Introduction

Hello world. My name is Nate Chung. I’m a singer songwriter based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, born and raised in a northern New Jersey suburb. I grew up surrounded by art and adventure - inspired by my mother and grandfather, both visual artists, and my father, a banker by day but always an avid adventurer. Following in their footsteps, I took to expressing myself through songwriting and performing and adventuring outdoors at any opportunity. I pursued these passions throughout my school years and continue to write, perform, and explore alongside my professional career as a management consultant. Soon after graduating from college I created this platform as a place for me to channel my creative energy. I’m glad you’ve stumbled upon it.

Background

A Walk in Berlin

Berlin, Germany in the summer of 2018. Three friends and I are walking the streets, taking in the sights and sounds of the sixth European city on our post-graduate trip. Traveling by train and plane, and walking mile after mile across the continent created plenty of room for introspection. What do I take away from the past four years in college? How will I adjust to the “real world” in a few months upon my move to Boston? Amidst this change, will I be able to stay true to the parts of me I’ve grown comfortable with and confident in throughout my first 22 years of life? These questions were unanswerable in the moment, but I figured I would try my best to plan for success: a balance between my upcoming professional life and my personal passions. I planned with a larger question in mind: what impact can I make as one individual in an overwhelmingly complex world? The answer, hard to determine, but the short term solution: stay true to the person I’ve become and see what’s possible.

EARL is an acronym

I’ve always enjoyed words and games, and during that walk in Berlin I decided to play a word game: match some of my values to the letters of my middle name. A pretty silly, purposeless exercise to entertain myself as we walked to the start of our walking tour. A few minutes later I’d done it: E for exploration, A for art, R for relationships, and L for love. Realizing the connection between these concepts, my identity, and my name, I figured I’d give performing under this name a go, and thought that solidifying this “lightbulb moment” somehow could help me in navigating the next phase of my life.