grief and resilience meet, whether in life, love, or collective experience. The galactic aspect was born from 2020 — I went on deep dives of a cosmic reality and found a whole new world to match with my intuitive sense and questioning that has always infiltrated my writing. Somewhere in all of that, the picture began taking shape.
There’s a strong sense of transformation in this album — almost like something being shed. What did making Starlit Alchemy help you let go of?
Fear.
Happenstance introduced so many listeners to your voice and songwriting. Looking back, what do you hear now in that version of yourself?
Youth. Depth. Struggle. Defiance. The beginning.
More recently, a new generation of fans have discovered your voice through K-dramas. How did you get involved with soundtracking Ahn Pan-seok’s TV shows?
My now dear friend and sister Namyeon Lee found me. She is the brilliant composer that brought me into that world.
When you watched Something in the Rain and One Spring Night, what was it like hearing your music become part of those worlds?
I don’t really watch much I’m involved in, the same way I don’t tend to listen to albums that I’ve recorded. Mostly because I’m busy making new things. They are a moment in time for me and once they are released, my part feels complete.
It’s more interesting for me to play the songs live and have an audience energy exchange, or hear how they might’ve been affected by the song in their own lives. I think artists always have that thing where they hear what they would change when they listen to something they did again, so part of it is self-protection. I’ll go back every now and then and revisit something long after it’s out and delight a bit, but it takes time to assess it with fresh ears and eyes.
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Finally, we admire that you’ve been self-managed for over a decade now. What has independence given you that a more conventional industry path might not have?
Thank you so much, but I do have a small team now, so credit is due their way as well for sure. Mostly, I’ve gained A LOT of experience in each sector of a career. I understand much more about how pieces affect the whole and can uplift or derail the big picture.
Creatively, that’s a wonderful thing — like knowing all the characters and the challenges in a play before you write the script. The story shapes differently. On a practical level, it’s been the hardest thing and the most gratifying thing to climb these mountains. I know enough now to not feel the pressing need to justify my instincts because experience has taught me how to listen to them more. I have the scars to prove it.
I’m not sure what a more conventional path would’ve looked like for me because I think a lot still comes down to who is leading the team. Bigger resources to take more of the load off of other people and give them capacity to do stellar work, myself included — that’s the main advantage of that system I would so appreciate.
My main challenge doing so much of it myself has been burnout and necessary minutiae overtaking creative bandwidth. It’s a wonderful philosophy to think “artists just need to do the art”, but I know enough about humans, myself, and this business to know who might say such a thing and why they might be saying it.
All of my friends who are independent artists are dealing with the same challenges, just at different levels. It’s not an easy fix without revolutionising the entire industry. But I like mountains. They can be moved.
Rachael Yamagata: Starlit Alchemy Tour — Live In Singapore is presented by Bandwagon Live, in partnership with The Rock Promotions, MAILIVE, and MAISEAT. Tickets for the 16 September concert at Foo Chow Hall can be purchased here.
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