Interview by Arin Siriamonthep<\/p>\n
How did you start music, and what stage do you think you started at in life?<\/b><\/p>\n
I know I started in 2017 kind of. I originally got into singing because of a crush that I had in school. I was new to school, and there was this girl I was really crushing over, and she worked for the talent show committee. So I was like \u201cokay, I wanna get her attention\u201d. Because I wasn\u2019t someone who spoke a lot. I was very quiet, to myself. But I just thought \u201cokay, I\u2019m gonna sing and see what happens\u201d. And so I did the talent show, I got third place. Over time, everyone at the school was like \u201cyo you have a great voice, you should pursue this\u201d and I was like \u201cyeah, why not? I think that\u2019d be fun.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Was it a cover or was it original?<\/b><\/p>\n No it was a cover. It was a cover of a Zayn Malik song.<\/span><\/p>\n But I just feel like at that time, I just didn\u2019t want to grow up\u2014 like no offense to anyone that does have an office job or anything, but me personally, I just don\u2019t want to be in an office job. I don\u2019t want to sit in a cubicle and just go on \u2018Excel\u2019 or whatever. I always want to do more. So, I kind of feel like it was a gateway from that. Because I\u2019ve always had fun doing it.<\/span><\/p>\n Would you say when you make your music is it about a certain instance or a certain person? [Laughing] Maybe specifically a certain love interest in your past?<\/b><\/p>\n I mean it\u2019s really a blend of all of them. I know some of my songs I wrote off of my friends\u2019 experiences. Some I wrote because I watched a movie and I felt inspired. A lot of my writing comes from movies, like \u201cPick Up Your Phone\u201d? I watched Men In Black for that, and so I just made that song. So a lot of these songs are not only from me, but it\u2019s just from everything that\u2019s in my life. There\u2019s my friends, or a movie, something I see outside in public. I\u2019m just going to write about it.<\/span><\/p>\n Has there ever been a song where you\u2019re just like \u201cthis just sounds dope as f*ck\u201d, and you just put it out there? Or do they usually have some other push to them?<\/b><\/p>\n Well the thing about me is that I\u2019m very hard on myself when it comes to making music. Some days I\u2019ll just be like \u201cwhatever, I\u2019ll just put it out\u201d. For example, \u201cOver 85\u201d? I made that song in three days.<\/span><\/p>\n And that\u2019s your top song, right?<\/b><\/p>\n Yeah it is my top song.<\/span><\/p>\n Originally I was just like \u201ceh\u201d. But I got over it, you know? So I put it out, it ended up being my greatest song so thank you guys. There are a lot of other songs in my bank of music where I\u2019m not planning on it seeing the light of day, or I might go back and be like \u201calright this is not so bad, I\u2019m gonna continue this one\u201d.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n I also know that you did go on a hiatus. So I wanted to ask, how were you able to come back from that? Because I know it\u2019s definitely difficult to go from a hard stop to going back into it and trying to pursue your passion again.<\/b><\/p>\n Yeah, I mean, I think genuinely at that time I was going through something with school, you know just connections I had in my life. It was kind of tough for me to even go outside, or even get on my computer to make music. But I think in the back of my mind\u2014 at that time I had a very very small fanbase, who I could just remember their names, I saw them all the time, they were so supportive \u2014and I just think about all their DMs like \u201chey when are you coming back?\u201d And it\u2019s kind of crushing when you see their messages but you\u2019re like \u201cI don\u2019t really feel like I\u2019m back\u201d. So what do you tell them? So over time, I kind of just told myself I\u2019m going to get up, and I\u2019m going to actually force myself to do something. That was how I got out of my hiatus. I would say it was originally the people that believed in me that kind of got me out.<\/span><\/p>\n So do you think you\u2019re working more based of off the fans and people who are supporting you? Or do you think you\u2019re doing this for yourself now?<\/b><\/p>\n It\u2019s a bit of both. Because especially with my name Hojean, that being my Korean name, huge identity crisis with that. When I was younger, I never felt connected to my Korean side. And I\u2019m sure that\u2019s something a lot of people of color can relate to. So, not only do I do it for the fans, but I\u2019m also kind of doing it for me, because I feel like it\u2019s a really cool way to show respect for my own Korean name, by making music and putting it out there. People know my name now. So it\u2019s cool, it\u2019s something I didn\u2019t like before, but now it\u2019s like people know it. And they connect it to good music. That\u2019s cool to me.<\/span><\/p>\n Also, I didn\u2019t want to go into the industry as \u201cJustin\u201d (which my name is Justin) because there\u2019s Justin Bieber, Timberlake, it\u2019s like \u201cman, how am I going to go against that?\u201d So I was like \u201cHojean\u201d!<\/span><\/p>\n Who would you say is your biggest inspiration?<\/b><\/p>\n I don\u2019t know. That\u2019s kind of hard, because the thing about me, especially with other musicians: I love and respect so many other musicians but I can only ever listen to the verse or the chorus of a song because my attention span is not that good. For me, I just hear the first verse or the chorus and I\u2019m just like \u201cthat\u2019s a good song!\u201d (and I just never listen to it again). But that\u2019s because I\u2019m just built that way. And it\u2019s not good but I just feel like it\u2019s a lot of things I\u2019ve collected through my life in little snippets, so I can\u2019t really say directly who has inspired me, but I can definitely say it\u2019s the small things in my life that has kind of built up to what I create now.<\/span><\/p>\n So would you say you\u2019re just living life day-by-day, and that\u2019s what motivates you?<\/b><\/p>\n Yeah! Yeah, kind of, yeah.<\/span><\/p>\n Now, for a different kind of question: I wanted to ask about the hoodie. What\u2019s the story behind it?<\/b><\/p>\n The whole hoodie thing sort of started when I was in college, and I think this might have been around the same time. For me I can just kind of get into a hole and just feel very\u2026 like a turtle would. They go inside their shell, they don\u2019t come out. And I do that a lot. Especially mentally and physically. Back in college, when there were people who would just want to bother me\u2014 I don\u2019t know. I didn\u2019t want to be bothered at all. I wasn\u2019t doing so good in school, and once again I was having this relationship situation. I didn\u2019t want to talk to anybody. So I would just go to school in and out, and the best way for me to do that was putting on a hoodie, and kind of telling people \u201chey, I\u2019m not in the mood\u201d. And when I did it, I felt a weird instant click to the hoodie. Like \u201cI feel so protected, I feel like people know not to mess with me right now.\u201d I feel very much like it\u2019s a constant hug around my entire body. That\u2019s the way I like to think about it.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Basically, I think this hoodie (in a way) got me through some really tough times. You know, through school, just because I don\u2019t know\u2014 when people saw, they just knew not to bother me. For me, I think sometimes being alone and being in your own emotions is really important. And that\u2019s what I did. That\u2019s what I got out of that. I kind of took the hoodie with me, because it was really comforting for me. I don\u2019t wear it all the time, but when there are times I feel super anxious, or when I\u2019m just nervous, when I put the hoodie on, I feel like I\u2019m just not anxious anymore. I feel protected.<\/span><\/p>\n Is there a specific hoodie?<\/b><\/p>\n It really varies. Some of them are from thrift stores. I get some from online shopping, or just from the mall. But it\u2019s not the same hoodie.<\/span><\/p>\n So it\u2019s generally just, like, a hoodie.<\/b><\/p>\n Well, I think the one I have on right now might be Gildan?<\/span><\/p>\n Okay, what\u2019s your favorite hoodie brand then (that you\u2019ve been rocking so far)?<\/strong><\/p>\n Honestly, shout out Gildan. They make some pretty cheap, pretty comfortable hoodies. So sponsor me if you want.<\/span><\/p>\n I\u2019ve tried making my own hoodies, it\u2019s always kind of difficult. I wanna eventually get to a point where I can design my own hoodies, have cool patterns on my hoodie, cool shapes or something. Really get to experiment with it, you know? And kind of go deeper into that brand. But that\u2019s going to take some time.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Let me ask you another question about your music: for the music that you make, would you say that there\u2019s a specific emotion that you want them to feel?<\/b><\/p>\n Through my music, I just like to make music. Like I said, all of the songs that I write are from my own life and from other people\u2019s lives and I just collect it. I just kind of make music off of everything I see. So I hope that translates to other people, whether they want to use that song to advance the feeling of romance, or if there\u2019s songs that give them comfort, or if they hear a song like \u201coh my god I heard this song two years ago, I love two years ago\u201d, if you want to be nostalgic. I just hope my music provokes whatever feeling that person wants the music to convey.<\/span><\/p>\n So you want them to find what they\u2019re looking for?<\/b><\/p>\n Yeah, a song can be like that. I know there are a lot of single people out there who love romance songs. You don\u2019t need to be in a relationship to listen to a romance song. For me, being single, I make romance songs all the time. So I would like to imagine that even though the lyrics might not relate to you, if it gives you a sort of feeling and you like it just stick with it if you want. I think if you like it, you like it.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n What would you say is your favorite lyric that you\u2019ve ever written?<\/b><\/p>\n I have a song called \u201cMemory\u201d where the lyrics are really simple. Honestly, there are some songs where the writing is like \u201cwell this is great!\u201d. But there are some songs where it\u2019s kind of simple and I like that. For \u201cMemory\u201d its \u201ctell me what you\u2019re looking for \/ if it\u2019s me consider it M.I.A.\u201d. At the time I wasn\u2019t sure if I wanted to make that the lyric because I thought \u201cwhat the f*ck is M.I.A.?\u201d I looked it up and it was \u201cmissing in action\u201d and I was like \u201coh, that\u2019s cool!\u201d. So I think that\u2019s probably my favorite line.<\/span><\/p>\n Is there a certain brainstorming process for the lyrics, too?<\/b><\/p>\n I just watch a lot of movies. Sometimes, for me, in a weird way, when I see certain visuals I can translate it into words. If the coloring in this scene is really pretty, I\u2019m like \u201cthat looks like a scene where you want to talk about how pretty the sky is\u201d. So that\u2019s where I get my inspiration from: a lot of movies.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Interview by Arin Siriamonthep How did you start music, and what stage do you think you started at in life? I know I started in 2017 kind of. I originally got into singing because of a crush that I had in school. 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