[EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW]: Former K-Pop Trainee and J-Rock Soloist YOOMEi on her Upcoming City Pop Re-Debut in the U.S.
Photo: Youand Entertainment
When Xiaomei “Mei” Zhang enrolled in acting classes at a young age, she had no idea it would eventually lead to a dream of becoming a singer. The 24-year-old Chinese-American has spent the last five years trying to succeed in South Korean and Japanese music industries, and now she is set to debut as a city pop and synth pop singer in the U.S. As soloist YOOMEi (pronounced as “Oo-may”), she hopes to inspire others to follow their dreams. The Kraze had the honor of conducting YOOMEi’s first interview prior to her debut on July 30.
YOOMEi’s start in the entertainment industry began as a shy child growing up in the San Francisco Bay Area of California. To help her break out of her shell, her parents enrolled her in acting classes at an academy that also taught modelling and singing. While singing a song from High School Musical during a lesson, her vocal coach saw potential in YOOMEi and recommended she try out for a singing competition in Las Vegas. That experience kickstarted her dream of singing professionally.
“I ended up coming out second place and I got scouted by a lot of entertainment companies,” she said. “After that, my family and I started thinking, ‘Huh, maybe I can do this.’”
Experiences in the Idol Industry
Growing up listening to J-Pop and K-Pop, YOOMEi naturally gravitated towards those industries. She loved artists such as Girls’ Generation, GFRIEND, YUKIKA, and LOONA, and eventually landed a spot in the pre-debut girl group ZIOLETTA in 2020. ZIOLETTA would release one Japanese single, “Paradise Dream,” on August 1, 2021 before disbanding.
YOOMEi continued pursuing music from another angle: she debuted as an independent J-Rock singer just five months after the group’s premature disbandment. She took the future into her own hands by releasing her debut single album To The Future on January 4, 2022. Though she promoted her songs at venues like anime conventions—places familiar to her as an avid anime fan and cosplayer—health complications ultimately put her dream on a brief hiatus.
By 2023, she deactivated all her social media accounts and her music disappeared from streaming platforms. Behind the scenes, she kept auditioning for Korean companies such as HYBE and MODHAUS, and even auditioned for AKB48, Japan’s largest idol group. YOOMEi said that age proved to be the largest barrier to enter the idol industry, and that specific dream no longer seemed viable.
“It’s really easy to age out of the idol industry,” she said, citing that factor as “why things didn’t go as planned.”
YOOMEi said that age plays a smaller factor in the U.S., which influenced her choice to re-debut in its industry. She joined Youand Entertainment, an LA-based company established this year, as its first artist. Her re-debut will still feature Asian influence in her musical style, but the rebrand also comes with a slight name change. YOOMEi previously pronounced her name as “Yoo-may” but now omits the first “y” to prevent confusing her name for the Japanese word for “popular,” yuumei (有名). The stage name still includes the Mandarin word for plum, “mei” (梅), which is part of her Chinese name.
A New Beginning with Echoes of Love
YOOMEi’s new EP, Echoes of Love, will come out almost exactly four years after ZIOLETTA released their first and last single. When asked about the timing, YOOMEi said it was purely a coincidence. The realization made her reflect on how she has grown stronger since then.
“Online critiques definitely used to hurt me a lot more,” she said. “But I understand that music, like some genres, just don’t resonate with certain people, and it’s nothing personal.”
Though she acknowledged not everyone may be a fan of her shift to city pop, she still encourages people to keep an open mind. She shared that she successfully converted her extended family into city pop lovers, and hopes to “have that effect on others.”
For those wondering if her previous songs will ever resurface, YOOMEi has struggled to find a place for her J-Rock and new city pop music to co-exist. Though she still owns her old music, battling the Spotify algorithm, which sorts artists’ music strictly by genre, makes it harder to sort through.
“I thought starting over would make more sense, because [Spotify] would have been confused on where to place my new music,” she explained. “They might put me in J-Pop or something more related to J-Rock, then people who like my new music aren’t going to be able to find it.”
YOOMEi plays a direct role as a composer, lyricist, and creative director for her new EP, which will feature her first songs in English. Many of her lyrics derived from her own poetry, a hobby she continues to have since childhood. YOOMEi described herself as a life-long storyteller with a knack for crafting narratives. She always asked for notebooks as birthday gifts for a child, was known as the “newspaper girl” during her schooling days, and has continued to write poetry into adulthood.
“I really do love storytelling and being able to do it through the form of music,” she said. “I feel like a part of me would always be sad if I had given that up and never gone back.”
Her decision to transition into a city pop and synth pop singer came from wanting to keep an Asian influence in her artistry. The four-track EP will feature the lead track “Ever Begin,” a city pop song reflecting on a “bittersweet first love.” Due to the restrictive dating policies in place while she was a trainee, however, YOOMEi said inspiration did not come from personal experiences.
“I actually wrote the debut song a little bit over a year ago, and I actually drew most of my inspiration from—drum roll—my imagination,” YOOMEi said. “For years, I wasn’t really allowed to fall in love because trainees aren’t really supposed to date, and I didn’t really have much to write about.”
Instead, YOOMEi looked towards another love of hers: anime. Her debut will reference tropes seen in anime and East Asian dramas. “We wanted to pay homage to all things Asian and not shy away from it,” stated Youand Entertainment in an email.
Future Dreams
Although the stories that inspired “Ever Begin” came from fiction, YOOMEi’s desire to debut comes from reality. While reflecting on the last five years, she said that she needed to keep living in the moment. Even though she is still not completely recovered from health-related issues sustained in the idol training process, she wants to make this new debut a success.
“I think my health scares actually inspired me to not give up, because I feel like tomorrow isn’t promised,” YOOMEi said. “So, you gotta try to do what you can while you still can.”
While pursuing her music career, she also wants to keep the future open. She can see herself going back into acting, trying something new by singing songs for video games and anime, and she also sees herself serving as a creative director or artist manager.
“I would love to guide someone that’s kind of in a similar position to me now and help make someone else’s dream come true,” she said, describing long-term goals. “That’s something that I think would be really fun and fulfilling for me.”
In the meantime, YOOMEi hopes that people can find meaning through her new start and hopes to reconnect with MEiBE, her fandom.
“I’m so thankful for all the MEiBEs who have been waiting for me for all these years,” she said. “I’m so sorry for disappearing without saying anything, but I’m glad to come back and bring some new content to you all.”
The Kraze extends their gratitude towards YOOMEi and Younand Entertainment for the opportunity to share her story with our readers. The first teasers for Echoes of Love will drop on July 23, so follow YOOMEi’s Instagram and TikTok for the latest details. Pre-orders for YOOMEi’s Echoes of Love EP will open this week, and will come in two versions for purchase globally. Echoes of Love and the music video for “Ever Begin” will come out on July 30.