Tennyson King: It Ain't Easy

By Kerry Doole

Tennyson King - It Ain't Easy (Independent): This Chinese-Canadian singer/songwriter is readying the release of a new album, Good Company, out Jan. 21, and this is the latest in a string of advance singles.

King may tag himself a nomad indie-folk rocker, but this tune is firmly in the pop-rock camp. It sports a catchy, synth-inflected groove, and his voice is easy on the ear. An entertaining accompanying video features Kelowna actress/spoken word artist, Sian Flanagan, and members of the Okanagan Arm Wrestling Club. A press release notes that “the arm wrestling in the music video is the physical metaphor for the challenges that we face on a daily basis."

The track is upbeat, but King explains it came out of a difficult period. “I felt pressure to have to fit in with the white Canadian music that was being made, the way the artists looked, acted, what they sang about, in order to have the same type of success they did. There aren’t many ethnic musicians in my genre to look up to as stories of success. I found that I couldn’t fully be myself because if I wanted to be successful, I couldn’t be exactly how I looked and who I was."

“While writing this song to understand these emotions, I then realized that this had been a recurring theme in my life growing up in Canada as an immigrant. This is my anthem to deal with these struggles and to extend my hand out to others who struggle.”

Nomadic in nature, King has toured in Canada, Australia, China, Hong Kong, Brasil and Southeast Asia. He was selected to participate in the 2020 Canadian Songwriter Challenge to work with Terra Lightfoot, Adrian X (Drake, The Weeknd), and Moe Berg. In 2021, he released two Chinese language singles, and these songs garnered recognition by Mandarin, Cantonese, and English press alike.

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Publicity: Indoor Recess