zoowle

zoowle spent most of her childhood in Cambodia, moving there when she was 7 before returning to Singapore much later. Growing up overseas as a “third culture kid,” she often felt like an outsider in Singapore, the country that was supposed to feel like home.

Before the start of her music journey, zoowle enjoyed poetry. As a homeschooled student, she was drawn to literature, particularly the works of Robert Frost. This passion for words and storytelling naturally led her to songwriting later on which came when she and her older brother took on songwriting challenges they found on YouTube. With this spark for songwriting, she started picking up the ukulele, learning a few basic chords, and realised how simple it could be to write a song - just four chords, and she was making music.

zoowle started out writing songs the way she wrote poems, focusing first on the lyrics. However, recently, she’s found that ideas and melodies tend to come together at the same time, and this approach works better for her.

A big part of zoowle’s early songs centers around her experiences living abroad and the constant goodbyes and feelings of disconnection that come with it, and writing songs became her way of coping with these. Inspired by Grace Vanderwaal's style of ukulele which she could play too, writing her own experiences into music, she says, "Songs hold the little stories and memories that I have." One pivotal moment was during a homeschool graduation, where she wrote a song about the sadness of seeing her friends leave. When they connected with her song, it hit her that her music could help others articulate what they couldn't quite put into words.

When it comes to her sound, zoowle doesn’t like to be boxed into one genre. While some might call her sound raw and her style indie-folk or indie-pop, she amusingly considers herself “genre deaf,” preferring to just create the music she feels without worrying about fitting into a specific category. Her sound often features the ukulele, giving it a folksy, light vibe, but she doesn’t like to limit herself to one style.

With university taking up a large amount of her time, zoowle doesn’t have as much time to write solo. However, she loves collaborating with friends -writing together, bouncing ideas around, and sharing inspiration - it’s a fun and encouraging way to keep the music flowing.

zoowle's lead single, “Foreign”, was written during her quarantine in Singapore where she could use the time to reflect on her feelings. It's about returning to Singapore after spending her formative years in Cambodia and struggling to make sense of the unfamiliar place she was supposed to call home. It reflects the emotional moment when she had to leave behind a stack of diaries she had written in, as they wouldn’t fit in a box during the move, and tearing them up so no one would read them. The opening line, “I tore up my diary last week”, is also a metaphor for starting afresh in a new country and the life she leaves behind that was too difficult to keep. Overall, the song express the fears tied with starting anew, but also anticipation and acceptance of saying goodbye to her past.

zoowle has had the chance to perform at a few notable events, like Project Resonance's "Ignite" concert for Youth Day in 2023, where she did a solo performance, but her biggest audience yet was at the “Sonder” concert in 2024. She’s also performed at a cafe in Korea and spoke at a conference in Chiang Mai for third-culture kids, sharing her story with others who’ve experienced the same kind of relocation growing up.

zoowle has mostly relied on social media and word-of-mouth to grow her music's reach. She’s active on platforms like TikTok, Instagram, SoundCloud, and Spotify, but hasn’t exactly pursued traditional avenues for promotion yet. For now, music is mostly a fun passion project she's pursuing.

zoowle acknowledges that in Singapore, the focus is more on academics and studies, making it difficult for aspiring musicians to pursue their passion. She believes there could be more opportunities to showcase music in Singapore, such as through collaborations at MRT stations.

One of the most rewarding aspects of zoowle’s music journey is when people reach out to her to say how her songs spoke to them. Whether it’s through Instagram DMs or comments, hearing that her music resonates with others is incredibly motivating and inspiring. Messages like “keep writing!” remind her of the real impact her music has.

Lastly, zoowle's simple piece of advice for anyone starting out in music is to "Just try and go for it." She recognises the fear, worry and insecurities of what others might think, but she encourages new artists to push past those fears and not worry too much about how their music is received. The most important thing is to stay true to yourself, and keep creating. As an artist in Singapore, boldly stepping out into the unknown to pursue what you love is no easy move. In a country which places less emphasis on such aspirations, perhaps it's time to bring back the spotlight to their recognition. We're discovering the hidden talents of many more aspiring artists, at Unravel Magazine.