Photo credits: Dreamof Ent

[Indie Pick] Budung

We’re back with a new Indie Pick, this time about the wonderful singer-songwriter Budung. 

Debut

Budung had been going around on the indie circuit since 2013, but officially debuted in 2018 with the EP ‘Under latent violencies’. The album description states that the lyrics of the tracks explore what she thought being a woman was about and confronting that head on. 

Her second EP in 2019 was the collaborative project ‘Request’ with Pa.je. This project is such a beautifully, soothing listen. It’s a great, wholesome collab that feels very balanced and brings the best out of both.

In December 2019, she came out with the EP ‘Chasing’ which was the first time I heard her music. I was blown away by the sound and music video of the title track ‘Sword’.

In an interview with highjinkx music magazine she said this: “this song, ‘Sword’, is the one that expresses ambivalence the strongest. I wanted to convey the shock of facing such distorted inner feelings that can lie behind beauty to the viewer or listener. I wanted to convey snippets of this shock throughout, but at the same time I also wanted to show what Budung herself understood ambivalence to be.

When I realized the difference between someone’s make-up and what they were really like on the inside, I loathed it, but at the same time I found that I could understand it, because I too have that kind of childish inclination. I realised that I was no different from the people I hated so much, and I tried to find a way to overcome it. The video visualizes Budung throwing away the ‘fake’ Budung.” 

Collaborations

In 2020, Budung released the singles ‘Things we left in the fire’ featuring A.TRAIN and ‘Earlybird’.

Last week, she came out with her first full-length album ‘Let’s take a step to a brighter place’. In the album description she writes that this is a big ‘thank you’ to everyone who supported her. It is also a gift to her younger self who was working on her debut EP. 

I feel like at this point, I’m just waiting for the entire K-Indie community to realize what a gem her music is. Budung has the skills and the drive and I’m sure she’ll make it far. 

To end with, I wanted to share this live performance of ‘Burn’ from her EP Chasing’.

Lastly, you can find her on Instagram here, and on Spotify here. Also she has her own YouTube channel with even more content which you can find here.

Ilse Van Den Heede
A writer with a slight coffee addiction and a tendency to find K-Indie gems in the YouTube rabbit hole.