UMI's Songwriting Collab With BTS' V Is Proof That You Can Meet Your Idols

It all started with a random DM...

Welcome to mixed feelings’ Hyperspecific, a profile series of increasingly intimate questions in which we ask our favorite artists, characters, musicians, and the like to unveil their innermost selves — their weird existential musings.

It all started with a DM. One day, after seeing that V — one of the members of BTS — had reposted her song to his Instagram story, Umi’s mom encouraged her to DM the artist and ask if he’d be open to writing a song together.

“And then I got nervous, so I threw my phone across the room,” Umi said. “And when I picked up my phone a couple of hours later, he’d responded.” Little did he know back then that Umi was (and still is) a big fan of BTS and K-pop in general. They rattle off a list of favorites: Red Velvet, 2NE1, NCT, and BIGBANG. Girl has great taste.

The collaboration felt like kismet. Singer-songwriter Umi started her career posting covers of songs to her YouTube channel — one of which was of the BTS song “Save Me.” “To then do a song with [V] is just… my brain can’t even comprehend it,” Umi says of that pivotal moment. “My younger self would just be so proud. I think she wouldn’t even believe me if I told her.”

Since deciding to pursue music full-time in 2019, Umi has brought their R&B-meets-alt-pop sound to dozens of tracks, opened for Jhené Aiko and Conan Gray, and is now back with a new album: people stories. Their new oeuvre is a collection of songs inspired by the stories of others, ranging from love to heartbreak to taking a break and touching grass.

Umi visited us at the mixed feelings studio to do our Hyperspecific interview. Read it in full below. — Mi-Anne

LEVEL I

1. Something you’re always hoping people will bring up in conversation when you first meet.
   I hope they ask me, “Were you athletic when you were younger?” So I can tell them that I have a state record [for running track] with my little sisters. I ran at the Junior Olympics with my sisters in the relay, so I like to throw that out so I can brag just a little bit.

2. A positive trait people always tell you you have.
   I think people say that I’m very kind and easy to be around. I think people think I’m flirting with them, but I’m not. I’m just being nice sometimes.

3. One destructive trait you know you possess and wish you didn’t.
   I let myself crash out. I think you need to crash out to regulate yourself, but when I crash out, I’ll be throwing stuff in my room…I think it’s just female rage. It needs to be expressed. I’ll put a timer on. I’ll be like, “I’m going to let myself rage for 15 minutes and then when it’s done, it’s done.” Sometimes it’s the whole day and then when the day’s done, I’m done. It helps me feel [all my emotions] while also putting boundaries around myself.

4. If a bodega were to name a dish after you, what would it be? (Be specific.)
   The Umi Meal Deal: You get a bacon, egg and cheese, you get a drink, you also get a smoothie and then you get a free something else. Pretty much my order is a free-for-all abundance meal that you only pay $2 for. But it definitely comes with the bacon, egg, and cheese [and a] strawberry, banana, mango, blueberry, and coconut milk smoothie.

5. One song that makes you feel understood.
   My album drops, so I have a lot to choose from my album. I would say my song 10AM encapsulates my energy very well. It just feels like being loved, being in love, being kissed on forehead, put into a song so that song feels like me. The whole album, I wrote it based on other people’s stories. My friend told me about. how they have breakfast in bed with their girlfriend and how in that moment they were like, “This is what love is.”

   
   So I wrote:

   Pretty close to paradise,
   Breakfast in your bed is nice,
   Let’s stay here forever,
   Tell the world to wait, hours turn to days.
   I could never leave your side, oh, I would rather die.

   I just think it’s so poetic and you can see the whole scene in your head. And then another song is probably “Lovely Day” by Bill Withers. Even when I’m having a bad day, that song makes me feel happy.

6. Something you think is wildly underrated.
   Me! But apart from me: getting eight hours of sleep. I’ll be like, “Why am I so anxious?” And it’s because I slept four hours. It’s really simple.

LEVEL II

1. A movie/tv show you watch when you want to self-soothe.
   Spirited Away. Every time I watch it, it connects me to my inner child again and it’s kind of weird and I like that.

2. Your problematic fave artist/actor/musician/character (dead or alive). And why?
   Well, all the boys in KPop Demon Hunters. I feel like they’re problematic but cute. They really animated those boys really well. Real sweet…Not good intentions, but execution was very well done.

3. What’s the first fandom you lost yourself in…
   Oh my gosh. BIGBANG. I would just binge watch all their music videos when I was in middle school and high school to the point where I wasn’t doing my homework and wasn’t really taking care of myself. My bias is G-Dragon. I went to his [solo] show. I think he’s just so artistic and tasteful and cool.
   
   I love K-Pop. I grew up listening to 2NE1. I loved BTS, Red Velvet, NCT…Got7. And Girls’ Generation! They were big in Japan. All the groups that crossed over into Japan I watched so much growing up.
   
   MF: What was it like being a BTS fan and then working with V?
   
   That was crazy. It’s not on my YouTube anymore, but I did covers of BTS songs. I did this cover of “Save Me.” I did a lot of covers of K-pop songs, especially BTS songs. So to then do a song with him…my brain can’t even comprehend it…And it just happened [randomly]. He had tagged me on his story…[sharing] one of my songs. And then I was with my mom and she said, “You should just DM and ask him if he would make a song with you.” So I DM’d him and I was like, “Thanks for reposting my song. You want to make a song with me?” And then I got nervous, so I threw my phone across the room and when I picked up my phone a couple hours later he’d responded. And then we made a song and we’ve been friends since.

4. Something you bought recently after LOTS of research.
   My lip liner. I’ve used a lot of different lip liners to arrive at the Charlotte Tilbury liner color that I use.

5. What fictional world would you want to live in and why?
   I probably should say Spirited Away, but I actually would not want to live in that universe. I think that would be very trippy. So I have two answers: I would love to live in whatever universal Lilo & Stitch exists in, so I could have a Stitch. And my second answer would be, I’ve always been curious about Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs where the food falls from the sky. What would it be like if I could just have all-you-can-eat buffet weather?

6. What the most random thing you have in your home that always requires explanation?
   I have a lot of mushroom chairs in my house. People always ask if I do shrooms and I have to be like, “No, I just like the way mushrooms look.” I think they’re really cute.

LEVEL III

1. What’s an anecdote you usually tell to describe how you were as a kid?
   Ever since I was little, my dad would always sing me this song. He goes, “We can do it, we can do it.” And [because of that] I think I can do anything. Someone could ask, “Could you do five back flips the first time” And I’d be like “Yeah, I could do that. I think I can do anything.” That mindset thanks to my dad.

2. What is your low-key hell and actual heaven?
   Low-key hell is when I’m hungry and I haven’t slept. My heaven is taking a warm bath with a candle and a good movie.
   

   MF: Do you have a bath movie?
   

   Honestly, it’s KPop Demon Hunters. I’ve watched it probably four times already.

3. What is your most unhinged coping mechanism?
   Pretending that it never happened.

4. Random thing you hate so much for no apparent reason.
   California rolls! I think they taste good, but I hate that people think they’re sushi because it’s not sushi. And everyone’s like, “I love sushi.” And I’m like, “What’s your favorite sushi?” And they say California roll? Pisses me off.

5. How you exit a party.
   There’s two ways I exit a party: One way is you don’t even know that I left because I left through the back very quietly. Number two is I make a scene…Somehow I end up on the stage behind the DJ dancing and…then I get everybody to come with me.

6. How you wanna go (either un-seriously or seriously)

   I want to go laughing.