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The best emerging music, art, fashion, film, and youth culture from around Asia and the Asian diaspora.

So!YoON! is a singer, songwriter, and guitarist from Seoul, South Korea. She founded the award-winning Korean rock band SE SO NEON at the age of 18, and has since embarked on a long-awaited solo career, incorporating alternative R&B, retro-soul, contemporary pop, and hip-hop into her own unique sound. So!YoON!'s stage presence is incomparable - just watch: 

"I’m the type of person who tends to do what I want as it comes up, and so far that has been music. I felt like I was good at music, I like being on stage, but if music ever becomes boring for me then I would definitely try something else."

"So, rather than saying 'I really want to make a lot of money as a musician' or 'I really want to achieve one thing,' I would say I want to keep creating interesting work. That way, when I get older and look back at what I’ve done, I can feel like a grandmother who is proud of all she has done. I think it’s like that for me."

"I just write and sing about the experiences in my life, but there’s a lot of different methods I use. Sometimes I write the lyrics, sometimes the lyrics and melody at the same time. Sometimes I do everything at the same time, and sometimes I take a really long time…"

"I’ve been playing and enjoying soccer since I was young, and I think it's a form of exercise that can be explosive and full of adrenaline. Besides soccer, I like other activities that keep my body active and keep me moving. I think that helps me onstage too."

"But I do other things too, like reading books or watching movies at home. I like exercise, I also like staying home and never going out like a homebody… I guess I like a lot of different things."

"Definitely if I wasn’t doing music I would be practicing art through some other medium."

"There are so many difficulties and we live in a violent world. So, what I want on one hand is cliché - things like peace, equality, and love - it’s cliché but I think it's important. And I hope there's no war, no discrimination, it's not too hard to make ends meet."

Jaded Presents: So!YoON! Live at SXSW 2022

JADED PRESENTS: So!YoON!

Ram Han's gaze reconciles scenes found in everyday life and images from the media, discovering shared sensations. Her work invites you to a world of imagery derived from both reality and fiction. She is interested in the unfamiliar yet nostalgic images that summon past memories we all carry. She utilizes recurring and regenerated images from the media, applying textures, colors and elements that are consistent with her perception of the world. Ultimately, she hopes her work is seen as a part of a familiar landscape that defies the definition of real or virtual.

람한의 시선은 일상에서 발견하는 이미지와 미디어에서 발견하는 이미지를 동일한 감각으로 인식한다. 현실과 가상을 통해 전달받는 장면들을 구분 없이 한 세계관 속에 나열하는 작업을 해오고 있으며 만나고 싶은, 혹은 만난 적이 없지만, 노스탤지어는 선명한 추억의 장면을 소환하는 것에 관심이 있다. 인터넷 매체를 통해 열화되고 복제되는 출처 무근의 이미지를 끊김 없이 공급받으며  무작위의 이미지들을 필터링 없이 받아들이고, 그 사이에서 세계관에 부합하는 시각적 질감과 색채, 요소들을 재료로써 사용한다. 이로써 그려내는 작업이 현실과 가상의 차원을 무시한 동시대의 익숙한 풍경화로 보이길 바라고 있다.

Korean artist and illustrator Ram Han in front of many vintage television screens displaying her digital paintings 

Korean artist and illustrator Ram Han introduces herself. 

JADED PRESENTS: RAM HAN

A portrait of CIFIKA sprawled across a studio floor awash in a beam of light. 

Jaded Presents: CIFIKA, an electronic-pop artist emerging from the Korean underground onto a global stage. 

JADED PRESENTS: CIFIKA

In her own words, SUMIN is a shapeshifter.

SUMIN is a producer, singer, musician, and composer based in Seoul, South Korea. She arrives at our shoot in a beanie, with an iced coffee, looking laid back. Over the course of the day, thanks in part to the work of a styling team, she constantly transforms- from a well-dressed home-dweller to an edgy producer to a runway fashion model. Her personality never shifts, but different facets shine through. From one perspective, she is small in presence and physical size, in her own words “surprisingly cute”, but from another, she is powerful, a giant- producing, composing, and arranging for the likes of BTS and Red Velvet. She holds her own place at the forefront of K-Pop, K-RnB, and the more experimental global pop scene simultaneously. 

SUMIN has a presence, but she also leaves space for others. Her close friend and producing partner Slom highlights her ability to empathize, becoming a sponge that makes room for all of her collaborators as a key to the success she has working with such a wide variety of other artists. And yet another side of SUMIN is her intelligence, her classical training in music coupled with a vast knowledge of the artists that came before her, her observations about Korean culture as it fits in the global scene.

She speaks often about being in a lonely place, a space unoccupied by other artists in Korea. Maybe more than lonely, she is singular- not because any one thing she does is completely unique but because the combination of it all, with the diligence with which she executes, puts her in a category that is only her own.

Introduction to South Korean independent R&B singer and producer SUMIN 

In Jaded's inaugural feature, South Korean music sensation SUMIN shares her story through her own words. 

JADED PRESENTS: SUMIN

CHAI is a four-piece band from Nagoya, Japan spreading their philosophy of Neo-Kawaii through their energy-packed pop-punk-dance music and electrifying live performances. 

"It has been three years since the last time we played at SXSW. We are very excited to be back here!"

"Our early influence comes from bands like Basement Jaxx, CSS, Justice, Devo, and Tom Tom Club. What they have in common is they use this beautiful distortion. We always remind ourselves of the shock, excitement and emotion we felt when we listened to these bands for the first time. The distortion is what we want to infuse into our music." 

"All these emotions of hardness, happiness, and anger can lead to laughter. This is the core message of our songs and I hope we can keep making songs like that. We want to laugh harder and harder!"

"Our message has always been channeled to people all over the world, not only to the people in Japan. What is happening right now is these messages have actually reached the people we intended to."

"Our goal is to make it to the global charts including Billboard and so on. It would be super amazing to hear CHAI’s songs organically from the radio all over the world. Imagine you would hear our songs when you hop in a cab or something. That would be amazing."

"Plus, we would love to be nominated for global music awards including the Grammys. That would definitely make us feel like 'we made it!'"

"Our message is a lot about positivity. We hope the positivity can reach more people in future. We want the world to stay positive without wars and conflicts. We believe in it."

JADED PRESENTS: CHAI

It’s always hard to describe an artist with a truly unique voice, but Warren is that guy. He’s an unbelievable talent, and the kind of artist we all strive to be.

He wears many hats like a multi-instrumentalist, but no matter the medium, he strives for perfection. Among all his various roles, what has always stood out to me is his vision and his sharp eye for aesthetically beautiful and moving imagery.

I met him when he was first starting his creative career, and watching him change and evolve has been incredible. In many ways, he feels like an extension of the band, and it’s my privilege to call him a friend. I could easily talk about all that he’s already accomplished, but as a fan, I’m most excited to see what he’s going to do next.

Albert Hammond Jr. of the Strokes pens an introduction to his friend and collaborator Warren Fu. 

Albert Hammond Jr. of the Strokes pens an introduction to his friend and long-time collaborator, Warren Fu.

JADED PRESENTS: WARREN FU

Cartel Madras is a Canadian hip hop duo made up of sisters Contra and Eboshi, born in Chennai in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and raised in Calgary. Their distinctive style blends trap, punk, and house into "goonda rap," a singularly unique sound that is bold, unapologetic, and explosive on stage. Cartel Madras has an energy that is unmatched, and a future that is unbounded. 

"We’re multi-disciplinary. We make music but we make films, and we write, and we produce a lot of other artists’ stuff."

"We split apart and write our own verses, and we come back together and workshop the hook. Usually it always starts with a fire beat. We hear the beat and right away we know this is going to be the next song. We write our own stuff, come together and critique what we worked on, and go from there."

"We’re constantly, rapidly evolving. [From] Trapistan, to Age of the Goonda, to The Serpent & The Tiger, they sound like entirely different pieces of work with a theme running through all of it. We’re shifting in our own lives, we’re changing. Our lives have rapidly changed and who we are has changed. Cartel Madras in 2023 will sound entirely different from Cartel Madras in 2022."

"We want to keep evolving and reflect how we’re feeling, and that changes day to day."

"Everything we’ve wanted to do [outside of music] we’ve been able to do through Cartel Madras. It’s acted as a door to explore our artistic careers overall."

"The end goal is to be able to continue to do art and not worry, and to have a sense of security in that. Each year we get closer to that, which is a real privilege and honor to be able to do in art."

"You just gotta do it. That’s the message. Don’t box yourself into anything. Don’t let other people box you into anything. You can experiment. You can constantly evolve. You just have to believe it and do it."

Jaded Presents: Cartel Madras Live at SXSW 2022

JADED PRESENTS: CARTEL MADRAS

Jaded presents Amir Fallah, Iranian-American visual artist based in LA. 

Jaded presents: Amir Fallah, a visual artist driven by identity. 

JADED PRESENTS: AMIR FALLAH

MEYY is a London-based multidisciplinary artist (she sings, she writes, she dances, she creates visuals, she loves math) raised in Brussels with Korean heritage. Her lush and dreamy sounds punched with powerhouse vocals and sensual vibes make her stage performance something to behold. With MEYY, we feel as if we are witnessing an artist on the cusp of a major career. 

"This is the first time that I’m performing outside of Europe. The whole narrative of SXSW is very exciting."

"Belgium is a very small country. Everything is more chill. There’s not really a huge chase. I started making music for the sake of making music, not for the fame or whatever. The coolness about it has made me more relaxed in the way that I see music."

"My mom was adopted from Korea (along with her sister) to Belgium when she was two years old. She doesn’t have a lot of affinity with Korea. In the last year my mom and her sister started looking for their birth parents, so this summer we are going to Korea for the first time with the whole family. I’m very excited about that. I wasn’t brought up in a Korean household, I wasn’t really aware of it for a long time. Now that they’re starting to looking into their birth parents, it’s a beautiful journey to be a part of."

"The fluidity of dancing has influenced the way that I make music, the sounds that I like."

"I’m still in university - I study civil engineering. If I wasn’t doing music, I’d be finishing my degree in civil engineering and getting a masters in aerospace engineering. I just love math."

"All my songs I’ve released I wrote by myself. Initially I started writing songs when I was 12 or 13 as love letters to specific people to express how I feel, and I would make the song and I would send it to the people in question. I would be like 'I made this song, what do you think about it?' and then they would listen to it and I would be like 'Yea but did you really listen to the lyrics?' I would just like trick boys. It has worked."

"Everything that I’ve ever wanted I already have, so I hope that it just continues to go this way. I’m so so grateful for how it’s been going."

JADED PRESENTS: MEYY

Kristen is always stressed out. We smoke a joint a couple times a day and she paints late into the night. She’s always grumpy when she wakes up and she collects her long leg hairs, taping the especially long ones into her sketchbook.

Painter and illustrator Kristen Liu-Wong shares her story. 

JADED PRESENTS: KRISTEN LIU-WONG

Every Jaded artist shares a core set of values we hold dear -  each deeply independent in spirit, fearlessly self-contained, with singular vision and unwavering courage to execute. Our featured artists have global appeal, not because of deliberate marketing but because of their inherent mindset. With Shelhiel, we found an artist who not only embodies these values but who is on the cusp of greatness. Simply put, Shelhiel is a star.

It does not do Shelhiel justice to describe him as a pop musician. His natural gifts as a producer, singer, and composer are nothing short of phenomenal - his talent is undeniable. What sets him apart is his holistic approach to artistry. He creates worlds that are at once fantastically fictional yet entirely authentic, taking us along with him sonically, visually, emotionally. This is evident from his very first EP Superstrobe, an intricately crafted origin story that sets the stage for what is sure to be a culturally significant career.

We are excited to witness Shelhiel live up to his boundless potential, and privileged to be a small part of his journey. We proudly present Shelhiel’s story through his own words, and the world premiere of Superstrobe.

STAY IN TOUCH.