Ms. Kim three months ago joined legions of wannabe singers by putting up a homemade video on YouTube. But hers had a twist: She used iPhones and music-creation apps as accompaniment.
“I have many songwriter friends, who introduced me to various music applications,” she said. “Since I bought my iPhone, I kept playing with it and experimenting with different apps and got totally hooked.”
In her first video, she sat on a couch in a cousin’s apartment and explained the apps she was playing simultaneously on three iPhones, then sang Beyonce’s “Irresistible.” At the end of the nearly three-minute video, she said “thank you,” smiled and rolled her eyes.
Bloggers and the media in South Korea noticed and within days, more than 1 million people watched.
A week later, Ms. Kim uploaded a second video, using Lady Gaga’s “Poker Face,” that was somewhat more of a performance, though her cousin’s cat kept strolling behind the couch. To date, that video has been viewed more than 2 million times.
Music producers from China and England raced with those from South Korea to sign her up. She chose a Seoul-based producer, Dreamhigh-Ent, in April, and started recording her own songs. Now production is under way on her first album and professionally made videos. “Hajima (Don’t Fall in Love)” is slated for release later this month.
Becoming a singer has been her dream since seven years old and she started writing songs in her high school, Ms. Kim said. She studied music at a small college in Wanju, a city in southwestern South Korea, but said she didn’t expect iPhone videos to change her life.
“I wanted to show people I can do playing and singing at the same time,” she said. “These days you should sell yourself. I wanted people to watch and evaluate my performances.”
Ms. Kim’s viral fame is biggest in England, where an electronics-news website in a reader poll pitted her against Lady Gaga in a question about who Apple should hire as a spokesmodel. Ms. Kim won overwhelmingly.
“I think it’s fun and an honor for me to be in the same poll with Lady Gaga,” she said. “It would be great if Apple contacts me, but I know it can only happen in my wildest dream. But I definitely want to work outside Korea if opportunity comes.”
Src & Text: [blogs.wsj]
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