KIM! Is the 14-Year-Old Indonesian Rising Star You Need on Your Radar [Premiere + Q&A]

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Perchance you have a void for a dreamy pop gem as you are bouncing into your summer stride. Perchance you want to hear a vocal talent previously unknown to you but strangely familiar to established megastars with its polyphonic range. Then we insist you listen to KIM!, a rising Indonesian star who popped on our radar with her viral hit "cute little savage" and is showing range, both vocally and stylistically with "Care 4 U."  

With its hazed dreamlike setting, this nostalgic throwback of a video shows the creative vision of KIM!, but at risk of misinterpreting her, we settled on asking her what is was all about.

Ones To Watch: Hi KIM! Super excited to have you on Ones To Watch.

KIM!: Thank you so much for having me. IT IS SUCH AN HONOR !!!

Simple one to start, what's the video meant to represent? Did you want it to be obvious to the viewer or want them to interpret with their own life experience?

This MV is one of those teenage heartbreak crush anthems...

It’s like when you know you like each other, but they still go out breaking your heart, flirting with other people. You thought you both had some kind of a special relationship but turns out, it wasn’t that deep and unfortunately, you already fell too quick. We sometimes have trust issues; always desperately waiting for a guy who gives out fake hope and who's playing games. I hope that the viewers can relate to this video as much as I do with their own life experiences. I can't be a "Cute Little Savage" all the time... I am still a girl...

How did you cast Kimboi! for the role? Is that a specific person? A combination of people and events?

From the lyrics of the song, it was obvious that I was talking about a specific person but what I meant really was just a combination of people and events that I had gone through. And we (my producer, NSG and I) decided that we wanted to cast a guy for the role, Kimboi! but we thought that it would be kinda fun if I just did it.

How'd you style the video. I feel like most of these references must have happened before you were born, but they look so genuine.

The video was just inspired by a lot of retro aesthetics, '90s advertisements and movies like Clueless for example (the makeup scene). And because most of these references happened before I was born, with the help of Vin and her amazing team, they got to make it look super amazing with adding retro/vintage touches to it. Shout outs to varnavarni :))))

What makes you one to watch? Is there anyone you are really digging or inspired by?

What makes me one to watch? I don't really know. I'm 14 and still figuring out my way into the world. Although, one thing I’m certain about is my love for music and performing. Music has always been there for me my whole life. With singing, I can express myself and what I feel about things. I sing when I’m sad, happy, angry; it’s just therapeutic for me. I love performing on the stage, I love what I can do with my voice and somehow people connect with that... I love the fact that I can escape with music.

Lately, I have been loving beabadoobee and Griff. I think that they're both just really incredible artists and very inspiring with their music and style. It also means a lot to me that they’re FEMALE Asian representatives in the music industry and it just makes me so glad.

What else do you have upcoming we should look out for?

There will be more songs that I'm going to release. Me, my producer, and team have been preparing for my debut album that will be out hopefully before the end of this year, which I'm super excited about!

When are you going to visit us in LA?

I have always dreamed of going to the States from when since I was little so definitely after this whole covid thing gets better, I’m visiting you all!!!

PS: super impressed with your 'yuh' playlist. Lots of gems.  

OMG thank you for taking the time to look @ my playlist LOL

You can pre-save  “Care 4 U"  everywhere you can stream it.

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