MIN’s debut EP, PRIME TIME, marks more than just a fresh chapter—it represents the culmination of nearly a decade of deep self-reflection and a deliberate quest to uncover her authentic self.
Removing herself from the glossy and overly-perfected world of idol-dom, PRIME TIME is a bold leap of faith into a self-created universe where all of the rules are finally MIN’s to set. A sassy rebirth which delivers a shot of raw adrenaline and unapologetic self-expression, PRIME TIME reveals that ultimate liberation comes from ditching the script and writing your own.
With tracks that range from introspective to irreverent, PRIME TIME is a sonic joyride through the streets of New York (which MIN now calls home) to bring MIN’s ever-evolving independence to light. MIN’s full-throttle celebration is visually summed up by a striking shot of the multi-faceted star kicking it back in the midst of New York’s hustle and bustle, toasting a topped-up glass of champagne to her freedom.
Proving that a rebellious spirit goes a long way in the ongoing quest towards ultimate self-discovery, MIN’s PRIME TIME fully showcases a new reality in a daring declaration of freedom that’s as bold and dynamic as the city that inspired her.
To celebrate the release of PRIME TIME, we sat down with MIN for an intimate and unfiltered insight into the inspirations behind PRIME TIME, the realities of her former time in the spotlight with powerhouse K-Pop hitmakers miss A, as well as the euphoria of living authentically.
SheBOPS: Firstly, congrats on the release of PRIME TIME.
MIN: Thank you.
It’s such a great project. How do you feel now that it’s out into the world?
I’m actually very pumped. I’m just really excited and have a lot of adrenaline going through my body because I worked on this particular album for about a year. It’s my first time putting out an EP as a solo artist, and I’m an independent artist right now. My team and I put so much work into it. I poured all my heart into this EP, and I’m very excited and looking forward to what’s ahead.
Have you been surprised in any way by any of the reactions so far?
Well, I just had a release party on the day my music dropped. My last track is called “Happy Plant.” It’s a conversation with my grandma, but it’s in Korean. Even though it’s in Korean and I’m in America, where obviously most people don’t know Korean, I was very surprised that it actually touched a lot of hearts. People were showing their gratitude for the last outro, and they were talking to me about their grandmas and their mom or dad. You have that one person in your heart, and it reminded them of their loved ones. So, I was very grateful because that was the intention of the last track.
I definitely think it’s a really beautiful way to close the project. I guess that came across to a lot of people, despite the language barriers.
Power of music.
Right, that’s what it is. I also really love the artwork. It feels really carefree and fun, so I wanted to ask you about that. Can you walk me through the artwork of the EP and how you feel those visual choices reflect the themes within the EP?
The whole album’s theme is “it’s my prime time.” It’s about showing who you are and yourself, and you don’t have to answer to anyone. Like, it’s your prime time. So, we wanted to show something full and “I don’t give a-” vibe. So, we were like, why don’t we just take it in New York? Because I moved to New York from Korea. That’s also part of my journey, and that’s reflected in my music as well. So, I wanted to show people New York City. We didn’t close the whole street, but then all of the crew were holding the lights and the camera and the laptop and two more lights and, like, a chair with champagne in the glass. Every time it was a red light, we would walk into the middle of the crossroad, and then I would sit, and we would go [makes camera shutter noise], and then the cars were coming, so we were like, “okay, okay, go back, go back!” So, that’s what we did at, like, 12:00 a.m.
That’s an awesome story. It sounds like you had a lot of fun making it. You can see in the artwork that you were having fun, too, so I think it’s captured.
Also, for “SHIMMY,” we were thinking about the New York metro card. It’s yellow, blue, and black. So, we wanted to incorporate that theme into the photo shoot. If you look at the pictures for “SHIMMY,” it’s very bright yellow and blue; we have the city bike. My crew were struggling to move that bicycle upstairs.
I like that you put those details into it, that reflected all these different layers of who you are today and the experience that you’ve had. Something else we have to talk about are the lyrics, because they are very bold, very upfront. Lines like, “I’m not your idol” and “you can’t tell me what to sing” – they’re very direct messages. So I wanted to ask, could you share any specific experiences that influenced your decision to have these lyrical messages in the album?
I come from the K-Pop world, and I felt like just being here, with no one recognizing who I am, and seeing various different cultures and people, I just felt like I was in a bubble. I felt like I had to keep up a certain image or I couldn’t really say what I wanted to say. I always felt a little bit of fear about expressing myself. So, I think it comes from that side that I wanted to make my own prime time. Before, I felt like people would say, “oh, that was your prime time,” and I would believe it. Now I’m just saying no to that. Like, no, babe, it’s not. This is my prime time now.
I think as well, like, because we’re both in our thirties as well, I think there’s so much pressure to make everything happen in your twenties.
Yeah, but it’s very young, you know? It’s a very young age.
It’s such a young age to have everything figured out.
I was an idol; it means, literally, you have to act a certain way for people to idolize you. But no one’s perfect. I wanted to, express that part in my music – it’s okay to make a mistake.
Yeah, totally. And branching off from that, what do you hope the audience has learned from you through the music and through the lyrics of this EP?
Well, even though the whole thing is, “oh, I’m gonna do what I want, it’s my prime time,” if you listen to “Might As Well,” I just wanted to give people hope. Like, it’s okay to mess up. Let’s all try our best, and it’s okay to fall. We can get up again, and you can take a rest. We’ve all been here before, right? So, might as well do it. I wanted to encourage people, and when people hear PRIME TIME, I want them to feel fierce and like, “oh, yeah! It’s my prime time.”
That’s awesome. I love that. I was also reading through the Reddit AMA recently. I saw one of your comments to someone. You said: “While PRIME TIME is in English, I’m a K-Pop artist and always will be.” So, I was just wondering, with that in mind, what do you feel are the differences between ‘English pop’ and ‘K-Pop’?
I feel like these days, there is no line or black and white distinction. Like, “oh, this is K-Pop” or “this is American pop.” We have access to everything on the Internet, but way before, when we didn’t have that access, I thought American music was freer and Korean music was more animated and more American to me. I always imagined American music being very free, you know? But now, I can’t really define what’s K-Pop or American pop, and a lot of them also collaborate with each other. I would say K-Pop is more about idols and choreographies.
I think what you said about the Internet as well, like when miss A was big, that was kind of the start of when YouTube videos were going viral and things like that, whereas now, social media is such a big thing now. And the K-Pop idols of today have to do so much on these platforms.
It’s so much! It’s like, I have this one photo, and I have to upload it to, like, five different platforms, and I’m like, “oh, my God” [laughs], like TikTok, YouTube, YouTube Shorts, Reels on Instagram, Twitter. It’s crazy.
There’s going to be more at some point, I’m sure. I have another quote from you as well that I read, and you said: “After existing within the K-Pop industry for so long, I felt as though I had to exist within a certain mold, look a certain way, and dress a certain way.” I think it’s interesting because, as much as I do love K-Pop and I have for so long, that does kind of touch on this desire, I guess, for perfection. So I was just wondering, what can you share about your specific pressures that you faced regarding your appearance and the effects of feeling like you had to fit into that specific mold?
I debuted in 2010, so I was 19. My brain wasn’t even, like, an actual human; it was very young. I was, I would say, very bright and I would talk a lot, and I loved meeting people. But after I started my career back then, I didn’t even think of it as a career. I just loved what I was doing, but I felt like I was judged a lot. Like, even though I didn’t mean it that way, a lot of people would get me wrong, and that would actually hurt, you know? I feel like, because of those kinds of circumstances, it made me have, like, thicker walls towards meeting people or just expressing myself generally. I always felt like I had to, of course, you know, “K-Pop star”: you have to be skilled, skinny, and beautiful, and also not curse, and also be pretty, and also be able to dance, and it requires a lot of stuff. I felt a lot of pressure. But now, I look at people in this generation, and I always have a little space for them. Like, you can do this, you know? I don’t know if I answered the question right; did I answer your question?
Yeah. There’s no right or wrong answer. It’s just however you feel. Like, that’s what it is, it’s whatever your experiences are. But it does tie in very nicely to my next question. I wanted to speak to you about how you embrace more freedom in yourself and presenting yourself as an artist today compared to when you were in miss A, for example.
When I was in miss A, obviously all I had to care about was just performing and like, the label would do all the work. Now, I’m 33. I am an adult grown woman, so I think just from all the experiences that I learned, I have more self-confidence right now. When I was young, I would always feel like I wasn’t enough. But now I am more than enough. Like, I rock! I think that’s the self-confidence that I feel like I’ve been working on, you know? I think I’ve been training a lot also to be confident and to feel like, “oh, this is what I like, and this is what I’m good at.” I think just discovering who you are made me freer.
Yeah, definitely, and I guess being in New York as well.
Yes, there’s a lot of people here, and no one cares who you are, really.
It’s a very different culture and society. I also wanted to ask, we’ve touched on the fact that you were in the group and they were very successful. I was wondering, in what ways do you feel that K-Pop can better support women in K-Pop and make the industry safer for them?
When I came out in 2010, most girl groups, I think, were singing more about “I’m cute” and, you know, like, very feminine and cutesy. But our concept was totally different. It was independent, and we wore black and said “shut up, boy!” So, I think that made people very, like, “oh, that’s so interesting.” I feel like a lot of girls these days don’t really do cutesy stuff anymore. I feel like they’re more about female power, so I love how it’s going. Also, a lot of guys are very expressive. I feel like it’s not forcing you to be manly, and I feel like a lot of boy groups express themselves however they want to, and it’s really cool.
I was just wondering as well, what were some important lessons that you learned from your time in K-Pop, and how have you embraced those lessons to shape your approach to your artistry?
It definitely helps me to be excellent at my work, at my artistry, and I learned to be perfect [laughs]. I’m kidding. Everyone experiences different things, even though K-Pop is huge in the industry. But I learned that it’s really easy to be stuck in, like, a bubble, I think. But I think it’s really important to always remind yourself why you are doing this and keep checking in with yourself if you love what you do. I started doing music again after three years of not doing it. But when I realized this is what I do, and I do this and I’m excellent—when I figured that out, I started doing it again. So, I think it’s important to remember why you started this and why I am doing this. I love doing music.
We’re on to my last question already, but I just wanted to wrap up and ask you, now that this EP is out, what do you see as next steps for you? What do you want to do next?
I would love to perform a lot more. Me and my team, we’re talking to some venues and we also want to do a tour, but I don’t know. There are just so many things I want to do. I want to make a video for “SHIMMY” and just promote and perform the hell out of it, and make more music. That’s what I’m excited for.