It’s the final Wednesdaaaaay (dodoloodo, dodolododooo). Yesterday was somewhat of a relevation, with the discovery that the reason everyone talks about IU so much is that she’s great. Who knew. We continue on with soloists week, and next up is one of the other top girls working in the industry today. Gaydies and gentlefemmes, it’s Sunmi.
Who is Sunmi?
Did you miss those complicated origin stories? I bet you did. Well DON’T WORRY! Sunmi’s got one! Born May 1992 (all the coolest people are born in 1992, look it up) in South Korea, Lee Sunmi rose to fame as a member of the JYP Entertainment group Wonder Girls. JYP? Why yes, one of the big three silly, the people (up until recently) who were responsible for GOT7! Keep up. She performed with the group until 2010, when she went on hiatus (a popular word in K-pop) to pursue an academic career, re-joined the rebooted group in 2015, and then went back to being fully solo when the group disbanded in 2017. A yoyo to a solo you might say. If you were lame like me. She is now signed under Makeus Entertainment, and obviously I have never heard of them before, you know how this goes. She actually debuted as a solo artist in 2013, in the middle of the gap between Wonder Girls breaks, which must have made for interesting conversations with her bandmates when she re-joined.
Sunmi is interesting here, as she’s the first of the soloists I’ve looked at who has previously been a member of a successful group. I imagine this has had a big impact on the shape of her music, presumably through attempts to distance herself from her former work. Like how Geri Halliwell distanced herself from the Spice Girls by releasing bad songs. I digress. I have never listened to Wonder Girls because, look at me, I am unenlightened, but I will admit I have heard Sunmi before. This is pretty much entirely through one song- Lalalay, which I will thus be ignoring here, but just note that it’s a BANGER and the video/single artwork involves a lot of pretty butterflies. From knowing this one song, and scanning Wikipedia (because I take research very seriously) I can tell you that her songs have both ‘classy’ and ‘sexy’ elements to them, which I would multiply together to get something roughly like sultry. Well, let’s see how this research pans out…
The First Song
As mentioned above, Sunmi debuted her own solo work in August 2013 with 24 Hours. The song opens with the cranking of an old clock, some crotchety tick-tocking, and then a slapping beat and dancing synths. This hard, percussive beat allows Sunmi to play with rhythm in her vocals, adding a sense of bounce in the melodies. It’s all a good fun pop track, and then the dance break comes. And it’s Argentine tango themed? We have the snaking rhythms and dramatic violins, and then we suddenly snap back to the dance track. I don’t get why this happened, but it was a welcome surprise. As an example of classy sexiness, it don’t come much better than throwing tango into your song.
Five of the Big Hits
Of course I went to Reddit, who do you think I am? The five I chose from recommendations were Gashina, Full Moon, Purple-lit Night, Heroine and Siren.
Let’s begin with 2017’s Gashina, easily her most popular song in terms of listens on Spotify and video views on YouTube. This song gets most of its melody from its high, almost tropical synth hooks in the chorus, though we do also have catchy central refrain of the title ‘gashina’, which apparently doubles as a loose translation for ‘leaving’ as well as a disrespectful way to talk to a girl. Sunmi’s attitude comes through throughout the video, especially in the chorus set-up line, the heavily distorted “how could leave a woman this beautiful behind?” (or, at least, the rough Korean equivalent). At one point she is posing with what looked a lot like a flower crown, in a red dress in front of a floral backdrop, in a manner reminiscent of queen Frida Kahlo. Moments like this set a more confident tone, building on the sensual side we saw in 24 Hours.
The next single to be released after Gashina was 2018’s Heroine, for which there is a teensy bit of controversy. Not for having an English name that’s the same of a class A drug, but for a sonic similarity to British singer Cheryl Cole’s song Fight For This Love. Now, if you know me well, you know I have a pretty passionate dislike of Cheryl, so it’s not a song I hold in super high regard myself. But I will admit, in some of the chorus’s tune, and in the percussive melody booms in the pre-chorus, there are some similarities. However, Sunmi is a better singer than Cheryl (not difficult), and her wonderful breathiness in the verses works well with the large, echoing sound of the instrumentation. The piano flourishes add layers to make the song feel rich, and, if this is indeed some sort of Cheryl copy (which Sunmi and co. have denied), it’s the version I prefer.
I have apparently, unwittingly, chosen a trilogy of songs all dealing with the end of a difficult relationship, with August 2018’s Siren up next. This song has strong eighties dance-pop vibes, again with a large, echoing, booming synth instrumentation that evokes The Pet Shop Boys, complete with a catchy chorus. There is also a repeated ‘ooh’ hook sung eerily by Sunmi that we hear most prominently at the beginning of the track, a nice nod to the mythical creatures that inspired the song’s title. I don’t think it has much attitude as Gashina, or as unique a play with rhythm as the melodic booms of Heroine, but it’s still hugely enjoyable.
I then jumped back in time to 2014’s Full Moon, and man, this is a change of direction. This is a high energy groove track, with strong drums and a funky piano beat staying relaxed but always enthusiastic. This song features rapping by Lena, presumably not the one who won Eurovision for Germany, who adds a fierce presence to the song. The refrains of ‘eh eh eh’ feel almost nineties, like sensual versions of playground taunts. From the video, all spooky visuals, graveyards and staring in white nighties, I can guess that this song is supposed to have an eerie element, which, honestly, does not come across in the music. It doesn’t suffer from this at all, and maybe if I could understand the full lyrics I could find some kind of missing link here.
We finish up this big five with a song that translates roughly as Purple-lit Night, but is often literally anglicised as Pporappippam, possibly the most ‘p’s in any pop song title in history. It’s from just last year, and was apparently written by Sunmi (as a lot of these tracks have been, at least in part) to express the “butterflies in the stomach” when looking up at a beautiful sky. Aww. It reminds me a lot of that trilogy I didn’t realise was a trilogy. It has the punching melodic beats of Heroine, and the big, eighties dancefloor-filling sound of Siren. There is a cute little flute moment in the song’s opening, and even a brief appearance from an eighties power ballad-esque guitar in the bridge, but none of this really sets the song hugely apart from these other two. It’s a glorious sound that she does make, one that I think sits well with that ‘butterflies in the stomach’ feeling she spoke about. It’s ‘throw your hands out and spin around’ music, even if it’s part of a trend.
The Latest Song
Well whaddya know, my timing has worked out well for once! Sunmi’s latest single is Tail, which was released, according to YouTube, six hours ago (at time of writing). How’s THAT for up-to-date?
Tail is an ever-so-slightly darker take on Sunmi’s usual brand of dance track, with guitars growling lower and distorted in the background. The beat has more of a swing, or perhaps bounce is a better word, and Sunmi plays with the tone of her voice to almost mocking effect in the pre-choruses. Pairing this with the video’s obvious femme fatale theme (there are some very big nods to Selina Kyle/Catwoman), it’s clear Sunmi is going for the cocky side of sensual with the song. I think she achieves that generally, though none of the instrumental riffs or lyrics really stick in the mind once the song’s over.
The Latest Album
Another EP- thank you soloists of K-pop! Mama’s had a long day, she doesn’t need a full album right now. The latest EP from Sunmi is 2018’s Warning, a merciful five songs, one of them being the already-covered Siren. Wikipedia actually lists this EP as also containing Gashina and Heroine (unsurprising given their links), but as they have already been covered, I’m sticking with the Spotify version.
We open with a stomping proclaim of “who’s runnin’ the show?” in the slower-than-you-might-expect-but-still-hype Addict. The mix of dreamy synths with the relentless beat for the majority of the song is powerful, a snarling flex without the need for hyperactivity. Siren is next, followed by Curve (곡선 is the Korean title). This is more of the groove-inflected style we heard hints of way back in Full Moon, replete with the same steady drumbeat and chilled out piano melodies. Sunmi casually stutters the chorus lines, which only adds to the tone’s overall laid-back feel. Black Pearl continues in much the same way, this time with bass guitars replacing the piano. The gentle beat eventually makes way for a light sax solo, giving the track a jazzy edge. The beat is also less drum-based and almost sounds like claps, putting one in mind of a dancefloor slowly stepping along to the song at a calm point some night in a seventies disco. It’s a distant relative of Doja Cat’s Say So in this, and, while not life-changing, I loved the different vibe the saxophone in particular lent to it. The EP ends with Secret Tape (비밀테이프), a little bookend that starts off with the actual sound of a tape being put into a machine. Sweet and gentle acoustic guitars follow, as a pre-recorded, fuzzy sounding Sunmi sings laconically. Just over fifty seconds in, the remaining third of this song bursts in to joyful synths, before a final, fuzzy sign-off. It’s a great touch, the musical equivalent of Sunmi scribbling a handwritten note on a gift for us. I like the quietness of this ending, especially in contrast to the swagger of the album’s opening.
Thoughts?
Sunmi has got a style, she knows how to work it, and, quite frankly, she knows how to own it. The sound is big, eighties joy, or it’s a sensual groove. The vocals are husky, playful, if not necessarily strong. But, for me personally, the strength of a vocal is as much in its expression and texture as much as technicality anyway. Sunmi effortlessly imbues each track she makes with her own personality this way, alongside contributing creatively to most of them as well. If IU is Korea’s Little Sister, then Sunmi is the aloof elder sister, revelling in her sultry sound, big tunes and richly constructed productions.
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