No matter how you look at it, so much can happen in a year. In the case of Seori, she was able to rise above these dark times and grow beyond the clouds.

The South Korean singer-songwriter refused to let the ongoing pandemic stop her from making her climb through the massive constellations of the music scene. She's a warrior, running through the night and pocketing the stars she passes. She has, after all, captured the attention of listeners worldwide and they're dying to hear more.

Last year's ?depacse ohw was only the beginning, but needless to say, an extremely powerful one. With her offerings this year—'Lovers In The Night', '0X1=LOVESONG (I Know I Love You),' the TXT track co-written by BTS' RM, '긴 밤 (The Long Night)' featuring GIRIBOY, 'Dive with you' featuring her 'it just is' collaborator eaJ, and 'Warriors' with Warren Hue—the world can look forward to brighter days as Seori cuts into hyperspace to deliver new music.

Bandwagon had a quick chat with Seori to catch up on how life has been like for her these days, what her first Head In The Clouds experience was like, and the things she's learned from collaborating with other artists.

How have you been these past few days and what have we been up to?

There was the Head in the Clouds festival in LA. That was my first ever performance and I have been preparing for a long time. So yeah, there were so many very happy memories. I'll never forget those moments. Now I'm back from it and getting ready for the next project.

It’s been over a year since you made your debut with ?depacse ohw. Tell us, how do you feel being where you are now in such a short period of time, despite the pandemic?

I think that I was very lucky as an artist who debuted in such a short time and then has to put out a variety of different kinds of things and try different things. I think I'm very lucky to be in that position. Also at the same time, it is a little bit pressuring to know that I have to do it well, to put out a good performance and stuff. It is pressuring from time to time, but that is also a motivation for me to be moving forward and then try harder.

How much do you feel you’ve grown creatively since your debut? 

I know that there's still a long way to go. I have to try many different things for my growth, but it's been almost a year and a half. I've been learning a lot. I think, in the beginning, it was just me expressing what I was feeling. But now I'm more conscious and aware that there is there are listeners. I think about more on how to deliver that message and how to get to the audience. So those are the things that I keep thinking about and make sure that I try to study as well.

Doing different collaborations and very different kinds of challenges that I've gone through, is something that I never thought that I'll be in that position when I first debuted but these things are happening, so it's definitely helping me in my growth.

You’ve also done quite a number of collaborations in the past year. In what ways have these projects helped you evolve as an artist?

Doing a collaboration with the different artists, it definitely helped me a lot. Just the fact that doing collaborations with artists that I really liked and respected was definitely helpful and then I was able to get very positive energies from them as well. And then during the collaboration with different artists, I was able to present different kinds of music as well. So there was definitely an upside as well.

You work so well with duets and collaborations. Are there plans to work with more arists in the coming year?

There's nothing in the concrete pipeline yet, but if there's an opportunity out to, I would love to do more. There are just so many different types of artists in the world. So do a collaboration with them, I know that that's going to be helping me grow as an artist as well, so definitely open to any opportunities.

We all finally got a glimpse of your onstage energy at Head In The Clouds. What was going through your mind during your performance?

That was my first ever performance and I was thinking, "Is this for real? Is this possible?" There are so many people who know about my music and then they're singing along to it. I just never imagined that was going to be happening. I was worried about that a lot before I jumped onstage, but there's so many people recognizing me, and then singing along with me, and then just liking me on stage so that was amazing.

They knew my name and they knew the lyrics. Some of the lyrics are in Korean and they were singing along to it. So that energy that came out from the crowd was just so exciting and there's something that I never experienced before that I experienced for the first time. It was amazing and then I think I got overexcited a little bit, so there are definitely certain things that I would like to look back on. But regardless of that, just in general it was just such an amazing experience.

Do you have any fun stories from your stay in LA that you’d like to share?

This was my first time going to America, so I didn't have friends in the States. But as I was preparing for the different schedules, I got to be friends with the different staff that I was working with. That was very meaningful. After everything was over, we made a promise that the next time I come back we are able to see each other. Next time when I visit America again, it's going to be more comfortable and more exciting. Now I have friends to hang out with!

Are you still able to have some quiet time to yourself or are you constantly busy working on music?

Those quiet times are very essential and necessary for me. It gives me time to discover and explore myself. During those quiet times, a lot of good things come out from that as well. But at the same time, it'll be quite sad if I'm not busy, so I made sure that I tried to be active and do promotions or work as much as possible, and at the same time trying to have my own time as well. So I try to catch two birds with one stone.

What kind of music have you been listening to these days?

For the past months, I was quite confused and lost on what music to be listening to. So I think I went back to jazz and New Age kind of score pieces and just kind of calmed myself down and tried to figure out what music to listen to. So that is it was actually quite a difficult question about what kind of music I've been listening to these days, but lately, I went back and started listening to this artist, Seafret.

What do you have down the line for 2022? 

In 2022 I think I'd like to grow more as a singer-songwriter and put out really good songs that connect with a different kind of audience. So yeah, just to grow as a singer-songwriter.

Stream Seori's debut EP ?depacse ohw below.