BabySantana drops a new music video for “nyc”
On top of this new song release, BabySantana is also supporting artist, Lil Tecca on tour starting at the end of March. He’s on the rise and the sky’s the limit.
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Getting Hysteric with Yves
“Hysteric-steric, am I hysteric? / Hysteric-steric, can’t escape it,” Yves sings over a pulsating beat on her new single, “Hysteric”. It’s September 25th, a week after London Fashion Week, and we’re inside The Old Selfridges Hotel, where the crowd is chanting every lyric back at her. It’s an intimate night for fans, organised by fashion label Stone Island and Yves’ record label, PAIX PER MIL.
Born Ha Soo-young, the 29-year-old South Korean singer, songwriter and dancer has been in Europe for a series of performances, and to attend London Fashion Week. “I was really grateful to attend several shows during Fashion Week,” she shares, particularly noting the Natasha Zinko show as a highlight. “The whole thing felt very free and unconventional. I remember not just the clothes, but the moments they appeared in. It felt like watching a performance as much as a fashion show.”
Another stop on Yves’ fashion week calendar was Susan Fang’s catwalk show at the Barbican, where we met briefly. She wore a bright pink, bow-adorned gown, and a week later wears an all-black Stone Island ensemble—a fashion chameleon in her own right.
Debuting as part of the 12-member K-pop group Loona in 2018, Yves has been performing solo since 2024. Later this year she is set to release her fifth EP, CUTE & ANXIETY, led by singles “Hysteric” and “Adam”, the former of which she premiered live at the show. “It felt less like a traditional concert and more like playing my music for friends, dancing and hanging out together,” she tells me. “The feeling was less ‘watch me’ and more ‘let’s enjoy this together.’”
Community is key to Yves’ music. From her debut with Loona to a lawsuit to suspend her contract with the group’s former label and her eventual solo debut, her fans have followed her through every step. Tonight’s enthusiastic crowd is evidence of their loyalty, as she shifts between K-pop, electronic and dance.
“K-pop is where I started, and it’s a big part of who I am. I’m grateful that it gave me a way to introduce myself and connect with people. Being called a K-pop artist doesn’t bother me,” she says. “I just hope the name doesn’t decide in advance what music I’m allowed to make next. It can be a starting point for understanding me, but I hope it isn’t the conclusion before someone has even heard the music.”
As its title suggests, Yves’ new EP, CUTE & ANXIETY, explores the tension between two seemingly opposing themes. But, even with its focus on mental health, the project does not lose its energy because of it. “Just because I’m talking about anxiety, I don’t think the music has to sound sad or dark all the time. I wanted it to be playful and cute but a little uneasy in places, or full of energy with moments where something more vulnerable comes through.”
Since debuting as a solo artist in early 2024, Yves has performed in over 20 countries. Touring has become a large part of her life. “The hardest part is looking after yourself physically and mentally while constantly moving somewhere new,” she reflects. “There are lonely moments, and days when I’m really exhausted.”
For Yves, the struggles of touring are all worth it when she hears a crowd, like tonight’s, singing her lyrics back to her. “It amazes me that people who have been living their own lives so far away from me know the same songs, and that we’re all together in one room that night. It’s like getting to see how far my music has travelled.”
A Few More Questions with Yves:
Recently you’ve collaborated with PinkPantheress, Lexie Liu and Lolo Zouai. What do you enjoy most about collaborating with other artists?
Hearing my voice on the same song as someone I love listening to still feels a little unreal. I never used to imagine myself making music with artists in other parts of the world, so sometimes I think it’s the fan in me who’s most excited.
I love discovering how differently people hear the same piece of music. It’s lovely when our tastes overlap, but I learn a lot when someone brings an instinct or a way of expressing themselves that I don’t have. I’ll think, “I wouldn’t have made that choice, but now the whole thing feels different.” A good collaboration doesn’t have to mean becoming more alike. My favourite moments are when we both still sound like ourselves, but it works as one song. It opens up the way I approach my own music too.
You’ve now spent two years as a solo artist. How has the experience differed from your time in a group?
In a group, there’s a sense of security in sharing not just the stage, but the emotions and responsibilities that come with it. There’s also something special about different people coming together to create one moment.
As a solo artist, my own choices are much more visible. I find myself asking more often what I like, what music I want to make and what I want to show people. That freedom is exciting, but sometimes it can also feel like there’s nowhere to hide.
What are you most excited about when you think about the future of your career?
It’s the fact that even I don’t know exactly who I’ll become as an artist. My taste keeps changing, and I keep discovering new music to love and meeting people who inspire me.
I want to keep trying things and working with people who might lead me towards music I wouldn’t have imagined on my own. I like knowing there’s still so much I haven’t tried. A future version of me might love and make music I can’t even imagine right now. I’m curious to meet her.
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A Bloody Mass with Von
The show was elaborated across five courses: BREAKING BREAD, THE MOUTH, THE CHEST, THE LEGS, THE FEET. With a menu conceptualized by Rotten Mother and Lys Berumen, we were treated to not only a performance before each dish, but also a curated variety of food to accompany it.
BREAKING BREAD began with two servers gracefully and carefully pulling the cloth off Von, revealing her motionless body. Von lay patiently while the servers decorated her body with red and black dips, red crackers, and crowns of bread placed around her head. The religious iconography was stark and recognizable, and Mass was in session. And the big reveal was: Von was the first course. She had us eat crackers and bread off her body.
THE MOUTH began when I looked back after fifteen minutes of conversation with the others at my table, and I saw her shivering. Von climbed onto the bar and was front and center, sitting with her legs wide open. This whole time, she was lying on top of a wooden cross, and the anticipation was definitely felt around the room when a group of seven or eight came out and joined, hand in hand. They proceeded with a Catholic “Sign of Peace,” which was followed immediately by Von sporting a sort of leather gag with an opening for her mouth before dishes for the second course were brought out. Eroticism as a theme was immediately present the second the first course was over. But after Von let the servers stuff some kind of fruit into her mouth, they brought two separate plates to her mouth; she spits onto them, yet again garnishing the courses with her own body; the eroticism is pushed further and further. The servers congregated back around the table, and they stood there for a minute, passing the numerous dishes amongst each other, and the receivers of the saliva-garnished dishes remain unknown. Von crawled across the bar, with the wooden cross resting on her shoulder, and she disappeared into the back.
THE CHEST featured Von crawling across the bar again, this time with an outfit change. She was wearing some kind of clear plastic bra, already filled with juices. I noticed the shift in music, which was a mixture of electronic beats over squeamish eating and drinking sounds. She prepared the dishes with a huge rosary of the same red fruit, which she prayed over before squeezing and juicing the fruit to a pulp, effectively destroying the rosary. A server grabbed some of the juice from Von’s boobs and threw it over the dishes. Alas, she crawled across the bar and exited again.
THE LEGS performance was some freaky shit. For the first time, the star of the show was not Von, but rather a couple. The relationship and chemistry between these two performers were absolutely electric. The priest donned needles, cleaned off the bride’s forehead with alcohol pads— this entire process was all very sanitary— and proceeded to pierce her. Not once, not twice, but at least six times, he pierced her forehead. After this, there is some slight bondage. Using rather large chain-links, the priest first tied up the bride. Then, rather shockingly, the priest revealed a scalpel— yes, a scalpel— to the audience, before bringing it to show the bride, who then nodded yes in response. He made incisions on the bride’s back in an X. They ended the performance by removing the needles from her forehead, and the priest guided the bride around the room with blood, REAL BLOOD, trickling down her face and back. They made out. This part was definitely the most unsettling and uncomfortable to watch. It was handled with such tact and precision, though, that it really allowed the performance to stay a performance. Consent was a decisive factor throughout the entire time, and the priest handled the bride with such concern and love. It was, simply put, beautiful.
THE FEET was high-energy and a great follow-up to the body horror that was previously presented. We were served a delicious dessert, and she crawled back out onto the bar. With a continuation of the religious imagery, she aggressively washed her feet, and the sonic environment intensified. She performed INSATIABLE; her stage presence was so enthralling, she danced around on the table and tore off clothes; the lights flashed. This was the performance of the night. She ended the same way she started, lying down flat on the table, covered with a cloth. This time, the servers worked together to carry her out of the room and out of sight.
EAT OR LEAVE HUNGRY was a thrilling and horrifying performance piece that addressed the distinctive intersection of eroticism, performance art, sonic excellence, fine dining, and religious iconography. Von, during the afterparty, expressed her gratitude and gushed over her team. "I think in a strange time when artists intake a lot of noise about why it's most optimal to reduce, condense, make more legible, more digestible literally, the work," she said, "I feel so grateful to kind of always find myself in a cohort of creatives that just ruthlessly reject that." EAT OR LEAVE HUNGRY was a fiercely provocative piece that wasn’t afraid of the fact that its content is shocking, or that it may not be palatable on a mainstream scale. Its artistic integrity is in the fact that you don't need to look far into Von to make the connection that this kind of work only comes from a deeply passionate, soulful person. So as I left that night, I was hungry. I was hungry for art, crazy sex, electronic music, dancing, and, most especially, Von’s god-damn album.
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Go Find Your People at Unsound
One thing you have to keep in mind when attending Unsound is that genre-bending is at its core. Those willing to go along for the journey of discovery with the artists are the ones who will leave having gained the most. The first Saturday of the festival, Arca presented AIRDOLL, a show featuring Bobby Beethoven, Mica Levi, KAVARI, and 2K88. The performances went until 3AM, and then it was time to head to the club just in time to catch VTSS’s infectiously dance-y set. It was a full-circle moment having her perform at Unsound, the place where she herself found an early appreciation for electronic music. That night, the party went until 9AM, and a line filled with chain-smoking cool kids (of all ages) wrapped around the block well into the early morning hours.
The next morning, festival-goers headed to Nowa Miodowa, a stunning concert venue situated in the heart of the city. Performances by the Milkweed and the legendary Klein were definitely curing hangovers boiling over from the night before. Klein strutted on- and off-stage in her distinctly unpredictable nature. After a costume change into a white tutu, industrial noises and jarring light design took center stage, lending her show a feel closer to political performance art. The sold-out crowd could not have been happier that Sunday morning, with many longtime fans in the audience trying to wrap their heads around their interpretation of the two avant-garde pieces.
Later that day, Arca hosted an intimate artist talk that paired nicely with the acts from the night before. Championing the idea that we should maintain an optimistic point of view, she inspired the room to pursue an unapologetic sense of self-expression in the face of judgment and hate. One moment that stood out was when she pointed out the importance of rage and anger. As someone who has had a hard time feeling these emotions herself, she noted how they can be channeled in a positive way and shouldn’t always be shied away from.
Heading into Sunday evening, the party couldn’t be stopped. Klub Ocski boasted a lineup that felt pretty unmissable. Pink Siifu, a rapper from Alabama with the freshest sound I’ve heard in a while, made it all the way to Poland. He had the crowd wrapped around his finger throughout, even getting hundreds of men to bark for him as he jumped off stage and ran through the middle of the crowd. This, combined with the impressive set design from Blackhaine’s moment, and NYC-based Debit’s cheeky Latin-techno beats, made for the highlight of the weekend.
Keeping in line with past years, Unsound has a community that makes the trek worth it. It brings together a group of welcoming individuals with a type of curiosity that is not always so easy to find. You can meet lawyers, club kids, musicians, health workers, creative directors, and locals all at one event. Throughout my time there, I met more than three couples who had met at Unsound and have been together ever since. There’s something beautiful in the air where you never know what the next performance or moment will hold. Whether that’s making a lifelong friend or finding novel inspiration for your own creative pursuits, Unsound will always challenge you to keep an open mind and leave you eager to return to your people next year.
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