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Today we’re excited to bring you the premiere of “Defenders,” by Tien. The song opens his excellent new album Invitation, out September 1st. Get to know the interesting story of Tien as well as his thoughts on “Defenders” and stream the uplifting track below!
Tell us about your background and how you got started in music.
I grew up by a creek in rural Maryland listening to my sister play piano. My earliest musical memory is of my mother, a Vietnamese zither player, making us sing along to Madonna cassette tapes. I grew up taking violin lessons and singing in choir, and eventually taught myself how to play the guitar. When I turned 16 and got a car, I spent countless hours at the wheel singing along to Stevie Wonder and Al Green, trying to be more ‘soul man’ and less ‘choir boy’. Still working on that in many ways.
We’re excited to premiere the upbeat, uplifting “Defenders” today. What inspired the song and how long did the song take you to write?
“Defenders” is about being a guardian and a steward of love. It’s about sticking together to battle the common enemy of miscommunication. I’m sorry if that sounds like couples therapy. I think that much of what keeps us from being happy comes from within, and songwriting is the best way I’ve found to heal myself. It probably took a couple days to write the basic idea of it.
Invitation comes out on September 1st and we’re all excited about the release. What was your overall goal or message on Invitation?
Thank you for sharing my excitement! It’s been a lot of hard work and I can’t wait for you all to hear the album. My overall goal is to be an engaging storyteller, which I find to be a worthy challenge. When I started writing ‘Invitation’, I was thousands of miles away from home, having followed a gut feeling to move to Southern Brazil, where I ended up meeting my girlfriend. My hope as a songwriter is that I sincerely captured that experience, and that people will relate to my story.
Being a well traveled musician, what would you say is the best place/location for you to write and create music? What place, person, or musician has had the biggest influence on your music?
For the last couple years, I’ve been based out of Brazil, which is perfect for my songwriting process. I’ll walk for hours a day humming song ideas to myself, and then hammer out the lyrics at a sidewalk café. It definitely changed my music to sing for people who don’t speak much English and are raised in a culture of rhythm and movement. If I can get them grooving too, I know I’m doing something right.
Tien – “Defenders”
