Enno Cheng on Cross-Border Music Collaboration: The Greatest Challenge Is Not the Language Barrier, But the Story You Want to Tell

In recent years, Enno Cheng (鄭宜農) has actively brought her work to the international stage and taken part in multiple cross-border collaborations, including co-creating “Slowly Come to Thee (寬寬仔來到祢的面前)” with Korean singer Lang Lee, collaborating on “I Thought I Was All Alone (我一直都以為我是一個人)” with Japanese-Malaysian artist RYOTA (片山涼太), and adapting Japanese poet Shuntarō Tanikawa’s classic poem “The Heart Tumbling (こころころころ 心滾來滾去)” into a song. These experiences have prompted her to reflect more deeply on what international collaboration can mean. Cheng states, “International collaboration is not merely about doing a fun feature or exchanging resources.” Drawing on her own experience, she shares valuable insights gained from cross-border cooperation: “It can also be an exchange of ideas between peoples and between artists.”

 ▴Enno Cheng. (Photo: 猫形影像製作 Neko Production / YSOLIFE)

When Language Is No Longer a Barrier, Clarifying “Why This Person?” Becomes the Primary Task

When talking about international collaboration, language barriers inevitably come up. Looking back on her past experiences, Cheng says communication does take a great deal of time. But thanks to today’s technology, people can get by with simple English, gestures, translation apps, and AI tools. As a result, language is no longer an insurmountable obstacle. She believes that what truly matters in a collaboration is understanding cultural differences and ways of thinking.

“When language, distance, and market barriers are no longer obstacles, what remains is the meaning behind the collaboration,” Cheng says. Before launching an international project, she believes, the first priority is to build mutual understanding and clarify one essential question: “Why are we working with this person?”

Cheng cites her 2025 collaboration with Korean musician Lang Lee, “Slowly Come to Thee (寬寬仔來到祢的面前),” as an example. From the beginning, the song was intended to blend Taiwanese Taigi (one of the languages spoken in Taiwan and commonly referred to as Taiwanese) and Korean. This concept grew out of Cheng’s ongoing plan, which began in 2022, to create an album exploring the creative possibilities of Taiwanese Taigi songwriting. At the same time, she had been paying attention to Lang Lee’s work, which is characterized by deep engagement with social issues. Together, these factors gave the collaboration a strong sense of meaning and motivation.

​“There’s something fascinating about expanding the possibilities of a language. What new sparks might emerge when Taiwanese Taigi interacts with another language? That spark isn’t just about sounding cool. It’s also about the very act of trying to cross a language barrier itself. How can we convey meaning through a single song?  What themes can I explore with an artist like this?”

After establishing a basic shared understanding for the collaboration, the two artists first exchanged ideas online and gradually shaped the song around the theme of “faith.” The piece eventually took form as a question posed to Gaia, the Mother Earth, expanding into a larger dialogue on human life and death. The music video also incorporates elements of Korean folk dance. In that sense, “Slowly Come to Thee (寬寬仔來到祢的面前)” is not only a work that crosses language barriers, but a dialogue that moves across cultures.

A collaboration of this depth inevitably requires a great deal of time and patience. Cheng says it was not easy to explain to an international collaborator why she chose to sing in Taiwanese Taigi . She had to begin with the language’s deep connection to the land of Taiwan, as well as its political and cultural significance. The process became even more complex when it came to specific word choices, as the Taiwanese Taigi lyrics then had to be translated precisely into Korean.

Cheng recalls receiving an unexpected call from Lang Lee and the translator to clarify certain points on the Korean translation. “For example, the phrase ‘寬寬仔’ in the song title means ‘slowly’ in Mandarin, but there are many different ways to express ‘slowly’ in Korean. She asked me which kind of ‘slowly’ I meant,” Cheng says with a laugh. “We talked on the phone for more than two hours, until my phone ran out of battery.” Because Cheng herself is also very meticulous about her creative work, she says she completely understood where Lang Lee was coming from.

 ▴Photo: 猫形影像製作 Neko Production / YSOLIFE

If even the choice of words required such effort, the subsequent stages — including recording details, vocal approach, and other technical aspects — naturally demanded just as much effort. Cheng recalls that her initial demo combined many electronic and experimental elements, but Lang  Lee rejected the idea directly, saying she “did not want to include too many trendy musical elements.” After working through their differences, the two eventually completed a piece that carried both artists’ intentions. While conflicts between artists are inevitable, Cheng believes that creative collision is essential in international collaborations and creates work that  can inspire broader international audiences. “It wasn’t just about making a pop song or simply blending different languages together. We had deep discussions about the theme, how to shoot the music video, how to present the song when performing in each other’s countries, what our respective roles were, and even how our styling should echo each other — and what those echoes were meant to express.”

▴In “Slowly Come to Thee (寬寬仔來到祢的面前),” Enno Cheng approached the song through the idea of “spirit,” while Lang Lee approached it through the “body,” allowing the two perspectives to interact with each other.

In contrast to her collaboration with Lang Lee, which involved Cheng traveling to Korea for in-person recording and production, her 2024 project with Japanese-Malaysian singer RYOTA, “I Always Thought I Was Alone (我一直都以為我是一個人),” was completed remotely, resulting in a distinct form of cross-border collaboration.

Cheng first heard RYOTA’s music through KKBOX’s podcast show Rising Star (潮流新聲). She later recommended and shared his work on her social media, after which RYOTA sent her a message of thanks, and the two became online friends. When Cheng later held her first solo concert in Malaysia, she invited RYOTA to open for her, paving the way for their eventual collaboration.

“We are at very different stages in life, and I think that’s important. I’m older, so the things I think about are bound to be different from his,” Cheng reflects. At the outset, she proposed two approaches for their collaboration. With a laugh, she admits her tendency to “make things complicated.” “The first option was: if our ideas could not merge, that would still be fine. I could sing the same content as him; even then, it would still carry a different feeling since I sing from the perspective of an older woman. The other option was for me to add lyrics that present the viewpoint of someone my age.”

Ultimately, RYOTA chose to incorporate the lyrics she wrote. Since they did not record together in person, Cheng also provided additional harmony elements,  further enriching the collaborative work.

▴ “I Always Thought I Was Alone (我一直都以為我是一個人)” presents two distinct life perspectives, as if the two artists are conversing through song.

Looking back on these two cross-border collaborations, Cheng believes that the greatest challenge lies not in language but in the thinking and communication required during the early stages of co-creation. Issues such as language choice, cultural differences, and each artist’s market and positioning must all be thoroughly discussed. “I think you have to really think all these things through, and both sides have to lay everything out on the table before building a shared understanding. After the work takes shape, it also has to be transformed into content the public can understand — whether through interviews, writing, or other forms of communication — so that the ideas behind the work can be shared more widely. That whole process takes a lot of communication and mutual understanding.”

▴Photo: 猫形影像製作 Neko Production / YSOLIFE

Want to Break Into the International Market? Don’t Settle for Being “An Asian Artist Who Only Makes Well-Crafted Music”

Cheng’s distinctive musical style has attracted international attention. In addition to collaborating with foreign musicians, Cheng released “Moon Phases (圓缺)” in 2025. Following “Mercury Retrograde (水逆)”, it is her second full-length album written entirely in Taiwanese Taigi . She later toured in the United States, Australia, Malaysia, Japan, and Korea, bringing Taiwanese Taigi music to global audiences and receiving strong responses in return. She recalls performing at Taiwanese Waves in New York, where she and Nanguaq Girls (那屋瓦少女隊) incorporated Paiwan-language chanting into “Slowly Come to Thee (寬寬仔來到祢的面前).” “Especially at the end, when it became this magnificent chorus, people in the audience just started crying. At that moment, you realize that music really can cross language barriers and allow different cultures to coexist within it.”

In the streaming era, people listen to a vast amount of music every day. Smooth, pleasant pop songs can easily become just another track on a playlist. For Cheng, if an artist wants to make a name internationally and open up new possibilities, they cannot settle for being “an Asian artist who simply makes well-crafted music.” Instead, they have to be clear about what they want their work to say and where they want it to go.

▴ Enno Cheng has long been interested in issues related to “language.” Inspired by “How the brain got language? (人如何學會語言),” a short story from acclaimed Taiwanese writer Wu Ming-Yi (吳明益)’s “The Land of Little Rain (苦雨之地)”, she wrote a song of the same title.

Cheng sees “Moon Phases (圓缺)” as her own experiment presented to the international stage. The album is sung in Taiwanese Taigi but makes extensive use of electronic elements, treating electronic music as a shared language that can break through listening boundaries while blending it with her distinctive style. During overseas performances, she also incorporates multilingual lyric projections and visual presentations, allowing audiences unfamiliar with Taiwanese culture to experience her reflections on humanity and the land through powerful electronic sounds and text. By doing so, her performances move beyond cultural and ideological boundaries.

▴ During Enno Cheng’s “Moon Phases 2.0” tour in Japan, she noticed that Japanese record stores and audiences engaged deeply with her lyrics. Onstage, she also paid close attention to how the audience looked up to read the projected lyrics.

Opportunities are unpredictable, so Cheng encourages Taiwanese musicians aiming for international audiences to focus first on preparing themselves. When the moment comes, they can seize it. “You have to think clearly: why would people make the effort to listen to a Taiwanese artist sing R&B or rock music? What do you want to say to the world?” She emphasizes that whether through musical style, stage banter, or multilingual communication, artists can build a unique and irreplaceable identity as long as they convey their core ideas precisely.

“When you can use music to say what you want to say, people may come away with the impression: ‘There’s a Taiwanese artist making a certain kind of music and using that music to talk about something.’ I think that would be really cool.”

▴Photo: 猫形影像製作 Neko Production / YSOLIFE

Author: 林子涵 Emerald Lin / YSOLIFE
Editor, Translator: 劉韋琪 Yuki Liu / YSOLIFE