Serene Koong is a

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

an singer, songwriter and producer. She is a three time Global Chinese Golden Chart Award, three time Singapore Hit Awards， Singapore Star Awards winner， and

Asian Academy Creative Awards The annual Asian Academy Creative Awards are presented every December as part of the Singapore Media Festival. They recognise excellence in the film and television industry across 16 nations in the Asia-Pacific region. History The inaugural ...

National Winner. Recognised for her emotive voice and writing hit songs, her featured works include 《幸福不难》, theme song for the

MediaCorp Mediacorp Pte. Ltd., doing business as Mediacorp and stylised as mediacorp, is a media conglomerate in Singapore. Owned by Temasek Holdings—the holding company of the Government of Singapore—it owns television, radio, and digital media prope ...

Channel 8 drama series ''

The Dream Makers ''The Dream Makers'' is a 1975 American made-for-television drama film starring James Franciscus, Diane Baker, John Astin, Ron Thompson, Kenny Rogers and directed by Boris Sagal. It aired on January 7, 1975 on the NBC television network. Plot ...

'', 《明知我爱你》，as well as 《当世界只剩下我一个人》which she performed at the Global Chinese Awards in Beijing.

Music career

2010 - 2012: Career Beginnings

In May 2010, she released her debut Mandarin album, <<55:38:7>>, composed of 10 original compositions, which produced a few top ten hits on radio music charts in Singapore and Malaysia, among which was her widely popular single 《明知我愛你》，which peaked at No.3 on

YES 933 YES 933, formerly known as 933醉心频道 (''933 Zuìxīn píndào'', "933 Intoxicated Channel"), is a Mandarin radio station owned by Mediacorp in Singapore. The station now holds the slogan of 顶尖流行音乐电台，引领潮流时代 ( ...

醉心龙虎榜. 。 That year, she was among the most nominated artistes at the Singapore Hit Awards, receiving 2 awards ("Most Popular Newcomer 最受欢迎新人奖" and "Meritorious Newcomer 优秀新人奖") and 4 nominations, including her song 《明知我愛你》 being nominated for "Best Local Composition 《最佳作曲》 along highly acclaimed artists like

Tanya Chua Tanya Chua (; born 28 January 1975) is a Singaporean singer-songwriter. She launched her singing career by releasing her debut studio album ''Bored'' in 1997. Her albums, ''Amphibian'' (2005), '' Goodbye & Hello'' (2007), ''Sing It Out of Love'' (2 ...

.

Koong has filmed for 2 advertisements with F&N Beverages, one of which featured her original song "Lala". She is also involved in movie and drama theme song writing and production, with theme songs recorded for MediaCorp's New Beginnings (红白喜事) -《在我左右》and The Dream Makers (志在四方) – 《幸福不难》 as well as 《手中线》for the movie Love Cuts (割爱) starring

Zoe Tay Zoe Tay (; born 10 January 1968) is a Singaporean actress and former model. She has been referred to as the "Queen of Caldecott Hill" and "Ah Jie" (Top Actress) by the local media since the rise of her popularity in the 1990s. She is one of th ...

and veteran Hong Kong actor Kenny Ho (何家劲). In 2014, she was invited as the Mandarin lead singer for the theme song,网织同心 (Knit with One Heart), of the Singapore Chingay Parade 2014 which was presented at the parade with Lee Wei Song as music director.
She made her debut in March 2012 in Taiwan with the album《聲.體.輿言》, distributed by Warner Music Taiwa
聲.體.與言 , 華納線上音樂雜誌
In the same year, she played to a full house for her first solo concert as one of the featured in::music artistes at the

Esplanade An esplanade or promenade is a long, open, level area, usually next to a river or large body of water, where people may walk. The historical definition of ''esplanade'' was a large, open, level area outside fortress or city walls to provide cle ...

's Huayi Festival. Other acts included high-profile Taiwanese singer-songwriters Waa Wei and Summer Lei.

2013: Multi-Award Winning Single《幸福不难》and Stepping Up to the Role of Producer

In 2013, she wrote, produced and performed the theme song , 《幸福不難》 (Happiness is Not Difficult) for the

MediaCorp Channel 8 Channel 8 ( zh, 8頻道) is a Singaporean free-to-air television channel, airing in Mandarin Chinese. It was created by Television Singapura on 31 August 1963 with experimental broadcasts, before going official on 23 November that year. The ch ...

, TV 50th Anniversary blockbuster drama series

. 《幸福不難》 became a huge hit when the series premiered and raised the profile of Koong as a rising female Singaporean music artiste, songwriter and producer to watch as the drama series also featured

's work (十万毫升泪水) as sub theme song. That year, Koong was named "Top Downloaded Female Artist" by MeRadio at the Singapore Hit Awards （第十八屆新加坡金曲獎） for the song 《幸福不难》(for which the winning male artist was popular Taiwanese singer

Alien Huang Alien Huang (; 28 November 1983 – 15 September 2020), also known as Xiao Gui (Little Ghost), was a Taiwanese singer, actor, television presenter, illustrator and fashion designer. He was a member of Japanese TV Asahi's disbanded boy band ...

. The 18th Singapore Hit Awards was held at

Suntec Convention Centre Suntec City is a major mixed-use development located in Marina Centre, a subzone of the Downtown Core in Singapore, which combines a shopping mall, office buildings, and a convention centre. Construction began on 18 January 1992 and was complet ...

and was attended by regional artists such as

Karen Mok Karen Mok (born Karen Joy Morris (), 2 June 1970) is a Hong Kong pop diva who is one of the leading Asian pop singers and actresses with a career spanning three decades. She is the first female Hong Kong singer to win the Golden Melody Award and ...

and

Will Pan Wilber Pan (; born 6 August 1980), also known as Will Pan, is a Taiwanese-American singer, songwriter, rapper, actor and entrepreneur. He started his career as a host of Channel V programs. In 2011, Pan was awarded Best Actor for ''Endless Lo ...

. Koong was amongst the Singaporean artists who won awards that night including

JJ Lin Wayne Lin Junjie (; born 27 March 1981), better known by his stage name JJ Lin, is a Singaporean singer, songwriter, record producer and actor. Lin launched his musical career by releasing his debut album ''Music Voyager'' (2003). GIO, Taiwa1 ...

, Derrick Hoh, Koong and

Olivia Ong Olivia Ong (; born ) is a Singaporean singer and actress. The majority of her works are in Mandarin Chinese, but she has also recorded songs in English, Cantonese and Japanese. In her early days, her entertainment career focused on singing ja ...

. The Dream Makers was one of the most popular drama series in 2014 with a total of 19 nominations at the Star Awards and featured a star-studded cast which included Zoe Tay,

Rui En Loh Rui En (born 29 January 1981), better known by her stage name Rui En (瑞恩), is a Singaporean actress and was named as one of the Seven Princesses of Mediacorp in 2006. She was under contract of MediaCorp and managed under Hype Records. ...

Jeanette Aw Jeanette Aw Ee-Ping (born 28 June 1979), better known by her stage name Ou Xuan (), is a Singaporean actress, filmmaker, businesswoman and writer. Aw was named as one of the Seven Princesses of Mediacorp in 2006, after which she achieved wider ...

, Chen Liping, Rebecca Lim, Chen Hanwei and Desmond Tan. It went on to become the biggest winner at

Star Awards The Star Awards (Chinese: 红星大奖) are awards for artistic and technical merit in the media organisation Mediacorp of Singapore where Mediacorp recognises entertainers under their employment for outstanding performances of the year. The ...

2014 with a total of 9 awards, including “Best Drama Series”. Koong won “Best Theme Song” at the Star Awards. In 2014,《幸福不难》was also named "Top Dedicated Hit Song" by UFM1003. The song reached No.1 on the Singapore iTunes Mandopop chart, holding its No. 1 spot as top releases for that period among Asia's top names as

Stefanie Sun Stefanie Sun (, born 23 July 1978) is a Singaporean singer-songwriter. In 2000, she released her debut album, '' Yan Zi'', which won her a Golden Melody Award for Best New Artist. In 2004, she released her eighth studio album, '' Stefanie'', w ...

and

Eason Chan Eason Chan Yick Shun (born 27 July 1974) is a Hong Kong singer and actor. Chan was ranked sixth in the 2013 Forbes China Celebrity Top 100 List. In 2006 Chan's Cantonese album ''U87'' was named one of ''Time'' magazine's "Five Asian Albums W ...

.On the back of the song's popular reception, Koong received two Global Chinese Golden Chart awards ( 全球流行音乐金榜）including "Outstanding Artiste Award" (Singapore, UFM1003), for which previous winners include

and Tanya Chua. She also received a nomination for "Best Theme Song" at the prestigious 19th

Asian Television Awards The Asian Television Awards (launched in 1996), is an appreciation to recognize and reward programming and production excellence in the Asian television industry. Held every December, the Awards comprises 56 categories across news, documentarie ...

2015 - 2018: Big Leap to Film

In July 2015, it was announced that Koong had written, performed and produced the theme song 《心肝》 for Kelvin Tong's film (Grandma Positioning System) in the highly successful SG50 Anthology
7Letters
, a film by seven acclaimed Singaporean film makers namely, Boo Junfeng,

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K Rajagopal K. Rajagopal (born 21 September 1965) is a Singaporean film director and screenwriter. He co-wrote and directed the social drama film '' A Yellow Bird'', which was selected to be screened at the International Critics' Week, 2016 Cannes Film Festi ...

Jack Neo Jack Neo (born 24 January 1960) is a Singaporean actor, television host, comedian and film director. He was prominently a full-time Mediacorp artiste from 1983 to 2003. In the 1990s and early 2000s, he was best known for his cross-dressing roles ...

Tan Pin Pin Tan Pin Pin (, born 1969) is a Singapore-based film director. She is best known for the documentary film ''Singapore GaGa'' (2005). It was the first Singaporean documentary to have a theatrical run. In 2014, her documentary ''To Singapore, With ...

Royston Tan Royston Tan (; born 5 October 1976) is a Singaporean filmmaker, director, screenwriter, producer and actor. Tan is a graduate from Temasek Polytechnic, where he studied Visual Communications. He first came into prominence through his short film ...

and

Kelvin Tong Kelvin Tong Weng Kian (Simplified Chinese: 唐永健) is a Singaporean film director, screenwriter and producer. He was a former film critic for ''the Straits Times''. Career Kelvin's passion for theatre and filmmaking began in his secondary sch ...

to commemorate Singapore's Golden Jubilee. It was the first film to open at the revamped historic Capitol Theatre, and all tickets to the three-day screening were sold out on the same day tickets were released. "7 Letters" received great reviews and overwhelming response from audiences as well as a 4.5/5 rating in the Straits Times. Due to the overwhelming response for the film, a second series of screenings were made available at the

National Museum of Singapore ms, Muzium Negara Singapura ta, சிங்கப்பூரின் தேசிய அருங்காட்சியகம் , native_name_lang = , logo = , image = 2016 Singapur, Museum Planning Area, Narodowe Muzeum Singapuru (02) ...

for 8–10 August, for which all tickets were once again fully redeemed. It was finally announced that "7Letters" would be theatreically release in Golden Village Cinemas from 20–26 August. In her interview with UWeekly, Koong has shared that《心肝》was inspired by the love story of Singapore's founding father Mr Lee Kuan Yew and his wife. It was also mentioned that this song talks about holding on to memories and treasuring people we love. It is one of her most intimate works to date and pays tribute to love and her country, Singapore. She is the producer, vocal producer, songwriter and performer of the song, which peaked at #6 on the iTunes Mandopop Charts (SG) during its week of release. In August, it was announced that this acclaimed SG50 anthology will make its international premiere at the 2015

Busan International Film Festival The Busan International Film Festival (BIFF, previously Pusan International Film Festival, PIFF), held annually in Haeundae-gu, Busan (''also'' Pusan), South Korea, is one of the most significant film festivals in Asia. The first festi ...

in South Korea. The film was also selected by the Singapore Film Commission as the official entry to the Oscars' Best Foreign Language Film category. Her 2015 single "All Alone《当世界只剩下我一个人》Sub Theme Song which she wrote, performed and produced for 志在四方2 “ The Dream Makers 2” premiered on 4 December 2015. The blockbuster series has featured works by outstanding Singaporean female singers; in addition to Koong's works 幸福不难 and 当世界只剩下我一个人，the drama also features works by

(十万毫升泪水）and

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who performed the theme song 终于 for "The Dream Makers 2". In August 2016, Koong was among the three Singaporean artists whose works charted on th
Global Chinese Golden Charts TOP 20
(first half of 2016). The TOP20 chart includes top artists from the region including

Jay Chou Jay Chou ( zh, t=周杰倫, s=周杰伦, poj=Chiu Kia̍t-lûn, p=Zhōu Jiélún, first=t, w=Chou Chieh-lun; born January 18, 1979) is a Taiwanese singer, songwriter, record producer, rapper, actor, and television personality. Dubbed the " King ...

and Amei. On 7 May 2017, Koong received the "Outstanding Artist of The Year" (年度推崇大奖）presented by UFM100.3 award at the

Global Chinese Golden Chart Awards The Global Chinese Golden Chart Awards () is a music awards founded by China National Radio China National Radio (CNR; ; pronunciation: ) is the national radio network of China, headquartered in Beijing. History The infrastructure began with ...

(全球流行音乐金榜）which recognizes the best in Chinese Pop Music. The awards ceremony was held at Beijing’s LeSports Centre with an audience of 10,000 and was streamed live to a reported 3 million viewers. A total of 20 artistes from around the region performed at this ceremony. They include: MayDay, LION狮子合唱团，

William Wei Wei Li-an (; born 5 March 1987), known professionally as WeiBird, is a Taiwanese Mandopop and folk-rock singer-songwriter. He has released six studio albums, one live album and two EPs. Wei won the Golden Melody Award for Best New Singer in ...

, PowerStation, Della Ding Dang,

Yisa Yu Yisa Yu or Yu Kewei (; born 23 October 1983), is a Chinese singer. She started out singing in bars and participated in several singing competitions. Her career took off after she achieved fourth place nationally in the 2009 season of Hunan TV's ...

, , Angela Chang, Allen Su and Bii. Koong performed her winning work''《当世界只剩下我一个人》。'' In her interview wit
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it was mentioned that she set up her own music production company GoodGirlMusic in 2013 to handle all stages of music production on her own. Although there were responsibilities and stress that came with producing her own work, it has made her work more personal. On 9 August 2018, Koong appeared on the prelude episode of ''

SPOP Sing! ''SPOP Sing!'' () is a Chinese singing reality competition broadcast by MediaCorp Channel 8. Season 1 premiered on 9 August after the broadcast of National Day Parade and ended on the live finale on 4 November at Padang. During the live finals, ...

'' (SPOP 听我唱！), a singing competition which sees the involvement of prominent Singaporean artists, songwriters and producers in the search for the next homegrown talent. Koong served the series as a mentor (歌唱导师) to the Top 20 contestants, while their performances were judged by well-known music veterans Billy Koh and

Lee Shih Shiong Peter Lee Shih Shiong (; born 24 July 1966) is a Singaporean musician, composer, and record producer. In 2001, Lee won a Golden Melody Award for Best Composition for his work, "Cloudy Day", performed by his apprentice Stefanie Sun Stefani ...

. The grand finals of the competition was held at the Padang on 4 November 2018.

Asian Academy Creative Awards

Koong was announced as the National Winner for "Best Theme Song / Title" at the prestigious

on 30 September 2021, with her work "When It Leads Me Back To You", which she wrote, performed and produced for Mediacorp Channel 5's drama series
Slow Dancing
.

Management

Koong is independently managed by her own company GoodGirlMusic Pte. Ltd. GoodGirlMusic was also announced as one of the music production companies selected under the inaugural

–

MDA MDA, mda, or ''variation'', may refer to: Places * Moldova, a country in Europe with the ISO 3166-1 country code MDA Politics * Meghalaya Democratic Alliance (2018), ruling coalition government in the Indian State of Meghalaya led by National Pe ...

joint call for proposal in 2013 to produce theme songs for MediaCorp drama series.

Discography

Other Writing credits

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* *
Serene Koong's BlogSerene Koong on Instagram

GoodGirlMusic Pte. Ltd.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Koong, Serene 1988 births Living people 21st-century Singaporean women singers Singaporean singer-songwriters Singaporean people of Chinese descent Singaporean Mandopop singers Mandopop singer-songwriters