Press play: How Jean Seizure ended up on a New York Times Square billboard

Jean Goh first came onto the scene at a tender age of six. A child actress for the MediaCorp 1997 TV series The Price of Peace, audiences know them better now as a musician who goes by the stage name 'Jean Seizure'. 

Seizure, who goes by they/them pronouns, made their first music debut in 2017 with their single, Night, and since then has released music on an almost yearly basis. By 2022, Jean became a Spotify RADAR artist and an EQUAL ambassador for Singapore and Malaysia where they received the opportunity to be featured on New York Times Square's famous billboard. 

Don't miss: Press play: Lullaboy crashes weddings in the name of love (and branding) 

This once-in-a-lifetime experience ended up doubling seven months later when Seizure was once again featured on New York Times Square and LA’s Sunset Spectacular in 2023. Most notably, Seizure became the first-ever Southeast Asia Spotify GLOW artist representing all of Asia.

Currently, Seizure has over 63,813 listeners on Spotify across Taiwan, Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia. 

Most recently, the musician put out a single titled 'You're the s***', a diss track to exes. Most of the marketing for the track was done on TikTok and Instagram in a series of short videos.

In this series, MARKETING-INTERACTIVE spoke with Seizure to get to know how they market her music and the most exciting campaign they have run up till now. 

MARKETING-INTERACTIVE: Tell me the story of your first big moment when you felt you made it in the industry?

Seizure: My first big moment was launching my debut single Night and its music video in 2017 at a cosy, intimate single launch party at Bernard Godfrey Guitars.

I had to crowdfund the single launch and music video production. To my surprise, the people who chipped in surpassed the amount I originally set for the project. This experience showed me that there are people who care about what I do. 

At that point, the environment for promoting music was vastly different and there weren’t a lot of queer representation in the scene. Having a launch party with a queer music video meant something to the people involved. 

MARKETING-INTERACTIVE: What’s the most exciting way you’ve marketed your music? How did you go about it?

Seizure:

The most exciting way I’ve marketed my music was having a mocktail designed by Swee Lee Social Club for my song Chemistry.

I went down to Swee Lee Social Club to have a taste test. The drink and its flavour were created according to the colour scheme of Chemistry's single art as well as its storyline. When the drink is presented, it starts off blue and changes into magenta when you stir it.

It was also featured in the music video. People had to give a secret code to the barista at Swee Lee Social Club in order to have the drink. It was exciting to get my audience personally involved in something.

The promotion lasted for a fixed amount of time, which encouraged people to go and look at my music video to find the secret code — one of my lyrics from the song — and say it to the barista when they visit Swee Lee.

MARKETING-INTERACTIVE: What are some challenges you faced in marketing your music?

Seizure: I found it difficult to promote my music relentlessly on social media when things started changing with the rise of TikTok and Instagram reels.

I was very lucky to have hopped on the TikTok train during the COVID-19 pandemic and built a foundation there before things started getting back to normal. However, pivoting from funny content to music content also takes work and planning.

With the distance between artist and follower drawn a lot closer because of social media, it’s also important to be aware of the effects that it can have on my mental and physical health, as well as sustainability when it comes to conserving energy for the art that I’m trying to create.

I went through a few phases of figuring things out and finding balance. I still utilise TikTok and Instagram reels to promote my content and am starting to grasp the preferences my followers on each platform have.

It is tiring to constantly post content for audience retention, but I have since learned to accept that it’s part and parcel of a bigger picture, which is to reach out to more people who may relate to my message without compromising on the process that it takes to create the art that brought me to where I am.

MARKETING-INTERACTIVE: What’s one marketing tip you’d like to give fellow musicians who are starting out and are struggling to get their music out there?

Seizure:

If you don’t believe in your product (you/your songs) no one else will.

There will be many people who would have something to say about who you should be and what you should do. Remember that you are the artist.

People look out for your art because it is your perspective that they relate to and no one else’s. I think remembering that is important in every decision that you make.

Related articles: 
Press play How social media filters turned Iman Fandi from model-influencer to a pop princess  
Press play: Ex-SG Idol Sezairi Sezali on the importance of community in marketing music 
Maybelline New York picks electronic music DJ Peggy Gou as global ambassador