Jasmine Sokko, a singer and electronic music artist from Singapore is the first home-grown act to win Best Southeast Asia Act at the 2019 MTV EMAs, beating out popular regional acts such as Malaysia's Yuna and Indonesia's Rich Brian.
The winner was decided by public online votes, according to The Straits Times.
The electropop songstress who’s known for the sleek black outfits and bejewelled masks she dons onstage is barefaced and mask-free. She sports a casual look – a chic sheer top, basic black bermudas, black socks and a pair of slides. Her stage name, Sokko, means “blind” in Finnish, befitting her mysterious look.
At 23, the Singapore singerproducer’s achievements in her music career are spectacular. And she won’t trade her success for anything – not even school. It’s understandable, as she has worked her way up to become one of Singapore’s most streamed artists on Spotify. Jasmine’s debut independent single, 1057, topped Spotify’s Singapore Viral 50 chart in 2016.
Her two latest singles, Hurt (2018) and Tired (2019), have a total of six million plays on Spotify. The music video for Tired, released in May this year on Youtube, has more than 600,000 views.
The rising star gained international fans after securing fourth place on Rave Now (2018- 2019), an international electronic music competition held in China.
A few months on, she’s riding the Mandopop wave with her first Mandarin single, SHH, which was co-produced with American producer Felix Snow. The track was released with Warner Music China in September.
She says of her foray into the Chinese market: “I don’t know how the track will fare. People told me that electropop may not do so well with the Mandopop audience because soulful ballads are more popular,” she said to Her World.
“But I didn’t want to change my style of music, and I’m keeping my fingers crossed.” The track and video are a hallmark of Jasmine’s music: The song has a catchy vocal hook, and Jasmine dances around a dystopian nuclear plant in the video.
She said in a press statement: "I still can't believe this is happening! I'm thrilled, over the moon, beyond grateful and above all, I feel so undeservingly loved. To everyone who voted, thank you all a million.
"I always believe that it's important to challenge the status quo. Just because nobody has done something before, doesn't mean it's not possible. The past year has made me foresee a future in the Singapore music scene that I want to be a part of building.
"May the ceiling of mine today be the floor of tomorrow's generation."
The EMAs, or Europe Music Awards, is an annual event which started in 1994. The Best Southeast Asia Act, first given out in 2013, is one of several awards given out to international artists.
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