How Hannah Bahng Created Her Own Path

The Korean-Australian singer-songwriter Hannah Bahng is winning fans with her confessional indie-rock songs. My latest exclusive for Rolling Stone.
Journalist, Author & Syndicated Columnist
The Korean-Australian singer-songwriter Hannah Bahng is winning fans with her confessional indie-rock songs. My latest exclusive for Rolling Stone.
“Between filming and traveling, I mostly just go home to water my plants and check on my avocado tree,” said Eloise Mumford, who will next be seen in the Prime Video series “Cross.” “[The show] takes place in Washington, D.C., and the city is a huge part of the fabric of the series,” she said. “We filmed pivotal exteriors there. But as often is the case, the majority of the show was filmed somewhere else to double as D.C.”
“Charlie is the kindest, most level-headed, ever-patient husband you could ask for,” Devin Kawaoka said of the character he plays on the new Apple TV+ series “Shrinking.” “He feels deeply, sees the best in people and is always up for adventure – or some quality time over a glass of wine. He’s easy! If that’s not a good travel partner, then I don’t know what is.”
Growing up, Bobby Bare Jr. was accustomed to hitting the road with his musician parents – country artist Bobby Bare Sr. and singer Jeannie Bare. “Me and my family had a family show for a while,” said the 58-year-old singer-songwriter-guitarist for Guided by Voices. “[When] we went to Miami, we had a police escort to our show. It was spectacular.”
“At eight years of age, it was an easy transition [to the U.S.],” said “Squid Game: The Challenge” winner Mai Whelan. “The hardest was learning English, because there are so many tenses. In Vietnamese, we have general, formal and no tenses.”
“Bob [Saget] and I went to London, Paris and Sicily and it was all just spectacular,” on-air host Kelly Rizzo said of her late husband. “Thankfully, memories were made that would last a lifetime. He was so happy on that trip. It made me so happy to see him so happy. I’m so forever grateful for that trip. It was truly the trip of a lifetime.”
“I’m an only child, so I have a lot of memories of being very solitary and entertaining myself,” said “Batwoman” star Nicole Kang. “I liked doing anything creative to entertain myself. I liked to lose myself in my imagination.”
“We were going to go to Mexico to see Phish, but that got postponed (due to the pandemic),” said Katie Rich, the co-creator of the Netflix animated series “Chicago Party Aunt.” “I actually think we ended up traveling more than ever just in the Midwest, tooling around in our little Honda Fit.”
“I Still Do” singer-songwriter suggests that when planning a trip, “Get a hotel with an ocean view where you can walk across the street and be at the beach within less than a minute.”
The Claudettes’ Johnny Iguana says he will always try to speak Spanish when he can to natives: “I almost always have to say, “Mas despacio, por favor,” as the answers come flying back too fast for my brain to apprehend.”
“I’ve always loved Japan,” says “Council of Dads” actress Sarah Wayne Callies. “It’s ancient and modern at the same time, from the food, to the clothes, to the architecture. I stayed in a ryokan that had been in the same family for 16 generations and ate kaiseki dinner every night.”
“When I was younger, I spent a month living in Belgrade, Serbia,” says “Shrill” actor Luka Jones. “But all I can recall from that time are some curse words!”
“I have regarded myself unambiguously as a Chicagoan,” says “Presumed Innocent” author Scott Turow. “But we will spend more time in Naples than any other city. Sandy Stern, my main character, is an elderly lawyer. To me, there is a lot to love in Naples, but Stern despises all of Florida. He says that America’s elderly are like characters in a Shaw play who do not realize they are actually in hell.”
Born and raised in Chicago, NCT 127’s John Suh got his first taste of concerts thanks to his mother, who worked for a local radio station. “I was too young to remember who I saw, but I remember myself having a lot of fun,” says Suh, who goes by the stage name of simply Johnny. “(One day), I would love to see Coldplay at Soldier Field. That would be very awesome.” Johnny and some of his band mates took a breather from promoting their EP “We Are Superhuman” to participate in this interview.
Like other young female musicians such as H.E.R. and Billie Eilish, mxmtoon is making her mark as a singer-songwriter. Her debut album, “the masquerade,” is out and the 19-year-old artist hosts a podcast called “21 Days,” which gives fans insight into her life and her work process. Based out of Oakland, California, mxmtoon says traveling so much for work can be helpful when it comes to creating new songs. She also says she’s looking forward to seeing more of her colleagues on stage.
BTS has figured out the most challenging aspect of stadium shows: how to make them feel intimate. Their boy-next-door charm, lively banter (in both English and Korean) and constant engagement with projected a warmth that reached the upper bleachers of Soldier Field. And even a language barrier doesn’t distract from the storytelling aspects of their songs: Most of the fans in the stadium tonight have long since translated the lyrics.
Vacationing in Argentina this past Christmas was special for Michael Vlamis because it was the first trip he paid for himself. “Up until then, the only time I traveled was because of work or on family vacations,” he says. “As an actor starting out, you’re a slave to the Hollywood system, but my (CW series) ‘Roswell, New Mexico’ gave me the freedom and financial flexibility I needed to go see the world.”
Musician/producer Lay is celebrating his recent 27th birthday with the release of his latest solo album, “NAMANANA,” on Oct. 19. Born Yixing Zhang in Hunan, the EXO star recorded each song, including his self-produced single, “Give Me a Chance” — in both English and Mandarin. A workaholic who says he’s happiest when he’s busy, he made his solo United States festival debut this past summer at the Chicago stop of Lollapalooza.
Rosanna Arquette says she feels grateful when people recognize her for her activism as much as for her acting (“Desperately Seeking Susan,” “Pulp Fiction”). Her latest role is as Mary on the new YouTube Premium series, “Sideswiped.” “While I was shooting this show, which I’m very excited about, I was dealing with all of the Harvey Weinstein stuff,” says Arquette, who was one of the first women to publicly talk about how the film producer threatened to sink her career after she says she refused his demands for sex. “Shooting the series was such a good distraction during that time. And with all the things going on (in politics now), I hope that people will watch the show and laugh.”
“The best travel memory I have is a proper Sunday lunch with my wife’s family in Brighton, England, where she grew up,” says MAX, 25. “It was just beautiful and magical to feel so at home in a place I just got to that day for the first time. The worst vacation memory was in Puerto Rico with a terrible ex of mine when I was 16. We were in a massive fight and two guys walked past hollering at her, so I cursed them out. They (started) yelling that they were gonna shank me. Definitely thought I was gonna die. It made me learn not to curse people out, especially in foreign places.”