Arriving at The North Star Boys’ show at The Roxy in Los Angeles, a legendary venue where all the greats of the music industry have performed, we were welcomed with a line of fans, also known as Stars, bleeding into the streets for blocks on end. Not only were they patiently waiting for doors to open, but they held signs and cheered anytime there was any inkling of excitement.
Boasting a whopping 5 million followers on TikTok alone, NSB serves as the first Asian-American content group, which came in perfect timing being that May was AAPI month. Founded by brothers Oliver Moy and Sebastian Moy, the 7-member group went from coming together during the pandemic to now becoming an international sensation. Of course, this doesn’t come without passion, work ethic, and resilience when it comes to chasing their wildest dreams.
Most recently, The North Stay Boys unveiled their highly-anticipated debut single titled “you are my star,” dedicated to their incredibly loving and loyal fanbase. The record (along with all their music) was distributed via HitCo, the record label co-founded by music mogul L.A. Reid.
AllHipHop: How does it feel to have your performance here at the Roxy, a legendary venue?
Oliver: How do you boys feel?
All: So excited man. Excited, nervous.
AllHipHop: Why are you nervous?
Ryan: My social battery is very low, I’ve seen a lot of people.
Oliver: I am really excited. I was nervous yesterday, but now that I’ve checked out and scoped around the venue, I’ve seen all of the Stars waiting in line outside and I feel much better.
AllHipHop: I cover a lot of shows here, there’s never a line that long
All: Really?
AllHipHop: I mean, for Yeat there was.
All: [laughs]
Sebastian: Shout out Yeat, we’re coming for you.
AllHipHop: How does that feel, to have your fans literally waiting outside? Some have signs, some are cheering.
Oliver: They’re the best
Sebastian: Mind-blowing, it’s absolutely surreal
AllHipHop: You guys just released “you are my star,” how does it feel to have your first single out?
Oliver: Yes, finally right? The inspiration for “you are my star” were the Stars, which is what we call the fandom. They inspired me to write a song for them because without them, we would not be anywhere near where we are now. In fact, without them, we would be nothing.
AllHipHop: And you guys write all your own music?
Oliver: Absolutely.
AllHipHop: What is the recording process with so many people?
Oliver: It is actually quite funny, we take turns.
All: [laughs]
Oliver: We record every single night. We argue, like Darren says it’s my turn to go up on the mic and Kane says it’s my turn. It’s a lot of fun. We all record it in my bedroom on the computer.
AllHipHop: Talk about how your group formed and how you choose your members.
Sebastian: I woke up with a dream one night about a year ago. I thought there are no Asian American content groups or anyone that’s really taking it seriously. I thought it was a really good idea, then I met the wonderful guys in Texas. They were already a group of best friends and we kicked it off, had amazing chemistry and energy right away. We were like, “Yo, I don’t know if you guys want to throw your lives into right now instead of following your current plan…” A lot of them were in college and doing their thing, really pursuing this dream. Everything from there was a domino effect, all falling in together perfectly.
AllHipHop: When did Tiktok kick off for you guys?
Oliver: My brother and I, we were on TikTok when it came up because previously we were on Musical.ly. You know that transition from Musical.ly. to TikTok? My brother Sebastian and I have been on social media for 6 years now, we had all this knowledge. We knew how to grow pretty well on social media and we wanted to share that knowledge with a group of best friends and grow together.
@northstarboys ♬ Love Nwantiti(Remix) – mouradbiker.ma
AllHipHop: What was the first video that went viral with the whole group?
Sebastian: For Oliver and I, we definitely had a lot of viral videos. I don’t remember the first one exactly, it was a while ago. Once we showed the world the group, it instantly kicked off. We shared with them our mission statement and our vision, everything we do is for the supporters. They really have been supporting us since the beginning.
Oliver: I’ll give a little more detail. Our first viral video put together was a line video, we got into a line and there was a phone on the stand. We walked in a line and that was it.
AllHipHop: Have you guys always done music?
Oliver: I’ve been passionate about music for as long as I can remember. I was into poetry and thought it was cool. From there, it took me into finding a passion for music and songwriting. With the members of NSB, we decided we’d take this route because we came together initially to make content, simply making videos in short form and long form, but then it grew into something more than that.
Because I make and produce music and write songs in my room every night. One day, Regie came into my room, knocked on my door and said, “ I want to hop on a track.” And he did. I said “where did you get that voice from?” He said “I don’t know man.” From there, we were trying everyone’s voices and they sounded great. We just took it from there.
AllHipHop: I’d imagine your fans loved you first for your content. How did they feel when you said you are releasing music?
Oliver: They were very excited. I did not realize the process of making a song and getting it onto Spotify, it took way longer than I thought so thankfully the Stars are very understanding. The process of us announcing we have a debut single ready to release, it took about two months. It was a lot of good build-up and hype around the song. Now, we’re here at the Roxy in West Hollywood about to perform our first ever show.
AllHipHop: What else are you guys performing?
Oliver: We have about 10 songs, 9 unreleased tracks and “you are my star’ that just released.
AllHipHop: So why the name North Star Boys?
Oliver: I got it from my mom. Sebastian came out with the idea of an Asian American content group, which was amazing. I came up with the name North Star Boys because our mom always taught us growing up to always follow our north star. What that means is to figure out what you want to do with your life, and reverse engineer it from there. We wanted to inspire Asian Americans around the world, the first step was to grab a couple of Asian Americans that have a similar goal and dream and go from there.
AllHipHop: Do you feel like it is hard to make it in the music industry as Asian Americans?
Oliver: Making it in the music industry as Asian American, I wouldn’t say it is, but you have to play your cards right. We have a beautiful fanbase that backs us up with everything.
AllHipHop: I know you just had a crazy show in NYC. You had a Meet & Greet right?
Oliver: Yes. How do you guys feel about it?
Regie: It was unreal and one of the biggest days of my life. Core memory.
Oliver: That was the day we found out how big our Stars are. I think tonight will be the second time we find out how strong our Stars are.
AllHipHop: Talk about collaborating with Patrick Starrr for AAPI month
Oliver: Patrick is amazing. We thought it would be perfect to collab with him because Patrick Starrr, North Star Boys. Plus, I grew up watching his content on Youtube. I used to put makeup on in high school because I was insecure about my skin and acne. But as time went on, I realized that you don’t need to wear makeup to feel confident. If you have a blemish, it doesn’t matter.
AllHipHop: Your skin looks great by the way
Oliver: You know what I say about that? When you stop worrying about your skin, that’s when it gets better.
AllHipHop: What fans can expect from the EP?
Oliver: We have the whole EP ready to go, we are waiting for the perfect moment to drop it.
AllHipHop: Is there a name?
Oliver: There is, but I’m not going to tell you yet.
AllHipHop: How would you describe your sound?
Oliver: NSB Sounds. It is a mixture of all our favorite genres mashed into one.
AllHipHop: Is NSB going to be doing collaborations?
Oliver: We are very open-minded to collaborations. Hit us up if you want to collaborate.
AllHipHop: What do you guys like to do when you’re not working
Regie: I like to work out and play video games.
Justin: Video games
Oliver: I like to make music, honestly. Away from social media, every second I can I am making music. I love it so much.
Sebastian: I like fitness, I like going to the gym and making music as well.
Kane: I like playing sports and watching anime.
Darren: Video games.
Ryan: Video games and sleep.
Tyler (manager): I love supporting the boys. Everyone here has a passion for music so at the end of the night, just make music. Even if it doesn’t get released.
Oliver: I also like to beat everyone in the chess. Sometimes, we go out for Kbbq. Sometimes, we play basketball. A lot of group activities.
AllHipHop: You guys all live together?
Oliver: Yes.
AllHipHop: Do you have any goals for yourselves as NSB?
Oliver: We want our music to be heard by many people, because I never thought I’d get back into releasing music. But now that the Stars are here for us, we want to share our music with them because the music means so much to us and it is written in our room. There are no writers currently that are helping. Everything written in our music comes straight from us so we want to share that experience and memories with the people that support us.
AllHipHop: Anything else you want to let us know about?
Oliver: Thank you so much for taking the time to do this interview and hope you enjoy the show! .