Jessie You is a veteran lyricist and cross-media creator. She graduated from the School of Journalism and Communication at The Chinese University of Hong Kong, with a minor in psychology. Her diverse career includes experience as a radio DJ, advertising creative, mental health website content creator, columnist and book author, magazine feature journalist, event emcee, and voice actress. Passionate about the arts since childhood, she has studied dance, painting, piano, music theory, and taught herself multiple instruments. She has also trained in popular vocals and is currently pursuing a Master of Arts degree in Music at The Chinese University of Hong Kong.
In recent years, Jessie has been involved in lyric-writing instruction, private recitation coaching, school musical scriptwriting, and music video directing. In 2024, she published *My 1990s Lyric Healing Journal* (ranked in the “2024 Eslite TOP100 Annual Bestsellers List”), and in 2025 she released *20th Century Lyric Love Healing Journal*, which explores personal growth through the analysis of Cantonese pop lyrics.
Jessie’s journey as a lyricist began in secondary school, when her teachers encouraged her to participate in lyric-writing competitions, where she won multiple awards and resolved to become a lyricist. After graduating from university, she signed with a music publisher and began writing lyrics for pop songs. She has collaborated with a wide range of artists, including Hins Cheung, Eason Chan, Vincy Chan, Candy Lo, Fiona Sit, George Lam, Vivian Chow, Jeff Chang, Eric Suen, Linda Chung, and Dear Jane, covering genres from children’s songs to film and TV themes to religious music. She has twice participated in the Hong Kong Microfilm Awards, crafting theme songs for shortlisted finalists.
Since 2007, Jessie has collaborated with renowned musician Ng Cheuk-yin, writing lyrics for choral works and musicals. She has contributed to major productions, including the 40th anniversary musical “A Tale from the Magical Beanland” and towards the 50th anniversary dance drama “The Dancing Gallery” for the Hong Kong Children’s Choir, “Saturday Whispers” and “Fun Ride with Big Beard – Dancing Poems” for the Hong Kong Dance Company, “I Love Laughing Mama” for Actors’ Family, Naamyam (Nanyin) Story Theatre “To Meet You in a Briny Sea” for One Table Two Chairs Charitable Foundation, “The Happy Prince” (music by Peter Kam) for The Only Stage, and “Like. So?” (music by Mark Tai) for Hong Kong Virtuoso Chorus.
Her co-creation of the a cappella theatre production “Rock Hard” with Yat Po Singers won the 2008 CASH Golden Sail Music Award for “Best Serious Composition”. The theme song “Singing Voices of the World” for the Global Outstanding Chinese Youth Singing Festival received the CASH Golden Sail Award for “Most Performed Work” in 2013 and 2018. Her choral suite “Ears on Heaven” for the CUHK Chorus was a Top 5 finalist for “Best Serious Composition” at the 2017 CASH Golden Sail Awards. In 2015, she wrote the theme song “HuXi” for the World Youth and Children’s Choir Choral Festival, and in the same year, the anthem “Music is Love” for Xiamen Sea Blue Children’s Choir. In 2017, she wrote the theme song “Before We Grow Up” for the 6th China Children’s Choir Festival. In 2024, she created the 10th anniversary theme song “Light Years” for the Guangzhou Liwan Children’s Choir, which was selected among the “Top 20 Outstanding Songs of 2024” in the “Hear China, Hear You” Contemporary Chinese Song Project.
Whether in Mandarin or Cantonese, Jessie’s works are beloved by teachers and students and are widely performed in the choral community. Since 2023, she has collaborated with HKICF, teaming up with composer Mark Tai to write the theme song “Love Unheard” for the “Hong Kong Inter-school Choral Festival x Children’s Cancer Foundation” Online Choir Project, encouraging heartfelt communication between parents and children. The following year, she joined HKICF Artistic Director Kelvin Lau to co-create the 2024 commissioned song “The Flame,” sharing the journey of founding and development of HKICF. In 2023, she collaborated with pianist-composer Jason Liu to write the Cantonese mixed-voice choral piece “Picturesque Cityscape” for HKBUAS A-Singers, which has been performed at international choral festivals, showcasing the unique charm of Cantonese choral music to the world.
