Onthedal is a singer-songwriter who’s been steadily building a solid repertoire. At the beginning of November, she released her first full-length album ‘Hm()mm’. We were able to reach out and ask her some questions about this comeback.
“’Hm()mm’ started from the process of looking closely at my own “flaws.” I began with a small question: when objects get scratched or damaged, their value goes down — are we the same as humans?”
From the very beginning, she wanted to make this her first full-length album. She explained: “Last year felt very repetitive, boring, and honestly quite exhausting. I felt like if I stayed that way, I might completely collapse and disappear somewhere. So I gathered my courage.”
“The first thing I decided was to step away from what felt familiar, and I started making travel plans. I had to give up a lot to leave, but I chose what I’d call a “brave escape” for myself.”
“From last summer to this spring, I wandered through unfamiliar places, thinking and experiencing many different things. I believe all of that is deeply embedded in this album.”
“Some songs began as sketches made of images, like photographs or videos; some started as voices, and others as instruments. When I returned to Korea earlier this year and began organizing everything, I felt so many emotions at once. I wasn’t sure where or how to begin, but looking back, everything unfolded quite naturally.”
“Because this story began by encountering something new, I chose “Nice to meet new” as the opening track.”
Flaws and Weaknesses
The title ‘Hm()mm’ refers to the Korean word “흠 (hmm)” which stands for cracks, holes, wounds and weaknesses. It stands for “all the insufficient and fragile parts of me. It represents the things I want to hide. I wanted to express a sense of emptiness, like a hole, through the parentheses. “
It always takes bravery to self-reflect about your own flaws. “I spent a long time trying to hide the “flaws” I wanted to conceal. But I decided to be brave and look at them honestly and truthfully, and to ask myself: what am I filling these flaws with? As I thought about it, I realized that I’m being gently filled by people, by my dog, and by various other things in my life.”
Onthedal traveled a lot during the writing process of the album. While working on the tracks was technically more difficult because of the limited equipment she brought, “I decided to focus on recording what I felt. Even if it was messy, I wanted to leave enough of a rough sketch so I could remember it, and then complete it once I returned to Korea. When it came to reflecting on myself, though, traveling in unfamiliar places felt much more helpful.”
She wrote, composed and produced most of the album herself. We asked her if it ever felt lonely. “Of course, there are many moments when it feels lonely. But I think loneliness itself is one element that makes up my music.”
“I used to think loneliness was always something pitiful and sad, but these days, I see it more calmly — as just one of the elements that make me who I am.“
A triangle of wounds and healing
Of the ten tracks, three singles were pushed out as pre-release tracks. ‘Seesaw’, ‘Long Night’ and ‘Chuck’ were dropped during the summer months. “Among the many different colors that make up the album, I wanted to first share songs that each have very different moods.”
In an interview with Hip, onthedal mentioned that the songs ‘Starving’, ‘Genie’ and ‘Monsters are everywhere’ are connected and form a triangle of “wounds, healing of reality and perspectives.”
“’Starving’ expresses the emptiness inside me that can’t be filled no matter what I consume. ‘Genie’ captures my current journey, being together with the people I love. ‘Anywhere, a Monster!’ portrays our world from a third-person perspective, stepping outside of it. I thought of these three songs as different versions of myself, forming a triangular structure within the album.”
The lyrics for ‘Anywhere, a Monster!’ are based on the idea that, ““monsters” are hiding somewhere in my life — they could be a close friend, a stranger passing by, or something else that troubles me. I think the song started from a small question: what kind of world do these monster-like emotions see?”
Artificial Intelligence
For the music video of ‘Starving’, Onthedal collaborated with artists Elisa Deutloff and Seongsin Lee. “It was such a fun and fascinating project. Listening to them talk about how they interpreted my lyrics and the world of the song was really enjoyable, and even the parts where our perspectives differed felt interesting.”
“I felt like we met somewhere in between virtual reality and real reality, which Elisa and Seongsin expressed through their AI-based work. Their approach was witty but also very sincere, and I found it truly impressive. They filled in areas I hadn’t even thought of, and that made the song feel even more complete.”
Since the video is partly made with artificial intelligence, we also asked her opinion of AI in the arts. “I think there are many issues surrounding this — ethical, economic, and related to copyright.
At the same time, I see it as a transitional phase of a new world we’re entering. I don’t think it’s something that can be labeled simply as good or bad.”
“The perspective of those who consume culture is important, of course, but as an artist, I believe the best thing I can do is to continue sharing my stories and my voice through music in a beautiful way.”
Your closing track ‘Just words…’ leaves the album with a little bit of an open ending. Could you tell us a little bit more about this track?
“These days, the world feels full of constant incidents and accidents, and there are so many hardened hearts.
It feels like we’re living in a world where strange words no longer feel strange, where words and emotions no longer reach us purely, and where we hurt each other with sharp language.”
“I wanted to share a heart full of encouragement, made of kind and beautiful words. That’s why the track actually includes the voices of people I love.”
Debut
What would you tell yourself in 2019 when you first started releasing music with everything you know now?
“This question makes me cry… I wish I had known back then that the worries that felt so big and overwhelming were actually nothing at all. But at the same time, I think I can be who I am now because of that time. There were countless growing pains, and there will probably be many more, but I want to tell myself not to forget that there are far more people who love me.”
We asked her if she feels like she’s changed a lot as a musician since her debut. “I think there have been many changes. But I believe change is natural, and that those changes make me stronger. Sometimes change feels very scary, but I try not to let fear take over. I think fear creates other fears.”
“I studied classical piano and vocal music from a young age, so music always felt very natural in my life. As I went through my teenage years and discovered different kinds of music, the scope of my own music expanded naturally.”
“I used to be someone who was very afraid of telling my story to others. That’s why being able to tell my story through songs felt so meaningful to me. I think those beginnings are what made ‘onthedal’ who I am today.”
This interview was first published in our 2025 magazine, you can find your free copy here.
