Turning Passion into Profession: Midnight Blu's Music Success
Always singing your lungs out during a karaoke session with your friends? Maybe this is a sign for you to perhaps turn your hobby into your career.
“I think we would make a good duo” said Aisha, thinking back to how this statement marked the beginning of her songwriter-producer duo. Aisha Ayesha, 27, and Dan Rafaael, 25, who first started singing as a hobby and are now freelance music producers and educators in music and art. Since they started in 2023, the couple have garnered over 60,000 followers on their TikTok (@mdnight.blu) and over 56,000 monthly listeners on Spotify (Midnight Blu).
Source: TikTok (@mdnight.blu)
Currently, Aisha is a music and art educator, and she generally freelances as a vocal teacher at music schools. She also writes songs for local artists such as Keyana’s single named “Afterglow” and international artists such as @mm_dd_yy who is under Paktory Official, a sub label of JYP.
Dan is a freelance music producer and songwriter for local artists ranging from Abangsapau in the hip hop scene, Syarif from Sleeq in the Malay music industry, Feez in the pop/R&B scene and many more. Many of the songs such as “Balik” by Feez, “Ice Lemon Tea Freestyle” by Abangsapau and Tengyboy have done decently well in the local market.
It all traced back to 2020, where the pair met through Instagram due to a common interest and quickly bonded over similar struggles regarding mental health, like anxiety. “Growing up, we both struggled with anxiety, mostly performance anxiety,” said Aisha. Even though both Aisha and Dan share a passion for singing, meeting new people and performing in front of a crowd was always a challenge and still is now.
Aisha started singing at the age of seven, but only professionally at 16, along with songwriting. “I was mainly self-taught at the beginning but sharpened my skills in Lasalle College of the Arts - Bachelor’s Arts Education Degree, specialising in Music Composition,” shared Aisha.
Whereas for Dan, he started playing the guitar first and taught himself how to sing. In 2016, he started producing beats at home, after he received his first music production software, the FL studio, as a gift from his dad.
Source: Instagram (@mdnight.blu)
When the duo first began, they did not have much planned. “We just wanted to do what we love but at the same time, we wanted to be successful and make a living out of it,” said Aisha. They simply created many song covers together and spent time bonding. “While doing so, ideas just come about along the way,” Dan added.
However, they had goals and expectations for themselves, and they worked really hard to experiment with different marketing strategies, branding, and content. “We can’t say we are surprised by the recognition as we did work very hard for it. However, we are definitely surprised by the type of songs that blew up,” said Aisha. It pushed the duo to become more experimental and move out of their usual comfort zone when it comes to music.
“It was a natural process for us because we worked well together not just as a couple but as business partners as well,” Aisha said.
The pair hasn’t done a lot of performances together as a duo yet, but Aisha did have solo performances often a few years back. She said, “With our personal matters being our highest priority, we haven’t had many opportunities to perform together, so hopefully we will in the future!”
Source: TikTok (@mdnight.blu)
“The most memorable part of our journey would be meeting each other through our music. “Through doing music together, it created a lot of personal memories too so it’s really nice to have that,” Dan said.
“We have had more relationship challenges than business challenges,” Aisha laughed while saying. However, it all seems to be working well as the couple greatly emphasises on communication and trust. They also ensure a good balance between being a couple and being business partners and to always prioritise their relationship over anything else.
Countless friends were made along the way, from other singers to people outside of the music industry, such as videographers, visual artists, and more. “We are always looking forward to making new friends and collaborating with them!”
For now, the pair is focused on their personal life. They recently got married and have been busy adjusting to their exciting new life together. However, rest assured for all current and upcoming fans, they are working to release new singles this year. Looking for new song rotations this summer? Perhaps you should tune in to Midnight Blu on Spotify!
