{"id":840005,"date":"2025-12-03T11:23:00","date_gmt":"2025-12-03T08:23:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=840005"},"modified":"2025-12-03T11:23:00","modified_gmt":"2025-12-03T08:23:00","slug":"meet-the-deep-k-pops-antihero","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=840005","title":{"rendered":"Meet The Deep, K-pop\u2019s antihero"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The Deep, KPOP B!TCH<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<\/header>\n
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Gallery \/ 10 images<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\u201cKorea cannot contain me, so I ran to the US<\/em>,\u201d runs the opening line of \u201cKPOP B!TCH\u201d, the title track off The Deep<\/a>\u2019s rebellious debut album. \u201cIt\u2019s true!\u201d the South Korean singer tells Dazed over a video call through a translator, laughing. \u201cI don\u2019t have a lot of Korean fans here. My main fanbase is in LA and London. [That track] describes and represents who I am in real life.\u201d Later arrives the punchline: \u201cGimme the fame, gimme the love, she\u2019s just [a] K-pop Bitch.<\/em>\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cKPOP B!TCH\u201d arrives as the mission statement for the turbo-powered electronic-pop sound that The Deep has pioneered for herself \u2013 navigating big, club-ready beats with personal, half-English, half-Korean lyrics. Sonically, she sits somewhere between Blackpink<\/a>, PinkPantheress<\/a> and Frost Children<\/a> (who co-produced much of the album), but, as its title might suggest, The Deep represents a new category of popstar.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cSince I\u2019m Korean and I sing in Korean, I think it\u2019s fair to define my music as K-pop,\u201d The Deep explains, pointing to how her songs often incorporate elements of multiple genres like K-pop. \u201c[But] K-pop is very polished, it\u2019s perfectionism in a way, and I\u2019m very DIY. I design a lot of my stuff, come up with all of my creative directions, do a lot of mixing, and edit and shoot my videos. Honestly, the word \u2018bitch\u2019 fits my personality so well, so I decided to call it <\/span>KPOP B!TCH<\/span><\/em> to make it easier for people to understand my character.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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She\u2019s more of an anti-popstar. Rather than representing a hyper-sanitised, idealised version of ourselves, The Deep\u2019s X-factor comes from the embracing of her messy imperfections, and it resonates profoundly with today\u2019s internet-native, post-<\/span>Brat<\/span><\/em> generation. She willingly owns the title \u2018bitch\u2019, jokingly named her finsta account @thedeep_0nly_fans, and overall behaves in a way that most old-school Korean talent agencies would gasp at.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It speaks to a strong sense of identity, especially in a rigid society like South Korea, and it wasn\u2019t until recently that The Deep realised where it came from. \u201cWhen I was younger, especially in middle school, I went through a lot of personal hardship,\u201d she says. \u201cI was sometimes bullied and I also experienced dating violence at a very young age. Those past experiences made me want to feel free. By focusing sincerely on what I truly wanted to do, I think I eventually found the sound I have now.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Much like her so-called \u2018hyperpop\u2019 \u2013 a title The Deep rejects \u2013 contemporary <\/span>Effie<\/span><\/a>, it was through scouring the internet for sounds that represented her that The Deep found a way to turn these past traumas into a superpower. Although she calls herself a \u2018bitch\u2019, in that, at least, she stands as a worthy idol for her fans.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Below, in her first-ever English interview, the South Korean anti-popstar tells Dazed about her start in music, her resonance with American artists Frost Children, kimj and atlgrandma, and the Easter Eggs hidden within her debut album.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

So, how did you start making music?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Deep:<\/strong>When I was a student, I actually majored in visual design, not music. Since high school, my dream was to be a singer, but I didn\u2019t know how to achieve that. Later, I went to a vocal training academy for about four months. There, I realised there was a way to achieve my dream. So, I only completed my first semester at university, and moved to Seoul to start making music<\/span><\/p>\n

I was listening to your old R&B songs earlier\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Deep: <\/strong>[Laughs] <\/em>Yeah. I don\u2019t like my old R&B sounds anymore. At first, I just learned how to sing R&B vocals. When I was a student, I listened to a lot of R&B, ballads and indie music.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Deep\u2019s music is very different now, though, right?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Deep: <\/strong>I always liked listening to alternative underground music, but I never found any collaborators to work with in Korea. I would just look at type beats on YouTube, like Kendrick Lamar type beats!\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Around four or five years ago, I found UK garage and released my first song, \u2018Mwah\u2019. It did pretty well and I thought, \u2018music with vocals over electronic beats, this is the sound I want to go and pursue as The Deep\u2019. Then, after [K-pop five-piece] NewJeans debuted, it really helped my career because the sounds are kind of similar.<\/span><\/p>\n

Are there many people making music like you in Korea?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Deep: <\/strong>These days, Korean people really like to listen to hyperpop music. To me, it was quite a sudden change. I don\u2019t really see myself making hyperpop. This album is just electronic pop music.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Courtesy of The Deep<\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Given that you found your sound through being an outcast, do you hope that your lyrics can help others in some way?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Deep: <\/strong>Yes. Overall, I always want my music to give off a positive energy, so even when I don\u2019t intend to, I naturally end up making music that does that. Especially in my previous EP <\/span>Electric Pink<\/span><\/em>, the track \u2018Sad Girls Club\u2019 was something I created to express those feelings intentionally.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

There are a lot of American collaborators on the record. How did that come about?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Deep: <\/strong>Around April, atlgrandma, one of the producers on the record, was also in Korea for a show, and so were Dorian Electra and Count Baldor. We were all in town, so we met up and made music in Seoul. Then, in August, I went to LA almost without an exact plan, just thinking, \u2018If I just go, I\u2019ll meet someone and gain some experience.\u2019 Thanks to atlgrandma introducing me to so many artists, I was able to work with producers I\u2019ve always loved. Me, kimj, Frost Children, and atlgrandma all had a big session in LA. They were already some of my favourite artists.<\/span><\/p>\n

Finally, who is your dream collaboration?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Deep:<\/strong> Kim Petras, PinkPantheress and Yves.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

KPOP B!TCH is out now<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Source URL: https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/music\/article\/69150\/1\/the-deep-k-pop-antihero-south-korea-kpop-bitch-interview<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Deep, KPOP B!TCH Gallery \/ 10 images \u201cKorea cannot contain me, so I ran to the US,\u201d runs the opening line of \u201cKPOP B!TCH\u201d, the title track off The Deep\u2019s rebellious debut album. \u201cIt\u2019s true!\u201d the South Korean singer tells Dazed over a video call through a translator, laughing. \u201cI don\u2019t have a lot […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[76],"class_list":["post-840005","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-dazeddigital-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/840005","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=840005"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/840005\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=840005"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=840005"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=840005"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}