There is usually a certain familiarity between an artist and the audience waiting in front of the stage. The artist knows who they are performing for, and the crowd has an idea of what they can expect from them. For So!YoON!, KCON presented a different kind of opportunity. While a group of her loyal fans had gathered for her, she was performing for a much larger KCON audience that she knew might have little to no familiarity with her music. However, rather than seeing that as a disadvantage, she saw an opportunity to make an impression.
“I want to make a strong impact,” she told Kpopconcerts.com before taking the Toyota Music Den stage on the convention’s final day. Instead of looking for recognition, she wanted her music to naturally pique people’s interest and draw them to her stage. So much so that it would leave them wondering, “What is this like? It’s something new.”
Against flashing lightsticks and elaborate, choreographed performances typically associated with KCON, So!YoON! offered something entirely different. She’s best known as the frontwoman of the rock band SE SO NEON, but she has also simultaneously built a distinct body of work under her solo moniker, So!YoON!. At KCON, she confidently brought that work to the stage with a light setup: her laptop, electric guitar, and microphone.
Her KCON experience began the day prior with a two-song set at the M COUNTDOWN Pre-Show inside Crypto.com Arena. By the time she spoke with Kpopconcerts.com ahead of her 30-minute showcase at the Toyota Music Den stage, the event had already exceeded her expectations. “This is the first time performing in KCON and I’ve never expected this vibe. It’s so much better than I imagined,” she shared. “I honestly want to come back next year.”
On the Toyota Music Den stage, the bluesy guitar lines of “zZ’City” established a moody, late-night atmosphere before segueing into “Smoke Sprite,” her 2023 collaboration with BTS’ RM – a familiar name to many in the crowd. So!YoON! then offered the crowd something entirely new with “Go Easy,” a laid-back, groovy number caught somewhere between attraction and uncertainty. The gritty “Bad” followed before she closed with the dreamy “Wings,” her collaboration track with Thai singer-songwriter Phum Viphurit.
Making Space to Create
“Because I have lots of space, I can be more creative.“
The KCON LA performance arrived amid an expansive period for So!YoON!. She was born and raised in Seoul to a photojournalist father and a designer mother who fostered her love for music and freedom of expression. She founded SE SO NEON in 2016, garnering global acclaim and drawing attention to Korea’s robust indie rock scene. In March 2024, she took a leap of faith and moved to Los Angeles, where she continued exploring creative projects beyond music and across mediums. This year alone, she released a remix collaboration with Japanese DJ TOWA TEI, featured on ENHYPEN’s “No Way Back,” launched her own subscription messaging service called SSN Books, and debuted as a film composer on the sci-fi animated feature film, Pilgrims. Most recently, she sold out her first Los Angeles headline show under her solo moniker at the Echo on October 4. As she explained ahead of the KCON stage, the solo concert allowed her to “show more deeply where I am musically right now” – something she could only hint at within the confines of her short KCON sets.
Across her many projects, So!YoON! has voiced the importance of having space and time to create on her own terms. For an artist who seamlessly weaves between various projects and genres, finding that space to breathe has become imperative, and L.A. has given her plenty of it. “The most important thing is to be with nature. That’s why I especially tried to move to L.A.,” she said, citing its amazing weather and proximity to beaches, forests, and mountains. During her Toyota Music Den appearance, she described her day-to-day as picking up produce at farmers’ markets, cooking, going on walks, swimming at a beach, and, of course, making music. The effects of L.A.’s slower, laid-back rhythm may not yet be audible in her music, but she can already feel the difference in the life surrounding it.
“My life is so much better and pretty stable right now, and my day-to-day is really calm and peaceful,” she shared. “Because I have lots of space, I can be more creative.”
Taking Time to Connect
“I follow my heart and make deep connections with people.”
As she has made more space for her creativity to thrive, So!YoON! has recently launched SSN Books, a snail-mail subscription service that mails physical letters every six weeks. The project gives her another outlet where she can share things that she sees, hears, and feels, at a slower, more deliberate pace. “These days, everything seems to arrive so quickly and disappear just as fast. That made me want to create something that takes a little more time,” she explained. “The whole process of actually writing a letter, printing it on paper, sending it through the mail, and having it eventually arrive in someone’s hands felt important to me.”
SSN Books’ first project, [Letters from H], features exchanges between a writer named H and Soyoon sharing personal reflections and observations. “There’s something special now about waiting for a letter, taking it out of your mailbox, reading it, and spending some time with it,” she said.
In an era where opportunities can begin with a simple DM on Instagram, So!YoON! sees collaboration as something that can grow from a natural, personal connection. For her, that can mean meeting someone new and starting a conversation face-to-face, which is how her recent collaboration with prominent Japanese DJ TOWA TEI came together.
Earlier this year, the two teamed up to release a remixed version of “Remember!” from SE SO NEON’s album, NOW. The original song was born from So!YoON!’s grief following the death of the renowned composer Ryuichi Sakamoto, whose past encouragement and support left a lasting impression on her. The death, she previously shared, left her with a determination to never forget her identity as a way to honor him and his legacy.
The collaboration with TOWA TEI began with a serendipitous encounter in Japan. “It was so random,” she recalled. “I met him in Tokyo and just had a nice time together, and I didn’t know he had a relationship with Sakamoto Ryuichi.”
That connection would later be key when So!YoON! considered revisiting “Remember!” For her, a remix couldn’t simply offer a different interpretation. SE SO NEON’s NOW album, she explained, is rooted in her personal life and relationship with time, and she wanted any new renditions of such a personal song to carry that same level of care and thoughtfulness. “If I make a remix, I have to put more authenticity,” she said.
With that in mind, TOWA TEI felt like the most obvious choice. Rather than approaching him with a conventional pitch, So!YoON! approached him with the backstory of “Remember!” and directly asked if he would consider remixing it. She knew that he rarely ever took on collaborations/pitches, which made his agreement all the more meaningful. “It was such an honor[able] experience,” she said.
For So!YoOON!, the way the collaboration came about was just as important as the connection itself. “I follow my heart and make deep connections with people,” she said, explaining that she prefers meeting someone and having that conversation in person rather than simply sliding into their DMs or sending a text.
On Her Own Terms
“I want to keep making the things I want to make at my own pace and without rushing too much.”
Whether lending her voice to another artist’s song or inviting someone into her own work, So!YoON! doesn’t view collaboration as losing something essential to who she is. Instead, it allows her to explore beyond her usual creative space.
So!YoON!’s confidence in her music’s originality allows her to move freely across genres and creative spaces without worrying about where her music is supposed to fit. “I always really enjoy featuring with someone or even going across the genre or industry,” she explained. And with more new music underway, she has no intention to be impulsive. “I want to keep making the things I want to make at my own pace and without rushing too much,” she said. “I’m also working on a lot of new music, so please look forward to what’s next.”
That same mindset explains why performing at KCON to a largely unfamiliar audience felt less like a limitation and more like an opportunity. From SE SO NEON to her solo work, and the increasingly varied projects in between, So!YoON! has continued to move wherever her curiosity takes her without losing sight of the artist at the center of it all. As she put it, “I have no boundary because I can be myself.”