?te is a Taiwanese singer known for Lo-Fi, jazz, blues and R&B. Before stepping into the music industry, ?te was a doctor and started her music journey as a hobby. She is also famous for not revealing her look. When ?te performs, she wears a hat or a pair of sunglasses. Recently, ?te won the Golden Melody Award for best new artist.
Can you briefly introduce yourself?
I’m ?te (Why-te). The reason I’m called ‘?te’ is because I used to work in the hospital and I’d like to make the connection of the “white” lab coat with my name. The genre of my music is Lo-Fi, jazz and sometimes blues and a little bit of R&B.
From a medical professional to a musician is such a big change. What inspired you to take the leap?
To be honest, I had no idea that I would be going into the music industry. I’m born and raised in Taiwan and I had rarely listened to jazz music or even listened to music in English. It was when I was 19 years old in my sophomore year of med school, I felt a bit lost and decided to take a gap year and give myself some time to think. I started to learn to play the guitar. That’s when I started to explore jazz music and foreign music, which finally brought me into the genre and I started to song-write. Then, I went back to school but continued my music journey. During my penultimate year of med school, I was really satisfied with my music. Then I shared it with my friend, who later on worked in a music company. He introduced my music to the music company where he worked and then he became my music producer. That’s how I got into the music industry.
During the change, have you ever had any self-doubt or hesitation?
Well... not really. In the beginning I would only have time to record music at night after finishing my job interning in the hospital. I treated making music more as a hobby or break from work. I didn’t work on music full- time until I started to generate some income from it. I’m really lucky that my producer, Tower, helped and led me on the whole journey of making the album at my own pace. With the freedom, some income and the enjoyment of making music, I guess there was not really any self-doubt or hesitation.
Can you tell us a bit about your first album?
My first album is called “A Bedroom of One’s Own”. Apart from my songs all being recorded in a bedroom-like environment, my producer also thought of Virginia Woolf’s “A Room of One’s Own” which depicted a woman having her own room enabling her to have her own thoughts and ideas, which led to her independence in life and in mind. I personally relate to it and so decided to use this as a concept for my first album.
“Cazzo” is the first song you wrote, which also is in the album. Can you tell me more about it?
Cazzo was written when I was 19. During that time I had started to play the guitar, learnt chords and begun to write music. ‘Cazzo’ is for an Italian girl that I met during my internship in a hospital. One day she was really frustrated and told me that she had a one night stand and felt really bad about it, so I wrote this song ‘Cazzo’ to comfort her and tell her “It’s ok!”. After finishing the music I shared it with her and she said Cazzo (an Italian profanity) jokingly. I then wrote ‘Cazzo’ into the music and used it as the name of the song.
Sounds like you get a lot of inspiration from your daily life. What is your process when you start to write music?
What happens when I start composing is the melody and some lyrics will come out first and then I’ll put some chords on it. Sometimes if I hear a new word like ‘Cazzo’, I will then put it into the lyrics. That’s why some Italians feel strange when listening to “Cazzo” , as such a strong word is normally only used by rappers. Very few people will sing the word with such a soft and gentle tone (laughs).
I love the song “Seh Ah Seh”, can you tell me about it?
I wrote “ Seh Ah Seh” in my last year of interning. “Seh Ah Seh’’ means “going around” in Taiwanese. During that time as an intern doctor, my life was very fixed with schedule; sometimes, I woke up early for work or stayed up late, even overnight to finish work. I felt stuck, as if a hamster living in a cage, doing the same thing in the same place every day. So, the name of the song comes from that idea of going around in the same place doing the same thing repetitively.
After finishing making your first album, such a milestone, did you have a feeling of “Yes! finally done”?
There wasn’t a feeling of “finally done”, because every song to me is a therapy to myself. It’s like a hobby or breaks after school. When I was recording the album I was still interning in the hospital, so I went in a few times to record the music. It was at a relatively comfortable pace and timeline. So I didn’t feel very stressed and tired, but more therapeutic.
Is there any other song that you’d like to introduce from this album?
There is a song called “Ladies first” which I collaborated with ILL MO. It’s the first time I collaborated with a rapper and the way we produced this song was really interesting. We (ILL MO and I) actually finished recording this music without meeting in person! He recorded his part through the internet and I recorded mine and then we mixed his part and mine together and created this song.
What is your idea towards collaboration in music?
To me, collaboration is mixing with another style. Sometimes, bringing in different styles of music into my own can make the music more interesting.
You haven’t really revealed yourself publicly. No matter if it’s your concert or on Instagram or interviews, you would wear a hat or a pair of sunglasses. What is the idea behind it?
In the beginning, I disguised myself because I was still working in the hospital. Then, I realized that it became something that I was known for. So I guess I have to keep doing this now (laughs). Sometimes it actually makes me more comfortable under the disguise because I tend to be a bit nervous when meeting a lot of people. Wearing hats makes me feel like there is a layer in between, kind of providing me with a sense of security.
What is your vision or goal for the future?
I hope I can find happiness. It is not easy to find true or pure happiness in life. With so many distractions, it’s easy to get distracted, lonely or down with social media or other entertainment. Seeking serenity or peacefulness is hard nowadays. So I guess that’s my goal these days; to find the balance mentally.
Can you tell me “Something New”.
Ah... I’ve been learning music arrangement recently. I’ve always been terrified of computers since when I was in elementary school. It just went wrong all the time for some reason. But recently, I’ve tried to overcome my fear of computers and learn to use them to arrange music. That was something new to me.