On Wednesday, March 6, Sunmi brought her ‘Warning’ World Tour to San Francisco’s The Regency Ballroom as the first North American stop of eight. Sunmi is arguably one of the most popular current solo female artists in Korea with back-to-back hit singles and one of the few to host tours in both North America and Asia. This tour also marks her first solo endeavor in the United States as she had previously promoted in the United States as a part of the now disbanded Wonder Girls.
At exactly 7:00 pm, the lights dimmed and an ominous VCR repeated the phrase “let go of your desires.” Sunmi then strutted barefoot onto the stage in a sparkly cheetah print dress shouting “What’s up San Francisco?”. She was joined shortly by her male and female dancers to perform her debut solo song “24 Hours.”
She then introduced herself to the audience in English and then Korean before she shyly commented with a laugh, “It’s awkward,” as she struggled to put on her shoes. She took the time to exclaim how touched she was to see this many people come out to see her and introduced the next song.
With a “Here we go,” Sunmi performed “Who Am I?”from her debut “Full Moon” EP. She then said “I want you to sing this song with me,” before continuing with the jazzy“Black Pearl” where she moved around the stage, engaging the audience.
Before launching into the next songs, Sunmi exclaimed in English how surprised she was at the amount of noise the audience was making for her, which led the audience to scream in delight. Jokingly, she said that the crowd was so loud that her ears almost exploded and requested they do it again. Fans happily obliged.
She then introduced the next unreleased song,“Borderline,” as one of her favorites amongst all the songs that she’s made. Afterwards, a red rose themed VCR raised audience curiosity as to what came next.
A background resembling an Instagram profile played on screen and the audience screamed happily when the recently released “Noir” began to play. Sunmi evoked themes from her music video for her first live performance of her new single. Next up was a dark remix of “Full Moon” where Sunmi rapped and encouraged the audience to join in on “ay ay.”
Another black, white, and diamond themed VCR began. Sunmi returned in a royal blue bedazzled outfit and sparkly silver boots for the charismatic and powerful “Addict.” Following a brief moment of silence, the familiar intro to “Gashina” came on and the crowd went wild for the signature “gun” dance moves and addictive chorus.
After her performance of “Gashina,” Sunmi took the time to talk to the audience again and suddenly sang into her mic, “Jeongmal michin geo anya neon,” to which the entire audience roared back with, “Wae yeppeun nal dugo gasina.” She tested this out again when she sang the word “Noir” and the audience again completed the lyric for her. Sunmi was visibly surprised and exclaimed her thanks.
She sent some Korean finger hearts into the audience and exclaimed “Daebak.” When she asked the crowd if they knew what “Daebak” meant, the pit screamed “Lit,” which made Sunmi laugh.
Her next performance set included covers of Toto’s jazzy rock hit track “Georgy Porgy” and 10cc’s “I’m Not In Love” followed by the outro track, “Secret Tape (비밀테이프).”
Another VCR in which Sunmi explained that she likes warm and cool tones so therefore, she likes the color purple. The stage lights revealed a purple-themed stage and Sunmi in a purple bralette for “Heroine.” Sunmi then performed another unreleased song, “Hey You,” showing off both her vocal and dancing abilities. The high energy song “Burn” was next and the crowd jumped along to the catchy chorus.
During her water break, Sunmi teared up. “I’ll never forget this moment and the energy that you gave me” and promised, “I’ll tell my company to do another show in San Francisco.” After promoting her new album to be released in either June or July, Sunmi transitioned into the last song for the night. She performed her most recent hit single “Siren” with a special dance break.
As soon as Sunmi exited the stage, the crowd begged for an encore and chanted “Sunmi” over and over again. After a few short moments, a VCR came up and Sunmi returned to the stage for the gender-bending version of “Gashina.” She even held up a fan’s banner of her name with a big smile. After her encore stage, she snapped a photo with her San Francisco fans and promised “I’ll be back” to officially end the night.
Needless to say, fans are beyond excited for Sunmi’s new album this summer and hopefully, we will see her back in America soon!