K-pop Siren Sunmi Talks Her Comeback and Dreams for the Future

The former wonder girl has sealed her status as K-pop’s electro-glam queen with bangers like Gashina, Heroine, Siren and Pporappippam – all with the killer choreography she’s become synonymous with. Now, our favourite disco diva is back with Tail – a track loaded with animalistic charm, and one that she describes as her favourite single yet.

Electro-pop and retro elements are very associated with your sound. As a relatively young artiste in terms of age, how did you come to love the retro sound?

During my time as a member of Wonder Girls, we did a lot of retro concepts in terms of the sound and visual aspects. Producer Park Jin-young always wanted us to broaden our understanding of the different music styles of different eras, and especially about the music we performed. So he introduced us to a lot of music from the ’60s to the ’80s. Perhaps that’s why my music has naturally obtained such a variety of retro elements.

Your music has won critics and scored great commercial success. Is being both innovative and relatable something you always have in mind?

Yes. My aesthetics or emotions as an artiste can be seen as a bit maniac or niche. However, I always try to come up with fun and easy ways to approach a range of people, while keeping the original emotions in myself. I guess that’s why Sunmi’s musicality is known to be distinct and unique within the frame of pop music.

Perhaps more than before, music videos seem key to success in today’s K-pop scene. Rather than just being glossy perfection, your videos seem to also show your personality and attitude. How do you approach each video that you do?

In the music videos, I believe it is important to boldly express the emotions of the character I am playing, and what message I want to tell. Unlike movies and dramas, music videos end in four minutes. With such short-form content, it seems that viewers are more immersed in the narratives when they are delivered with maximum pace and bold expressions.

My goal is to get over these feelings and grow into a female artiste who performs a solo concert in front of a crowd of 10,000 people.

What are your dreams and goals for Sunmi?

My current dream is to live the moment and endure the things I’m going through. I’ve already been performing as a solo artiste for eight years, and sometimes it gets a bit overwhelming and even scary. My goal is to get over these feelings and grow into a female artiste who performs a solo concert in front of a crowd of 10,000 people.

You embarked on your Warning world tour in 2019 and went to Hong Kong and Taiwan. Is there a chance we’ll see you in Singapore for your next tour?

Singapore fans have always given me so much love and support. I would love to look for opportunities to visit Singapore and meet my fans. Please look forward to it.

Credits

Editor-In-Chief Ian Lee

Photography Ji+Doh

Styling Jieun Lee

Hair Dabin

Makeup Gun Hee

Videographer Hyeon Heo

Retoucher Ryu Eun

Photography Assistants Jaehee Lee, Seulgi Kim & Hyemin Kim

Styling Assistant Saeah Kim

All Clothing, Bags And Accessories From Gucci

First seen in the April 2021 issue of L'Officiel Singapore