Having released his debut single Fantasy just a year ago, Sang Min Lim has since continued to impress us with his talent and remarkable determination. His latest single and music video, Levitate, has only just premiered and it’s already making waves in the K-pop genre.
Sang Min Lim – Levitate – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HjybbDi8Ls4
Levitate continues the futuristic, tech-driven vibe of his previous releases. Although all dramatically different, the three previous videos all carried the same modern look and all involved footage of SANG himself. His debut music video included an appearance from the dancer and model Dytto, and was directed by the former X-Factor contestant, CeCe Frey.
Levitate keeps up with this style, although it does so in a different way: focusing on animation, rather than live action.
The animation itself is created predominantly out of neon-coloured lines with a dark background. This choice is what gives the video a futuristic look, reminiscent of sci-fi and video games. Images of sky-scrapers and ultramodern race cars underline this idea, suggesting progress and innovation.
Yet rather than being overwhelming, as you might expect it to be, the video has more of a mesmerising, hypnotising quality. Sang Min Lim’s song, rhythmic and mellow, is what ultimately adds this calming quality to the experience that is this music video.
Something of a combination of K-pop, electronic, R&B, and hip-hop, Sang Min Lim’s music is fairly unique, with an original sound and instantly recognizable style. It’s beyond impressive that this young artist, only just breaking into the music industry, has such a well-defined style and persona, and represents such high production value in his music and videos. With Sang Min Lim, there were no YouTube demos, no covers videos to get noticed, no attempts at home production: he entered the music industry with a polished, well-rounded, fully professional single, radio- and tv-ready from day one.
All of his work since the debut has followed the same high standard, and Levitate is certainly no exception.
This level of success and dedication is all the more impressive if we consider the fact that music isn’t Sang Min Lim’s only focus. After moving to the U.S. from South Korea to study economics at the acclaimed Brown University, Sang relocated to Los Angeles. There, he began studying law at the University of Southern California and simultaneously kick-started his modelling career, before turning his attention to music.
According to Sang Min Lim, the appearance and popularity of K-pop in America is what gave him the boost of confidence he needed to try following his dream of becoming a music artist. The first single, Fantasy, was mixed by SANG’s producer, Ryan Wood and by David Baker – the mixer for the big names in the industry, like Billie Eilish and Big Sean. Interestingly, the debut Fantasy music video was shot with the same Bolt High Speed Cinebot Camera as Kendrick Lamar’s Humble!
Now, as Sang Min Lim is working on future singles, he’s still a law student at USC, splitting his time between the studio and the lecture hall.
To see and hear more of Sang Min Lim, head over to his YouTube, or Instagram.
