sogumm

With her head in the clouds and feet on the ground, sogumm is just getting started
Text Vanya Harapen

As the second ever female artist to be signed to the renowned K-Hip Hop label AOMG, and the winner of Korean Music Awards' Rookie of the Year award in 2020, sogumm is definitely the young talent on the scene that you should keep a close eye on. The musician was catapulted to fame after her participation in K-Hip Hop audition show SignHere, where she "learned that sogumm, and sogumm's music can be loved by people."
Although SignHere marked her big break into the music industry, sogumm has always lived a life in pursuit of music. "When I was young, my mom would always turn on classic music with a turntable while eating. Since then, music has become part of my life. After entering high school, I signed up to go to the piano academy in front of my house because I wanted to get out of night classes. Even after that I became more interested in the creation and started to learn how to compose songs," she shares with us, recalling how music has always been part of her life.
As she grew older, the singer also released her own music on SoundCloud and joined Balming Tiger, a music collective, along with other young musicians. Now, as a part of the AOMG family, sogumm is surrounded by the other big name artists that are also signed onto the label like Simon Dominic, GRAY, Loco, and LeeHi, to name a few. Having the presence of other talented stars within reach does give sogumm a sense of reassurance and security. "The fact that we can give help whenever we need seems to be reassuring. Even now, each of us is doing best in our own spot," says sogumm about the relationship between her and her labelmates.

The musician has also collaborated with plenty of other musicians on various tracks, each one showcasing the different charms and range that she could pull off. But of course, working with other people will come with ups and downs of its own, "Every artist that I collaborated with was memorable and enjoyable but to pick one artist, working with Oh Hyuk for the song "yayou hoi" was most memorable. It was the first Single made after joining AOMG and there were many things I learned during the process of making it," the singer says. By viewing every collaboration as a learning process, sogumm continues to discover new ways to grow as an artist, “The musical greed while making "yayou hoi" influenced making the [Precious] album and the album itself helped me to grow musically in my life.”
As an artist that writes her own songs, being able to constantly garner up new knowledge and understandings on music is the key to survive. To sogumm, she creates new music as a journey of self discovery, "When making music I focus on getting to know myself rather than how I want my music to be explained, and I did not think it was important." Being the mastermind behind all of her music also means that the artist has to face a big amount of pressure when moments of a creative block hits, or the struggle of being your own biggest critic. “I try to get through any difficulty. So, the second question I ask myself is "So did the results come out well?" "Havel done it to the point where I have no regrets?" seems the most important question I ask myself," shares sogumm as she recalls how she manages to get through times of disatisfaction.
Her faith has also become a key factor of what keeps her going strong, “God and nature are my biggest inspirations. I have infinite potential, but my body is not. So in front of eternity, I become humble. I ask questions, pray and thank you for having infinite energy." Despite being faced with the blinding lights that may come with faith, the gratitude she has for being able to do what she loves for a living will always keep her focused. By holding her faith and beliefs close to her as a guiding compass, sogumm stays grateful and grounded, “My prayers have changed. In the past. I would make prayers to satisfy personal greed, but now I'm grateful for what I have and pray about the people around me and the world. And those kinds of hearts make me feel a big blessing."
After getting her 'big break', more eyes are following you on what you do now which could be quite stressful yet the young musician manages to cope under the pressure of being watched under the public eye by making sure that she focuses only on herself and her craft instead of all the other benefits that could come as a part of stardom. After spending so much time centered around music, sogumm tells us that this year she hopes to be able to spend more time traveling with her family, as well as working on herself, “I'm learning to love myself and invest in myself, knowing which cause is the most important.” Despite all the success she's already achieved she continues to wish for big things ahead, “As time goes on the desire for music grows bigger and deeper in me. I need more time to concentrate. [...] I'm so lucky that my favorite thing is the same as work. I feel gratitude day by day. I want everyone in the world to do what they want to do. When you live for a dream, even the shortcomings appear to be stairs to a dream."