Sorn's newest single, “Not A Friend,” is a record that explores the complexity and volatility of modern friendships, a deep dive into the psyche of a starlet consumed with her own paranoia, unsure of who is truly on her side.

“To me, this song is about how complex modern friendships can be—and not just in the industry, but in general. I think it’s something everyone can at some level relate to. I’m just done with fake friends,” Sorn says.

“Not A Friend” is Sorn’s first release of 2023, in what is hoped to be a new era of her artistry. It features production by Grammy-nominated producer, Nick Lee, and also samples vocal basslines from Dharni, the Singaporean beatbox pioneer.

To commemorate Sorn's first release for this year, the singer caught up with allkpop to talk more about "Not A Friend," friendships, upcoming EP, and more.

You can also watch our video interview with Sorn here.

allkpop: First of all, congratulations on your new song! For "Not A Friend," you worked with Grammy-nominated producer, Nick Lee for this song. The record also samples vocal basslines from beatbox pioneer Dharni. Please tell us everything about "Not A Friend." Also, you mentioned in our last interview that you like taking control of your own work; you're credited as one of the songwriters for this track. What was it like preparing for your first 2023 release?

Sorn: Basically, "Not A Friend" is a song about toxic friendship and it's written through my personal story throughout the years after leaving Korea and coming into this new music market. I met a lot of new people and I've had my experience with people that came into my life with bad intentions. So, I thought this is a theme that a lot of people can be able to relate to because obviously as we get older, we meet more people in life, and not everyone comes into your life with good intentions, so I decided to write a song about it and my producer got inspired by Dharni. Dharni is a really famous and talented beatboxer. We started off writing on top of the beatbox track that he made, and that's how we came up with "Not A Friend." I thought it was gonna be a very relatable song for people to listen to. After the song came out, a lot of people were telling me that they can really relate to "Not A Friend" because they have also been through such a situation in life before.

allkpop: You also stated in our interview last year that when you're stressed these days, you're becoming more vocalized about what you're worried or stressed about instead of keeping it to yourself, which is I think what you're doing now! Being vocal about that issue of having fake friends. Do you also consider/believe that this release is something that opens a new era, opens something big for you? What makes "Not A Friend" so meaningful to you?

Sorn: While I was making "Not A Friend," I've been teasing about my upcoming release on social media quite often. And a lot of my fans were saying that "Sorn is finally in her toxic era." I don't know but I feel more expressive when it comes to my music, and I guess I feel more straightforward when it comes to lyrics, so you could say that I am in my "toxic era." I mean, technically, not really. With all the music that I'm doing, we're trying to be more straightforward when it comes to lyrics. I try to express more about how I feel through my music. You could say that I'm definitely entering a new phase when it comes to my music. This year, most of the themes for my music are going to be some Y2K feel, the early 2000s. You can think of Destiny's Child or Black Eyed Peas; we're trying to adapt that into Sorn's version, a 2023 version of that adaptation. If you look at "Not A Friend"'s fashion, you can also see that I've adopted a lot of Y2K fashion into the visuals.

allkpop: You said that this song is about how complex modern friendships can be. I know there are a lot of fake friends, I mean it's most, if not all, relatable to us. It's hard to know who really is by your side until that side of them comes out, but what does actually a good friend mean to you?

Sorn: A good friend is, I would say, someone who has your back and someone who looks out for you. Someone who comes into your life and gives you support without really wanting anything from you. I have experienced good friends and bad friends in my life, and I think I'm pretty lucky that I know when someone has bad intentions and wants to be part of my life just for their own benefit. I may be able to filter those people out of my life, but I know that I will be facing more people as I get older. So far, I've learned my lesson and I'm getting better at it but most of my good friends in my life are people who really stick by my side. Throughout my career in Korea, I did have my ups and downs. I was in a girl group and now I'm doing my solo music. I've been quite through a bit for myself, especially for the past year as a solo artist and on the friends that have been by my side or people who really really care for me both in my Korea path and personal life. You'll know yourself by spending time with them and you'll know who your real friends are especially when things are not doing really well, those people who really stick with you and show support even when things are not great are really a keeper. I'm grateful for those people.

allkpop: Speaking of fake friends. How do you handle them? How do you deal with such negativity that comes your way?

Sorn: How do I deal with fake friends? I don't know... I'm still trying to figure out how to deal with these fake people myself. But I think once I find out or feel the vibe that this person doesn't really have good intentions towards me, I kind of like stay away and try my best not to engage because most fake people, I feel like they want some sort of reaction from you, so I learn not to give them what they want, not to react the way they want. When you learn not to give them what they want, they will slowly disappear from your life. So I just learn not to engage and not to get myself into those dramas, and that's my best tip for anyone who's going into that type of fake friend situation at the moment.

allkpop: You performed at 'We The Fest' in Jakarta last year. How does it feel to be able to step on stage again and do a live performance in front of an audience? Also, do you have any rituals you do before going on stage?

Sorn: It felt really great to be able to be on stage and being on stage on my own, it kind of felt very lonely because it was my official first big stage after not being with my CLC girls. I felt really lonely during the start of the show because I was so used to having all my girls around me and filling the whole stage with all of our energy. It is quite a big shift for me because I had to learn to give out the energy I used to have when I had 6 other humans with me. But to be really honest with you when I first started the show, it was quite nerve-wracking, I was nervous. It was quite stiff for me at first. But then, throughout the whole show, I was able to kind of relax and be more comfortable during the show with my songs and performance. A bit of help was also a lot of my fans who came to see my performance. Seeing their face up in front of me really helped me a lot because I know that these people came to see me and to show support to me, and that really calms me down a lot, so I was really grateful to have them there that night. Also, to be honest, I feel like because I have the experience of being with the girls and performing all over the world, I feel like that really helped me a lot when I was doing my own show. I'm grateful to be able to go through that because that also helped me become myself, the soloist Sorn you guys know now.

Before going on stage, rituals... I would say because I'm Buddhist, what I do normally is to pray before I go up on stage. I normally carry incense with me and I will pray. I also make sure I find a big open space then there, I would pray and ask for spiritual energy, to give me the energy to perform on stage and to make sure that everything goes well that day. I will just put my incense and stab it on the ground, and that kind of helps me calm a little bit. It's a very religious thing, so I'm not sure if everyone's going to believe in it but for me, I've been doing this since I was really young.

allkpop: Speaking of live performances, when will we be seeing you on stage again? Your fans across different regions have been waiting for your tour!

Sorn: Me and my team have been really working hard on organizing a tour towards the end of this year. I'm really hoping to do a Southeast Asian tour, but I think we are almost there, we're still preparing. To be honest, I'm still on the stage of learning the choreography for my songs. I will let you guys know when exactly it's going to happen, but right now, we're in preparation mode; nothing is really confirmed yet but I'm really working hard to put on a best show for you guys when I have the chance to meet all of you. This year for sure, something will definitely happen. I know a lot of people have been waiting for a while now and I feel like I have enough songs to show with you. I'm excited to meet you in person.

allkpop: These days, social media is so powerful, especially TikTok in releasing music, making music known around the world, and making them viral. As a content creator, what are your thoughts on this? Are you planning on creating maybe a TikTok challenge?

Sorn: I feel like a TikTok challenge is always a must when an artist releases a song. It's how I get my fans engaged with the music and that's how I interact with my fans also on TikTok, so a challenge is always a must. Every time I release a new song, I try my best to be more creative with the challenges. I know there are a lot of my fans but they don't wanna dance, they don't wanna put their face out there, they don't wanna sing, so I try my best to keep everything very simple and make it creative also for those who really want to join the challenge and show their creative side. I know there's a lot of artists that do like all those dance challenges and all that stuff. I try to keep things more fun and more engaging. I think, especially during "Not A Friend," there's a lot of content that I'm making with the sound of "Not A Friend" on TikTok, there's a filter, there's a personalized content, there's a meme content. A trend is always a must, it's very important when you're trying to promote a song.

allkpop: The question I've been seeing is: When's the album coming? Your debut EP has been set for release in the near future. How's the preparation going so far?

Sorn: The EP prepping has been quite difficult at the moment because I'm traveling quite a bit. But we're getting there. I have a bunch of really exciting songs that I feel like everyone's going to love. I'm also challenging myself in so many different ways with this new music. I try my best to dance more and release faster tempo songs. It's been quite challenging especially when we're trying to keep everything within the theme of Y2K. Apparently, all songs need to be catered towards that theme, so that's why we have to be detailed on it and make sure listeners when they listen to my song, they hear this certain vibe and we keep it within this realm. I feel like I've learned so much about myself throughout this preparation. I also have a very talented team behind me and we're trying our best to put everything together so we can put out an EP because I wanna do more as always. I'm trying to aim for maybe an album, it might be a little difficult, but let's start with an EP first. Eventually, when I have enough good songs, instead of an EP, I'm aiming for a full album, possibly a physical album so that when I go on tour, you guys can have these albums purchased. I also really enjoy the whole process so far because I feel like I have this privilege where I can travel and I can also make music. Not a lot of people can do that so I'm super blessed to be able to do that both at the same time and meet so many new talented producers and music people.

allkpop: If there is this one thing you would want to remember for, what would it be?

Sorn: So, one thing I want people to remember as is, I guess... I wanna be known as an artist that makes good, relatable music, and someone who's a good person. I think this thing is important to the artist to be relatable. I want people to have a memory of me being that artist that they feel comfortable with. Not only an artist, but a friend or a family member that they can rely on and relate to—I think that's the most important.