Indie pop duo sundial made their appearance at Lollapalooza Friday afternoon, sharing an intimate set with the crowd. The duo is made up of Jisu Kim and Dorothy Chan, who made their debut with their single “Your Scarf,” in 2015. Since then, they have gained over 300,000 monthly listeners on Spotify.
The Daily Illini sat down with them to talk about the formation of the band, along with their Lollapalooza performance and any advice they had for up-and-coming musicians.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
The Daily Illini: How did the two of you come together to form sundial, and what were the expectations for your project when you first started?
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Chan: The lore is that we met at Berklee College of Music in 2015. We had mutual friends and then we started dating. Classic music school moment of going to the practice rooms … and then we started making music together. It was kind of for fun at first, we were just having fun. And then we were like “Hey maybe we should put out a song,” and we posted it on SoundCloud. We didn’t really have a name for the band, it was super casual. We were sitting outside of our dorm room and thinking of names. We were like “Something to do with time and nature would be cool.”
The DI: What does your songwriting process look like? Do you guys have different approaches?
Kim: I would say a lot of it starts as journal entries from her side. There are so many things to write about. We write things down on paper or find a way to organize our thoughts … We go into songwriting like, “This is a really good theme to talk about.” That is where a lot of our songwriting happens. Then we take a look at it and see what the deeper meaning of it is.
The DI: Walk me through what you were thinking and how you were feeling as you took the festival stage, especially when you’re playing tracks that are so personal to you guys.
Chan: It feels very nerve-racking, it feels like you’re naked. When we sing something, whether it be about our relationship or something we’re going through, we’re putting it out there and we are opening ourselves up to judgment and critique. It’s really hard to be vulnerable, but I think that’s the beauty of being an artist.
Kim: If there’s something that you feel you have to say, say it. If you don’t say it, then you don’t improve as a person. There are a lot of songs that we played that I’m not proud of the person that I was when we made that song. The idea is that hopefully, we are self-aware enough where we improve as a human being. I feel very blessed that I can say what I want to, and yes the critique is scary, but it’s almost necessary.
The DI: What can fans expect from you guys in the future? Do you have any singles or albums coming out?
Chan: We’re currently working on our next record. We’re trying to expand on our sound, with some pop-rock singer-songwriter elements. We are trying to rediscover our sound and work towards deeper topics to talk about.
The DI: What advice would you give to artists trying to start out in the music industry?
Kim: Focus on who you are without the music. I feel like we’re going through that right now … Like who are you without that guitar in your hand? What we’re saying and the ideas that we’re exchanging are far more important than what note we’re playing. Because what you’re saying here is going to be what note you’re playing later.
Chan: It’s really just an extension of who you are. We’re on that journey right now. How do we make sure that we’re good as a couple, and how do we make sure that we’re good ourselves so we can show up as a couple, and by extension show up as sundial.
Kim: It’s so easy to tell someone “Oh just go film more TikToks.” Like that’s what people want to hear. They want to hear “Just go with the trend.” But why? It really feels so pointless. As artists, it’s our job to portray ourselves as who we are, not who we want to be. There is the technical element of what we do, but there is also the emotional element. If you look throughout history at the big moments and the people who really changed the world, the technical hardly ever matters. I’m not saying don’t practice, but sometimes you get lost in the sauce. The longevity of it is saying what you really want to say, and not just rushing to the next part of it.
