Serene Koong is a Singaporean singer, songwriter and producer. She is a three time Global Chinese Golden Chart Award, three time Singapore Hit Awards and a Singapore Star Awards winner. Recognized for her emotive voice and writing hit songs, her featured works include 《幸福不难》, theme song for the MediaCorp Channel 8 drama series The Dream Makers, 《明知我爱你》，as well as her R&B duet with Jaycee Chan 《最好的我》.
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 Y.E.S. 93.3FM 醉心龙虎榜. Her collaboration with Jaycee Chan on their R&B duet 《最好的我》 has attracted a following for her music in China and combined views for the song exceeding a million views on YouTube . That year, she was among the most nominated artistes at the Singapore Hit Awards, receiving 2 awards 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. . She was nominated for "Best Theme Song" with her work《幸福不难》which she wrote, performed and produced for the hit drama series "The Dream Makers 志在四方". Serene 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 -《在我左右》and The Dream Makers – 《幸福不难》 as well as 《手中线》for the movie Love Cuts starring Zoe Tay and veteran Hong Kong actor Kenny Ho. In 2014, she was invited as the Mandarin lead singer for the theme song,网织同心, 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 Taiwan . 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'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》 for the MediaCorp Channel 8, TV 50th Anniversary blockbuster drama series The Dream Makers. 《幸福不難》 became a huge hit when the series premiered and raised the profile of Serene as a rising female Singaporean music artiste, songwriter and producer to watch as the drama series also featured Tanya Chua's work as sub theme song. That year, Serene was named "Top Downloaded Female Artist" by MeRadio at the Singapore Hit Awards （:zh-tw:第十八屆新加坡金曲獎|第十八屆新加坡金曲獎） for the song 《幸福不难》, for which previous winners include JJ Lin and Tanya Chua. She also received a nomination for "Best Theme Song" at the prestigious 19th Asian Television Awards.
In July 2015, it was announced that Serene had written, performed and produced the theme song 《心肝》 for Kelvin Tong's film in the highly successful SG50 Anthology "", a film by seven acclaimed Singaporean film makers namely, Boo Junfeng, Eric Khoo, K Rajagopal, Jack Neo, Tan Pin Pin, Royston Tan and Kelvin Tong 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 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, Serene 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 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 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 latest 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 Serene's works 幸福不难 and 当世界只剩下我一个人，the drama also features works by Tanya Chua. The TOP20 chart includes top artists from the region including Stefanie Sun, JJ Lin, Jay Chou and Amei. On 7 May 2017, Serene received the "Outstanding Artist of The Year", 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 to the final 20, while their performances were judged by well-known music veterans Billy Koh and Lee Shih Shiong. The grand finals of the competition will be held at the Padang on 4 November 2018 in live broadcast.
Management
Serene 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 MediaCorp–MDA joint call for proposal in 2013 to produce theme songs for MediaCorp drama series.
