Latest / 987 The Shock Circuit / INTERVIEW: JASMINE SOKKO

Transcript

INTERVIEW: JASMINE SOKKO · 987 The Shock Circuit

• 0:03
  Speaker 1: And you know what, I think we've been very blessed
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: this morning because despite how tired we are, she has
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: officially shown up and she's gonna give us the energy
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: we need now. Yeah, so as always I love giving guest,
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: please go ahead and she's a friend of ours too.
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: Ladies and gentlemen, our guest at this point in time
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: on our show is somebody who when we first played
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: the songs on 987, I said, can you please play
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: more of her? This is music of the future.
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: And all the things that she has put out on
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: 987 has kind of stood the test of time. We
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: could play her very first single today and it will
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: still sound current. Ladies and gentlemen, I'm so proud she
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: has an NDP song and she's performing for This Is NDP.
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: Say hello to Jasmine.
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: We're so excited for you, girl. Like every time you
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: come to this studio, it's for a different reason, and
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: it's always a milestone almost, I feel, right? Do you
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: realize the very first time we had Jasmine Soko 2017.
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: That was when she was visor and mask era. Then
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: every year we have a slowly it comes off. It changes. Yeah.
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: So actually I remember at one point, right, I had
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: very curious friends who were asking me, hey, do you
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: know how Jasmine actually looks like?
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: They were still wondering at one point.
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: Tell me, the last time I came with Advisor, I
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: took it off, right? Yes,
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: I did. As
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: we saw, we saw you, we saw you. And then
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: we did that was when you had a tired, not tired,
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: we did a lip sync with you if I'm not wrong.
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: It
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: was so bad.
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that was like in 2019 or 2018.
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: We could go into the whole history of Jasmine Sokol,
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: but let's focus on why she's here this morning. National
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: Day Parade is happening. Can you believe it? Almost 10 days' time. Yeah,
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: it's insane. How does that make you feel like it's
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: inching so close now, Jasmine?
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: Wow, it's, it's so surreal. It's my first time doing
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: National Day. So like to see the entire Singapore being
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: in the mood.
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: I think it's so, it's really differently and I feel
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: so proud to be a Singaporean.
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: I
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: think it's
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: like so long overdue actually for Jasmine, right? Like I
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: don't know how much you go OK.
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: I feel it's so interesting because I've always said this,
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: you are long overdue an NDP song and you finally
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: get one at the stadium, a beautiful venue. What was
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: it like receiving the call? Where were you when the
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: call came in saying, hey Jasmine, yeah, you've been selected
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: to write a song for NDP 2026?
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: OK, so I received an email. OK. Yeah, and then I,
• 2:31
  Speaker 2: I was like, um, when we reached out and he was,
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: he said, uh, would you like to be a part
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: of NDP in a huge
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: Way and I was like, but music is the only
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: thing I can do, yeah. So then, um, we almost
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: immediately got onto a call where the aerial performance idea
• 2:53
  Speaker 2: floated across and I was so excited. Yeah, I think
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: it was like Brian, the creative director, he mentioned something
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: about Jasmine, are you opening to perform in air and
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: before he could end the question, I went like, yes, yes,
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: I love skydiving.
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I didn't realize that actually you, have you done
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: skydiving before? I did. Oh, so this is no problem
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: for you, like whatever's been going on in rehearsals.
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: Oh, here we go, here we go. She loves it.
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: I'm assuming I
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: do. You do, right? I look
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: forward to it every week.
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: And so for the song you'll be OK. I mean,
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: was this already in the vault of Jasmine Soko like
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: you had something on standby and say, hey, maybe this
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: could work for NDP or was it a brand new
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: song you wrote, composed and all that?
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: So a few years ago, me and Josh, the producer
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: songwriter friend, we were
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: Just making a song for fun. So we made like
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: a 12th snippet. So it was sitting in my vault
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: and then when NDP happened and when I needed to
• 3:57
  Speaker 2: create a song, I realized all my songs are way
• 3:59
  Speaker 2: too dark. This one song is like cherry and we
• 4:04
  Speaker 2: didn't know like where to place it. Yeah, so then
• 4:08
  Speaker 2: I called Josh up and I was like, Josh, you
• 4:09
  Speaker 2: want to work on it or not? Like it's gonna
• 4:11
  Speaker 2: take an.
• 4:12
  Speaker 2: Unexpected turn and then we got into a studio and
• 4:15
  Speaker 2: I would say like 95% of it, we started from
• 4:18
  Speaker 2: scratch but that 12th snippet was done maybe like 2
• 4:22
  Speaker 2: years
• 4:23
  Speaker 2: ago.
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: So when you had that 12th snippet versus when you
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: actually fully completed the song for NDP 2026, did the
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: meaning of it change along the way because you know,
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: you develop it so much,
• 4:35
  Speaker 2: right? Yeah. So interestingly,
• 4:39
  Speaker 2: The 10 minute snippet, no 12th snippet was actually the intro. Hm.
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: Hang on. Oh, it's OK. Go ahead. Yeah, and on Sunday. Yes.
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: Do you need some water? OK. You're gonna get some
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: water first. Anyway, while you do that, there's a lot
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: of love coming through on TikTok Live right now. People
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: saying that song really suits you. You're gonna shine so brightly.
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: I'm really excited to see your performance. OK, so you
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: can carry on now.
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: You alright? Are you OK?
• 5:11
  Speaker 2: I'm good.
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: OK.
• 5:12
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so what happened was we got into the studio
• 5:17
  Speaker 2: and then we, we talked about how we feel as
• 5:22
  Speaker 2: Singaporeans and also like how things are, what things are
• 5:25
  Speaker 2: going on, and then what kind of song we want
• 5:28
  Speaker 2: to create if we get this opportunity, right? So then
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: I would say before that that song was.
• 5:35
  Speaker 2: Just a 12th like fun happy kind of tune, but
• 5:40
  Speaker 2: then after knowing it's for NDP it came with a
• 5:44
  Speaker 2: lot more purpose and then I remember like for one
• 5:47
  Speaker 2: month Josh and I were just like talking about the
• 5:50
  Speaker 2: song back and forth
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: and it
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: has to have like themes you know at the back
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: of your mind you're like it has to be uplifting,
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: inspiring or quite literally uplifting actually.
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: And so much more right beneath the surface.
• 6:01
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I would, I would say like the lyrics is
• 6:03
  Speaker 2: one part and then the other thing like Josh and
• 6:05
  Speaker 2: I were trying to balance was how do we try
• 6:09
  Speaker 2: to keep the soco sound, but at the same time
• 6:12
  Speaker 2: like create something that people from different walks of life
• 6:16
  Speaker 2: could relate to something accessible that we could see the
• 6:19
  Speaker 2: kids singing for me, my main motivation was really that
• 6:22
  Speaker 2: any shows like the P.
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: Yes, I mean I heard that they love it. They
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: loved it. So, OK, I mean, not a spoiler anymore
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: because you've seen so many TikTok videos of it, right?
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: So when, when chapter 5 starts, it's her. So Janine
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: Soko leads chapter 5. It's go beyond, and then you
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: see all these words that come out on the screen.
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: It's almost, it's very her like we're entering the Matrix,
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: we're gonna see Jasmine Sok Jasmine's world, yeah, Jasmine's. And
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: then when she comes down from the queue and all
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: the kids go.
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: They're probably like, wow, yeah, yeah. Yeah, I saw a
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: TikTok video. Jasmine Soko can seal the horn moon.
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: I agree. I agree. Wait, there was so much mention
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: of this 12th snippet. What was in that snippet? Is
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: it the chorus you'll be OK? She said the intro.
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: The audio intro.
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: OK, there we go.
• 7:07
  Speaker 2: I would sing.
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: Not right now. It's OK. It's OK. Save it. OK.
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: We're gonna go for a quick break. When we come back, um,
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: maybe we'll have some behind the scenes chats on TikTok
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: Live first, and then more on her performance and what
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: else is there to look forward to for the rest
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: of the year since we're going to August tomorrow, can
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: you believe it? But our guest today is just iconic.
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: No mistake about it. Jasmine Soko still here in the studio.
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: You recognize this song.
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: Straight up NDP 2026 and she's still live with us.
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: Would you say it's the happiest Jasmine Soko song you've
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: ever heard.
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: Totally is, I think. There we go. So, um, let's
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: go to the performance itself. First rehearsal, when they put
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: you up 30 m in the air to the queue.
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: Give us your feels and your feelings. Were you excited
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: or were you like, oh, OK, what's happening here?
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: Woo hoo.
• 7:59
  Speaker 2: I think I just came back to Singapore then and
• 8:03
  Speaker 2: then what happened was, I remember, oh damn, it's 30 m.
• 8:07
  Speaker 2: But then, like I have no idea how high that
• 8:10
  Speaker 2: was,
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: you know, honestly, I, I did a cliff jump 10 m.
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: I thought 10 m, but it looked quite scary when
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: you get there. I can't imagine 30.
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: Oh, right,
• 8:21
  Speaker 2: you have no idea until you're there. Yeah. So then
• 8:24
  Speaker 2: the first time I went up, I, I expected myself
• 8:27
  Speaker 2: to be scared. Yeah, but then it was like incremental
• 8:31
  Speaker 2: 2 m.
• 8:32
  Speaker 2: 10 m and in case I cannot go above that
• 8:35
  Speaker 2: like the team already had a second like plan to
• 8:38
  Speaker 2: like do something else yeah and then I went up
• 8:41
  Speaker 2: 30 and then I was like wow, I love it. Yeah,
• 8:46
  Speaker 2: and I was like I'm gonna look forward to rehearsal
• 8:49
  Speaker 2: every week.
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: When did you start rehearsing with the stadium itself or?
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: Wow, OK.
• 8:58
  Speaker 2: Because there's no way,
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: how would you
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: otherwise? No, but I can't imagine it really adds an
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: element to that performance. Yeah. So, I mean, you know,
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: with a lot of people in the comment section now
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: saying that, you know, it has empowered them, they can
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: relate to this song, because I guess in the title itself,
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: it's you'll be OK, right? Did you find yourself having
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: to tell yourself that at any point in time?
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: Throughout this journey, throughout this whole process, because it can
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: be very nerve-wracking doing such a big performance.
• 9:28
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so interestingly, I do that so often because of
• 9:33
  Speaker 2: the nature of my job and how uncertain a lot
• 9:36
  Speaker 2: of things are and also how the world is, you
• 9:40
  Speaker 2: like in my position, I feel like I'm always dealing
• 9:43
  Speaker 2: with uncertainty and always telling myself that maybe.
• 9:46
  Speaker 2: Things when things get more certain, then I'll be more
• 9:49
  Speaker 2: happy but then along the way I realized that rather
• 9:53
  Speaker 2: than waiting for certainty, it's more about developing a relationship
• 9:58
  Speaker 2: with uncertainty. So then I learned to be more, I
• 10:02
  Speaker 2: guess like open in a sense of like I'm OK
• 10:06
  Speaker 2: not knowing what's going to happen now and you know
• 10:09
  Speaker 2: if I could make it.
• 10:10
  Speaker 2: Through like everything in the past, I'm going to be
• 10:14
  Speaker 2: fine again in the future or like with whatever I
• 10:17
  Speaker 2: am dealing with right now.
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: I think it's being comfortable with being uncomfortable, right, in
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: a way, yeah. So your, your own self-mantra has kind
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: of like become a song to the world in that sense,
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: what you tell yourself that ITok out of time.
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: Before they come back live on air. So this is
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: a very upbeat version. People love it. Will there be
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: a more, how, how, how do I say this, a
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: more emotional or feels version of you'll be OK in
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: a way, can we expect something like that in the future?
• 10:49
  Speaker 2: I'm definitely open to the idea because I think the
• 10:54
  Speaker 2: current version works so well with the drones and performing
• 10:57
  Speaker 2: in air, but once I'm on the ground.
• 10:59
  Speaker 2: And then once I have to perform in a scenario
• 11:03
  Speaker 2: where it's not upbeat, yeah, I could see myself like
• 11:07
  Speaker 2: doing a more
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: stripping it down.
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: OK, cool. Well, you know what, lots to look forward
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: to and I cannot wait to see the actual day performance.
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: I know we're all psyched up about it.
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: Um, after NDP is over, what happens? Anything that you
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: can share that you're working on or any travels that
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: you have?
• 11:24
  Speaker 2: So I've been working on new music already with a
• 11:27
  Speaker 2: friend and then um.
• 11:30
  Speaker 2: Yeah, but that's about it.
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: She can't.
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: OK, can I ask one last question? Sure, before we
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: wrap it up? Yeah. Never in my entire life would
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: I have imagined Jasmine Soko doing choreo on stage. OK.
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: She has a dance choreo for the song. Who's who,
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: who thought the moves? Was it you or was it Megan?
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: Was it Amanda, the arrow dancers, by the way, or
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: was it Andy, the chief choreographer? Oh,
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: can you say? Yeah,
• 11:54
  Speaker 2: yeah. So I would say.
• 11:56
  Speaker 2: And he knew that was going to be a choreography
• 11:58
  Speaker 2: and then I think Shah was the one that actually
• 12:01
  Speaker 2: taught me.
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: Yeah,
• 12:03
  Speaker 2: and then he
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: choreographed on the spot.
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: Can I, can I just admit something, having been involved
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: in a few NDPs now, uh, every time they have
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: the choreo, right, and when the host have to do
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: like a choreo, they will have like, you know, this
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: is a bit of a behind the scenes thing, OK.
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: The first few rehearsals, they will have the choreographers stand
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: in front of us to mirror us, to show us,
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: and I'm just staring at them like I'm not even
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: blinking and I'm trying to follow like I relate so hard.
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: So I think for for this year I want to
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: give a huge shout out to Andy, Eileen and Shariel
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: for leading us in the choreo. Andy posted a video
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: of it, by the way, so you can see all
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: of us looking at him like, OK, I think.
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: They're even like, OK, guys, by the time this rehearsal hits,
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: there'll be no more like choregos standing in front of you. OK,
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: I cannot, I'm panicking. I'm panicking. What do I look at?
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: I need to look at something. Then I look at Joakim.
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: And if one person messes up, we all mess up. Firstly,
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: I'm the worst person to look at. Can I, can
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: I tell you, Ben King of all people who was
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: standing behind me, um, two years back, sorry, 2024, said
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: that he was staring.
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: at me. He was following my moves. I'm like, Ben,
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: big mistake. Ben, please don't follow me. That's not the
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: worst mistake of your life. Do not
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: follow.
• 13:20
  Speaker 2: Come on guys, I would, I would follow.
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: Anyway, we're gonna hit play on your song for NDP
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: of 2026. You'll be OK. We're still live on TikTok
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: right now just to say a proper goodbye over there. Jasmine,
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: thank you for being with us today. Always a
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: pleasure.
• 13:34
  Speaker 2: Oh, thanks for having me. Please
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: hit us up anytime and come back again very soon, OK?