Today we’d like to introduce you to Soorin Kim.
Hi Soorin, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
My name is Soorin, and I’m a 19-year-old singer-songwriter, producer, sound engineer, and multi-instrumentalist.
As an individual of South Korean heritage, and growing up in Hong Kong, an area with a dense international population, I had the privilege to immerse myself in a myriad of different musical cultures, and I have pride in being involved in such a culturally diverse community. Now, I am currently based in Boston MA, where I am attending Berklee College of Music, in hopes of pursuing a professional career in audio, as well as developing my artistry.
From a young age, I took it upon myself to jump into every musical activity that I had the opportunity to engage in. My mother, who is a pianist and musician herself, played a large role in developing my passion for music, by showing me all that I knew about music, before pursuing it on my own, so naturally, I was very keen on being musically inclined. I felt very compelled to develop my instrumental skills as well, specifically to support my songwriting – I now use my voice as my primary instrument, alongside piano, guitar, and violin as fluently as I can.
As for my academic career, I attended King George V School in Hong Kong. During my middle school and early high school years, I really started getting hands-on with my own music; I had been recording and writing independently, with tons of experimenting; My teachers, friends, and family were very encouraging and supportive of my musical journey ever since, which I am still so thankful for. Thus, by exploring this side of my music, I had a strong inclination to incorporate my personal identity into my music. My favorite product of this is my EP ‘Bittersweet 18’ released in November 2021, and my single ‘heart-shaped battery’ released in February 2022, out now on all platforms!
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
My journey toward deciding to pursue music professionally wasn’t too smooth to begin with.
Even until quite recently, music wasn’t something on my roster for a professional career. Of course, I wanted to with all my heart, but I had a separate passion for psychology and neurology that I had developed in Highschool, and I deemed it to be a more ‘practical’ and ‘safe’ career path.
In my senior year, when it came to choosing schools and general paths for the future, I had been very conflicted between music and neuroscience, and I ended up applying for both. As a result, I was accepted to Berklee and the University of Hong Kong (HKU) for Social Sciences. Then I ended up choosing HKU because of aspects that I couldn’t ignore, such as being close to family and home and my financial situation.
Eventually, I left after a semester – not because I disliked it, but because I knew music was just something I needed to pursue, and my love for music was so much greater. Then I made my way to Berklee, and I have not regretted it since.
Practicality aside, I truly believe that doing what I love most (with hard work, of course), will aid in creating a fruitful outcome for the career and the life I strive to achieve overall, without regrets. I’m still very much open to changes in career paths in the future, in case I find different passions somewhere down the line, but for now, I am full steam ahead for everything music.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I specialize in songwriting, production, and audio engineering. In terms of my ‘sound’, I’m known for my amalgamation of orchestral pop, K-pop, indie, bedroom pop, and the singer-songwriter genre. However, I personally find specific styles and genres to be a little categorical and restricting for myself, as I enjoy diving and experimenting with so many different elements and styles. I always love doing things differently and finding different perspectives to work with, especially in my songwriting process, and I hope to do so for the foreseeable future.
Recently, on social media, I am known for my songwriting, especially what I like to call my ‘little notes’, which I often share through short reels on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube that I visually curate with clever, emotionally driven rhymes and sometimes ‘heart-wrenching’ lyrics. I receive the most attention on these little projects, as well as short covers of songs, attracting attention from some of my favorite artists such as Sarah Close and Tiny Habits. This has definitely been pretty crazy to witness.
Plenty of feedback from friends and professionals has also informed me that I have the ‘Disney princess’ aesthetic in my music, voice, artistry, and even personality. I found it quite funny at first but definitely made sense to me since I grew up being a Disney music fanatic (who didn’t?). A lot of this is evident in the orchestral/acoustic arrangements of my songs.
I think this is also something that sets me apart from others, in the sense that I incorporate my own cultural and musical identity, as well as my personality in pursuing this ‘aesthetic’. I especially love touching base with my listeners with my lyrics – I pull my ideas from stories I hear from my friends, or from my real-life experiences, or literally anything that happens in life, and it ranges from deeply swoon-worthy, sappy relationship stuff, to light-hearted, maybe even a little shady, in jest. I love being a chronic ‘oversharer’, letting loose, and allowing myself to be completely honest in my music. It’s a part of my musical process that I enjoy the most. It’s so much fun!
Last but not least, my audio engineering and production side: I study Music Production and Engineering at Berklee, so I am pretty crazy about audio and production as well. I have a great passion for and a knack for visualizing musical outcomes early on in the process, so this has also aided in my development of musicality and my audio-related introspections here at Berklee.
Can you talk to us a bit about the role of luck?
For me, luck is a funny thing – some people truly believe that it’s something that becomes the reason for all the things that happen to them, while some don’t believe in luck at all. I like to say that I stand in the middle. I have definitely felt ‘lucky’ in certain situations, such as being able to do what I’m currently doing or having the people in my life shape me into who I am now which I am endlessly grateful for. But I have had really bad luck at times, such as missing out on opportunities right in front of me, but I end up overcoming these anyway, so I think everything is just a process, or a cycle, even.
Overall, I think it’s a perspective thing – what you think to be lucky or not is very much based on how you look at each situation, but overall, I believe that all of it combined led me to where I am now. So, overall, luck whether bad or good has probably been a crucial part of my life so far. Woo! Song idea! Thank you, VoyageLA!
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/soorinkimchi/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/soorin-kim-8594a7210/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/19kims6
- Other: https://linktr.ee/soorinsmusic
Image Credits
Madeline Cornell
