EuroEyez

Hi Yerin! Congratulations on the debut EP! Could you tell us a little bit about I C U? What is your favorite track of the EP and why?
Thank you for having me! The I C U EP is basically a journey through a little episode of heartbreak – having a crush, being obsessive, leaving things behind, and finding joy in myself again. Very cliche, but true. We tried to give each track its own character according to the point in time, so it’s quite a blend of dreamy, poppy, and upbeat tunes. My favorite track switches from time to time but “I C U (alternate)” holds a very special place in my heart because of the part of my brother and producer Jino.O, complementing the melancholic song so perfectly.

Your sound stretches various genres, echoing sounds from trance to UKG and K-Pop. Who were some of your own favorite artists growing up?
I was born 1989 and the journey of music has been very diverse since then. I grew up with dance classics like ATB, Sonique, and the new concept of pop (The Backstreet Boys & Britney Spears). My first real memory of being a fan is a German female rap group called Tic Tac Toe – also my first concert. I was always surrounded by various genres and artists. I started listening to Korean artists like JinuSean, YG Family, and Boa. And to narrow it down a bit: Alicia Keys, Erykah Badu, The Neptunes, and Timberland were huge to me in my teenage years and still are. In my twenties I got more into electronic club culture.

K-Pop is known for its strong concepts, visuals, and multi-disciplinary approach. Do you feel you apply a similar approach to your work?
jino.O and I were thinking about how to define EuroEyez and we thought of the term Indie-K-Pop. Since I write Korean-English lyrics, it feels like K-Pop in a bigger sense. Although I like the idea of strong concepts, I could never imagine myself being this kind of product of the industry. For that I might be too much of a Capricorn, wanting to do my own.

The title track “I C U (In My Dreams)” has been released with a music video, directed by yourself. You also art-directed the videos for Ah-Ra / 알아 (I Know) and Dalnim | 달님. What is your creative process like when you are songwriting and directing?
Usually a word, a line or a melody comes into my mind and I start writing from there. Or my brother and producer jino.O has a vision of a beat or track and we compose and write together. Songwriting is more of a free, unscheduled, and coincidental process in comparison to art-directing a video. For the last videos, jino.O and I concentrated on translating the character and emotions of the track through developing the mood and setting. We teamed up with Lars Zimmermann, a filmmaker and good friend of ours, who has a talent for capturing our visions. The upcoming video “Shine In Gold” is a very different project than the videos before. It was my first time directing by myself. I feel like this video reflects a more grounded and natural side of me, different from the variety of characters I hatched into in the past.

“Dalnim | 달님” reinterprets the classic Korean tale Haenim Dalnim in a contemporary context over a gloomy but upbeat dance track. The tale is about two siblings. Do you relate yourself and your brother to the siblings of Haenim Dalnim?
“Dalnim | 달님” (Korean for moon) is a song for the moon and an ode to the night. Haenim Dalnim is a story of two siblings escaping imminent danger and seeking refuge in the sky by transforming into the celestial bodies we now call the sun and the moon. We wanted to weave the siblings’ story into a contemporary tale of nocturnal escapism and the idea of nighttime transforming the environment and offering space for personal transformation. I really love the tale and I think we can also relate to it as siblings. As we grew up as kids of divorced parents, our sister and us built a very special bond; knowing that we are always there for each other like the sun and moon.

You make a good team – have you always been making music together?
Actually it’s my first real approach to doing music. I used to write some lyrics on soundcloud beats, sang in the school choir and in the shower, but I never really aimed to show it to someone. During Covid things changed. jino.O and I used to be in a Hamburg-based collective, who did live streamings, and we teamed up to create something different than a DJ set. jino.O came up with the idea of this kind of karaoke show. We called it NoYeBang (Noah, Yerin and Norebang – a combination of our names and the Korean word for Karaoke), in which we reproduced Korean pop songs and gave them a new twist. During live streaming we switched our outfits according to the track and changed the scene in the club. It was a super fun project and the beginning of EuroEyez. Since then we met frequently in jino.O´s home studio and recorded “I C U (In My Dreams).”

By day, you run a restaurant. At night, you transform into an underground pop star. Do you ever find difficulty balancing these lives?
Somehow it is a pretty good combination for me. I love food and I see food, drinks, and music as closely related. At the same time it’s like having two identities, which is a lot of fun. It gives me the opportunity to express myself on different levels.

This Friday, on the 13th of October, you will perform live at ★echo in Acud Macht Neu in Berlin. What can we expect from the performance?
Whenever I am performing it is most important to me that people feel comfortable to let go and feel free to dive into the music. I am really excited to be there and hope that we can share some fun and enjoyable dance moments together!

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