00:00Hey, it's Kyle Tootin and in this episode we're shining the spotlight on Somi. As a solo artist,
00:12her performances have to showcase everything. Vocals, personality and stage presence. So the
00:17choreography obviously plays a huge role in telling her story. I'm going to break down how
00:23we built some of her standout stages and the little moments that you might have missed.
00:30This is XOXO. Something that I love about Somi is that every time she has a comeback, few and far
00:38between, the musical style is so different. I think she's one of the most interesting musical artists
00:44in K-pop. Her influences and the musical genres that she explores every time, it's always so different
00:51but it's always so done and so well executed. This was XOXO which is just like a fun breakup
00:59girl song so it's always fun to be a little bratty. I think that's one of like the most fun personalities
01:07you can put on on stage and to create choreography for that is kind of really easy. It's really simple
01:14to do, to just like have a bunch of attitude. I frequently collaborate which means that two
01:21choreographers both submit pieces and then a performance director puts those pieces together
01:26and teaches it to the artist. So I frequently collaborate on Somi with a choreographer
01:32called Lee Jung Lee who is amazing. She's my friend. Somi falls so naturally between the kind of a hip-hop vibe.
01:39She raps. She's an amazing singer. She's an amazing dancer. So to be able to blend all of those things
01:45together in one piece creates for one exciting stage piece. We're trying to create memorable
01:51things. The song is called XOXO. We love to spell. So little things XOXO we have XO. There are a few
02:02little ways that we incorporate that in this routine. So this is fast forward again. Somi comes back with a
02:12completely different sound. She kind of lent into this more club, more Euro sound. This was the first time
02:20that I was explicitly creating with male dancers for Somi and we wanted to add elements in vogue and
02:29also when we use styles in k-pop I always want to remember that all of these artists are not
02:37necessarily trained authentically in full hip-hop and street styles. I've trained for a long time in a
02:44lot of different styles so I think we've kind of reached a point where I can use visual elements
02:50of it without having to fully do a style. So we're borrowing without appropriating the core of it
02:59because I would want someone to train fully in it and I think there were a few steps in some drafts
03:04where we had like a catwalk and things in which case I said if we're going to do this please make sure
03:11that we have the appropriate teacher in Korea doing those. They ultimately went with a more tectonic vibe
03:18in the chorus which is this move. Hey bum bum. Yeah the song calls for certain things so we were able to
03:25allude in ways. Baby Zoo is another one of the choreographers in this piece. Somi's charisma
03:33she lends herself to so many different things so having six male dancers that are doing movements that are more
03:41feminine based but it just works for her. She's still able to command the space and then they lean into more masculine stuff
03:48they're able to bounce back and forth. I love this piece, it's super exciting. It's short and sweet but I think it packs a punch.
04:00This is Dum Dum. When I first heard the song I think the emphasis that the company wanted to stress was that the song is a dichotomy.
04:09It has two very different angles to it. There's the verses which are super sweet and sugary and then the chorus comes in and she kind of just throws that all away and it goes super grimy and super grungy.
04:22So the vibe switches right here and we go super different and I don't think you can see that drop coming.
04:30This is I think one of the most viral sounds for Somi. It's a balance of trying to create something that works
04:40virally but also as a creative you don't necessarily want to always cater to that. You still want it to be good and inspiring and
04:49creative first and then if that also happens to lend itself to virality then that's a bonus.
04:54Dum Dum it's a it's a great song and it's a catchy song and it has those visual cues for you to pick up on that can go viral.
05:02I don't think you always know what's going to go viral. Some things do, some things don't. Some things that you think are going to go viral
05:09absolutely don't. This is one that did but I guess yeah it's always fun seeing
05:15thousands of people do something that you had a part in. It's really
05:20humbling but also you're so appreciative. I like this song because I think you can really see Somi starting to come into her own as a solo artist
05:30building up those those performance skills and those different stylings. So this I think was a turning point for Somi.
05:39Okay, so this is the most recent song that we've done for Somi. This is Closer which
05:44interpolates a well-known song called Beautiful Girls. This piece is
05:50entirely my choreography. We made this piece. I loved it. I sent everything over to Korea
05:57for them to review and see if they liked it and
06:01within hours they kind of replied back and they were like we absolutely love it. Somi wants to use the whole thing
06:06we're not going to change a single move which is kind of unheard of in
06:10in my realm in K-pop because they like to use so many different things from different choreographers
06:16so I was honored that I'd created something that everyone loved. Again, we're diving a lot more
06:24European with the with the musical styles and the club of it. Here we wanted to use different elements of showing off a
06:31beautiful girl. We have framing the face. We have showing off the nails all of those little different elements to
06:38highlight the song's message. I think that I have somewhat of a
06:44formula when I create K-pop choreography. That doesn't mean it's repetitive but I
06:49see things in structures and choruses and verses where we do different things and I think Somi is the perfect artist for me to do that with
06:56and I've done so many that I think my structures are
07:01recognizable in K-pop so while moves might be different and styles might be different. I like to do a lot of different styles
07:07I think that you can see my signature through the structure of a song. I love this piece.
07:14It's simple but very effective. And that's a wrap on some of Somi's most memorable performances. As a soloist
07:21she really owns the stage in a way that is powerful and personal and it's been amazing to help shape that through choreography.
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