[Fan Talent] Ray Mak

For this Fan Talent article, we’re going to be looking at Ray Mak! He’s a piano cover artist on Youtube with a grand total of 213,810 subscribers and an incredible 65,726,350 views collectively from all his videos! Ray has been committed to posting videos since 2008, which shows seven years of hard work, you can definitely see the progress and improvement made in recent covers!

There’s an abundance of different genres of songs to choose to listen to, from mainstream pop to K-pop and J-pop! Just a few examples of Korean artists he has covered, from VIXX, BIGBANG, Super Junior, SNSD, Park Bom, Infinite, DBSK, 2ne1, Beast, 4Minute and more!

On his ‘about me’ website – link is on the bottom of the page – he has the words ‘Dream. Believe. Do’ at the top of the page which I think is something we could all do if we put in the necessary work in to achieve our goals!

Spirited Away Cover

I’m not sure if this just applies to me, but way before I even got into Korean pop music, when I was younger I loved Japanese anime and music and listening to this Spirited Away cover brought back so many memories! I don’t know if this is the case for most people, but I branched off into K-pop through my interest in Japanese cartoon shows!

Anyway, if you wanted to indulge in some of Ray’s videos, here’s some recommendations! We also had the chance to do a short Q&A with Ray, which should come after the onslaught of the video spam. Enjoy!

First Kpop Cover – DBSK – Forever

SHINee – Lucifer

Park Bom – You and I

Super Junior – Mr Simple

2ne1 – I Love You

K.Will – Please Don’t

CNBlue – I’m Sorry

SNSD – OH

Links for other covers!
BEAST – Shadow
U-Kiss – 0330
PSY – Gangnam Style
INFINITE – Be Mine
Taeyang – Wedding Dress

1. Could you briefly introduce yourself to the readers who may not know of you?

My name is Ray Mak, from Malaysia. I play piano covers of top hits on YouTube. I love to listen to latest hits from many different countries and I particularly love KPOP.

2. What would you say was the main inspiration for aspiring to become a musician? How much of an impact and influence has music had on your life?

I love music wholeheartedly. I strongly believe that with Music, we can overcome all language barriers. Music has been in my life since before I was even born. My mother was listening to Mozart while I was inside her.

3. When did you start playing the piano? And what was it that encouraged you to start posting your covers onto such a public platform such as YouTube?

I started playing the piano as early as 7 years old, but I only get to play an actual piano when I was around 10 years of age. YouTube started as an online storage for me. I started posting random videos of my life on YouTube particularly Tae Kwon Do videos as I was teaching Tae Kwon Do back in Massachusetts.

4. How many years of practice did it take you to reach the current level you’re at now? As I’ve read that you play your music by ear, does that make learning music easier?

I’m not a fan of sight reading. I’ve been playing music by ear since I was 10. It doesn’t take many years to reach any desired level. It’s 10,000 hours of hardwork rather than how many years. I have to emphasize on this because many people procrastinate for years and expect success. As long as we are able to enjoy music, playing by notes or ear is the same.

5. You come across as a really positive person from what I’ve only read online, you’ve covered a range of songs from different genres, what would you say was the main thing that kept you going through the struggles of learning different songs?

Putting videos on YouTube or any social media is very similar to writing a book. We are basically immortalizing ourselves in a different form. I love listening to music, I like them even more as piano versions. By recording them, I eliminate the risk of forgetting my own covers.

6. Which would you say was the most difficult song you have learnt to play so far?

Any classical song is difficult to learn by ear. Final Fantasy VII – Those Who Fight

7. How do you feel about all the support and recognition you have gotten from your YouTube videos?

I feel thankful to all those who’ve supported me and I’ll give much more in return.

8. Which K-pop song cover that you have done is your favourite?

To date, BIGBANG’s MADE Series. I’ve covered Bae Bae, Loser (Made Series M) and Bang Bang Bang, We Like 2 Party (Made Series A)

BIGBANG – Loser
Links for Bae Bae, Bang Bang Bang and We Like 2 Party covers!
Blue cover

9. Following on from that, is there any particular songs from K-pop that you would like to cover in the future?

I’m looking forward to BIGBANG’s Made Series D and E which will be released in July and August respectively before the full release of the entire album in September.

10. To finish off on a positive note, is there any words of advice you would like to tell people who are currently learning to play the piano or any other instrument? And if you wanted to, you could take this opportunity to say something to the people who support you!

Anything you wanna do in life, do it with utmost passion, perseverance, patience, and persistence. Never do something and give up halfway, because there is no failure except in no longer trying.

To those who support me and future supporters. Thank you very much from the bottom of my heart. I hope you’ll continue to support me by sharing my work.