Reporter Lee Jae-hoon
After a tumultuous road, Yves (Ha Sooyoung) from the group LOONA has discovered a courage by the name of centripetal force.
The members of LOONA, who enjoyed immense popularity overseas, including entering Billboard’s main album chart Billboard 200, were scattered against their will due to conflicts and disputes with their original agency. During the following unintended hiatus, Yves peered closer into herself.
When Yves, who is closer to an introvert, was promoting as part of the group, she tried to aim outward with a centrifugal force, enveloping a broader boundary. That is to say, she only felt satisfied when she had external validation.
Starting with her solo debut album LOOP, released in May, she was armed with the energy of centripetal force. Instead of accepting the force majeure, she exercised a cohesive force to focus on herself and challenge herself without hesitation at the things she could do. In other words, she could satisfy herself just by acknowledging herself.
Her second EP, I Did, is an album in which she looks into herself more deeply with that centripetal force. Yves, who had been scared to face her pitch-black inner side and was playing hide-and-seek with it, finally declares that she has the steely strength to face it.
Despite the story being so introspective, she also showed the courage to not write and compose these songs. This is because she needed to transform musically. In this album, Yves focuses on showing her well-refined method acting.
In a world crafted by lyricists and composers belonging to Yves’ label Paix Per Mil, including executive producer Millic (Cheon Seung-hyeon), with her as the subject, Yves shows off a peak in immersion. Yves made her home here this year, believing in Paix Per Mil’s music and production sense. The following is a recent Q&A session between Yves and reporters held in Gangnam-gu, Seoul.
-The word “space” is repeated a lot in your title song “Viola”. What kind of space were you thinking about as you sang it?
“The message that runs through this album is peace. It’s the element of my happiness that accounts for the biggest share. All the emotions I faced to chase down that peace, I melted them all into the track. And I think I needed some mental space, too. The word “stage” also appears in the lyrics of “Viola”, and I wanted that to be a time that acts as an on/off when the fans heard it. I sang the song thinking, ‘I hope they can relax or be comforted by listening to this song.’”
-I think there must have be a reason why the theme of this album is peace.
“The first thing I said I wanted to show when I signed the contract with Paix Per Mil was my candid self. Things I couldn’t show when I was working as part of a group. It could be boldness in terms of fashion and visuals, but I wanted to be honest through music about the emotions I felt. This album is an extension of my previous work, LOOP. With LOOP and this album, I tried to find the happiest way to do music, and I worked on it thinking, ‘Let’s be honest about how I feel.’ These are the things I made while I was thinking about happy music.”
-What’s the biggest difference between now and when you were in LOONA?
“When I was in LOONA, I debuted right away without a trainee period, so it really wasn’t enough to infuse my colours and I also wasn’t allowed to do that. Now, I get involved in the entire process. The part that has changed the most is the ‘difference in mindset’. When I was promoting as a group, I think I tried to find ‘peace of mind’ only through the approval of the company and the public. Now, whether it’s feeling joy while making something, or feeling proud when I’ve made it, I’m more frequently acknowledging that I’m proud of myself and I feel happy.”
-Then, what was your happiest memory from working on this album?
“The guide for “Hashtag” (R&B soul pop genre) was so hard. The topline is dynamic and busy. The director Ioah and I worried a lot before I went in to do the recording, but he said, ‘Do as you please.’ I shed the pressure and recorded the first line, and he said, ‘This is exactly it,’ so that’s when I got the hang of it and I had fun recording after that.”
-You’ve shown faith in Millic while working on your previous album too, but it did feel jarring when you were said to be working with him for the first time. I didn’t think there was any point of contact.
“CEO Millic was the biggest reason I thought I should be with Paix Per Mil. I think there are many things I like and can do, but I was in a state of uncertainty where I didn’t know how to express it all in a cohesive way. But as soon as CEO Millic saw me, he instilled confidence in me, saying, ‘You have character.’ I thought that there would be a good synergistic effect when his wide musical spectrum met with what I possessed. Thanks to him, I think my ear for listening has broadened, too. Sometimes I wonder if he listens to too much difficult music. Haha. Songs like Willow’s “Symptom Of Life”. It’s full of elements that aren’t used in K-pop. And he also listens to a lot of developing-world music. But he also likes music like Keyshia Cole’s “Love”. I think my fans might find his music unfamiliar, but I definitely believe there are elements that can appeal to the public.”
-The fan response to your last album promotions was impressive. Is there any kind of fan reaction that you’re looking forward to with this album?
“My last album was my first solo album, so I tried some bold things. I was actually very worried about what I wanted to show. But the fans said, ‘We really love that this was an Yves-like decision and an Yves-like output.’ I felt like they had faith in me, so I felt ‘I could do well’ even with my future steps, and I was thankful for that. This album spans the whole of both the beginning and the end of this year, and if I were to hear that in 2024, Yves’ debut and the wrap-up to that debut were successful, I think I’ll be able to begin 2025 happily.”
-What is Yves’ standard of success?
“As I said earlier, while I had found stability and happiness through external validation before, now I feel satisfied in being able to affirm on my own. I can’t say that I’ve completely given up on external measures yet, but rather than in numbers, I think the biggest happiness will be in having no regrets when I finish my activities and feeling that I did my best. If the fans who always trust and follow me even just tell me, ‘It was good,’ I feel confident that I can continue my activities in the future.”
-It seems like the key point of this album is the “synesthetic image” that emphasises both vision and hearing. It can also probably be connected to the sense of space. What was the atmosphere that Yves and Paix Per Mil wanted to emphasise?
“I thought the intro and outro had huge roles. The message that penetrates this album is the emotions that I faced in finding peace. When you first listen to the intro, you feel something confusing. The lyrics keep emphasising that I need space somehow, and you feel the confusion and anxiety. But the outro consists of almost two minutes of only trap at the end. When you listen to it with earphones, you feel the sense of space as you said. Listening to that sound makes me feel very much at ease, like I’m entering a different world. If you listen to the album in order, you will feel many different emotions, I think.”
-Is there anything else you do to find peace in your daily life?
“I do very static activities when I’m alone at home. I often meditate and use tea ceremony sets. Not long ago, I received a really big singing bowl as a gift from my uncle. So sometimes I also find peace in my mind by listening to the ringing of the singing bowl.”
-You participated in songwriting when you were in LOONA, but you didn’t participate in writing and composing songs in this album.
“Paix Per Mil first told me, ‘Musically, we want you to trust the company wholly and follow us first.’ And I also decided to put down my own writing for a while and focus more on how the company sees me. And this album feels like the conclusion of LOOP, so we discussed in the direction of having me participate in production from the next album onwards.”
-I think it’s also a great courage to not write lyrics or compose songs. What is the part of your identity that you are most pondering about at this point?
“I thought I’d be prouder and feel better if I filled my solo debut album with songs I made, but it also took courage to let go of that. I trusted the company completely with my music up until this album, but starting with the next album, I want to become a singer-songwriter who creates my own colour with the knowledge I learned from and the spectrum broadened at the company. After all, I can express myself better if I make the songs. I was also curious about what kind of feel the company saw in me, and they drew out a lot of my emotivity and girlish innocence, rather than my girl crush side. I was very fascinated about and thankful for that. Because they broadened my spectrum. It was a great opportunity for me to spread my music in such an expanded space.”
-In your view, is being “from LOONA” is a positive image or a negative image for you?
“I’m very grateful that they recognise me as that, and I think it’s positive. Many people forgot me because I went on hiatus for almost a year. But I’m so thankful that they’re reminded of me because of this group, LOONA. I also think that the members are making the group name shine in their respective places, so I’m thankful for being called ‘LOONA Yves’. LOONA also had a bigger overseas fanbase. And my solo fanbase now is bigger overseas, too. I’m planning to tour abroad, and I hope that through this and future activities, I’ll be able to increase my domestic fanbase and hold concerts in Korea as well.”
-Female soloists are popular all over the world these days. There is also a trend where young women, who are the main consumers of popular culture, tend to prefer female singers to male singers. Do you think it’s a better time to promote as a female soloist these days?
“From a certain perspective, you might say that someone is a competitor, but it’s a great help to me that my seniors produce great results and continue their activities consistently and energetically. I’m grateful that they continue to expand the scope of what female artistes are able to do and pioneer those paths ahead of me. And that also makes me dream of taking after them and helping lift the profile of female artistes by consistently producing music. I do think you could say that it’s a good time to promote as a female solo artiste. But if you have the music and the preparation, you can create your own timing. If there are many good female artistes, I can get mentioned alongside them and ride the flow together, but if there are few, I can expand my range, so I’m not too fussy about the timing.”
-What do you think is your own colour?
“To describe myself as a colour, it’s black. Black is used a lot to symbolise the darkness that people avoid. But I think I have the courage to throw myself into new and challenging situations. I feel like I’m constantly getting into situations that resemble black. Also, black doesn’t lose its presence no matter what colour it’s put on. I want to resemble that kind of thing, too.”
-Don’t you struggle mentally or blame yourself when you’re unsuccessful at those challenging things you attempt?
“I tend to blame myself often. But now my mind and attitude have changed a lot. Even if I fail, I think what I learn from that is greater. So now I think I can be cool and let it pass. In the past, when I failed, I couldn’t admit my failure.”
-Was there a special reason for such a change?
“We (LOONA) were separated from each other, against our will. And the one year of hiatus that I was forced to take really felt like a decade for me. I’m someone who has a hard time not being busy. Circumstances made me unable to do anything. I felt very chained up. Emotionally and situationally, I felt oppressed. After those experiences, I try to challenge myself more and be freer than before. To be honest, I get stressed out about situations that happen suddenly. That’s why the members used to call me a scared sunfish. I was with the members for 6-7 years, including my debut period, you know. The members were always worried, “You push yourself too much.” Even the members could see how hard I was being on myself. But some of them left me letters at my bedside, and some of them hand-wrote me letters... When I was working as part of the group, those were the ways I found consolation, through the members. Now, rather than relying on someone, I try to find a way to comfort myself and solve the problems.”
-But the work of being a singer also requires you to endure stress, right?
“It took me a really long time to get parental permission to become a singer. My mom was against it for almost 10 years. She asked me later, ‘Why do you want to do this when you know it’s a tough road?’ So I said, ‘I’m not doing it because I want to do it, but because I think I’m going to die if I don’t.’ I still feel the same as when I was 17, harbouring those thoughts. There’s no other reason. This work just makes me so happy and attracts my heart so much that I’m willing to endure all the hardships, so that’s why I keep doing it.”
(Source)
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