[Exclusive Interview]: Sorn Talks “Sharp Objects,” Music Inspirations, TikTok, and More

Sorn just made her first solo comeback with her first single release under WILD Entertainment with “Sharp Objects,” an all-English electronic dance track with synth-pop, retro vibes. Despite preparing for her single’s release and promotions, Sorn was kind enough to take time out of her busy schedule to have an in-depth chat with us about “Sharp Objects,” her music inspirations, TikTok, and her plans for 2022. Check out what Sorn had to say below! 

Q: Congratulations on your comeback! For those readers who are still new to you, could you please give a little introduction about yourself? 

Sorn: Hi, I’m a singer, born and raised in Thailand. Most of you might know me from a girl group named CLC, but now I'm starting off my new journey as a solo artist, Sorn!

Q: What would you say made “Sharp Objects” the perfect song for you to release as your first comeback single?  

S: I don’t think anything is perfect, but I just really wanted to show my audience a new side of me and challenge myself musically. With “Sharp Objects,” I personally really liked the song so I just hope my audience will like the song as much as I do too. 

Q: Was there a particular reason why you decided to release it as an all-English track?

S: English is very comfortable for me to sing in and I also have a lot of international audiences and fans, so I wanted to do music that everyone could connect to; I wanted to reach out and connect to more audiences and more listeners. This year, I’ll probably be focusing only on English tracks. I've recorded a bunch of songs already and everything is pretty much in English. 

Q: If you could describe “Sharp Objects” in just four words, what words would you choose?

S: I actually wrote this down because I thought this was a really hard question, I was like “damn what do I say?” [laughs]. The first word is strong. The second word is euphoric. Third word is intense. And this last word is enigmatic. I’ve never had to sing any song that is this intense in my life. There were a couple of struggles that I've had personally in the recording studio because this song is vocally very challenging for me to sing and I had to put on this character whilst singing. Very strong and intense on it’s own, it pretty much describes how challenging this project was for me, personally. 

The Kraze Staff: Those are some pretty cool words to describe a song with.

S: Yeah, I think it’s because I filmed the music video and there’s a lot going on [in it] and if the audience listens to the lyrics, the lyrics sound very intense. 

TKS: So is this like another side to you from what we saw in your previous single "Run"?

S: It’s completely different from what everyone saw when I did “Run.” Everyone can expect a full on 180 change!

Q: Your song is said to be an empowering anthem of courage, but what songs do you listen to when you're in need of courage and want to feel empowered? 

S: I personally love the song “If You Could See Me Now” by The Script. Everytime I listen to that song, it gives me hope in life and in general. It’s a song I listen to every time I feel down and I’ve been listening to it since I was young. I really like the lyrics and the meaning behind it. 

The song is him [Danny O'Donoghue] singing to his family member who has passed away, so he’s basically saying “if you could see me now, you would feel so proud that I’m on stage, that I’m doing all these things, that I’m a good person living life the way you wanted me to live,” and every time I feel down or need courage, I think of my parents [in Thailand]—like if you could see me now, I’m standing on stage, doing all these things, they would feel really proud of me. It's a very emotional song for me.

Q: So, you've been in the K-Pop industry for quite a few years now; who or what would you say has been the greatest influence on you and your music?

S: I personally really like Ariana Grande. I really aspire to be her because I love her style and I love the way she sings, she’s so talented. She’s crazy in the studio; everytime I watch clips of her, she’s so inspiring because she’s just so talented, like she’s the one who kinda pushes me to sing better and to do better vocally and I've learnt a lot [from her].

I’ve learnt about my style from listening to Ariana’s songs, especially with ad libs and the way she uses her voice in different types of song. I use her as a case study to improve my vocals, especially these days now that I’m doing a lot of solo music. I’ve been studying a lot of her songs.

Q: Do you have a favorite Ariana song that you sing to help you practice? Or just a favorite song of hers in general?

S: I love Ariana’s song “positions.” I like that song and especially this clip on YouTube that her team uploaded of her singing the song in the studio and she was doing all of these crazy ad libs and building up these stacks of vocals. Her producer would just play the beat and by ear, she would just add on all these crazy ad libs. I thought that was so crazy and I hope that one day, I'll be able to train my ear well enough to do the same thing that she’s been doing for years. 

Q: Are there any music styles outside of pop music that you would love to explore for future releases? 

S: Well recently, I didn’t know that City Pop was a thing until one of my friends introduced me to it, and I thought that was really cool. I’d love to explore that genre a little bit more as I know that City Pop is also very popular and trending these days. I’ve also always vocally trained myself in R&B, so hopefully one day I’ll be able to release an R&B song too. 

Q: Is there a particular artist you like with City Pop music? 

S: Not a particular artist, just the beat itself and the vibe is really interesting. I really didn’t notice City Pop that much in the past, but I know The Weeknd has a lot of City Pop vibes. I just really want to try City Pop in the future if there’s an opportunity to. 

Q: So, I'm from the UK, and I would love to know, are there any British artists who you would love to collaborate with some day? 

S: This is a dream of mine: I would love to sing with Adele one day. I’ve been so obsessed with Adele ever since she released her whole new album (30). I just love her so much. I really want to produce songs like her one day. I love how she puts her own experience and everything she’s been through in life into her music; as a listener, you can really feel her emotions and the pain that she went through. She’s really inspiring. With Adele, with the sad emotions, I want to release a slow song that touches your heart.

TKS: Hopefully we can expect to see a ballad from you one day, then.

S: Yes. A heartbroken Sorn [laughs].

Q: You're known for being multilingual, speaking Thai, Korean, English, and Chinese. Are there any languages you don't know yet but would love to become fluent in?

S: I would love to learn Spanish because I'm also into Spanish songs; I think they’re really cool. One day, it’s my own little goal, that I want to sing on a song like that or collaborate with an artist on that side of music. I think it’ll be a very interesting crossover. 

Another language I want to learn is Japanese because I feel like I already know the basics of Korean and Chinese and I want to use these basics to learn another language that correlates and has the same structure grammarly and all that.

Q: Aside from music, you're also known for your TikTok and YouTube videos, where I have to say you're so funny and real. What made you start doing videos on these two platforms? 

S: Thank you! I had a good friend who told me to start doing TikTok because of my personality and facial expressions. It was a big success, and I’m really glad I started it. I've gained a lot of new audiences and I enjoy being on that platform because I’m able to show more about myself, my personality, and my creativity.

S: I started YouTube because when I was in CLC, I wanted to show my fans more of my life and connect to them by speaking English. At that time, we didn’t have a lot of English-speaking content, so I wanted to make something very personal so that I could connect to my fans more. Then I fell in love with making YouTube videos because I also edit myself, and I found a new talent for vlogging. Because I enjoyed editing and being in front of the camera, I think that naturally helped with TikTok. That’s why the concept of opening a TikTok account wasn’t a foreign idea to me because I have been vlogging for so many years.

TKS: Speaking of new audiences, I read the comments on your TikTok videos and a lot of people don’t realize that you are a K-Pop singer, do they?

S: [Laughs] Yeah, that’s the funny thing with TikTok. I started TikTok just because my friend told me to do it and then all of a sudden, I started gaining lots of new fans from all around the world who didn’t even know who I was. They didn’t even know that I was Sorn from CLC, they literally just enjoyed me being me, which is something I really appreciate. They didn’t follow me because they knew me as a singer or they knew CLC, but because they actually enjoy my presence on that platform.

TKS: It’s a great way for you to express yourself.

S: Yeah, I think so too! It’s a great way for me to express myself in a more entertaining or silly way. I just like it because I get a lot of positive feedback and people just enjoy watching my content and because people enjoy watching it, I just want to create more. 

Q: What kind of videos do you enjoy watching on TikTok? Do you have any favorite TikTok creators? 

S: I like to watch a lot of lip sync, parody type of videos. I’ve also made a lot of friends on the platform. I just think there are so many talented dancers and singers [out there] and I’m just amazed. Everytime I fall into the hole of the singing content, I just get so amazed by these young kids, who are way younger than me, singing flawlessly like it’s nothing and hitting all of these high notes and doing all of these singing challenges that I couldn't even do. I show them my appreciation and I just encourage them. I show them that I'm a fan and that I want them to do well. They are also appreciative of me reaching out to them because a lot of them knew who I was [from CLC], so we all became good friends. They inspire me to challenge myself and to do more singing challenges, also.

But one person [on TikTok] who I thought was interesting, and really cute, and I hope one day we’ll be able to do a collaboration together, is Bella Poarch. Everyone knows she’s also a very successful artist now, all her songs are bangers. Hopefully we’ll be able to do something together, if I'm ever noticed by her [laughs].

Q: Could we expect to see a viral “Sharp Objects” TikTok challenge? 

S: Yes, me and the team are working on it right now. We have a couple of challenges and it’ll be really fun. There will definitely be a dance challenge for all of the fans who love to dance. We’re also trying to make other challenges so the people who don’t know how to dance, or are not comfortable singing, can also enjoy at home and film themselves and just have fun with it. The audience can expect a lot of different challenges during this promotion time.

Q: You are a singer, a presenter, a YouTuber, and a TikTok creator. What other careers would you like to add to this roster? 

S: For now, I wouldn’t add anything on to the roster list. I think I want to concentrate on what I'm doing, do it well, do it properly, and get recognition. Once I feel like I’ve accomplished all these things, I'd love to add something to the roster. I think that will come naturally as I get older and more experienced.

Q: Now that the world is slowly opening up again, after the last two challenging years of the pandemic, what are you most looking forward to seeing or doing?

S: This year, I'm planning to release a lot of songs. After “Sharp Objects,” we have a lot of songs lined up. Most songs are all recorded, we just need to film the music videos and time it so that they will all come out this year. I feel like once I have a good amount of songs, I really want to travel around the world and hold mini fan meetings because I haven't seen a lot of them. 

I’ve seen a lot of my fans who have been with me since CLC, I've seen them in person, but I have gained so many new audiences this year through other platforms, so I do want to go and meet everyone, say hi, and put names to faces. I want everyone to enjoy my music this year, so hopefully [I’ll do] a fan meeting, a little performance, and things like that.

Q: Did you learn anything new in any of the lockdowns?

S: Skill wise, did I learn anything? I don’t think I’ve learnt anything new skill wise, but I've learnt more about myself this year because I’ve had so much time to spend on my own. I think I matured a lot during lockdown. I'm more concentrated on what I have to do this year and what I've got to do to kind of leverage myself and become a better artist. And I think because of lockdown, me and my team were able to create a bunch of songs to be released this year because we had lots of time and I was so concentrated on the music. I just had to plan out who I wanted to be as an artist and what I have to do to become a successful artist, on my own, this year. Yeah, that’s what I've learnt about myself [laughs].

Q: Lastly, what can we expect to see from you in 2022?

S: For 2022, I’ve recorded a bunch of songs already. All I need to do is film the music videos! For my listeners and fans who are reading this right now, I know a lot of you are thinking I only have “Sharp Objects” lined up, but I actually have a stack of stuff lined up already! It’s going to be a year of not stopping—music, music, music, every couple of months, so that’s really exciting. It’s really exciting for me, so I hope the fans are just as excited. 

The interesting part about all of these songs is that they are all different because I’m trying to experiment on different genres. I feel like it’s going to be a really fun year because I’m literally in this experiment with my fans also on this journey with me, listening to my different sounds, vibes, and genres. I feel like it will be really interesting and fun to see different Sorns in different scenarios through different songs.

Q: Can we expect to see more teasers like you did with "Sharp Objects"?

S: For sure. Right after “Sharp Objects," I’m just going to keep teasing other stuff too [laughs]. 

Thank you so much to Sorn for taking the time to do this interview and for allowing us to get to know her more on a personal level! Make sure to keep up to date with Sorn on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube and check out her latest track “Sharp Objects,” available on all streaming platforms, and its intense music video below!