Cacophony: Out of trauma emerges one of pop music's most captivating voices

By Jamie Finn (@jamiefinn2209)

Since the release of her debut album in 2018, songwriter/producer/dancer Kim Minkyeong, better known by her stage name Cacophony, has become one of Seoul's most unignorable performers. Fans and critics have widely praised her for her sophisticated pop sound, high-art aesthetic and moving articulation of trauma. Her latest album, DIPUC, came out last year but refuses to lose relevance. In an exclusive English-language interview, she talks to us about how she learned to play the dominant role to improve her writing.

As with many great artists, Cacophony's art comes from a place of pathos. Her musical journey began with the passing of her mother in 2018, after which she immediately began working on her debut album, Harmony, which came out in 2018. Harmony is a heartbreaking unfurling of emotion as Cacophony processes her loss with music. Raw, unfiltered feeling is always part of Cacophony's music, but Harmony has a stronger sense of vulnerability than anything else she has worked on. Even the album cover, a portrait of the singer standing pensively, defensive, communicates the singer's mindset at that time. "I made Harmony to honour my mother's passing," shares Cacophony. "I was just a very normal Korean girl. I studied a lot and was extremely passive. Seeing my mother when she was in the hospital changed the way I thought about a lot of things. That was the first time I could see her life crystalised because she was in front of death."

It's a tricky thing - to talk about something beautiful that comes out of such loss. On the one hand, this is a person's trauma, and nothing can make that OK. On the other hand, it was because of her loss that Cacophony was drawn to make the positive changes in her life that have led her to become the artist she is today. "I had a lot of confusing emotions at that time. My mom and I were not close, but I still felt incredibly sad. I love her. But at the same time, I hate her. I don't know. Those really strange and complex feelings made me sing."

"My mom was a strange girl," Cacophony goes on to explain. "She wanted to be something special. But she was like me, trapped. She was addicted to unimportant things like money and studying. And when she was dying, I could see my life through her life. I realised that I needed to change things. I need to sing. I need to make music."

Before the release of Harmony, Cacophony had not decided that she wanted to be a musician. It wasn't until after the release of the first album and the positive response she got for it that she felt she might have found her calling - although she still had a lot to learn. "I started making music without really studying it or practising. My vocals and music were far from perfect. But I really loved making that first album, so I decided to be a musician. After that, I began learning and improving, using any resources I could."

"Even though I learned lots of new ways of making music," she expands, "the creative process for me is still the same because I want to make the sound that comes from my heart."

Cacophony's music has undeniably evolved. The emotional resonance is there but it has become more sophisticated over time, being made with increasingly evident intent. Her songs have become bolder and sharper as Cacophony has become more confident in her abilities. "I think the difference between my first album and my last album is that the process is more sophisticated. I understand the effect of sounds and how to make them. My music is getting closer to how it sounds in my mind. Yeah, I think my music has evolved in that way."

Cacophony's first two albums were born from sadness (the loss of her mother on Harmony and a difficult relationship on 2019's Dream). For her third and most recent release, DIPUC, though, she tried something different: she reversed the roles.

"For much of my life," she explains, "I have had a feeling of despair. So, I tried to express my sadness through music. One day, I decided - I don't want to be sad any more. I don't want to be the victim of my trauma. I want to be dominant, and I want to be a more appealing person. Once more, I wanted to change, and I was going to use my music to do it."

Using music as therapy is a central part of what Cacophony does, and DIPUC shows how that can be done in different ways. "My first two albums were cathartic for me because I was able to channel my sadness into them. DIPUC, though, allowed me to overpower my sadness."

One common theme in Cacophony's lyrics is the idea of rebirth, and throughout her music, she has often returned to this motif of renewal. "Through music, I want to be different every day; I wanna find myself different. I don't like myself. I do like myself usually. So, my lyrics are often about change and about starting again."

"It's getting better, though," she says, referencing her negative self-image. "I like myself more these days, but for a lot of my life, I haven't liked myself. I am a gloomy person. I often struggle to overcome the difficult situations in my life, and that makes me feel weak. Thanks to the therapeutic qualities of creating music, though, I am getting stronger."

And that brings us back to DUPIC, in which Cacophony adopts the role of a powerful figure, no longer passive but the hero of her own story. "For this album, I would recall my trauma and reverse it all so that I am not the passive one, but the dominant one. Through this, I could process much of what was hurting me. That felt different, a very different way to process."

Cacophony explains how the title of the album is also a reference to this role reversal. "It's Cupid spelled backwards", she says. "Cupid was a young boy, but I'm an adult woman. So I wanna be that role of like a God but also to play with it, to flip it in a way."

The album beams with a self-assured feeling that has only been hinted at on previous Cacophony releases. According to her though, this new found confidence is just an act. "No, I haven't become that person. It was a role I was playing to help me grow. It was really fun, though. But, ultimately, I realised that that kind of person is not really interesting to me. It was nice to try for a while, but not the kind of person I want to be."

As far as acts go, though, it's a convincing one. Everything from her music to her stage presence to her presentation has become filtered through the prism of this new prevailing persona. You can see it in the artistically striking album cover for DUPIC: wearing only underwear and heels, Cacophony stands powerfully, drawing Cupid's bow. She also regularly posts videos of her practising pole dancing. It's a stark contrast to the presentation of Cacophony earlier in her career, which shared the same artistic intrigue but had a more timid energy. "I started pole dancing at the height of my sadness, with the belief that a stronger body would make my soul stronger. So far, that has been true." 

Both pole dancing and the use of her body as part of her image take an interesting role in Cacophony's character. "My body is like a weapon. Because the dominant person I portray on DUPIC is just an act, exposing my body like a weapon to help me confidently execute it."

One might expect concerns about the perception that people might have over her use of her body and the prominence of nudity in her art. However, questions like this don't affect Cacophony, who wants to use her performances as an opportunity to reclaim herself from the male gaze. "That was the point. I exposed my body on my album cover, not for other people and their desires, but for me."

"I remember when I first shared a photo of myself exposed, there were some people commenting like 'oh, you're so sexy.' I hated that. I didn't want to be talked about like that. When I released the cover of DIPUC, nobody said anything like that. There was nothing sexual. People just thought it looked cool. I don't want to be thought of as sexual. I want to show people that a woman's body is not a sexual one."

Cacophony's artistic presentation extends beyond album covers, and her stage shows have become increasingly creative and unusual. There is the central performance by Cacophony, whose magnetic movement and seemingly effortless singing demand the audience's attention. These days, they've also become elaborate cooperative theatre pieces with whole casts of musicians and dancers. While collaboration is important to Cacophony's performances, she remains the central creative force, directing proceedings. "It's a lot of work, but I really want to build an innovative stage. When I see someone whose work I like, I invite them to come be a part of my performance. It's collaborative, but I still have to coordinate, to curate."

One person whose collaboration has been vital is her guitarist and partner, Gunwoo. Gunwoo may be best known for his work with the indie folk duo DOMA, but he is also an accomplished session guitarist who plays with the likes of Jungwoo and Kim Ildu. "We met when I was young at a small gig in Hongdae. He seemed like such a great guitarist but also a really kind person. We exchanged information, but we didn't speak for a while. When I was making my first album, I needed a guitarist, so I called him, and we've worked together ever since." She smiles: "Now he's my boyfriend." 

For many, the entry point for Cacophony is her incredible voice. Whether through delivery or belting out at the top of her lungs, her voice manages to express such intense emotion. This is especially true on her most recent album, with tracks like End and Lean Your Body On Me delivered with such heartwrenching intensity it sounds like she might break down at any second. Her vocal influences, she says, are generally drawn from the world of contemporary pop. "When I began singing," she explains, "I didn't have any ideas about how I wanted to sing; I just sang from my heart. These days, I listen and learn from other singers like Lana Del Ray, Billie Eilish and Rosalía. I like their style because they sing like they're talking. I don't want to mimic anyone, but I like that style, and it fits with the change in my song style. I wanted my voice to be part of the changes I made on this album."

When talking about her influences, Cacophony is keen to highlight a broad range of the artists that have impacted her, yet she expresses a special affinity for women's voices and songwriting. "I prefer a woman's voice. Of course, I love male artists, Thom Yorke, Kevin Parker, so many more. But I prefer women's voices. So I listen to a lot of women's music, and their emotion or their voices have greatly influenced me. Their songs, too. I feel more connected to women's songs because they are saying the things I want to say. Yeah, that's why I feel so connected to them.

But, of all the music Cacophony has produced, does any of it hold a special place for her? "I feel like I should say Return because it is my most popular song," she jokes. "I do think it is a really well-made song, though. The pianist I worked with spent a whole year looking for the right chords for the song before he found the perfect ones. That song resonates with me for that reason."

The next step for the enigmatic singer is to release a new single. The track will see Cacophony continue on the trajectory of going bigger and bolder but with an interesting development. "I want to make a dance song! I want to play with music more, and I want to be able to dance on stage. These days, I really want to perform in front of audiences more, so I'm looking to join stages. I want to meet people and have fun with audiences, send my energy to them and receive theirs."

It's nice to hear Cacophony talk so optimistically about her next steps as an artist. Is this new development a sign that her bolder persona is not just an act? "Maybe," she jokes. "These days, I definitely want people to look at me and say, 'She is more than just a sad girl'."