Mr New Sensation

Indie-pop up-and-comer Gareth T has produced tracks for some of the biggest names in the city, but now he’ll have you hitting the replay button on his own tunes

- Kristy Or

The video starts with a soft male voice humming to a Bieber-like beat. The artist appears on camera awkwardly dressed in a series of ridiculous costumes: first as a big white fluffy yeti, and later as a mechanical Godzilla towering over a replica of Hong Kong with the International Finance Centre rendered out of a rotating fan. “I’m not the type to be noticed because I’m barely 5’7”,” he sings, almost winking at his dorkiness. “I’m OK good-looking but lacking on fashion.”

Gareth Tong, who goes by the stage name Gareth T, made his singing debut earlier this year under the Warner Music Hong Kong label with his breakout hit, Boyfriend Material, in which he sings about being hopeless at love and gripes about dating. “It was cool,” he says about the filming of the quirky music video. “The yeti costume was hot. I was sweating. And the Godzilla one, I actually couldn’t move that much.”