Sunmi Opens Up About Her Youth And Why She Looks Up To J. Y. Park
On the recent episode of KBS‘s radio show Kang Han Na’s Volume Up, Sunmi shared her honest thoughts on her music and youth.
With her new release, “TAIL,” Sunmi has yet again surprised fans with her amazing skill and beauty. However, she confessed that co-composing the song was actually really difficult, and it overwhelmed her sometimes. She commented, “I’m in awe of music producers.”
Sunmi added that she looks up to artist and producer J. Y. Park, who she worked with for several years at JYP Entertainment. She is often impressed by his songwriting talent.
It hasn’t even been five years since I began creating self-composed music, but Park Jin Young has been writing great songs for decades. I admire him for that.
—Sunmi
When asked if she preferred any of her other self-written songs opposed to “TAIL,” she replied that she didn’t like any other song better than “TAIL.” She piqued fans’ interest by sharing, “I have a lot of songs [written], but I have more quiet, sentimental songs than I have songs that would suit a dance performance.”
When she was asked about talent and stage presence being singer-like qualities, she was brought back to her past. Sunmi shared that she worried a lot about not being able to stand out.
When I was young, I spent a lot of time thinking to myself, ‘Why don’t I stand out? Why don’t I have any presence?’ Now I think stage presence and skills can be acquired through hard work and effort [rather than being innate].
—Sunmi
Sunmi’s music has gained a lot of love over the many years of her career, to the point where fans started calling her music “Sunmi-Pop.” She was asked to describe what “Sunmi-Pop” was and stated that they were “songs that are really exciting, overwhelming, happy, and somehow sad at the same time.”
She added that even though all her recent releases have been self-produced, she also wants to sing other producers’ songs. She explained, “I don’t think my songs need to be self-composed, so if there are other good songs out there, I want to sing them.”
Finally, Sunmi shared that she wants to be even busier in the future as she “feel[s] like if you start overthinking, you deteriorate.” She said that she hopes to live “like a dried flower” as “even after its liveliness and beauty wither, you still keep it for a long time.”
Sunmi ended by sending love to her fans.
I always say this, but you guys are the force that keeps me going. Even if I become exhausted, I’ll always get up again, so don’t worry too much. I love you.
—Sunmi