EXCLUSIVE: Cosmopolitan Indonesia interview with Kim Sejeong
Congratulations on your comeback, SEJEONG! It has been a year since your EP Plant was released. How does it feel to be back with new songs?
First, I have participated in music composition and lyrics writing to show you a more fun and newer, diverse sides of me as I am presenting a new song. And I have put a lot of efforts into putting its respective colors in everything from album to music video. So, I hope it will be a fun album for you guys as well.
Do you mind sharing with us the story behind your latest title track "Warning"?
There were a lot of runner-ups [songs] on the list. I had a lot of songs to think and choose from, as there were songs that I have written myself and songs that I received from external sources. But unexpectedly, the song that I was worried the most (that would become the title track) received the most votes, and so it became the title song of the album. The song title is "Warning", and I guess the reason why it became the title track is because the lyrics are the most fitting to the current situation and it expresses SEJEONG the best. The process of how the title song came about was very interesting, and I hope the messages I want to tell would be delivered to you as well.
Can you elaborate on your new single with us?
First of all, I tried to contain my honest thoughts and feelings as I looked back on myself during my debut time. And so, each song has its own comforting message, but the title song "Warning" has a main message of “You can take a break; It’s okay to take a break!” that I have prepared to comfort the listeners hearts. I hope it can reach out to you a little bit as well.
Who or what inspired your songwriting process?
There were times when ideas just pop up in my mind, and I also tried to watch videos that show different sounds and melodies very attentively. A lot of times, after I wrote a song, the song’s language isn’t an actual existing language. Sometimes I use foreign words as well, and other times it doesn’t make sense grammatically, like an alien language. But when I played the recordings again and listened to them about three times while sitting still, images start to pop up in my mind. And so after that, I will try to focus on the melody and imagine ‘how this sound would look like’ and think about the lyrics.
In your opinion, how would you describe your singing voice?
I think my singing voice starts to get stable a little bit with this album, but I also think that so far, rather than a fixed singing voice that has its individual mood, my voice is like a chameleon that changes its color in each song.
What do you wish fans and listeners can experience through your latest release?
I hope you can see various sides of me as you listen to the songs; like, when you hear the first song you will react like, “Wow, so this is how SEJEONG’s voice sounds like in this song,” and on the next song, “SEJEONG had this kind of voice?” and on the next, “She has this kind of voice here?”. And as I have participated in composing the music and also writing the lyrics for the entire album, I hope you can feel the different messages that I wanted to deliver in every song.
2020 was a difficult year for many people. What sort of difficulties did you experience last year? How did you go through it?
As if it was a gift from heaven, The Uncanny Counter
Besides singing, your acting skills have received positive reviews as well! In your opinion, how is ‘singer SEJEONG’ different from ‘actress SEJEONG’?
While its talking about me, KIM SEJEONG, 'actress KIM SEJEONG' tries and always puts efforts into showing a diverse side. I think as an actress, KIM SEJEONG thinks a lot on ‘which would be a fun character role to challenge myself with?’ and the reactions of the audience so far is, “KIM SEJEONG has this side to her?”, “How did she pull off such role?”. I think 'singer KIM SEJEONG' thinks a lot about on ‘what kind of messages can individual KIM SEJEONG deliver to the public?’ and ‘how would KIM SEJEONG as an individual be able to talk about the same subject differently?’. So, I think as an actress, KIM SEJEONG is more focused on pursuing diverse and new sides of her, while as a singer KIM SEJEONG is more focused on getting to know myself better to show a new side of me with myself as the base.
Pick one: duet with your favorite singer or star in a movie with your favorite actor, and why?
Wow! Starring in a movie with my favorite actor! My favorite actress is IU. I think I want to star in a movie with her first to get to know her better, and then do a collaboration with her in the future.
SEJEONG has recently opened an official fan club and fan club name! How did you choose the fan club name? What does it mean?
I acted out myself and asked my fans through social media, "What would be a good fandom name if I were to choose one”. There were a lot of ideas and one of the things my fans said was “a cute and fun fandom name is good, but it’s better if it has a meaning”. So, as I put efforts into creating a meaningful fandom name, 'SESANG' is what I came up with as my name is SEJEONG and the fandom name means “universe”. My fans are together in my universe with me. As I thought it would make me feel happy whenever I call my fans “my SESANG (my universe)”, I decided to use it as my fandom name.
Lastly, please share a message to Cosmo Babes and your Indonesian fans!
Dear fans, I’ve always missed you, but this feeling is tremendously growing. I hope you will stay healthy until we meet again. Until then, please soothe your heart with my album and cheer up. Cheer up!
Read the full interview in Indonesian: https://www.cosmopolitan.co.id/article/read/3/2021/24375/exclusive-interview-kim-sejeong-bahas-mini-album-terbarunya-im
