’Things have moved really quickly’: Dami Im a viral hit in China
Dami Im’s 2015 song, Smile has gone viral on China’s version of TikTok, Douyin after it caught the attention of a a significant global player.
Confidential
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A nine-year-old song has sent Dami Im viral in China.
She’s now rushing to capitalise on the moment after her 2015 track, Smile, became an unexpected hit on China’s version of TikTok, Douyin.
“We are now trying to actually do a tour,” Im told The Daily Telegraph.
“Things have moved really quickly.”
Im, 35, didn’t initially know why the song took off.
Putting on her private investigator hat, the perplexed singer found the song had been picked up as the theme track to a campaign for soft drink giant Pepsi.
“Everyone is needing to promote their stuff on TikTok and social media these days,” Im explained.
“It is hard to make stuff constantly and I forget to make it for months. Then this happened without me trying. It is good when it happens but then you have got to move quickly, otherwise it will be over just like that.”
Im’s career is also taking off in Korea, where she was born before her family moved to Australia when she was aged nine.
She triumphed in the latest episode of Immortal Songs there, the prime time show featuring seven contemporary singers performing their reinterpreted versions of songs by the same legendary singer.
Singing in Korean, Im likened the song she chose to an Australian anthemic classic like Great Southern Land.
“I love doing stuff in Korea, my family gets really excited,” she said.
“My aunties came and I am getting messages from all of my old friends. I’ve done things (in Korea), bits and pieces but not consistently. I am trying to be a bit more consistent now.”
Im’s story piqued interest in Korea when she won The X Factor Australia in 2013 and she subsequently appeared on The Masked Singer there.
She represented Australia at the Eurovision Song Contest in Stockholm in 2016 with Sound of Silence and placed second overall.
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