Interview: Promqueen Gets Candid on Authenticity, Multi-Generational Trauma, and Safe Spaces

Following their debut performance at Austin City Limits festival, promqueen offers insight into their musical philosophy and creative process.

Written by C.S Harper

Photo courtesy of Chie Endo

Since bursting onto the scene with their 2023 debut single, “Xí Xọn,” Casie Luong has delivered a consistent output of bubbly yet introspective bops as promqueen. At just over a year into their career, Austin’s pop-rap princess has already put out two records, szn one and szn two. Afterglow spoke with promqueen to learn more about these sister records, the artist’s intersectional identity, and their collaborations with folks of color in the local community.

Afterglow: How does it feel to debut at ACL on such a major stage and have a live band for the first time

Promqueen: It feels wonderful to debut on the stage for the first time with my team [and] my family. It feels really great. We saw The Marías on the big Jumbotron, and just two years later, we were able to stand there and do that. It’s like a dream. It felt really exhilarating. There were some things that went differently than usual [in the set] and we overcame it as a team, and I’m really proud of us.

I'm very proud of you. That was one of my favorite sets I've ever seen at ACL. Something that I noticed about your music is how intersectionality is such an important part of it: You’re queer, Vietnamese, and an immigrant, which plays a role in your music. Many people are second-generation immigrants like myself, and we feel pressure to choose only one identity over another. So, what inspired you to really embrace your fullness as a person in your music?

It took a long time. [When] this project started, [it was like] a music scene. I wanted to hang up the towel because I was trying to fit into a box and be [a] folk-pop [artist] and not have any of my cultural or queer identity [be a] part of it. Two years ago, my producer waverly and I were just writing a song, and he [said], ‘why don't you put some Vietnamese in there?’ I've never done that [before] because [when] I grew up, [my mom would say], ‘Try to speak English, try to assimilate.’ [She wanted me to] try to just fit in. I was like, ‘Well, I'll try it,’ and it was so fun. It was like how I grew up talking, which is some Vietnamese, some English. It was like a little [patch quilt] of a language. So that's when it unlocked — it was this sense [that] I can be myself. Once I did that, it unlocked my inner child: promqueen. It made it so fun. I can just be me. I can explore my sexuality, my cultural identity. It’s been a really incredible journey. To add to this, I've been working on a memoir about my parents’ journeys. They're both immigrants from Vietnam, and I've been interviewing them, writing their stories, [and] learning about them [and] my grandparents’ [stories] … a whole lineage poured into this project quite naturally.

That's so special, and it makes you uniquely you. Speaking of waverly, how did that collaboration come about?

Waverly and I met in 2017 at a youth music education camp. He was actually a camper, [and] I was an instructor. Then later, he became an instructor. We worked really well together, [and] he started producing about five [or] six years ago. We've just always been in each other's paths, and I trust his musical intuition and his ability to write. He allows me to play and be creative, so that's what I need to drive [me]. That's how we met, and we're still kicking it.

Mhart, your label, is all Asian American. How does it feel to be the first signee and be such an incredible pioneer in the Austin scene?

It feels really wonderful, [and] it feels really safe. Our label [has] Asian American artists, but our label is [also] 90-95% queer BIPOC, so we really prioritize that a lot. It’s really a safe space for all of us, and we’re all willing to try things. We’re all experts in our own right, [but] we’ve never done anything like this together. We’re all trying something for the first time, and it’s kind of magical. I love it. I love bringing more representation to ACL, [and] it feels really good.

Speaking of trying new things, you have two albums: szn one and szn two. It’s really impressive that you have two albums under your belt, but I noticed that szn one seemed a lot more bubbly and poppy, while szn two goes into darker sounds and themes. How was it exploring that? 

That's exactly what we were going for. So szn one was more of a sampler platter. It was like, ‘This is promqueen. She's bold. [This is] who she is.’ szn two was like, ‘We're going through a dark forest. [We’re] revisiting the past.’ So, past things with my family and things that we've experienced that are darker. “number on me” [deals] with how the French colonized Vietnam, directly affecting my great-grandmother, grandmother, and my family. [A member] of my family [was] going through a domestic abuse relationship, so I wanted to write something to process that. Colonization and domestic disputes deal with forms of power, so it made sense to write something like that. So szn two is a lot darker. It's a lot more lonely. There are songs that deal with my dad when he was trying to escape from Vietnam, and me tapping into what that loneliness was like [so I can] process it on my own. So, it was quite the journey. I really enjoy szn two a lot. It has a lot of different flavors for me. It feels more savory [to me].

I really like “big bad wolf” from szn two. I describe szn one as multicultural pride, and then szn two has a little bit more wrath, like the seven deadly sins. I really love how “big bad wolf” delves into that dark place of marginalization and facing obstacles. What was it like to tap into those themes as someone who has been marginalized in multiple ways?

[It’s great that you gave] “big bad wolf” a nod. Some people connect with it, so it means a lot that you connected with that. [That track] was processing a lot of stuff about inter-family racism. Growing up, my mom was like, ‘You’ve got to keep your skin lighter.’ So, [my mom’s] whole idea [was that] you should keep your skin white and look a certain way. That track [deals] with how people treated my family. My parents don’t speak English primarily, and people treat[ed] them like they’re dumbed down. It’s been terrible. It [was] facing a lot of that. With that comes the “big bad wolf”: that is promqueen. She’s misunderstood, but she’s just trying to fight for what’s right.

Another track that I really liked was “hungry.” How was it exploring different acoustic sounds and getting out of your comfort zone a little bit on this project?

What's so funny is that I didn't start rapping until two years ago. Waverly was like, ‘Why don't you try rapping? Why don't you try just Vietnamese words?’ I was like, ‘Okay.’ It takes me back a little bit more to my R&B roots, which I enjoy: “out of my head” and “hungry” kind of have that. But [for] “hungry,” I was listening to DPR Ian a lot and he’s got this acoustic speaksy style that I appreciate. So I stretched myself in that way on that song, and it was really fun.

It sounds like whenever you're on stage or in the studio, you’re having fun and you have passion for it, you know? 

If I'm not having fun and laughing, I have to stop. ‘Cause it’s not right, you know what I mean? Thank you for noticing that.

You mentioned the memoir that you're working on, so I wanted to talk about your projects outside of music. You're kind of a multi-hyphenate in some ways. You also have an art exhibit called ‘untangling.’ Can you tell me a little bit more about that?

Oh my goodness, there's so much fun stuff [I’m working on] to my detriment sometimes, but I do a lot of different things. I'm a writer, an actress, I produce and co-direct, and stuff like that. I really enjoy cross-training. That's how I view doing different artistic mediums. [The] Untangling Art Exhibit — it's a collaborative project that I did with my friend [while] studying Asian American mother-daughter [or] mother-non-binary relationships. We did an interview series with about nine participants, selected five, and [we] did a photoshoot session with each of them to reflect their relationship to each other. Then, we presented it at an art exhibit. It was an immersive art exhibit as well, so we had different rooms with different installations. One room was audio only. For my lovely introverts, I always love having a room where you can go and be quiet. That room had pictures of all of our participants' childhoods and a 30-minute voice compilation of all the interviews. In the second room, [you could] write letters to yourself of things you wish to say to your daughter or mother, and then you could take it, or you could put it at [an] altar of release and let that go. [In] one of the rooms, we had a documentary we made on one of our participants. Then, in the main room, we had the actual photo acrylic prints. We [also] had a Q&A panel that I moderated of our panelists. It was a fantastic night. Probably one of the best events that I've produced.

That was our opening exhibit and our next exhibit for that will be at the Asian American Resource Center in July 2025.

This interview has been minimally edited for clarity and length.

You can follow Promqueen on Instagram and stream her music on Apple Music and Spotify.