BIBI: “BIBI’s a kind of brand, and I’m just the owner”

INTERVIEW

BIBI Lowlife Princess: Noir comeback interview

2022.11.19

Lowlife Princess: Noir is all about conflicting pairs—not only lowlifes and princesses, but also love and desire, and BIBI and Kim Hyeongseo—and an ambivalence toward their differences.

The music video for “Animal Farm” is already out, and the others are coming out one after the other. The Kill Bill-esque action sequence was amazing. [Note: This interview took place on October 17.]

BIBI: I changed my mind from my first idea and thought it would be better to make it easy to shoot and have fun with it, but there was always going to be a pig mask in the video to reference Animal Farm by George Orwell. The song’s about all those hypocrites who are always giving their opinions on things. The idea I had when I wrote it was, You’re a hypocrite, I’m a hypocrite, and we’re not angels, so why do we try to hide it? I wanted the message to be how they’re all the same and somebody’s going to get hurt no matter what, so they should just admit to it.

The song has a message, but you asked people to just enjoy the video for what it is.

BIBI: I think art’s about making everything in the world beautiful or entertaining. I just want to keep it open to interpretation and see what kind of inspiration each person draws from it on their own. I’m not trying to change the world with my songs. (laughs)

I guess your performance for “BIBI vengeance” gives viewers yet another way to enjoy your music. You worked with the dancer Aiki, correct?

BIBI: I worked with Aiki before on the choreography for “Life Is a Bi….” I didn’t talk to her for a long time after that since I wasn’t working on any new music. She was getting so much work and I wasn’t sure what to do because I didn’t want to come across to her as an opportunist. If there’s one thing I’m proud of in life, it’s that I’m no opportunist. (laughs) So when I contacted her, I very carefully said, “Dear Aiki, I don’t want to wear you out, so please let me know if you feel even slightly too busy,” and she said, “You know I’ll do anything if it’s for you!” And then we got right to work.

What was it like practicing?

BIBI: The dance team was so busy and so was I, so we could only ever get together at off hours. We quickly practiced about five times before shooting the video, so you can see we’re a little rough in the day shots but then we’re more in sync for the later shots. (laughs) And it was a lot more toned down than my older songs. At some point I thought maybe I was trying too hard, so I tried to relax a bit and loosen up.

Your last single was called “Life Is a Bi…,” and the Korean title for “BIBI vengeance” includes the same word. When you were on JTBC’s Knowing Bros, you also said, “That’s why I like the word ‘bitch’ but I don’t think people like it.” What is it about the word “bitch” that you like?

BIBI: It feels like something everyone shies away from. It feels powerful. That’s why I use it to refer to myself or just whenever I’m talking. And you can never completely get rid of words people use to look down on others. I feel like, if people stop using the word “bitch” because it’s bad, another word will come along to take its place.

Of course, though, you’re putting yourself at risk of misunderstanding or criticism for using such taboo or typically avoided words and subject matter. That made “Blade” even more relatable. The saying goes that the pen is mightier than the sword, but in the song you seem to say, The sword is mightier than the pen, and I’m the sword.

BIBI: Everyone knows violence is awful, so I wanted to say, Isn’t it just as bad to hurt someone with your words? The song’s about how you can’t just use a pen if someone says something mean or brings you harm, so I’m going to sharpen myself—my blade—and cut you down that way. That’s why the title is “Blade.” I’m going to sharpen my blade. I may be dull now, but I’m going to sharpen up and stab you. I’m my own weapon.

I think it takes a lot of courage to take on such topics as well as to express your feelings directly about the criticism surrounding them.

BIBI: I think a lot of people don’t want to show their emotions, but why not? Imagine if you like someone, for example. People think it’s embarrassing when other people find out they like that person. But why? People try too hard to hide when they like or dislike something, or when they’re sad or happy or upset. You’re free to stay closed off, but it can be hard to hide sometimes. I hope, since I express my anger in this song, that it lets listeners having trouble expressing their own anger shout out across Hangang River and get over those feelings.

All the songs we’ve been discussing so far have to do with the noir genre of the first half of the album, but the second half deals with the feelings Geum-ji, the character in your album, experiences because of love.

BIBI: I guess you could think of the songs as essentially a movie soundtrack. The first half of the album has more intense songs that are like action sequences showing Geum-ji from the outside and then her internal feelings and state of mind are revealed in the second half. So it moves toward love like a cross-fade.

The album is like a movie soundtrack, following the story of Geum-ji, an orphan who works her way up to be the leader of a crime ring. Can you tell me more about Geum-ji?

BIBI: I took parts of the feeling of wanting to be loved, made it into a person and then breathed life into her. Geum-ji works in the black market, first to stay alive, then as a living, and later to win the affection of her boss. But people feel threatened by her and she thinks she doesn’t deserve love. There’s lots of people around her who want to love and help her, of course, but she’s the kind of person who’s obsessed with her own idea of love. So she makes violence and rationality her weapons of choice in her pursuit of love. She has to go through with anything he tells her to do because she wants to be loved so badly and will do anything to be loved by the person she loves. But she ends up doing so many bad things that she can’t return to a world of good and everyone in her world is already afraid of her, so there’s no one left to love her. So she feels lonely.

Do you feel lonely, too?

BIBI: I do what I do to be loved, too, but I miss out on a lot, although a lot of people do love me. I’ve improved so much that I can make a living out of it, but I want to keep having dreams and being loved. My fans love me so much, but I can’t reach out to them, share a meal with them or hang out with them, so naturally I feel lonely sometimes. I want to be loved unconditionally and have a hundred or even a thousand moms and dads. I’m not good at talking about emotions I don’t understand or don’t know about. Anyway, I’m hoping with this album I can shed that side of myself and be born again as someone new.

It sounds like Geum-ji is both a character on your album and a part of yourself you want to get rid of.

BIBI: I had to be there for almost every part of the project because I’m involved with almost every part, so I was always immersed in it and it sometimes made me feel like I’m Geum-ji and lonely like her and like there’s nothing left for me. Next time I’m going to do something really happy and upbeat. (laughs)

You’ve always said you want to be loved.

BIBI: I’m selfish when it comes to love. Actually, I want to be loved by someone I like. I want the love I get to be the love I want, the way I want it and when I want it.

Like in “Loveholic’s hangover” featuring Sam Kim? The man loves her, but he’ll never be the right person for her.

BIBI: Those two will never be able to understand each other. It’s because one of them has never been in love before and doesn’t know what it is and the other is so caught up with love that they think it’s everything. So the way Sam and I talk about it is similar yet very different, drawing contrast while using the same style. We say “why” in the lyrics because we can’t understand each other and never come to a conclusion.

I actually heard that your desire to be loved is the reason you got into music in the first place.

BIBI: I was bad at speaking until sometime in elementary school, so when it came to making friends and talking to people, I couldn’t understand why I couldn’t do the things that came naturally to them. When people are young, they usually just label people as crazy or not, eccentric or not—so I guess I was a bit weird and out there in the eyes of other people, too. There were times when I decided to live alone and push everyone away and times when I’d said, “Can someone just love me? Why can’t I be loved?”

That makes me think of “City Love,” where you long for love but you’re skeptical of it and constantly have doubts.

BIBI: That’s also why I chose it to be the last track. Geum-ji earns everyone’s trust and makes it to the top but still goes back to her terrible life and can’t stop wanting someone else. She keeps forgetting how loved and happy she is and goes around saying, No one loves me—it’s all fake. When in fact, she has people who love her so much that they would stick with her no matter what kind of bad things she does. But she doesn’t see it and just goes after more meaningless love.

That’s a feeling many people will be able to sympathize with. There’s times when someone loves you but you can’t believe it, times you forget the times you were loved and other times you keep revisiting the bad times like a habit.

BIBI: Sometimes you date someone a long time and get so used to it you can’t see what’s special about it. And you go out and look for someone new to love who’s alright.

Have you heard this one before? A stork goes to the river in the winter and sees a carp swimming along and thinks to itself, I’m not that hungry, so I’ll eat that fish another time. But when the stork is a little hungrier later and goes back to the stream, there’s a minnow, and the stork thinks, I’m hungry, but not hungry enough to eat that. Then, when it’s a little bit hungrier still, the stork sees an even smaller, boring minnow swimming and thinks, I am hungry, but someone as cool as me couldn’t get full on one of those. Then, when it’s on the brink of starvation, the stork goes back to the river and sees a snail, so it eats that. That’s what this album’s about: holding out for the thing you really want but never getting it. What is it I’m waiting for? Someday I’ll be satisfied with what I have, too.

So you keep holding out for love, but you never get it. It makes sense you chose to do noir, then.

BIBI: Noir’s supposed to be all about violence, anger—the dark sides of the world. I thought about what would be the least appropriate thing to match to that, and it was love. Love and desire are opposing forces and both feelings are really ambivalent.

What is noir as a genre of music?

BIBI: People categorize music by how it sounds, and this album is many genres in that sense. So I don’t think you can ever label my album as any one genre, but the lyrics and the story that runs throughout it is noir. And people kept asking me what genre it is, so I said “noir.” (laughs) And even though noir has always existed, I think I added a new twist by throwing my eccentricity into the mix. I’m not a trendsetter when it comes to making music, honestly. I always follow the trends. I like to try out different characters like outfits, borrowing clichés but using them in new ways. I don’t really like making new characters or trying music that doesn’t already exist.

Why is that?

BIBI: I want to put my heart and soul into matching other people. So I always need to find out what other people are wearing before I go to an event. My plan is to try my best to blend in and not stand out. And I’m going to keep trying to live like other people—sleeping at a similar time, exercising regularly when I get up, meditating, working. So I hate seeing things like, “While you’re sleeping, I’m up at five in the morning making my dreams happen!” You sleep, too, just during the day. (laughs)

Most people want to be special, and different from other people.

BIBI: I grew up paying close attention to the things other people liked and matching their mood and trying hard to keep up, so now I always change to match what people want. I don’t want to show the real me, so it’s easier just to put on and take off that mask. People will keep making assumptions about what this girl’s like whether out of misunderstanding or wanting to know more about me. If they ask if that’s really who I am, it could be anywhere from all me to none of me at all.

So the BIBI we see is the BIBI we want to see. What are you like in everyday life?

BIBI: The problem is that, even when I’m alone, I still put on the persona I think is me, but it’s not completely me. Even when I write in my diary, I know nobody else is going to see it, but I still try to write well in an act of showmanship, and I feel disappointed whenever what I wrote isn’t interesting enough. And I’ll talk to myself when I’m alone, like, “Who’s hungry?—Me!” I was worried I would become useless if I didn’t do anything and that I would look in the mirror and see nothing there. It’s a difficult process, but I’m trying to find myself again.

Who do you think BIBI is?

BIBI: Everyone thinks BIBI is me, but BIBI’s a kind of brand, and I’m just the owner. I just make the music; the label takes care of stuff like marketing. BIBI is ultimately a blank canvas that I as Kim Hyeongseo can paint anything I want on. And then I present it to people as BIBI.

Then what about Kim Hyeongseo?

BIBI: She’s living a colorful personal life. Maybe she’s bad, maybe she’s good, but she’s never going to reveal it to anyone. (laughs)

Credit

Article. Oh Minji

Interview. Oh Minji

Design. Jeon Yurim

Visual Director. Jeon Yurim

Project Management. Oh Minji

Photography. LESS / Assist. Lee Sujeong, Kang Gyeonghui, Lee Changsu

Hair. Hwang Sinuk

Makeup. Wang Bitna

Stylist. Lee Umin / Assist. Oh Jiyeon