A true entertainment powerhouse, NickTheReal is the stage name of Nick Chou (born on August 2, 1988), a Taiwanese actor, rapper, and singer-songwriter who rose to fame in the early 2010s for his involvement in the drama series I Love You So Much. Born into a family of artists, Chou was exposed to music from a very early age and was almost recruited to be a part of South Korean boy band Super Junior during his teenage years. Following a guest appearance in Jolin Tsai’s “Butterfly” single, Chou was offered a record deal by Warner Music Taiwan only if he could gather more than 3,000 fans in one of his shows. He passed the test with flying colors and released his eponymous debut in 2010 to great commercial acclaim. In 2012, he was cast as Chang Shao Feng in the Taiwanese TV drama I Love You So Much, which exposed him to a widespread audience and paved the way for S.N.G., his sophomore effort. The album, which was written, arranged, and produced by Chou himself, received heavy airplay in both Taiwan and Hong Kong and earned the singer a Most Promising Singer-Songwriter Gold Award at the Hito Music Awards the following year. Subsequently, he followed up with REAL (2016), which spawned the single “So Handsome,” an anthemic rock number that topped the Top 100 Chinese Singles Daily Chart. In subsequent years, Chou released the single “Savage” (2019) in collaboration with Chinese DJ Carta via the legendary Spinnin’ Records and “i GO,” a pure, unadulterated trap track that reached KKBox’s Top 5 in Hong Kong, Malaysia, and Taiwan.
