Pop musician Salem Ilese "There is no boarder in culture, I am also fan of BLACKPINK"

연합뉴스 / 2022-08-18 10:22:50

▲This photo, provided by Universal Music shows, artist Salem Ilese. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

SEOUL, August 18 (Yonhap) -- “I am a big fan of Rose of BLACKPINK, I had an opportunity to speak to her in Los Angeles, I like K-pop because it’s very fun so I enjoy the genre.”

Salem Ilese American pop artist from the Z generation participated in an interview at a café within Bukchon Hanok Village in Seoul and stated “Distinctive lines between different cultures have lightened up, which is a very cool thing for creators and artist.”

Salem Ilese debuted with her track “Mad at Disney” in 2020, which recorded over 200 million streams on Spotify drawing a lot of attention.

Moreover, 23 years old, Salem Ilese, born in 1999 has over 2.8 million followers on Tiktok suitable for her title of being part of the Z generation. She uses her social media to communicate with her fans throughout the world.

Salem Ilese visited South Korea in order to perform her first concert in S. Korea at “Rolling Hall” in Seoul.

“I grew up watching ‘Sailor Moon’ back then I didn’t know it was from a different culture, I just loved it.” adding “YouTube, Tiktok, Netflix and more various content platforms provide me with musical inspiration.” Salem Ilese stated throughout her interview.

Salem Ilese collaborated with K-pop boy group Tomorrow X Together on a track called “PS5” which unfolds the story of hard decision between games or a lover.

“So far Tomorrow X Together and I have collaborated on two different tracks, they were very kind and nice to me.” adding “They told me a lot about South Korea and that is one of the reasons why I am interested in S. Korea.” Salem Ilese described her relationship with Tomorrow X Together throughout the interview.

Adding on, she stated that “Performing in Korea was on top of my bucket list.” adding “I am very happy to be here to meet Korean fans.”

Artist Salem Ilese is known for her tracks “Mad at Disney,” “PS5,” “Ben & Jerry,” “Hey Siri” and more, these tracks show her talent to create tracks using things everyone sees throughout their day.

Despite of her songs written using familiar subjects, the message embedded within the tracks were not all light. Her most well known track “Mad at Disney” goes against the generic love story of princesses.

“I write songs based on objects around me, my life, my experiences and more which can be found around me.” adding “If I run across an interesting word or interesting brand name, then I write them down.” Salem Ilese described her music producing process throughout the interview.

“I believe music is a very efficient media outlet that can deliver deep and heavy topic in lighter manner.” adding “If you listen to the beat instead of the lyrics then, one might think it’s a very light fun and fast pop song, however if you listen to the lyrics, you will be able to find hidden and embedded meaning which co exists on a different layer, which is very fun to find. Sometimes I intentionally write very deep lyrics on a very bright beat.” Salem Ilese chuckled while describing her thoughts on music.

“When I came across fans reaction on my track ‘Mad at Disney’ I was moved because it was so diverse. I wasn’t the only one who was mad at the made up love story of princesses. That song puts emphasis on the importance of women’s rights and provides power to be the unique individual.” announced Salem Ilese throughout the interview.

The artist released a track called “Moment of Silence” which deals with the chronic problem of “Gun Violence” and “Abortion” making a stand. Salem Ilese’s reason for releasing such a song was because she has a sense of responsibility of being a person who can release a song based on her opinion and someone practices good deed.

Throughout the interview the artist showed her interesting various subjects such as nature and more by stating “I would like to produce songs related to climate changes, and nature.” adding “It is a very important matter, but it needs more social discussion, therefore I think it will be hard to create a song related to such subjects. However, if I were to finish the track and release it I would feel very proud of myself.”

“Although my music are classified as pop music, I would like to differentiate my music from the others on the fact that all of my tracks are focused on the lyrics.” adding “I am very picky when it comes to my word choices, some might call me a ‘Word Nerd’ for it but that is just how I am. Sometimes it takes over a year for me to write a single line.” Salem Ilese described the difference between her music and the others.

Salem Ilese performed 3 of her tracks including “Mad at Disney,” “PS5,” and “Crypto Boy” throughout her interview at Bukchon Hanok Village. Towards the end of her interview she gave out beads bracelets made by her mother to the media crew at the scene.

“I am proud to be part of the MZ generation, because I think we are the ones who truly think outside the box. My goal as an artist is to spread the positive messages, create bonds and to embrace everyone.” artist Salem Ilese stated throughout her interview.