F<\/strong>or Hwang Soyoon, SE SO NEON<\/a> \u2013 the hugely successful indie<\/a> band she formed in Seoul nine years ago \u2013 is like a pirate ship. Together, she and her crew, or bandmates, chart their way through whatever adventures they can find. In the past, that\u2019s been making an almost immediate impact on Seoul\u2019s indie scene with 2017 debut EP, \u2018Summer Plumage\u2019, touring the world, and for Soyoon alone, collaborating with artists including BTS<\/a>\u2019 RM<\/a>, SEVENTEEN<\/a>\u2019s Hoshi<\/a> and Woozi<\/a>, legendary Korean singer parkjiyoon and more.<\/p>\n Her crew is also flexible and adaptable, members going ashore as others join her on board. Right now, after the departure of bassist Park Hyunjin earlier this year, Soyoon is sailing the ship alone. She\u2019s not fazed by this. Steering the course of her pirate ship by herself has opened up a massive new adventure: moving to LA. \u201cThe huge thing is I tried to start in a different country,\u201d she explains to NME<\/i> from her new hometown. \u201cMusician friends in Korea said to me, \u2018Why did you do that? Why? How? How did you decide? This is huge\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n Leaving Korea and heading to America\u2019s west coast felt like something she had to do, a way to disrupt the ease that nearly a decade of acclaim and recognition in the indie scene at home has brought her.<\/p>\n \u201cEven before I collabed with K-pop<\/a> artists, I\u2019ve done so many things in Korea [so] it\u2019s pretty stable to stay there and do something there,\u201d she reasons. \u201cBut I don\u2019t know, I just follow my gut feeling and it said, \u2018Just go somewhere\u2019. I just wanted to change my circumstances and my life. I know I can stay in Korea and I can do more in Korea, but I just want to see more sky, see more nature. It\u2019s almost two years [since] I started [going] back and forth here between LA and Korea, and finally I sold my place in Korea and tried to find my home. I carry this one backpack [lifts a black backpack up to the camera] and go anywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n Now settled in LA, Soyoon \u2013 and, by extension, SE SO NEON \u2013 are moving forward on another new adventure with the band\u2019s debut full-length album, \u2018 Before you moved, you were feeling anxiety and uncertainty about whether you would continue in music. Where were those feelings coming from?<\/b><\/p>\n \u201cBefore I started work on this album, I was doubting myself \u2013 \u2018Soyoon, do you think people still need your story? SE SO NEON is everything about life experience and my perspective, and what I feel from this world. Nowadays, I feel my perspective and my feelings don\u2019t make sense in this world.\u2019 I started doubting myself and it made me a little depressed. Music and my relationship [to it] was really good and I literally never stopped making music, but that was the first time I pushed my brakes and thought, \u2018I think I need some different perspective, because I don\u2019t want to stop this concern or dilemma.\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cSo right after I released my solo album [\u2018Episode1: Love\u2019], I visited New York. When I worked on my solo album, I worked with my friend who lived in New York and I learned how important it is to enjoy the process. So, I thought, \u2018I just need any different space where I can breathe more.\u2019 So I went to New York and met this friend and recorded all the demos for my new album. It was so happy. I just [worked like] crazy on this record and I literally spent over 10 hours every single day making these demos and ate only sour gummies. I don\u2019t really like sweets, but every time I eat a sour gummy, it makes my brain wake up.<\/p>\n \u201cSo I was eating Sour Patch Kids for 10 hours and almost finished my demos in New York. I flew back to Korea and then I randomly went to LA again. Everything is so intuitive \u2013 I was just like, \u2018OK, I want to finish my album in LA\u2019 and it was good timing because I met this management company and they wanted to manage me, so I just decided to move here. At the time, me and Hyunjin talked about our new format together and it was all so natural.\u201d<\/p>\n How has your relationship with these songs changed since you finished the album?<\/b><\/p>\n \u201cEvery time I\u2019m making an album, it\u2019s not about music \u2013 it\u2019s more about my life project. So, I told you I had a dilemma and concern about my life and being a musician. I realised every song I made is from my past. Like, I miss something, or my nostalgia, or my childhood story, or something really cynical about the city \u2013 it\u2019s all about the past. But I realised, \u2018Soyoon, if you want to make a timeless album and not try to follow trends or the moment, you have to live now. You have to feel present more.\u2019 I\u2019ve never tried to do that before, so I decided, \u2018OK, I have to live now\u2019. At the time, I didn\u2019t know how to do that. So it means I started my life project to live my present.<\/p>\n \u201cI made this track, \u2018Twit Winter\u2019, like, if I\u2019m trying to live now, I have to understand my past and future. So I was thinking about, \u2018What if I make a song for my future and also my past so then I can stand in the present?\u2019 \u2018Twit Winter\u2019 is the first key of this album and it\u2019s like a time capsule. I\u2019m excited to sing it after 30, 40 years when I\u2019m old and a little cutie granny. I really want to sing this song and connect with that Soyoon and right now\u2019s Soyoon. Every song\u2019s meaning is about my present now.\u201d<\/p>\n There are some songs on the album that listeners will have heard before \u2013 2021\u2019s \u2018Jayu\u2019 and 2023\u2019s \u2018Kidd\u2019. How do they connect to the journey of this album and why did it make sense to put them on this album?<\/b><\/p>\n \u201cSo basically, I only have two EPs and then I released a bunch of singles. \u2018Jayu\u2019 and \u2018Kidd\u2019 are both part of the \u2018 You said both songs ask the same question. What is that question?<\/b><\/p>\n \u201c\u2018What do you want to feel from this life?\u2019 It\u2019s a different answer [for each song]. \u2018Jayu\u2019 said I want to feel more freedom, I want to feel like I\u2019m not stuck in this small world. And \u2018Kidd\u2019\u2019s answer is that even though the world is so brutal, I want to feel hope.\u201d<\/p>\n Tell me the story behind \u2018Secret Police\u2019.<\/b><\/p>\n \u201cThis is my first time talking about \u2018Secret Police\u2019, but it\u2019s one of my favourite songs, too. It\u2019s kind of a funny story, and it\u2019s real. Whenever I\u2019m tempted to fall into despair or anxiety, or I get scared about everything, there\u2019s a kind of secret police in my mind. They exist in my mind, and they show up to kidnap the negative things. I always appreciate my secret police. I literally finished my lyrics in the bathroom because that day I felt so depressed and I had to take a shower. When I was taking a shower, I was like, \u2018Oh, secret police, yeah I know him\u2019 and I had to finish the lyrics while naked. But that\u2019s why the second half is just instruments and like sirens and a psychedelic thing. I can literally play it in my head \u2013 they\u2019re coming and they\u2019re going and they have the orange lights and everything.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2018O\u2019 is a beautiful song to end the album on. How did that wrap up the record for you?<\/b><\/p>\n \u201cSo, I told you the process was my life challenge, my life project and \u2018O\u2019 is kind of like, \u2018Oh, I finished this, finally I figured out what it is\u2019. So it\u2019s a kind of mediation about my unconscious [decision] to feel all the fear and feel happiness, warmth and everything. That song has the only fully English lyrics on this album. I don\u2019t usually write English lyrics without using a translator. But [this time, I thought,] \u2018Yeah, English is not my mother language, but I also feel language doesn\u2019t matter\u2019. Even if my grammar sucks, I tried to put all my feeling into English lyrics. Every time I try to write Korean lyrics, because I\u2019m really good at the language, I always try to control myself and want to make it perfect. But this song is about my unconscious [mind], so I tried to make it messier and just spit it out.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s a part where I think I sang: \u2018I fight alone and nobody can help this.\u2019 I have to fight myself \u2013 like figure it out myself. I think I wrote: \u2018Finally, I can stand by myself and feel all the warmness in my life\u2019. Something like that. I was always drawing this circle when I was doing my project and since I decided to live in the now, past, present and future is all the same. So I was always drawing a circle and that\u2019s why [it\u2019s called] \u2018O\u2019 \u2013 the shape of my project.\u201d<\/p>\n You\u2019re going to be taking \u2018 \u201cEvery time I\u2019m doing a festival or headline show, I realised I don\u2019t need to try to cover anything. Some artists need more art direction or more dynamic set lists, but I feel like my pro is just showing my energy on stage. So I\u2019m trying to focus on how I can make myself more strong on the stage like Michael Jackson. It doesn\u2019t mean I\u2019m trying to be Michael Jackson! But now I know why people like me, so I try to focus on expressing myself 100 per cent on the stage and communicating with the band members.\u201d<\/p>\n SE SO NEON\u2019s \u2018![\"se](\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/se-so-neon-soyoon-image5.jpg\")
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