Jeans with a short sleeve t-shirt. Long straight hair and a face without makeup.
This is the singularity of Norwegian singer-songwriter Sigrid (27). This is the part that differentiates him from other contemporary singers. On the 28th, the 15th Seoul Jazz Festival held at Olympic Park in Songpa-gu, Seoul, was the first appearance in Korea, and the formula was the same.
Sigrid, whom we met at a hotel in Mapo-gu, Seoul on the 29th, said, “It was a place to meet new people, so I wanted to show myself the most.”
Sigrid debuted in 2017 with the album ‘Don’t Kill my Vibe’. The following year, he won the ‘Sound of 2018’, which is given annually to a notable new musician by the British BBC, and raised awareness by appearing as a guest on Maroon 5’s European tour. He said, “If I was exposed to the music industry when I was too young, I think it would have been difficult to handle that life.
“I carry things that remind me of before I became a singer. The jeans I wore for the photo shoot this morning are the ones I’ve had since high school. Besides jeans, warm wool socks, a game console, a Bluetooth speaker, and long-time band members are essential things to protect me. It feels like my life is moving all together in one gym bag.”
Sigrid’s music has been introduced as ‘aggressive pop’. However, if you look at that aspect, it is not as energetic and powerful as it is. Just look at ‘It Gets Dark’ (2022), which was the opening song of the Seoul Jazz Festival. It has a magnificent sound, but it is a song about the story of a narrator who has traveled far away and finds hope in the dark.
“The lyrics of my songs are sad, but the melodies are often bright and positive. Maybe it’s a device to protect me. It throws the weakest, rawest heart into a melody that can dance and erupt.”
This is also the reason why Sigrid chose his color as ‘purple’, a mixture of red and blue. Sigrid said, “The color red resembles my reckless image on stage. On the other hand, I am also an introvert who enjoys the delicate emotions symbolized by blue and spending time alone.”
Sigrid, who has always described his performance experience in Korea as “the feeling of opening a new chapter,” picked Korean audiences as ‘the most ideal audience.’
“The audience at the Seoul Jazz Festival was immersed in and reacted to all my songs. A stage like that is the reason I do this job. If there is something you want to do in Korea… . I really want to go to karaoke, and I want to go back and feel everything about Korea that I saw in the drama ‘Strange Lawyer Woo Young-woo’. Then it will be a little less difficult waiting for season 2, right?”
Source: Donga
Mark Jones is a world traveler and journalist for News Rebeat. With a curious mind and a love of adventure, Mark brings a unique perspective to the latest global events and provides in-depth and thought-provoking coverage of the world at large.