Writer: Shweta (Delhi, India)

Editor: Pooja Vishwanathan (Jhansi, Uttar Pradesh, India)

Each time a woman stands up for herself, without knowing it, possibly without claiming it, she stands up for all women. – Maya Angelou

Fighting the male gaze, Asian stereotypes, and patriarchy, Lim Kim, aka Kim Ye-rim, is a revolution in the K-pop industry. Lim Kim was a high school student when she first got into the K-pop industry. While studying in New Jersey, she heard about the 2011 New York City auditions for the famous Korean Singing Competition Superstar K-3. Along with a fellow Korean student, a guitarist, she auditioned for the show as a band, Togeworl, and managed to pass the audition and fly to Seoul for the main competition, where the duo finished third, behind Ulala Session and Busker Busker.

This led to the duo signing a contract with Mystic Entertainment. Lim Kim debuted solo in 2013. Her songs ‘All Right’ (2013) and ‘Awoo’ (2015) did very well in the charts, with ‘Awoo’ being in Billboard’s 20 Best K-pop songs in 2015, ranked at 8th. Lim Kim was one of the rare successful soloists of the K-pop industry until she parted ways with her agency in 2016.

Now, at 27, 10 years since she started in the Korean music industry, and after a three-year hiatus from the music industry, which lasted in 2019 with her switching genres and releasing a hip-hop single, ‘Sal-Ki,’ Lim Kim is now known to be an Indie K-pop revolution. With her strong, beautiful music, aggressive lyrics that address various issues, and greater focus on her identity as an Asian woman, Lim Kim has emerged as a game-changer in the Korean Music industry in recent years.

Lim Kim was previously known for her dreamy, feminine, calming love songs, being dressed in a way that fits the male gaze, but now that she is independent, she is proudly asserting her views and identity and is being her real self, and we are here for it! She changed her genre to a mix of hip-hop, electronic, folk, etc, and is rapping and singing away while putting out messages about various issues in her lyrics.  

It’s quite interesting to see that her music has so many traditional elements that represent Asia without giving the idea of only one particular Asian country. Lim Kim has been asserting her Asian identity through her lyrics as well by singing lines like ‘Asian girls sing like me, they singin’ like a queen’, ‘This is Asian phenomenon, yellow female strikes back’, ‘I’m the queen from the East,’ and the use of words from Asian languages like ‘Asuka told me I, we the kumi for girls’, ‘Wear fuku with the rose’, ‘I burn their lips in bright pink, my flavour’s like wasabi’.

‘It’s not your typical taste, our style lookin’ so kawaii’. The song ‘Yellow’ from her album GENERASIAN, which has the above lines, not only uses the word yellow, which is generally used to address Asians, but also speaks of breaking down stereotypes about Asian women, empowering women, and breaking down male dominance. GENERASIAN has 6 songs, and ‘Digital Khan’ is very superior yet very underrated, while ‘Minjokyo’ (Entrance) is another underrated song that is very beautiful with the sounds of traditional instruments.

While looking at ‘Sal-Ki,’ Lim Kim’s first song after her hiatus, we see how she addresses her real identity, talking about how she won’t be silenced or controlled anymore. She asserts that she is here to make her voice heard and will fight back stronger and braver than before, and won’t be fitting into the mold that is created for her or women in general. Lim Kim talks about breaking the walls off in her song and how she will be redefining and won’t be compromising or getting sabotaged by anyone.

She speaks of putting forward a real representation and taking the seats meant for her. She is putting forward her political opinions by singing ‘Decolonize from weakness, overpower their system’. Don’t we all love when women speak their minds! She not only speaks about not ‘… identify self in male gaze’ but also urges other women to ‘Speak out, word up’ by singing ‘Get up strong, make your own, it’s in our hands, shake up strong, crack the form, this is our age’.

Lim Kim’s ‘Mago’ is the women’s empowerment song we all wanted. It’s a call to women to realize their power and how women are born strong: ‘it exists in us,’ and have the power to recreate the universe. The chorus of ‘Mago’ is very empowering, and it’s something that can bring in so much energy even on a bad day. 

Remember who started the universe

We’re born strong

What exist in us

We’re strong

With power of infinite creation

Women born strong

Empowering wisdom

Remember who started the universe

We’re born strong

What exist in us

Women are born strong.

We raise our power

Move and mix up

We born like Mago.

Lim Kim is a perfect example of diversity in the K-pop industry. Comparing her songs before her hiatus with her current songs, we see that the difference is huge. It’s like Kim Ye-rim was reborn or it is just her embracing her real self and being independent of any and everything that was holding her back before. What makes Lim Kim special is that she is not afraid to raise issues which are not talked about. She is unapologetic and uncensored when it comes to her lyrics, giving the message directly to the listeners.

Her motive behind these songs was to make the listeners more empowered. Being an immigrant in the west and the frustrations about it have helped create songs that hint at anti-imperialism and getting rid of the stereotype of Asian women being weak and submissive. Her songs also are the imagery of the frustration she felt during her previous years where she had to look a certain way, sing a certain way and be a certain way.

Lim Kim’s fans have loved her then and love her now. Although they’re happier that she gets to be herself now which was not the same before. Fans are happy that she took upon the questioning of Asian stereotypes which are used to discriminate against Asians and is urging people to speak up. She stood up for herself and other people through her music, singing about things that were rarely spoken before.

Have you heard Lim Kim’s songs? Which one did you love the most? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.