For Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month, Korean-American electro-pop singer, songwriter & producer Mindy (Mindy Song) shared her first single & video “Am I Alive” from debut solo EP Version 1.27, following her work in Night Dreamerwith Smashing Pumpkins guitarist Jeff Schroeder, Goon & Wam Dingis. Mindy explained the powerful track: “‘Am I Alive’ is about my struggles with violence and the relentless cycles of murder, pain, and healing. Director Adrian Pruett and I turned my internal agony into a performance in which we ask, ‘what does it mean to be alive and engage with others when so much suffering continues right before our eyes?’”
 
Mindy didn’t grow up watching people who looked like her on MTV. “The heartbreaking uptick in Asian violence made me think about how stereotypes are often perpetuated because of one-dimensional characters in entertainment — we play martial artists or Crazy Rich Asians now. I felt an urgency to release work I’ve been chipping away at for years in order to show that we can also be artists in other ways.”

Mindy’s voice & music draws comparisons to Santigold, Sia, Charli XCX, and Blonde Redhead. She began music production working as an assistant to producer and mentor Lior Goldenberg (Allen Stone, Alanis Morissette, Andrew WK, and Ziggy Marley). Then the artist began recording with early Tokimonstabeats with friend and rapper Surrilla from the Oddibles. Mindy later joined Wam Dingis, playing avant-garde shows across LA with cherry pies, wigs, and handsewn nun costumes while head banging to songs about feminism, religiosity, and capitalism. Mindy’s ominous and dreamy sound helped in the songwriting and co-producing of Night Dreamer with Smashing Pumpkins guitarist Jeff Schroeder. The band performed across North America and in Asia, opening for Peter Hook and the Light and YB.
 
The entire Version 1.27 EP is about transcending pain through dance music. “Sometimes dancing’s the only way I can let go of my emotions,” Mindy says, “My EP tells a story of what I’d consider a fun night out: start off a little tripped out, vibe out with ‘Poolside’; dance hardcore with ‘Future in France’; question life deeply with ‘Am I Alive’; and top it all off with an introspective, emotional banger while you watch the sun rise with ‘Nervous Shudders’ (ft. Draag).” Mindy explains that the title, “Version 1.27” came to life from a joke: “I was in the studio with my friend and co-producer Tristan Calder working on the edit of “Am I Alive,” she says, “We thought the title spoke to the never-ending process of refinement in my work and the need to share my song, eventually.”

Photo Courtesy: Adrian Pruett