Jannine Weigel’s rise to Asian Pop stardom is quite extraordinary.

The singer-songwriter first came to public attention in 2013 when her YouTube covers, recorded from her home in Thailand, went viral – amidst a global trend favouring cover music on the platform, hers cut through, with her covers of Adele, Maroon 5 and OneRepublic reaching millions of views to-date.

Then, the next step came – original music. She became a trainee at GMM Grammy after becoming third place in a singing competition; where she released a string of original songs, sung in Thai. But, when it came to English language music (a part of the industry that Weigel admits she has always wanted to break into) she was alone.

Days after she decided she was going to go to University, a new label based in Kuala Lumpur, Red Records (a partnership between AirAsia and Universal Music Group) reached out to her and, after a few meetings, she signed on and moved to Malaysia!

And that’s where “Passcode” came from. The upbeat pop bop, which mixes tones of Asian pop, American pop and Scandi pop, was co-produced by Tommy Brown (known for producing much of Ariana Grande’s catalogue) and co-written by Jessie Reyez.

Although the song is a new turn for the artist whose fan base in used to instrumental Thai songs, the reaction has been huge. With over 1M views on the Music Video to-date and a similar reaction on streaming platforms, it’s clear that “Passcode” has unlocked a new, even more exciting era for Jannine Weigel.

Jannine Weigel sat down with James Gilmore on Zoom to talk about her rise in A Pop, being a label trainee and her new single “Passcode”.

Broadcasted exclusively worldwide on W!ZARD Radio Station.

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