Gen Neo, Amos Ang and Daina Ariffin: Singapore songmakers making their mark in K-pop

SINGAPORE – The next time you listen to a K-pop song, check out the songwriting credits. There is a chance that a Singaporean had a hand in bringing to life that bop.

The Straits Times catches up with three home-grown talent making their mark in the South Korean pop music industry as songwriters, producers and music arrangers.

Gen Neo

Gen Neo, who has been based in Seoul since 2012, might be Singapore’s most established music talent in the K-pop world.

But the 35-year-old singer, producer, songwriter and music arranger’s roots were strictly classical, a far cry from the modern pop music he has made for K-pop groups such as Got7, Super Junior-M and f(x).

In September, he won the Wings Of Excellence Award, an accolade for local artistes who have outstanding achievements outside of Singapore, at the annual Composers and Authors Society of Singapore (Compass) Awards.

Neo’s formal music education started when his parents sent him for piano lessons at the age of three.

The musician, whose real name is Liang Genrong, was made conductor for the choirs at the two schools he attended – Catholic High School and Victoria Junior College.

But he also absorbed the music that his parents were listening to – Mandopop and Western pop by artistes such as the late American star Michael Jackson.

Neo was not just listening to the music, but he was also analysing the songs. “I learnt only one style of music, classical stuff, but I was also trying to make sense of how everything fits together, like in a jigsaw puzzle,” he says of his childhood years absorbing pop music. “And then, I started asking, ‘Why do people enjoy this music so much?’ And I’ll just sit down and listen.”

It was that keen interest that led him to enrol in Berklee College of Music in Boston, widely regarded as one of the US’ finest schools for contemporary music education, an institution that has produced countless Grammy-winning artistes ranging from John Mayer to Quincy Jones.

Neo spent 2½ years there studying contemporary writing and production. More importantly, it was there that he met fellow student Henry Lau, who was then a member of Super Junior-M, a sub-unit of popular K-pop boy band Super Junior.

They started making music together and, halfway through his studies at Berklee, Lau took Neo to Seoul for a two-week stint to work on what would become Off My Mind, a song from Super Junior-M’s 2011 EP, Perfection. Lau, who is Canadian, sang solo on that track.

After he graduated with a degree in music from Berklee, Neo decided to move to Seoul and became part of music production team NoizeBank, which also included Lau.

Neo soon worked as producer, music arranger and songwriter for releases by Super Junior, Super Junior-M, f(x) as well as songs from Lau’s debut solo EP Trap (2013), which Neo called “a huge thing”.

“When we heard the songs playing on the radio, I was like, ‘Whoa, what a feeling.’”

Being complacent was not an option, though. He says he continued to work hard to stay relevant in the industry. “I had to learn the Korean language, of course, and I had to go out and make connections. In this industry, there’s a lot of competition, and you have to be ready to grab any opportunity that comes your way.”

Over the years, he also worked on other songs such as Wolo, a track from boy band Got7’s 2018 album Present: You & Me Edition; and Blind, a song from K-pop boy band Enhypen’s 2023 EP, Orange Blood.

“It’s definitely a blessing. I’m always thankful when these kinds of opportunity arise,” says Neo, who did not want to reveal his earnings.

In recent times, he has shifted his focus to his solo work, which straddles the genres of R&B and pop and is sung in English and Mandarin.

He released his first single, Think About Us, in 2015. “My passion for singing and expressing it in my own way has always been there from the start,” he says. “The timing felt right, and I had to execute it.”

He has since put out two EPs, Dimensions (2017) and Ad Astra (2020). To promote the Mandarin songs in Dimensions, he performed in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Malaysia.

His 2023 single, Called It Love, has racked up 4.4 million streams on Spotify. In March, the Grammys featured him as one of the artistes who performed on its web series ReImagined.

On Nov 30, Neo will be back in Singapore to stage a solo concert at Esplanade Annexe Studio that showcases his upcoming EP Push&Pull, which will be released on Nov 8. Ticketing details have yet to be released.

His long-term goal is to help younger talent find their way in the music industry and he wants to start a music business that develops new artistes. “Hopefully, I’ll be able to find local talent and, with me as a springboard, help them navigate this space better.”

Amos Ang

When songwriter, lyricist, producer and music arranger Amos Ang packed his bags for Seoul to work in the K-pop industry in early 2020, it could not have come at a worse time.

The Covid-19 pandemic led to a lockdown and many activities ground to a halt.

“It was definitely very tough,” recalls the 36-year-old, who works closely with fellow Singaporean music maker Gen Neo as both are under South Korean music publisher Music Cube.

Ang recalls having to pivot to new tools to work with his collaborators online instead of being physically together in the same studio. But he quickly adapted and has since worked on several K-pop releases.

He was a producer and songwriter on songs from Journey, the 2020 EP by Canadian singer Henry Lau, formerly a member of Super Junior-M, and wrote lyrics for Amber Liu, the American singer-rapper who was part of K-pop girl group f(x).

Ang worked on releases by South Korean rapper Koala; Casper, former member of K-pop outfit Cross Gene; and K-pop girl group Ichillin’. He also does sound engineering for Lau’s live performances.

“It’s definitely an eye-opening experience, and it’s exciting to hear what you’ve worked on painstakingly for a long time finally reach the ears and eyes of the public,” he says. “Every song is like having a child and, of course, you wish only for it to do the best and go as far as it can.”

Ang’s journey in music started out with piano lessons as a child. He later played percussion in the school bands in Kranji Secondary School and Pioneer Junior College. He was also part of rock bands that covered songs by the likes of American nu metal outfit Linkin Park.

After national service, Ang was torn between studying music at Berklee College of Music and Communication Studies at Nanyang Technological University. He chose the former.

“I think it was just the adventurous side of me. I had the appetite for the bigger picture, the global picture. I wanted to get a taste of and understand and learn what’s out there, and what I can gain by going abroad.”

He graduated in 2013, majoring in piano performance, and also studied contemporary writing and production. He then lived in New York, taking on gigs as a keyboardist and live engineer, before returning to Singapore in 2018.

Ang first met Neo in 2010 when they were both students at Berklee. But it was only in 2018 that they started working together when Ang played the keyboard for Neo’s live performances, and they have been collaborating regularly since then.

Ang says their future plans are to form their own music company and also try to break into the US music market.

“We’re now talking to a few American partners and I’m trying to establish partnerships for artistes and take on music production projects – the possibilities are endless. We’re always keeping an open mind and are ready to jump on the opportunity when it comes.” 

Daina Ariffin

Daina Ariffin started out as a K-pop stan of groups such as NCT and Aespa, posting covers on YouTube. But she is now living her dream and writing songs for K-pop acts themselves, from the comfort of her home in Singapore, and in South Korea and Taiwan.

The 24-year-old, who composes under the stage name Dainasaurs, has two K-pop tunes to her name – Laffy Taffy (2023) by South Korean girl group Primrose, and Superhero (2023) by South Korean virtual idol group Isegye Idol.

She is also one of the writers behind Mirage, a song by Japanese singer Sana, who is a member of Misamo, the sub-unit of K-pop girl group Twice. The song will be included in Misamo’s upcoming album Haute Couture, dropping on Nov 6.

Daina has also worked on K-pop-style tracks for other Asian acts such as Japanese idol group Liella and Thai girl group Mxfruit.

“It feels surreal that something I had worked on in my bedroom studio has been put out into the world and has a life of its own,” says Daina, who works mostly with her collaborators online. “It feels like I’m a part of something bigger than myself.”

She was never formally trained in music and is a self-taught guitarist, but has been singing and creating her own songs since she was in kindergarten. She also took a cappella as her co-curricular activity (CCA) in Ngee Ann Polytechnic, where she studied mass communication. She also has a degree in professional communication from Australia’s RMIT University.

“It sharpened my ears to harmonies, which in turn has helped me a lot today when I arrange backing vocals in my demos,” she says of her time with the school’s a cappella group.

In 2020, during the Covid-19 pandemic, she started posting covers of songs by American singer Conan Gray and K-pop group Red Velvet on YouTube and Instagram. These caught the attention of music makers such as South Korean composer INFX, and they started collaborating on demo songs.

From 2021 to 2022, she took part in online songwriting camps and, in 2023, South Korean music publisher Jam Factory flew her to Taipei in Taiwan for her first physical songwriting camp. She spent a week in Seoul after that to work in a music studio.

In 2024, she flew to Seoul on a holiday with friends, and did some studio work while she was there.

The songs that she worked on were then pitched to the artistes’ music companies.

“There are peak seasons for international writers to fly to South Korea, usually in spring and autumn, as that’s when most of the song camps are being held. So, I try to visit during those times. However, most of the time, I’m working online as my collaborators are based all around the world.”

While her dream is to make music full time and shuttle between Singapore and South Korea, she is still sticking to her day job as a social media executive. She declined to say how much she makes from songwriting.

So what is stopping her from pursuing music – which she views as a “fun activity, stress reliever and some type of catharsis” – as a career?

She admits: “Fear of not succeeding, of instability, of societal pressures, of letting my family down. I like to assess my situation before taking risks and that could be seen as playing it too safe, but it could also be seen as being responsible with my life decisions.”