We speak to the three former children behind their podcast, ‘Adulting with Former Children’.
Britney Spears’ coming of age song ‘I’m Not A Girl, Not Yet A Woman’ may have released over two decades ago, but its sentiments are still highly relevant today – those “caught in between” are still trying to figure their way around new-found adulthood. Not children yet also not quite adults, ‘Former Children’ is a term used by co-hosts Ng Yi Yang, Yoo Jin and Clamus Pang to describe themselves.
Having graduated from the same university, the trio initially started ‘Adulting with Former Children’ on Clubhouse before switching over to podcast form after seeing the value of bringing these conversations to a wider audience, on-demand. Join them on their journey as they learn from each other’s mistakes, get advice from friends and experts, and try to become adults.
We spoke to the three of them to find out how their podcast came about and their goals for it in the future.
What inspired you to start ‘Adulting with Former Children’?
Yi Yang: ‘Adulting with Former Children’ started out as an experiment with the Clubhouse live room format. As students with barely any real-world experience, we wanted to stay true and personal while also creating conversations that we felt were of value on Clubhouse, so what better than to share about the experiences we had gone through?
Yoo Jin: Conversations with friends. We were no longer talking about homework, deadlines, and school holidays. I realised that many of my convos with friends started shifting as graduation approached. We all had different opinions about things like money, jobs and investing, so I thought it’d be cool to talk about it with a wider audience and gather their thoughts too.
Clamus: As someone who was graduating soon back then, I realised that I was having more adulting conversations with my peers on topics ranging from jobs to cars and also BTOs. When Clubhouse started to become more prominent, we wanted to use this opportunity to create conversations surrounding these topics that became increasingly relevant to us. We had a lot of fun sharing our experiences and learning from our listeners as well, hence, we decided to convert this to a podcast too!
What is your big-picture goal for your podcast ‘Adulting with Former Children’?
Yi Yang: With the podcast, we want to build a community of youths and “former children” who are going through the same stage in life as us – finding a foothold in the adult domain, and hopefully be able to provide fresh perspectives on quintessentially young adult problems that we all face as Singaporean youths.
Yoo Jin: I want at least one person out there to listen to our podcast and feel understood. We’re all navigating post-school lives even a year after graduation, and our worries keep building on. But I think it is comforting to be told that adulting is a journey. There is probably no one-size-fits-all solution and it’s okay to make mistakes along the way.
Clamus: When I started my adulting journey, I felt lost at times and it seemed like most of my peers already had their life planned out. I hope this podcast would be able to provide comfort and serve as a lighthouse to guide youths who are currently embarking on their own adulting journey and to also tell them they are facing the same struggles as well.
What do you want your listeners to know after listening to ‘Adulting with Former Children’?
Yi Yang: Adulting is a state of mind! We’ll get there! <3
Yoo Jin: That we’re all in this together.
Clamus: Adulting is an on-going process and we never stop learning!
What was the process of bringing ‘Adulting with Former Children’ to life on the podcast?
Yi Yang: With Zodapop by ZYRUP Media, we were able to turn an audio-only show into a video podcast, and with proper mics and equipment to help assist the creative process, we were able to create podcasts that sound so profesh! Recording in the same space also made the process much more personal, allowing us to share our stories in a safe space surrounded by people we trust.
Yoo Jin: I think it’s super cool that Zodapop was able to bring in the professional equipment to bring the podcast to life on so many different platforms. Gotta give props to the team for the great work, all I had to do was show up and turn on the mic.
Clamus: We first had to come together and decide the direction for our podcast, brainstorm for topics as well as dedicate a day each week to record in ZYRUP’s podcast studio! It was also a nice experience being able to record in a podcast studio that is well equipped with professional sound recording equipment, as compared to my AirPods when we were still only on Clubhouse.
Are there any exciting things we can look forward to for ‘Adulting with Former Children’?
Yi Yang: We’re looking forward to bringing more guests on the show for the next few episodes of the season! We’re also exploring different formats of the show, so stay tuned!
Yoo Jin: More guests, more tea, more internal screaming.
Clamus: We hope to be able to bring in more guests and maybe invite some of our listeners to record with us in a future episode!
Listen to ‘Adulting with Former Children’ on Spotify, Apple and Google Podcasts. The video version is available on YouTube at ZYRUP Media.