Musical pioneer pursuing dream career
Posted on April 01, 2022
Former Macleans College student and musician Laurence Larson (Rutherford House 2007 – 2011) is enjoying a visit home to New Zealand after a whirl-wind seven years pursuing his dreams in China and Taiwan.
While studying popular music and Chinese language at The University of Auckland, Laurence gained a substantial following on social media after he posted videos sung in a mix of Mandarin and English. From seven videos posted to Chinese video-sharing website Youku, Laurence gained over 500 million views online. It was these videos which opened the door for Laurence to perform on the Chinese TV show The Voice.
After university Laurence made the move to Beijing where he wrote and produced songs for TV shows and movies, performed to live audiences, recorded cover songs, and worked on original music.
Laurence’s music fuses Eastern and Western musical influences to give a fresh twist on C-Pop. With most kiwi musicians aiming to crack the music industries of countries such as Australia, the UK and the USA, Laurence has taken a different route. Laurence has been described as some-what of a pioneer – he did not have a role model to follow when he embarked on his music career in China.
In recent years Laurence has been based in Taiwan, working with Taiwanese record labels and writing for other C-Pop artists alongside writing and producing his own music.
Fast forward to 2022 and Laurence now has a social media presence of over 1 million followers, and 44,550 monthly listeners on Spotify. In the future, he hopes to launch into other Asian markets such as Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong.
Laurence Larson on Chinese TV.
An original song by Laurence Larson and Keril – Thank You.