Park Jin-hai primarily focuses on K-dramas, entertainment shows and actor interviews. Beyond that, she also pens articles covering the broader arts scene, with a particular emphasis on classical music, dance and various aspects of lifestyle. Since joining The Korea Times in 2013, she has made significant contributions in the realms of hallyu (Korean wave), industry news and international affairs.
Former journalist becomes R&B singer
Singer-songwriter Sobae / Courtesy of Ilzo & CO
By Park Jin-hai
By Park Jin-hai
Sobae, real name Kim Ji-young, is an aspiring Korean-American singer-songwriter.
But one thing surprising fans of her music is her unlikely former career ― she was a journalist.
The 26-year-old R&B singer chose to pursue music as a career with her 2017 debut single “Switch Up,” leaving behind her promising future as a broadcast journalist.
“Everyone thought it was nuts. They were like why are you doing this right now? I thought about this 100 times,” the artist, a graduate of the master's program at Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism, said during a recent interview with The Korea Times.
As a student journalist, she's met various people from gang members to politicians and lawyers to homeless people. When she was in Chicago, she and a camera partner often went to the south side, one of the most dangerous areas of the city, risking her own safety for a good story. She has recorded narrations on the road, and used an editing program to piece together news in order to deliver it to the newsroom right on time.
“My journalism experience taught me how to thrive under pressure, vicariously experience others' stories. But also it was like a really cool experience,” she said. She had chances to report on White House briefings as well as Congress and the Pentagon.
“Reporters are constantly interacting and engaging with so many people, so to maintain our credibility ― you have to keep a distance. But that's also what I think drove me away from it,” the artist said. “If I speak with somebody, I can't help but let my heart out to them and I want to listen to them instead of just reporting the news and moving on. Which is such an important thing to do. Somebody needs to serve a watchdog function, maintain their objectivity, but I was like I can't… this is not for me.”
After quitting journalism, she worked for an environmental NGO in Korea, but still she says she felt “dead on the inside.” So when she returned home from work and started trying another passion for life: she taught herself to compose and sing songs.
With her song, a mash-up of four different songs she produced, she met her current label ILZO & CO. Since then, she has released four singles and toured U.S. cities with Korean rappers San E and Mad Clown.
“There are people who since the minute they're born say this is what they want to do and pursue it, but I think everything I do, I am driven by the fear of regret and the thought that if I didn't give this a fair shot, I wouldn't be able to sort of look back and smile,” she said.
Over the years, she has continued to move on toward her future as an R&B singer-songwriter, mixing hip-hop, R&B and pop. She says her songs reflect her own personal growth. “If the first track is sincerely making what I like listening to, with my second track, I added more of a message, because I was a reporter once and I love adding meaning to everything, so I was like how can I make the lyrics more meaningful, my message more meaningful, which is why I wrote a song called Home Girl which is supposed to be sort of an anthem or ode to all the women who I love and respect very much. Then with my fourth song, Holiday, I tried to do the exact opposite. I've tried the whole adding meaning thing, but then I thought like how can I make just an enjoyable song that perhaps has more commercial potential,” she said.
“I think in this day and age the reason why I have a little bit of even of a competitive edge if you will is because my background is different. I feel like that's something you can say why would you do that, but also at the same time, this is what I can bring to the table that is different from any other musical artists and I try to show that in my lyrics and my melody. But I think the most important thing for any artist is to be like very self-aware.”
Sobae, describing herself as a “millennial who chose to pursue her own dream,” said she wants to encourage all other millennials who feel stuck and dead on the inside. “If anyone is on brink of holding themselves back from trying something because others tell them not to or they don't think they can do it, I think you have to try at least for yourself.”