Kowen Ko: Growing Up Across the Sea, Singing Only for Those Willing to Sit Down

30-Second Overview: Kowen Ko (born 1990) is a Taiwanese singer-songwriter raised on overseas music—his home TV broke early on, so he missed out on Taiwanese pop hits, but in the era of widespread internet, he dove headfirst into Coldplay and Damien Rice. After being pranked by classmates into entering a competition and winning in 2013, he used his "weathered" low voice to slowly release three albums under Chen Jianqi’s "forgood music" label, earning two nominations for Best Mandarin Male Artist at the Golden Melody Awards. He doesn’t rush: he wrote songs in a Mumbai hostel with a broken guitar, sang to residents outside a century-old general store in Taichung, and when heckled with "Who are you?", simply replied, "Those who like me are a niche audience." In 2025, his rewritten and performed version of "God's Reply" for a Hakka TV drama won a Golden Bell Award, finally casting more light on his seven-year journey in film and television scoring.

2013, a school singing competition.

A college student stood on stage, holding a guitar, choosing two songs he loved to hum most—Coldplay’s "Fix You" and "Clocks," singing and playing them himself¹. He hadn’t planned to attend. Years later, when he recounted this, his tone was as if describing an embarrassing incident unrelated to him: "Starting my music career was actually a happy accident. In college, my classmates wanted to embarrass me, so they signed me up for the school singing competition, and unexpectedly, I won first place."²

He was in his early twenties that year. The competition was the 25th Hai Xian Award Campus Folk Song Contest³. The person who won first place was Kowen Ko. For the next decade-plus, he would carve out a position in Taiwan’s indie music scene with a voice fans jokingly called "uncle voice," which he corrected to "just a bit weathered": small, deep, quiet, and never stopping.

A "Weathered" Voice

Let’s start with that voice, because it was the first thing people remembered about him.

Low, slightly husky, sounding older than his actual age. Fans gave him the contradictory title "young fresh meat, uncle voice," which he didn’t appreciate, smilingly correcting: "I’m not an uncle voice, just a bit weathered."⁴ His label, "forgood music," described this voice vividly in their official intro: "Low, husky, old, a completely primitive tactile sense, like a rolling raw stone, wrapped in gravel, yet unexpectedly straightforward and pure."⁵

This kind of voice is best at interpretation, singing a song into people’s hearts. English music critics described his voice as "husky, comforting" and "meandering, world-weary vocals"⁶. On the album Songs of the Bards, he duetted with Hung Pei-yu on the retro dance track "Dance Partner," with critics using Hung Pei-yu’s "clean" voice to contrast with his "gruffness"⁷. Placing these two textures together is like two asteroids reflecting each other.

"Dance Partner," a duet between Kowen Ko and Hung Pei-yu (forgood music official channel). His gruffness, her cleanliness, two voices supporting each other in the same song.

This weathered voice is his gift, not his weakness. He writes songs slowly and isn’t highly famous, but neither of these has anything to do with this voice; from the start, it was the kind of voice that makes people stop and listen.

The Broken TV at Home

How did a Taiwanese singer’s ears grow up completely overseas?

The answer starts with a broken TV. Kowen Ko’s family TV broke when he was young, so he was completely disconnected from Taiwanese pop culture and idol dramas⁸. His female cousins are Wei Wu-hsuan, who later won the Golden Melody Award for Best Female Artist, and Wei Wu-yun; they formed bands and played music together since childhood, but young Kowen Ko was "unmoved"⁹. What truly opened his ears was movies. In an English interview with Asian Pop Weekly, he said: "I've loved movies since young. I used to be a movie nerd and would stay at home watching lots of them … so the kind of music that influences me is overseas music." He added: "I didn't listen to Taiwanese mandopop music because there was no TV at home."¹⁰

It wasn’t until high school, when the internet became widespread, that a friend recommended Coldplay to him, and he dove headfirst into the world of British bands¹¹. He learned the singing styles of Coldplay, Oasis, and Damien Rice, while simultaneously honing his vocal technique by singing Eason Chan’s songs: Western band aesthetics mixed with Mandarin singer training formed the foundation of his voice¹². After graduation, he traveled alone to the UK, Scotland, and Ireland, wandering for 40 days without an itinerary¹³.

This upbringing makes his music sound distinctly different. At the 2016 Simple Life Festival, a music critic originally expected him to be like another Taiwanese indie musician, Hsieh Chen-ting, but after listening, found he was "clearly subscribed more to British music than the normal American styles" and "admired the clean sound and sophisticated wordplay associated with British folk music." The critic also pointed out that his idol was clearly Damien Rice¹⁴.

💡 Did You Know: Online, some listeners compare Kowen Ko to British and American folk singers like Nick Drake and Ben Howard; these are mostly personal associations in listening experience and haven’t formed a recognized positioning in music criticism. The only comparison made in black and white by professional critics is that his song "Man Without A Mission" "screams Coldplay," referring to Coldplay themselves¹⁵.

A London Underground Station Built in Linkou

There is an advertisement many Taiwanese remember the voice of, but can’t name the singer.

It was Kingston’s "Memory Platform," a seven-minute-plus brand image ad telling a love story of reunion on a London Underground platform, with the theme song "It Was May"¹⁶. The low British voice in the song was Kowen Ko. The platform in the ad that looked like a London Underground station, with the train slowly entering, was actually built in a Linkou studio: the station was a set, and the train was pushed into the station by staff members outside the camera lens¹⁷. This ad, produced by Taiwan’s Dentsu Aegis Network and entirely made in Taiwan, caused the views for "It Was May" to accumulate over a million in the following years¹⁸.

"It Was May," the theme song for Kingston’s "Memory Platform" ad (forgood music official channel). Lyrics by Tsai Po-chang, music by Luo En-ni, Kowen Ko responsible for singing—that memorable voice.

Here is a detail often ignored: the lyrics for "It Was May" were written by Tsai Po-chang, the music composed by Luo En-ni, and Kowen Ko only sang it¹⁹. This doesn’t diminish anything; rather, it highlights his earliest and most solid skill: he is a singer who can make others’ songs his own.

This skill runs through his entire career. In 2020, he duetted with Ruth Liu on "Daily Imperfections," a track in the "Imperfect Life Guide" project²⁰; in 2022, he sang the theme song "Count to One" for the animated film Hi! My Pet Monster²¹. He isn’t the type of singer who needs to sing his own works to have a presence. Singing a song well into people’s hearts is, in itself, his gift.

Singing for Those Willing to Sit Quietly

In 2015, he released his first full-length album, You Really Don’t Want to Wander²². Less than four months after release, he sold out Legacy’s large-scale ticketed concert²³. But what he did next was different from typical new singers.

2015’s 'You Really Don’t Want to Wander,' Kowen Ko’s first full-length album, with an English-Chinese creation ratio of about 4:6. © forgood music, fair use editorial commentary.

He didn’t go to those famous Live Houses. He held a tour called "Sing Everywhere," visiting old places across Taiwan that were about to disappear—old record stores, general stores, old theaters²⁴. In Taichung, he chose to perform outside a century-old general store that was about to close due to competition from convenience stores; local residents sat quietly across the street to listen. He said, "I’m truly honored to record this century-old store."²⁵

This "small and deep" position, he was clear about and comfortable with. He joked at a concert: "Usually, the people watching my performance are like this, the venue is quite cold."²⁶ Reporters described his path as "literati style," while he said himself, "I’m usually a taciturn person"²⁷. Once at a Damien Rice concert, he was heckled by the audience with "Who are you?" He wasn’t unhappy, just calmly replied: "Those who like me are a niche audience; it’s quite reasonable that you don’t know me, I don’t feel anything."²⁸

Regarding rankings and awards, he also took it lightly. At the 27th Golden Melody Awards in 2016, he was nominated for Best New Artist and Best Mandarin Male Artist for You Really Don’t Want to Wander, winning neither (the King of Songs that year was JJ Lin)²⁹; in 2019, at the 30th, he was again nominated for Best Mandarin Male Artist for Songs of the Bards, with the award going to Leo Wang³⁰. When discussing these, his tone remained plain: "Whether I win or not is truly beyond my control… so I really take it lightly."³¹

Here, it’s worth pausing. We are accustomed to feeling unfair for this kind of singer—such a good voice, why isn’t he famous? But Kowen Ko has never stood in the position of "unrecognized talent." He isn’t holding on, isn’t aggrieved; he truly feels this is fine. What he demonstrates is actually something not easy: that a singer can stay comfortably in a small, deep position, without anxiety, without compromising, and without needing to be known by more people to count.

I’m Always in the Room

After Songs of the Bards, Kowen Ko didn’t release another Chinese album for seven years.

To understand these seven years, you must first understand how he writes songs. He writes by inspiration, not as a craftsman who can sit down and follow a schedule. He stated plainly in an English interview: "I can't write songs if I don't have inspiration … it's a very spontaneous process." He didn’t even consider himself a professional composer³². In 2019, he had already foreshadowed this constitution: "When there’s inspiration, I can finish it instantly; when there isn’t, I leave it halfway."³³

His Chinese and English creations follow two completely different processes. English songs are melody-first, singing and playing while filling in lyrics; he said, "Playing guitar, humming and singing, and the lyrics just fill in"; Chinese songs are the opposite, requiring him to first write down what he wants to say, then figure out how to fit it into the melody, because Chinese characters are more regular than English, making it impossible to generate synchronously while playing and singing³⁴. He also explained why he prefers English: "To me, English is more versatile … you can convey it in just one word with English."³⁵ The ratio of English to Chinese creation is about 4:6³⁶.

The scene of him writing songs is often on the road. One song, "Bright Sunshine," was hummed out as a rough melody in a shabby backpacker hostel in Mumbai during a month of travel in India, using a broken guitar, and recorded on his phone to send to producer Chen Jianqi³⁷. This song is about how, even when encountering unpleasant things, the world’s sunshine will continue to shine. A broken guitar, a mobile phone, a hotel in a strange city—his inspiration often emerges in places he didn’t expect, using the most makeshift tools at hand.

So those seven years, what was stuck was actually Chinese. Years later at a press conference, he explained the reason frankly: "Actually, it’s just that I couldn’t write a Chinese album."³⁸ He once wanted to go to Australia for a working holiday, to change the environment and find inspiration, but the pandemic disrupted the plan³⁹. What was he doing during this period? His answer was equally plain. When he returned in 2024, reporters asked where he had been; he just said, "I was always in the room."⁴⁰

But he didn’t truly disappear. During these seven years, he duetted with Ruth Liu, sang theme songs for movies²⁰²¹, but retreated into a passive mode of "accepting projects, collaborating," stopping the active output of "one album after another, fully self-composed." He himself refused to frame this period as a low point. He said: "So actually, it’s not really a low point; I still lived as happily as possible. But indeed, it was a more fragile and sensitive state, so I just wanted to stay in my own world."⁴¹ This is his definition of himself, more deserving of respect than any outsider’s tragic filter.

An Unfamiliar Piano

2024’s 'My Nova,' Kowen Ko’s return after seven years of immersion, and his first full English album. © forgood music, fair use editorial commentary.

What truly brought him back was an unfamiliar piano. Once, after Chen Jianqi’s concert, he casually touched a piano he hadn’t played in a long time, playing randomly, but couldn’t stop. He described that moment: "It’s been so long since I played, so unfamiliar, but playing randomly, I found I really wanted to continue playing."⁴² Guitar had always been his creative standard, but the piano was a completely unfamiliar interface, and it was precisely this unfamiliarity that bypassed the stuck channel. He said, "Since I started writing songs, I had never written a complete song using the piano, but playing some pieces I was interested in back then, I unexpectedly started writing some melodies again."⁴³

In November 2024, he released My Nova—ten brand new creations, and his first full English album⁴⁴. Unlocking it didn’t rely on willpower; it relied on changing to an unfamiliar instrument, returning to a language he was more comfortable with. The closing track "A Sigh" sampled Liszt’s piano piece "Un Sospiro" (A Sigh), with the theme "This is life, but I’m still alive"⁴⁵.

(The album release concert was originally scheduled for January 2025, but was postponed to March due to a family tragedy⁴⁶. This was a personal sorrow for him; we won’t dwell on it here; just know that it happened after he had already returned, not the reason for the seven-year pause.)

Three Albums Chen Jianqi Didn’t Rush for Nine Years

Behind these three albums stands the same person: Chen Jianqi.

You Really Don’t Want to Wander (2015), Songs of the Bards (2018), My Nova (2024)—spanning nine years, all three full-length albums produced by Chen Jianqi⁴⁷. Chen Jianqi is a recognized heavyweight producer in the Taiwanese music scene: he won a Golden Horse (theme song "Same Style" for the film Today’s Public Holiday) and also won the 32nd Golden Melody Award for Best Album Producer for Hebe Tien’s Unspoken⁴⁸. The "forgood music" label he founded in 2011 includes artists like Wei Wu-hsuan, Hsu Han-kuang, and Crispy Crispy Band, finding musicians whose voices are outside the mainstream market⁴⁹.

According to reports, the opportunity for Chen Jianqi to discover Kowen Ko was "first electrified by the voice, then discovering he could also write songs well"⁵⁰. The most special thing about this collaboration is that "non-rushing." From Songs of the Bards to My Nova, nearly seven years passed; Chen Jianqi didn’t force him to rush out the next album, but waited for him to arrive at a state where he could create again⁵¹. As early as 2019, Kowen Ko mentioned that the company would get anxious due to waiting, but for someone with his slow creative pace, they were "quite tolerant"⁵².

📝 Curator’s Note: In an industry that pushes creators to be regularly exposed and algorithms force continuous output, Kowen Ko’s path is more like an invisible choice about "time." Wei Wu-hsuan gave him advice early on: "You should have your own style; you should write what you want to write."⁵³ Behind this sentence lies an unspoken alternative—he could have worked hard on appearances, released albums densely when resources were best and momentum was highest, making the name "Kowen Ko" big. He chose another time scale: slow, and only writing when he could. This choice’s viability requires a producer willing to wait, a label willing to tolerate low output. This isn’t a luxury every creator has, but it also proves that another rhythm can exist in Taiwan.

Outside of albums, Kowen Ko actually had another line running parallel for a long time: film and television scoring. This line didn’t start in 2025. In 2018, he sang "Tonight" in the Love Is Not All soundtrack and the ending theme "Far Away" for the idol drama The Goddess of Vegetables; 2022 was "Count to One" for Hi! My Pet Monster⁵⁴. He had been singing for dramas for years, just not noticed by many.

A Song Sung for a Drama, Getting a Bit More Light

In 2025, this seven-year film and television scoring line was illuminated by the highest规格 for the first time.

In March that year, the Hakkatv flagship drama Black Tide Island Under the Starry Sky premiered—a drama set against the backdrop of White Terror and Green Island, with the production team attempting "to package such a politically serious subject with science and medicine"⁵⁵. Its ending theme was "God's Reply," composed by Chen Jianqi, with Mandarin lyrics by Ge Da-wei, adapted into Hakka (Sioxian dialect) by Rao Rui-jun, releasing Hakka, Mandarin, and English versions, with the English version rewritten and sung by Kowen Ko himself⁵⁶.

"God's Reply" Hakka version (forgood music official channel), ending theme for Black Tide Island Under the Starry Sky. Chen Jianqi hoped it wouldn’t write sadness, but rather "like a lullaby a mother would sing to her child."

Hakka was a new challenge for Kowen Ko. He originally received Mandarin lyrics, but it gradually became "entirely Hakka" from "adding a few lines of Hakka," making him want to refuse but unable to; he joked that he was "kidnapped onto the boat"⁵⁷. Chen Jianqi’s idea for this song was: not writing a sad melody, "but hoping it’s more like a lullaby a mother would sing to her child"⁵⁸.

In October 2025, at the 60th Golden Bell Awards, "God's Reply" won the "Original Song for Drama Program Award," with Kowen Ko, Chen Jianqi, Ge Da-wei, and Rao Rui-jun sharing the award⁵⁹. The four winning together was due to registration rules: the Ministry of Culture’s reward guidelines explicitly stated, "Co-lyricists, co-composers, and co-singers should be jointly listed as participants"⁶⁰.

Here, one must be careful of an easy misreading: treating the Golden Bell Award as "compensation" or "comeback" after Golden Melody losses. This analogy is actually wrong. The Golden Melody Awards judge individual singers and albums; this Golden Bell Award judges "a song’s service to a drama"; the objects of evaluation are fundamentally different, two parallel lines⁶¹. (Incidentally, My Nova was nominated for the 36th Golden Melody Awards’ "Best Recording Album Award," but the reward for that award goes to recording and mixing engineers, not the singer; additionally, online sometimes confuses Kowen Ko with another scoring composer, Kowen Hao; they are completely different people⁶².) "God's Reply" winning the Golden Bell isn’t anyone overturning a verdict for another; it’s just that his parallel seven-year film and television scoring line finally got a bit more light.

A More Comfortable Voice

2025 was a complete year for Kowen Ko. Early year facing family tragedy, February press conference admitting the pause of these years, March three-language new song premiering with the drama, June standing on the stage of the Toronto Pride Music Festival, July special show at Weiwuying, October winning the Golden Bell⁶³. After the Golden Bell until now, he hasn’t announced his next album or new tour—that’s an honest blank, no need to force a conclusion.

He still isn’t a traffic-type singer. On Spotify, his monthly listeners are about 49,000⁶⁴. This number explains exactly what he has always been: not huge volume, but a group willing to sit down and quietly listen to him sing.

Back to that voice. From the 2013 competition pranked by classmates to the 2025 Golden Bell stage, twelve years passed. These twelve years he wrote slowly, sang little, venues were often cold, and he never treated these as problems. When heckled "Who are you?", he said "It’s reasonable you don’t know me"; when nominated but not winning, he said "Nominations are blessings, I don’t put winning/losing there"⁶⁵²⁸.

A "weathered" voice, a slow pace that doesn’t rush. Kowen Ko didn’t become a name many recognize, but with his own rhythm, he carved out a small, deep position in Taiwan’s indie music that never stopped. That position isn’t noisy, nor crowded, only reserved for those willing to sit quietly.

Further Reading:

• Wei Wu-hsuan — Kowen Ko’s female cousin, two-time Golden Melody Award Best Female Artist, and fellow artist under "forgood music."
• Chen Jianqi — The producer who made three albums for Kowen Ko over nine years without ever rushing him, a three-award (Golden Horse, Golden Melody, Golden Bell) pusher.
• Hello Nico — Another Taiwanese indie music group framed by media as "disappeared for N years," actually with sporadic output at the beginning and end.

Image Sources

• Cover: Kowen Ko portrait. Source forgood music, Spotify Official Artist Page. © forgood music, fair use editorial commentary.
• Body: You Really Don’t Want to Wander (2015) album cover. © forgood music, fair use editorial commentary.
• Body: My Nova (2024) album cover. © forgood music, fair use editorial commentary.
• Videos: "Dance Partner" (feat. Hung Pei-yu), "It Was May," "God's Reply" Hakka version, all embedded from forgood music’s YouTube official channel, for commentary citation only.

References