[20070303] Yoon Mirae, Black Diamond

A lot of people have really been waiting for your comeback. What did you do during your hiatus?

To be honest, my heart kept going back and forth. There were articles about it, so you probably know, but I had some problems with my agency. At first, I thought it’d be good if my album was released fast, but I was going through a hard time and I even wondered if I shouldn’t stop doing music. So I was in this emotional state of mind and I studied music a lot. I composed a lot too. I started my career at a young age, so I had to give up on my studies. So during this time, I graduated from high school. Then I also did some music-related activities with the people I’m close with like LeeSsang or Yoon Do Hyun. In the end, I came back to music.

You’ve started your new music life with Jungle Entertainment. Tiger JK has probably a lot to do with your connection to Jungle.

Yes, because I got to know the Jungle Entertainment family by making music with them. When I was going through a hard time, they helped me and I think it was natural for me to join the company because we had the same music inclination. It really feels like a family and not like an office. Even now, I still don’t feel like it’s work.

Seems like the ideal relationship.

Yeah. Something like that. (laugh)

Just like you overcame this dark time, it seems there’s still some deep feelings about you coming back as Yoon Mirae the musician. How do you feel?

First of all, I really really rrrrreally thank the fans who have been waiting for me. I worried a lot during these 4 years. I was afraid people would forget me. Of course, I performed on stage sometimes during the Movement’s concert, but I didn’t know people’s true reaction. I was scared, so I didn’t even check the internet. That’s why I’m very thankful to those who still remember me. On the other hand, it’s also a form of pressure and I’m also nervous and scared.

I don’t think it would matter even if you checked the internet. You’re like the only artist who has almost no anti fans. (laugh) After your activities in a group and in a duo, you made your first step as a true solo artist with the album “As Time Goes By” in 2001. You received high praises from the audience and music critics. However, I feel like your debut as a solo artist wasn’t this easy. Tell us a little bit about that.

It was very scary. (laugh) To be honest, I like doing activities in a group more than doing solo activities. I’m more comfortable with being in the background than being on the front line. It was hard not having someone by my side to cover my mistakes when I was doing solo activities within the group. (laugh) Still, I didn’t really have worries like “what will I do if I don’t sell many albums”. That’s because I was young back then. (laugh) I’m so thankful to those who loved the album “As Time Goes By”. To be honest, it wasn’t completely the music I wanted to do, so I did worry…

But you know that, right? You said you prefer being in the background, but you’re the one who draw the most the attention when you’re in a group. (laugh)

Isn’t it just because there are a lot of guys?

No. It’s because you’re that talented.

(with a very shy smile) Well, thank you very much. (everybody laughs)

So, let’s talk about your new album now. The work on this album feels somehow more unusual than what you did before. It’s probably because you worked in a different environment. How was it?

I felt free! Either about the music or mentally, I had a strong feeling of freedom. I worked with people I was already close with, so the communication between us went smoothly and it made things easy. We barely kept in touch. If I called and say I wanted a meeting, then we held the meeting. It was good and it really made me feel at ease to work together in harmony.

I cannot not ask you about the title because there is usually a special meaning or it represents the album’s identity. You didn’t do it for your first but for this third album which you released after a long hiatus and there must be a special reason for you to use your own name [YOONMIRAE] as the title. Tell us about this.

Of all the albums I’ve released so far, I think it’s the album that represents the most the music I’ve been wanting to do all this time. I can’t say that it’s 100% the music I wanted to do, but I think all musicians feel this way anyway. They’re never 100% satisfied of their own albums. If I were to use a number, I’d say my level of satisfaction is at 80%. Yet, about using my name for the title, I think that the best thing would be to keep it simple instead of a fancy title because this album contains songs I wanted to do and I tried my best to show who I really am.

Your album shows also a good balance between hip-hop and R&B/soul. Was it planned for the album to be produced this way?

A lot of people would call it R&B, but I went for a sound I’d call a bit more “soulful”. This was the feeling I wanted. I don’t know the others’ perception, though. Some people expect me to rap, others expect to me sing, so while I think it’s a blessing, it’s also stressful. Because I don’t know what I should do or not. So I worried a lot about the overall style of the album at the beginning, but I don’t want to disappoint everybody, honestly… At the beginning, there were a lot of hip-hop songs. Even among the ones I composed, there were a lot of hip-hop ones, so I think everybody would have been disappointed if there were only hip-hop songs. So I put songs with the style I wanted to do, I put songs people who like hip-hop would be satisfied of, I put songs for people who wanted to hear me sing, so I tried my best to make an album that could satisfy everybody. I don’t know if I’m the only one thinking this, but in a song like “Black Diamond”, the beat was less hip-hop and the melody was funky, so people who like when I sing will probably enjoy it. Since there’s also some rapping too, people who like hip-hop will also enjoy it. My musical roots are soul music and funk music, so I tried my best with the rap and the lyrics to make a song that everybody would enjoy. I also want to put more songs like this in my 4th album, but I don’t know if I shouldn’t focus more on one style for my next album.

So what about the hip-hop tracks you did meanwhile?

Ah, we’re thinking about putting them together for a hip-hop album. I think it’d be a bit premature to put them in an album for now. We’ll see how it goes.

Oh! A hip-hop album… To those reading this interview right now, are you anticipating this album? There’s no specific detail about this album yet, right?

Right. But like I told you, I already have a lot of songs. I think it could be released this year.

Please, tell us about your title track “Did You Forget?”. I was happy to see the name Ann attached to it.

It’s a love song. However, this song wasn’t about love at the beginning. I was going through a hard time, but there has been also a lot of bad things going on in general in our society lately. I was worried that I’d also go into the wrong direction. I worried a lot, but I realize that I had good friends and my parents by my side. But I couldn’t understand why I felt this way when I knew I was surrounded by so many good people. This is how the concept of “Did You Forget…” came along. It was definitely not a love song at the beginning. When you think about it, it’s not just me, it’s a problem for everybody and I think it’s probably the same in other countries, but we lead a very busy life in Korea. It might be small to us, but do we really have things that are important to us? We don’t think about precious things like our parents, our friends, the sunlight, the rain and we only think about the negative things. If I take myself as an example, my parents are the people the most important to me and I think they will always be by my side and I don’t say the word “I love you”. I only complain about my mum nagging at me every day. However, I have no idea if she won’t die tomorrow. So the concept was to look back at the people precious to me and that’s what the song “Did You Forget…” is about. I hope that people feeling this way will live a little bit more at ease…

So this is the story behind this song.

Yes. And the overall work about the song began when I went to LA to see my friend Ann. Until that moment, I only had a concept but no music. I was going through a hard time in my personal life. While we were chilling at her house, I asked Ann if she was working on a song and she said she was, but the song wasn’t finished yet. I told her to play what she had so far, and she only had a few piano chords. That’s how it began. It was raining at that time. I had no lyrics, but while I was listening to the song, I felt that it matched the concept of “Did You Forget…” I was thinking about. So that’s how the song was born. However, when we actually started working on that song, I had a feeling that the public wouldn’t really relate to the lyrics, so we changed it to a love song. The music video is also about a love story, but what I hope is that people who watch it will remember their own memories. I hope that, even if they have a busy life, they will take this moment to remember what is precious to them. And when you listen to “Did You Forget…”, you can hear the sound of the rain in the intro, it wasn’t a sound effect. I placed a mic outside of a window to record the sound. This wasn’t really the attitude of a pro (laugh). If you listen carefully, you can even hear the sound of cars passing by. recorded directly outside of a window.

The title track is good, but there are two other songs on this album, “Black Diamond” and “What’s Up! Mr. Good Stuff”, that give this 70′s vibe.

To be honest I listen much more to the music of that time than the music released in our time. I had a direction for these two songs, but since I listened to some old school music, this style came out naturally. Every music coming out nowadays isn’t like this, but (whether it’s in the US or in Korea) I feel like they lack a little bit of soul.

I feel the same way. If you only take the case of the United States, I feel like it’s only about club-oriented music now.

Yes. Also, from the technical perspective, I think there are much better singers now if you compare to before. I think there are a lot of singers who are better than me nowadays, but I don’t think there are really singers who express what’s in their souls. That’s why I like old school music better. I hope people would listen to old school music a lot. Those are the roots of music, so I wonder if better music wouldn’t come out in Korea but also in the US if people showed a little bit more interest in this kind of music.

What’s sad is that a lot of people have no interest in old school music, so they might not truly enjoy songs like “Black Diamond” and “What’s Up! Mr. Good Stuff”.

Even if it’s just one person who listens to this song and finds interest in old school music, I think it will be enough. Even if it’s just one person.

I think it’s the biggest issue lately. The song of your album that received the most attention is “Black Happiness”. It’s a song by underground producer The Quiett and the lyrics are touching more than anything else. First, I’m curious about how you got to work with The Quiett.

I met The Quiett through JK-oppa. Hm… He was very cute. (laugh) Among the musicians I’ve been working with lately, he’s the only one who calls me “nuna”. (every body laughs) He’s really “quiet”, but he worked really hard. He’s really cool. He knows a lot about music. Although he lived far away and didn’t have to come for every song, he showed concerned by showing up every time for me [?]. He knows exactly what he wants. If it’s possible, I hope we keep working together. I think he’s very talented. He’s very cute. (laugh)

(I still remember Yoon Mirae’s constant heart-warming smile as she talked about The Quiett)

This song is full of real life situations, isn’t it? The lyrics content is turning into an issue. I can’t go further without hearing the story behind this song.

First of all, I didn’t do a lot of interviews during all this time, so I think people don’t really know Yoon Mirae as a person. I made this song because I wanted to use music to tell my story. It’s also because I came back after being gone for 4 years all of a sudden. Of course, I can’t give a lot of details, but I wanted to give some kind of explanations about what happened. I read an article that only emphasized the fact that I’m mixed. It’s not what I aimed for, it was something I wanted to use to convey my message. What I wanted to say is “this is what I happened to me, but in the end, music is my everything. Music helped me to overcome this hard time”. This is what I wanted to say, but I noticed that other articles wouldn’t mention this part at all. So that got me worried a lot. When I first started, I wanted to speak only through my music… Anyway, I’m thankful for the interest they show me because it means it’s a success if it became an issue. To be honest, the song “Life Scent” from my first album was about me. Same goes for “Wonder Woman” and “Memories” from my second album. They’re all my stories. I think it’s something fans who show me love know, but people didn’t make an issue about it like they did for this one [“Black Happiness”], so while I’m thankful for this, it’s unfortunate that the message gets buried underneath. My father is very happy, anyway. (laughs)

Since you’ve mentioned him. In this song, your father made an amazing narration, but the last part in Korean was very memorable. I don’t know how to describe what he expressed, but is it okay to say it was adorable? (laugh)

Thank you. (laugh) To be honest, there were a lot of parts in Korean. I wanted to put them all, but it was so funny that it didn’t match the overall atmosphere of the song. I’m thinking about using them for a skit on my next hip-hop album.

This song goes with an aftereffect. Of course, the song itself is good, but when I listened to it, I felt like I wanted to keep listening to the narration part… (everybody laughs)

To be honest, I don’t think my father actually listened to the album from the beginning to the end. I think he only listens to the parts he is in. It’s the only song I hear in the background every time I call him. That’s a bit disappointing. (everybody laugh)

That’s interesting. We’re back talking about your songs. A lot of overseas artists have no problem with sharing their own thoughts or real life stories in their lyrics. It’s something we rarely see from Korean artists. You really exposed yourself as an artist, so although it’s through rapping, it must have been something you hesitated to do. I think you must have thought about people who don’t know hip-hop and who might have another interpretation of your intention. What do you think?

Ah… I didn’t think about that. It’s my first time thinking about this, now that I hear you talking about it. When I was working on this song, I didn’t think about that. I just wanted to express my sincerity. There were many things I wanted to say. It’s a song I made while thinking only about the people who love me. Listening to what you’re saying, I’m a bit afraid that people can see it that way too now.

Ah, don’t worry too much about me saying it could happen. Let’s talk a little bit more about your father. Your father was a DJ, right?

Yes. He did it as a hobby.

So I guess you loving Black music is because you were influenced by your father a lot? Let’s use this opportunity to talk a little bit more about him. I think he will really appreciate it. Haha.

Hm… I think my father likes all kinds of music. He started his DJ activities when he was really young. I remember how, when I was a kid, I would bring him a LP I wanted to listen to and beg him to put it on. One day, it’d be Madonna, the next day, it would be Prince, Al Green. The day after that, it would be the Temptations. He made me listen to various styles of music. He has a lot to do with me liking music, right? (laugh)

The track “Pay Day” was produced by Double Dragon. It gives you the feeling of being in a stadium and cheering. Your rap is interesting as well as impressive. There’s this funky atmosphere, so there must have been also a cheerful atmosphere while you were making the song? Like when you used a cheer sampling of the “hey” we could actually hear in US colleges cheering squads?

Yes. You can hear it in the loop itself. We did the dubbing over it. I loved the song as soon as I heard it and I said “let’s do it. I’ve always loved the big band sound ever since I was a kid. And we did look to see if there would be legal problems for this sampling. We were told there was absolutely no problem, so we did it. (laugh)

I think “Because It’s Me” is born through soul music that perfectly match Korean public’s emotion because of the combination of Yoon Il Sang’s popular melody line and your singing. Yoon Il Sang gave you the song for nothing.

Yes! I’m so thankful that he made me this song for nothing. At first, I was really worried because he’s a very famous composer. It wasn’t easy for me to contact him, but Yoon Il Sang said that he was expecting my call and he wanted to work with me. He probably knew that I was going through a hard time and he said not to worry about money and to get to work. Yeah~ (laugh) I really didn’t want to disappoint those who like when I sing. It’s something I worried about a lot.

What a heart-warming story. (laugh) The song “Good Bye Sadness, Hello Happiness” must also have a special meaning?

Yes. It’s my personal wish. You know how anyone can go through a hard time. So I chose this title as a wish not only for me but also for other people.

Unlike what I had imagined, the thing that caught my attention for this album is that no members of The Movement was featured on this album, except for Tiger JK. Is there a special reason for this?

To be honest with you, it’s because they were all busy. (laugh) LeeSsang or Dynamic Duo, all of them are currently working on their own albums. JK-oppa and I are in the same agency so… This is how it turned out, but it’s also obvious when you think about it. I didn’t want to come back after 4 years and show a plain image. Should I call it “greed”? I wanted to do things on my own. I’m thinking about having many featurings for my next hip-hop album, but I didn’t really think about singing with other people on this album.

Bobby Kim didn’t participate because he was busy? In another interview with us, he said that the two of you singing together was the best combination.

Yes. He’s very busy these days. He only came to see me once when I was recording, so I didn’t put his name in the “Thanks to”. (everybody laugh) I’m just kidding. I really love Bobby-oppa. He’s my best friend. He’s my oppa, but he’s a true friend. And I also feel comfortable when I sing with him because Bobby-oppa knows my style very well.

Do you know you played a big role in the fact that Bobby Kim sings today?

Ah, yes…. Just like me, Bobby-oppa went through a lot of hard times. So I kept composing songs and only did featurings and that’s how things are today now that I release a new album.

Except for two songs, we can see the name Tiger JK as the lyricist for all the songs. I wonder how he comes up with his lyrics. Some songs are full of feminine emotion, this doesn’t really fit Tiger JK’s image. Haha.

JK-oppa majored in writing in UCLA, so his writing skills are amazing. I observed his writing process a lot. It’s a bit different from the others’. Usually, people ask me to give them a guide line, they go home and write based on what I told them. JK is like an actor getting into character, he places himself in the person’s thoughts. If he writes lyrics for Bobby Kim, he becomes Bobby Kim. I saw it with my own eyes. It’s something I really like. And when I asked around me to have suggestions about a lyricist, everybody recommended JK-oppa. I think I made the right choice. We are a good match because when I write a song, I write in English first. Switching back to Korean afterwards is difficult. JK is very good at this. He’s different from the average interpreter.

So JK turned into Yoon Mirae this time.

Yes. A lot of people only think of JK-oppa as an MC, so they probably won’t know this. I personally saw him write lyrics not only for me or Bobby Kim, but also for BMK, Yoon Do Hyun. His sensitivy is amazing.

You’re recognized as one of the few incredibly talented female singers in Korea. Besides, there’s definitely no female singer on the Black music scene that can be considered as your rival. What do you think of those who see you that way? I think you might feel burdened because of that…

I’m thankful. (laugh) I feel pressured too. However, I heard there are many female MCs. I didn’t personally get to listen to them, though. So I don’t know if I’m the best or not. About singing, like I told you earlier, I think there are many singers who are better than me. You might think this is pretence, but more than being a singer who shows off her technique or who is the best, I want to become a singer who make good music that you enjoy even 20 years later. Why does Marvin Gaye’s music feel so good when you listen to it even today? I want to become this kind of singer.

To be honest, when you first appeared on the Korean music scene, there was this question music fans asked each other. “Is she really Korean?” “Can someone 100% Korean be able to have this voice?”…

I don’t know. If my voice is like this because my father is Black… If it’s true, then I think it was a blessing.

You have influenced a lot of people who dreamed of being a rapper. I mean directly or indirectly.

(laugh) Really? I can’t say nothing else but thank you. To be honest, when you read hip-hop songs lyrics, you see how all MCs shout how they’re the best. However, I don’t think there are that many people who actually believe they are the best. If you really think you’re the best, shouldn’t you retire, then? Like Jay-Z did. (laugh) Because there is no other place for you to go. This is what I think, so if I thought I was the best, I wouldn’t have been here. I would have done something else. When you’re the best, you must withdraw gracefully.

When the music isn’t coming out the way you want to or if you run into an obstacle while working on your music, do you have your own method to overcome the problem?

I’m not quite sure…

Ah, so you’ve never run into an obstacle before.

It’s not that, it’s not that! (everybody laugh) I just wait until the problem disappears. When I can’t do something, when even I can’t sing right. In moments like this, I just call it day and I go read a book or watch a movie.

Do you have any role model in the music world or in your life?

There are so many artists, so I think talking about them would take more than a month. (laugh) Overall, it’s my parents because they made me listen to music everyday ever since I was a kid.

Tell us about future tour plans.

I want to perform a lot. I did a lot of concerts as a guest for the Movement rappers, but it’s been a very long time since I was able to be on stage and be in harmony with the people who have been waiting for me and this album during these 4 years. I really want to be on stage.

I heard there were already plans for a concert.

To be honest, I can’t remember all the lyrics yet. (laugh) I was so focused on making this album that I even forgot the lyrics of my songs from before. I’m currently working on memorizing them. So if I can do it fast, I think there could be a concert in May.

You’re sometimes mentioned as a Korean singer who can also succeed overseas, do you have no plan of advancing on the overseas market?

I had a few occasions, but I want to achieve something in Korea first. Korea comes first. Then, if the opportunity comes, I’ll try to go overseas.

If the opportunity comes, I hope you will definitely go overseas and show Korean Black music to the world. It’s my hope as someone who loves Black music. (laugh) Please say a few words to many of your fans like the Rhythmer readers who have been waiting for this album.

First of all, just like I said before, it’s important to keep yourself busy, but I want to tell you that I hope you will also look back at the precious things in your life. And I also hope you won’t forget the soul in music and you keep loving music. It’s really weird for me to picture a world without music. I think this world would be wrecked.

Tell us your first thought about the following words or pick one when there is a choice between two.

1. Music – Father
2. Jungle – Family
3. Lauryn Hill or Mary J. Blige (she hesitated for a long time and said she couldn’t pick one, but she couldn’t win against our persuasion) Mary J. Blige
4. Father – Music
5. Ann – Soulmate

t/n: Ann is a singer that was featured on the song “Did Not Say Anything” that BNR released last year. You can check this short article here to have an idea of who she was in the early 2000′s. I personally think she’s an amaaaazing singer. Her career is in the US now and you can follow her on Twitter @AnnOneMusic

Original article: rhythmer
Translation: onesunnylady