Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Yellow Lights. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Yellow Lights, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?

Yellow Lights’ motto for artistic activities is to ‘express emotions in life through music.’

There are two projects that stand out the most for Yellow Lights. The first one is ‘Keep Goin’ On’ (feat. Paloma Menendez), which was our debut piece. We composed it during our senior year at Berklee. Stepping out of the bubble of school into the real world was both exciting and daunting. To confront and overcome that fear, we wrote this song. We collaborated on the lyrics with Ava Anderson, and I remember feeling good because the lyrics represented our feelings well:

God, Tell me where am I
The meaning of life
I feel so lost but in the end I’ll be alright
keep going on

Whenever we want to reconnect with our initial passion, we listen to our first work again.

The second project, ‘The Summer, We Remember,’ was a unique endeavor. We composed this music after watching a short film by Korean director Philwon Hwang. Initially, we started to create a score fitting the movie, but the director felt that our music style matched better with the film’s vibe than traditional film scores, so he proposed making it into a music video. Thus, this project was born.

During the recording period, Covid-19 hit, and everyone had to isolate. Amidst thoughts of giving up, we decided to proceed with remote recording. We prepared all the scores and sessions in LA and sent them to each musician. Vocals and drums were recorded remotely in Korea, while bass and guitar were recorded remotely in New York. Finally, a mixing engineer in Baltimore completed the project.

It was a lesson in learning that with passion, we can complete music projects no matter the circumstances.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

Yellow Lights is a composer duo team consisting of Jiwon Jeon and Yoonseo Kim. They pursue their composition activities with the motto of expressing emotions in life through music. They mainly compose lyrical and emotive music and are currently based in LA, continuing their artistic endeavors.

During their time at Berklee, Jiwon Jeon, who majored in Filmscoring, and Yoonseo Kim, who majored in Contemporary Writing & Production, met and began making music together. They inspired each other and complemented each other’s strengths while creating music together. They decided to form a team with the idea of not just keeping the music they made during their school days on their computers but sharing it with the world.

Starting with their debut single “Keep Goin’ On,” they have released a total of 13 singles and have been consistently active in their music endeavors.

In addition to their own music as Yellow Lights, they have also engaged in various collaboration projects. They participated as composers for the OST of the drama “My Secret Dealer.” In the five-part documentary series “Artist in Residence, Cheongsong Life,” they were involved in production and composed all the music as music directors. Recently, they have also taken on the production of advertising music for Lotte Hotel Resort, showcasing their diverse musical activities.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

I know it might sound out of the blue, but personally, it’s really beneficial for mental health. People usually think that being an artist means your mental health deteriorates and you become more sensitive within the struggles of creation. However, I believe that not only artists but everyone carries their own hardships and loneliness. I’ve seen many cases where suppressing these emotions without expressing them leads to unhealthy outcomes.

Art allows my emotions to be fully acknowledged without any bias or judgment. It understands the loneliness that I can’t even express to those I truly trust and love. It’s human nature that we can’t even be completely honest in a diary. Art has this amazing ability to embrace the pure and honest emotions, making even the most intense feelings beautiful.

The fact that I can show my true self entirely is a huge comfort in living life, but how much of a comfort it truly is, I can’t say for sure.

Looking back, are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?

I regret overlooking the business aspect. In a capitalist society, engaging in artistic activities naturally incurs costs. While money and artistic merit don’t always correlate, realizing my vision requires not only my own efforts but also collaboration with many others, and adequate compensation for their time and skills is necessary. To achieve this, it’s important to generate profit from the artwork.

It was a big misconception to irrationally dislike money and think that it would detract from artistic integrity. I now realize that understanding how to promote my work and generate profit is essential, and studying business is crucial for this.

We also have many areas where we still lack, so we are constantly learning.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yellowlightsmusic/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@YellowLights

Image Credits
Yellow Lights