Neon bunny

K-pop is a closed-circuit game. Considering the stranglehold grip just a few mega-monopolies have on the only distribution channels that matter—the ones on Korean cable—it’s all but impossible to be heard if you aren’t willing to play ball. The Korean mainstream is a carefully regulated monoculture; there are a small handful of rock bands that have gone rogue and lived to tell, but finding a genuinely independent voice of any quality or significance in K-pop is no mean task.

So Neon Bunny is a rare breed—writing the type of bedroom producer K-pop the industry is designed to expunge. This year’s “It’s You” is a particularly fine torch song, illuminating a warm space between French electro synths and the subtlest of glitch-hop fills and trap hi-hats. Her voice is imbued with a natural feeling not often found in the method-acted emotions of mainstream, trainee-bred K-pop, and the industry has much to learn from the brave few like her. - Pitchfork

Back in 2012, we interviewed independent Korean pop artist Neon Bunny around her soaring 80s-inspired debut EP Happy Ending, which was a frothy K-indie take on Annie or Róisín Murphy's swooshy sound. Now, she returns with the pillowy "It's You" and a wistful video shot on the Seoul streets where she searches for her love. With her breathy coos and broken beats, it's a poignant yet purposeful counterpoint to the sci-fi obsessed K-Pop world. - Dazed and confused

Congratulations to our new Artist of the Week, Seoul’s own Neon Bunny!

Not bombastic enough for K-pop, but too polished up for indie, Yoojin Lim’s music sits comfy somewhere in the middle, best described as electronic bedroom pop. Her silky, near-whisper and downtempo stride are ideal for more sensitive ears. Hear it for yourself: - MTV iggy

"[The South Korean military] haven't said exactly what music they've been playing, but I hope it's some of the better K-pop stuff," said Oliver. "I'm talking 'Seoulight' by Neon Bunny, basically anything by Uhm Jung Hwa, Jo Sung Mo's early stuff."
Oliver was clear that he only meant songs performed by TVXQ prior to the 2009 split. "Or maybe TVXQ before Hero Jaejoong left," Oliver said at the end of the segment, "because I think we all know that after that the whole band's sound when to s**t." - Kpopstarz

A few years back, Neon Bunny caught some buzz with an infectious synth-pop EP Happy Ending, which was as good as any Scandipop released this decade. Since then, the Seoul-based independent artist has gone a lil weirder, first with last year’s lovelorn electro-ballad “It’s You,” and now with the hyper-saturated, full-throttle video for loungy new track “Forest of Skyscrapers.”
“It’s inspired by Japanese animation like Akira, and the movies of Wong Kar-wai,” Neon Bunny explained to The FADER over email. “But it’s the 2026 version of those movies, set in Seoul. It was the first time I made this kind of video…It seems more like a movie to me."
"Unlike the vivid image in K-pop, Korea's young generation is totally lost,” she said. “People call us the Sampo Generation—which means that we give up love, marriage and having kids in favor of earning money. Everything goes really fast in Seoul—when you wake up in the morning there's another building going up. But even if the pressures our generation face are tough, I think have to be in love."
Her new album is due out later this year. “Some of songs are really dark like this,” she says. “But some of the songs are bright like the moon." - Owen myers

If you look at Neon Bunny‘s discography, she actually doesn’t have a lot of releases. She started in 2011 with Seoulight and released Happy Ending in 2012. She didn’t return until 2014 with “It’s You” and then kind of disappeared again until the release of “Forest of Skyscrapers” earlier in 2016. That single marked a change in her overall style. Previous releases were more electro pop, but “Forest of Skyscrapers” was different. Going from electro pop, Neon Bunny entered another electronic style adding in chillwave, synth, and future soul.
That makes Stay Gold a marker for another era of Neon Bunny. She’s become a bit more visible the past year, performing at SXSW 2016, and released what I consider her second full length. I’m not sure if she considers Seoulight a full length or EP, but the nine songs on that release were an excellent introduction. But Stay Gold really shows growth from her start. It’s more sonically dense. Take “Room314” as an example. The instrumentals, samples, and synth are complex and create really interesting polyrhythms. Stay Gold also allows Neon Bunny to reintroduce herself to a big audience internationally. While some people might be familiar with her earlier, there is no denying that she’s improved dramatically with the composition of her songs. “It’s You,” which is actually two years old, was a hint.
But then get to “Ai” and it’s possible to hear the confidence Neon Bunny has with each song. Compared to other songs on the album, it’s a chillwave focused track that has a simple melody, vocal line, and beat; but the song is incredibly addictive. Stay Gold contains many polished songs with many of the strongest at the end. “New Moon” is my favorite song and it has a resemblance to “Arabesque” by Salyu used for the movie All About Lily Chou-Chou. “Don’t Forget Me” is a switch. As the last song, Neon Bunny refers to a piano and her voice rather than adding any additional elements. It’s the perfect closer to the album.
Even though Neon Bunny hasn’t been a prolific artist, anyone who listens to her music is usually instantly a fan. With her earlier work having a different tone, this new introduction with Stay Gold will likely earn a lot more fans. Whether she has more music planned to record and release is unknown, but people will likely pick this album as one of their favorites of the year. - Chris P