Su Lee Forgot How to Make Friends
Music

Su Lee Forgot How to Make Friends

Su Lee is honestly just like us — she's forgotten how to make friends. Capturing our collective anxiety as we reenter the world and attempt to remember how to smile, strike up conversation or meet new people, the Korean artist's single, "Socially Alive," brings to life all these familiar insecurities over childlike, dream-pop production.

"'Socially Alive' is my confession of what goes through my mind when I'm around people," Lee says, explaining her playfully introspective lyrics that question whether or not she's being too shy or perhaps even a creep. "Regardless of how it may appear on the outside, I'm always terrified that I'll say or do something stupid."

The accompanying "Socially Alive" music video highlights all of Lee's quirks, as she runs alone around a park wearing a knitted monster hat and overalls. "I'm a little bit lonely, a little bit sad," she sings, before making the all-too relatable admission, "I"m feeling less and less like a human."

Lifted off Lee's forthcoming self-produced EP, Box Room Dreams, out August 26th, "Socially Alive" captures the honest, reflective songwriting that she unleashed in lockdown. "Having had my career as a musician launch almost simultaneously with the pandemic, this EP is kind of like my quarantine journal as a baby musician," she says.

While the topics addressed on Box Room Dreams unpack Lee's "heightened sense of loneliness, uncertainty and anxiety," the artist says she also wanted to ensure that she added "a hint of some magical daydreams and high hopes for the times ahead" throughout.

Watch the PAPER premiere of "Socially Alive," off Box Room Dreams, and stream Su Lee's single, below.

Photo courtesy of Su Lee