Not Knowing the Direction Before Starting: VAL CHO's Story of Trying Her Way Through Life

Many people assume that life requires you to know your direction before you can begin.

You're supposed to know what you love before it's worth investing in; you're supposed to be sure of who you want to become before you can bravely walk forward. Especially when someone has stood on stages from a very young age — from 《殘酷一叮》 and 《超級巨聲》, to later 《中國好聲音》 and 《全民造星》, and then 《一起開咪吧》 — the outside world easily assumes she must have had a very clear goal from childhood.

But VAL CHO's (趙展彤) story happens to be different.

She didn't know from the start that she wanted to do music, nor did she have a clear singer's dream from childhood. The first time she stepped on stage wasn't even because she wanted to be seen, but because her mother liked watching her perform, and after every competition she'd get a stationery set.

She might not have known then that she was walking into a very long path. She just sang, took the stationery, made friends, and grew up day by day. It wasn't until many years later, looking back, that she realized those beginnings that seemed like just playing had slowly led her to where she is now.

At First It Wasn't a Dream — Just Stationery Sets and Friends

VAL's first solo competition on stage was around age six.

She says she didn't really feel anything special at the time; it was about the same as singing at home. When you're little, you don't know how to be nervous, and you don't think too heavily about the stage. Without much baggage, you can step up quite naturally.

At first, she joined competitions just for the stationery sets. As she grew a bit, the reason became making friends.

Little VAL was outgoing and proactive — she'd even ask people directly: "Can I be your friend?" Back then, she didn't have many social inhibitions; if she wanted to know someone, she'd just walk over; if she wanted to make a friend, she'd just ask.

So the stage was, at first, not a place to prove herself, but a place where she could step out, meet people, and touch the world.

This beginning was small, even a little cute. But it's precisely this that makes her story more real. Not everyone sets out with a grand dream. Sometimes, a person just walks out first, and the direction emerges slowly.

She Wasn't Always Certain — She Just Kept Trying as She Grew Up

After growing up, VAL gradually became a bit quieter.

What people see might give the impression that she's distant, hard to approach. Some people recognize her on the street but don't dare say hi, only DMing her on IG later to say they spotted her. She laughs that maybe it's because she has a "face that looks distant."

But the real her actually talks a lot, and deep down, she wants to make many friends.

That little girl who would directly ask if she could be your friend hasn't completely disappeared. She just shifted to a quieter way, after growing up, of staying connected to the world.

Her relationship with music, too, wasn't certain from the start. Truly loving singing only happened around fifteen, sixteen.

Around then, she started writing songs during class. At every break or after school, she and her best friend would grab the lyrics they'd just written and sing them however they pleased. She began finding the music styles she loved — especially electronic music. Those moments that had only been playing around slowly made her realize: she really did love music.

Some likings aren't known from the start.

It might be hidden in a newly-learned song, hidden in a few lyrics secretly written down, hidden in afternoons of singing around with friends. Until one day, looking back, you find it's no longer just a hobby but a way of expressing what's inside.

After Liking It, She Began to See How Far She Still Had to Go

After truly loving something, a person also begins to fear they're not good enough.

In 2015, when she joined 《中國好聲音》, VAL saw that the other contestants were extremely strong, and she started to doubt herself. She felt she had to improve quickly to be qualified to stand on the same stage as the others.

It wasn't simply self-doubt — it was the first time a bigger stage made her see the distance she still had to cover.

Many people grow up this way. Originally you just like something, then slowly come to understand: liking it doesn't mean it's easy. The more you love it, the more you mind whether you're good enough; the more you want to keep going, the clearer you see how much there still is to learn.

VAL didn't stop because of this.

She just kept trying, kept searching, kept slowly moving toward a voice closer to her own.

She Doesn't Turn Regret into a Tale of Suffering

VAL has had her share of disappointments too.

She once went through a stage where a piece of work was almost released but never officially came out. The song had been recorded, the MV's visuals were drafted, everything looked like it was about to start, and then it just stopped.

Of course she was disappointed at the time, because she'd invested time and energy. But looking back now, she actually thinks it was a good thing it wasn't released — listening to that song now, it really does sound pretty average.

She also once seriously sought out someone to produce an official MV, but the final product was very far from what she'd imagined — it became what everyone later saw as the "primary-school-style MV."

Her first reaction was helplessness, even a feeling of being cheated. But the more she looked at it later, the more she found it had a certain playfulness. Since the work was already finished, not putting it out seemed like a waste.

Looking back now, she just sees it as "a joke."

These things, on someone else, could become very heavy setbacks. But with VAL, they always end up leaving some humor behind. Not because she wasn't sad, but because she doesn't want those bumps to completely trap her.

Some paths that veer off don't necessarily mean wasted walking.

Sometimes, they just make you clearer about how you want to walk the next time.

From Singing to Rap, She Finally Found What She Really Wanted to Say

If singing was something VAL slowly fell in love with, then rap is a more intimate way of expressing herself that she found later.

She started listening to Pitbull and Lil Wayne at 11, and through their songs she encountered rap. At first she mostly wrote English rap. It wasn't until later that she discovered: writing what's truly in her heart in Cantonese best expressed her present views and emotions.

For her, rap isn't just a music style — it's a way of putting what's in her heart into words.

Singing can carry emotions; rap lets her more directly write down her thoughts, attitudes, and inner states. When she started rapping in Cantonese, those lines also became closer to her real linguistic feel and identity.

From that moment, music to her was no longer just singing a song.

It became a place where she could put her thoughts, her language, and her own identity.

She Brought Her Own Language to a Bigger Stage

VAL says all her thoughts are shared through music.

So Cantonese rap, to her, isn't just a technique, nor is it about wearing a cool identity label. It's a voice she slowly found — a voice that can speak herself, and that can take her to bigger stages.

On the stage of 《一起開咪吧》, she brought Cantonese rap onto a Chinese stage.

She performed Yang Kun's (楊坤) original work 《答案》, but rearranged the original version into a bilingual-trilingual rap version, and performed it together with the original singer himself. She describes the feeling as dreamy.

What made that moment important wasn't just collaborating with Yang Kun, nor just standing on a bigger stage.

It was that the her who had been trying her way through life since childhood had finally brought her own language, her own inner voice, in front of more people.

From stationery sets to Cantonese rap.

From going on stage to make friends to bringing her own language onto a stage.

This path wasn't designed by her from the start — but many years later, it slowly grew into the shape of her own self.

Her Creations Also Come from the Small Things in Daily Life

VAL's world has more than just the stage — it also has many very lived-in, very off-beat parts.

She laughs that she has another dream: running a small ranch. This dream sounds completely off-tone, yet it makes sense. Because she's always loved animals. As a child, her dream wasn't to become a big star but to be surrounded by animals.

Now, she has many pets at home — dogs, birds, turtles, sugar gliders, rabbits, even frogs. To her, those kids are not only a part of her life, but also another very real world beyond the stage.

Her new song 《Doggy》 — its inspiration came suddenly during the process of training her dogs.

She wants to turn the process of training dogs into a song. If people can film Reels to music, so can dogs.

This idea is very her — a little off-beat, a little playful, but also very sincere.

The way VAL interacts with her pets is also very visual. She'll bury her head under their bellies for a long time, loves smelling their bodies, and constantly talks to them. She laughs that they must think this woman has serious issues.

These daily-life details mean VAL isn't just someone standing on a stage. Her creations don't only come from grand scenes — they also come from very small, very real feelings in daily life.

Like 《Doggy》, some works don't start from a grand idea, but from a thought that suddenly pops up in daily life.

Not That There's No Direction — Just No Rush to Lock In the Answer

Now VAL treasures every chance to perform more than before.

She used to not have much fantasy or yearning about the stage; but now she really does treasure every performance, and hopes to step onto bigger stages.

She hopes her music can bring listeners into her fantasy space, and that her songs can accompany listeners through different stages of life.

More long-term, she hopes that one day she can talk about faith through music. She knows this isn't an urgent plan, so at this stage she'll first make more mainstream songs to bring her music into the mainstream market, and then subtly bring faith messages out through the work.

Taking it one step at a time doesn't mean having no direction.

Going with the flow doesn't mean not caring about anything.

She just hasn't turned her life into a rigid plan chart, but in each stage, slowly sees where the next step could go.

Becoming the Protagonist of Your Life Doesn't Mean Knowing the Direction from the Start

If she had to give a line to those still lost, those who don't yet know what they love, VAL says:

"Step out of your comfort zone — only after stepping out will you see the world you haven't seen."

This line is very much like her state along the way. She wasn't certain at every step, nor did she know where she'd end up at every departure. But she didn't stop where she was because of uncertainty.

Many people think you have to find the answer first before you can begin. But sometimes life is exactly the opposite. You have to step out first to see more choices; you have to try first to know what suits you; you have to leave the familiar position first before you slowly hear the voice that truly belongs to you.

Becoming the protagonist of your life doesn't necessarily mean holding a clear script from the start.

Sometimes, it's in attempts that look unplanned, one after another, that you slowly learn to choose yourself.

VAL's story isn't a "knew her dream since childhood" story.

It reminds us: being lost isn't necessarily wasted time. Uncertainty can also be proof that a person is growing up.