On first listen, the music of alextbh sounds soaked in freedom. We’re talking warm weather R&B-tinged pop, inflected with funk and strong Troye Sivan vibes.

But as an openly gay artist living proudly in his queer identity in Malaysia, the 21-year-old Kuala Lumpur-native is taking daily risks releasing music in a society where the government are still publicly unaccepting towards the LGBTQ community.

Not that this has deterred his swift ascent to stardom status in any way shape or form – the singer has already amassed over 10 million Spotify streams since his debut in 2016. And his latest release “no space” is a testimony to his talent – all sultry guitar riffs and earworm chorus. We’re seeing palm trees and stolen moments.

“I wrote this song after a hookup one night,” alextbh explains. “The premise is pretty much ‘I wanted sex, I got it, I loved the feeling of it, and I want to share it.’ It’s liberating — both sexually and in writing. I went to Denmark fully prepared to make some sadboy shit, so it’s funny that this song came out of that trip. I guess every artist needs a bit of fun Scandi-pop in their repertoire.

Listen to “no space” below…