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One to watch: Wasia Project
Heartstopper actor Will Gao and his sister Olivia Hardy mix modern jazz and indie with a wisdom beyond their years
Although Will Gao will be known to most through his portrayal of Tao Xu in Netflix’s coming-of-age smash Heartstopper, his musical endeavours as one half of Wasia Project alongside sister Olivia Hardy have been much longer in the making. Far from a side hustle, Wasia – formed in 2019, and named after a conflation of the pair’s mixed western and Asian heritage – craft an accomplished palette rooted in classical training but bringing in modern, Laufey-esque jazz and crooning indie-pop. Recent single Takes Me Back Home is rich with strings and Hardy’s haunting vocals, while breakthrough track Ur So Pretty (featured on the Heartstopper soundtrack) is an appropriately heart-tugging exercise in classical piano minimalism.
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