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In countries where the music industry is blooming, we’ll encounter musicians struggling in the indie scene. Just like in Indonesia, in Korea the indie scene is developing vastly. Some indie musicians manage to gain national attention, some are known only in the indie scene and some are thankful merely because they have fans, even though the number is small. Since everything Korean is booming here in our country, we’d like to introduce ONers to Korean indie musicians whose music deserves some spotlight.
Previously, we’ve posted our special interview with Jerry K, a senior indie hip-hop musician (better known as underground musician for this genre). This time, we’re going to introduce one female indie musician whose music can be categorized as electronic pop, Neon Bunny. In between her busy schedule, the cool eonnie was willing to share her thoughts about her music and other things with RekON via e-mail.
Who is Neon Bunny, some of you might ask. In his official profile, Neon Bunny or 야광토끼 in Korean (Yakwang Tokki) is South Korean electronic pop musician who debuted in 2011 with her first album Seoulight. In the same year, the album was chosen as the best pop album in Korean Music Award. Lim Yoojin (her real name) herself introduced Neon Bunny as a singer and songwriter from South Korea. A song writer? Correct, since from the first album to her mini album Happy Ending (released in 2012), she wrote her own songs. Even before debuting as Neon Bunny Yoojin had composed some tracks by herself. This was part of her experience when studying jazz in college. It’s also due to her role as an additional keyboardist in one indie band, The Black Skirts, “It came really naturally. I wasn’t the real member of The Black Skirts. And I’ve been writing my own songs for a long time. So here I am!!”, she explained her decision to debut as Neon Bunny.
Neon Bunny-Together With Me (나와둘이)
It turns out that Lim Yoojin is a fan of My Melody, a rabbit character from Sanrio. Not only My Melody stuffs, she’s also collecting anything bunny. No wonder she chose Neon Bunny as her stage name! Unfortunately, we forgot to ask what the word ‘neon’ means. We think it’s to describe her electronic music? What do you think, ONers?
Her music is one thing that triggers our curiosity. There are many electronic pop musicians in Korea, either from indie or major companies. Electronic music is heavily influenced by western music, but what makes Neon Bunny’s music different is that she combined the western features with eastern elements, particularly Korean culture. She also added that, “Some people said my voice is unique, so are my lyrics.”
As stated earlier, Neon Bunny’s debut album received the best pop album award in KMA 2012. The album was competing with IU’s Last Fantasy, which features Good Dream that has made IU famous. As a musician who just debuted, this must be a very precious award for her. When asked how she felt about it, Lim Yoojin joked, “It was really big. Somehow I felt that I was going to get it hahaha.. I was really glad.” However, she didn’t feel any significant difference after winning the award although the achievement has influenced her music career. “Maybe people treat me in a different way?”, she wonders herself.
Neon Bunny-Oh My Prince (왕자님)
As a song writer, Yoojin of course has her own favourite songs. From the many songs that she composed, the beautiful eonnie thinks that her masterpiece is Together With Me and Oh My Prince. Her reason is, “I never get sick of Together With Me, and Oh My Prince is the most famous song out of my tunes I guess.” What a coincidence that Oh My Prince is also RekON’s most favourite song. But when asked about the song that she always has to play at her gigs, Long-D is her answer. This is the anthem for her performance, we can say.
Talking about performance, she just held a mini concert last July entitled Neon Bunny, Turn Off The Light. She was very excited about the mini concert because besides a chance to meet her fans, it was also a kind of small farewell party to two of her session members who had to enlist to the military. She commented, “It was fun!”
Nevertheless, there are still things that left her unsatisfied. Yoojin really wants to work with a VJ for her stage background and with back dancer team to make her concert more exciting, “It would be really fun!!”. Probably for her next concert? We’ll see! Not only that, she also has a dream to play her music in America, “I always want to go touring in the States.”
Besides her own concert, personally Yoojin also enjoys performing in music festivals compared to TV music programs. She argued that in festivals she could communicate more with the audience, “I can totally connect with people!!” She also added in Korean that she likes the energy and the atmosphere in music festivals that she can’t feel in other events.
Recently, Neon Bunny contributed her voice to Singing Bird in DJ Demicat’s latest album, Out Loud. She previously has collaborated with DJ Smells in Listen To Your Heart. Responding to the question which musician she’d like to work with, she enthusiastically answered, “G-Dragon!! Please work with me!” Wow, it turns out she’s a VIP too! After that, this musician who also loves reading and riding a bicycle gave us the link to a mash-up of her song and GD and TOP’s song. You should listen to it, ONers!
As an indie musician, Yoojin admits the massive influence of K-pop in world music industry at the moment. “Mostly it’s people outside Korea who listen to K-pop,” she said about the kind of people who listen to her songs. However, she thinks that it’s still far for Korean indie scene to be as global as K-pop, “Actually I’m still thinking about it. I wonder what will it be like?”
Lastly before we ended the conversation, RekON asked Yoojin to send her message to ONers, “Neon Bunny is the different part of me. I guess it is like my child. “ About her music, “Nothing, just listen to it if you like it.” Just like what she said, let her music do the talk 🙂
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