Former Journalist Becomes R and B Singer

Sobae, real name Kim Ji-young, is an aspiring Korean-American singer-songwriter.

But one thing surprising fans of her music is her unlikely former career ? she was a journalist.

The 26-year-old R and B singer chose to pursue music as a career with her 2017 debut single "Switch Up," leaving behind her promising future as a broadcast journalist.

"Everyone thought it was nuts. They were like why are you doing this right now? I thought about this 100 times," the artist, a graduate of the master's program at Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism, said during a recent interview with The Korea Times.

As a student journalist, she's met various people from gang members to politicians and lawyers to homeless people. When she was in Chicago, she and a camera partner often went to the south side, one of the most dangerous areas of the city, risking her own safety for a good story. She has recorded narrations on the road, and used an editing program to piece together news in order to deliver it to the newsroom right on time.

"My journalism experience taught me how to thrive under pressure, vicariously experience others' stories. But also it was like a really cool experience," she said. She had chances to report on White House briefings as well as Congress and the Pentagon.

"Reporters are constantly interacting and engaging with so many people, so to maintain our credibility ? you have to keep a distance. But that's also what I think drove me away from it," the artist said. "If I speak with somebody, I can't help but let my heart out to them and I want to listen to them instead of just reporting the news and moving on. Which is such an important thing to do. Somebody needs to serve a watchdog function, maintain their objectivity, but I was like I can't this is not for me."

After quitting journalism, she worked for an environmental NGO in Korea, but still she says she felt "dead on the inside." So when she returned home from work and started trying another passion for life: she taught herself to compose and sing songs.

With her song, a mash-up of four different songs she produced, she met her current label ILZO and CO. Since then, she has released four singles and toured U.S. cities with Korean rappers San E and Mad Clown.

"There are people who since the...