Indie Rock Quintet Sweet John Gone Viral Among Taiwan’s Young Generation

(*English subtitles are available.)

Sweet John (甜約翰) has already gone viral among the young generation in Taiwan. They’re nominated for “Band of the Year” for this year’s Golden Melody Awards (aka the Taiwanese Grammys).

In 2011, Sweet John’s predecessor, Natural Outcome, was formed in Tainan, where the vocalist Genwie, the guitarist Can, the bassist Duncan, and the drummer Jay met in National Cheng Kung University. The band had been put aside after they went through the anxiety of entering the workforce and the struggle to make ends meet. Finally, they met Mandark in a raining day of 2016, that started the first chapter of Sweet John.

The band’s title “Sweet John” is inspired by the term “Dear John Letter” which is a gesture of ending a romantic relationship. Sweet John is famous for their lively Bagatelle-music style, moreover, their music is as gentle as a steady monologue. Continuing Natural Outcome’s 5-man structure and its perfect handling of melody, Sweet John mixes the diverse sounds of instruments with elements from various music styles and creates their own unique chilling style. Sweet John is for the wonderful yet perishable “Dear John” in their audiences’ hearts.