Interview with an Angel

Do You Believe in Angels? Interview with an Angel, Meaningful Stone’s second full-length album, started in a way most albums don’t: with a voice. Not hers. Not her producer’s. Something she heard during meditation, soft and sharp all at once. She calls it an angel.

         

So, she started talking back.

       

Each morning, like clockwork, the two of them would chat about nothing and everything. The lyrics wrote themselves. Every existential spiral, every morning-after clarity, every question too weird to Google. They all landed in her songs.

       

By the end of the album, she turns and asks us something. Quietly, curiously: Do you believe in angels? You can’t see them. You can’t text them. But you might feel them in the room. In this album, they hover right between the beat and the breath.

         

Welcome to the strange, shimmering universe of Meaningful Stone. Don’t forget to take off your shoes.

            

               

Stories like Clouds

On the beautiful, intimate beings appearing in her music: 

"I was lying, I wasn’t asleep when you called.

 I’ve actually been doing alright."

 

Q. Have you ever missed someone so much you wished you could talk to them, even if it had to be in a dream?

Funny thing is, this song wasn’t written with anyone specific in mind. Or maybe I haven’t figured out who yet. Sometimes I get this vague feeling, like I’ve been separated from someone I was close to before I was even born. A presence I can’t meet while living. A feeling that says, if I want to see them, it has to be through dreams or meditation. That’s why I keep closing my eyes.

            

"I want to believe what I see is real.

But is there such a thing as love that doesn’t fail?"

   

Q. I’d love to hear about a love that didn’t work out. But first, what even counts as a failed love?

The thing is, the person in this song is still in a relationship. It’s been going on for a while now, and maybe that’s why they feel like they’ve never really experienced a “failed” love.

The relationships before this one… they’re fuzzy. So far back in the past, I can hardly remember. Honestly, I’m kind of grateful my exes broke up with me. Otherwise, I might not have met the person I’m with now. In that sense, maybe those loves weren’t failures either. But back then, breakups felt like the end of the world. Like something had failed. I believed in everlasting love. Now I see things differently. Maybe love was never something you can win or lose. The truth is, I still don’t really know how to define love.

           

"I don’t want to tell my mom

I skipped class, she’d actually kill me if she knew

Swear you won’t tell anyone

Right now, in front of me."

  

Q. Is there a childhood memory that’s stuck with you? Or maybe your biggest moment of just getting away from it all for a bit?

The clearest memory I have is from when I was seven. My family had just moved to Bundang, and I made a friend at kindergarten named Heejin. One day, we went on a little adventure through the central park. We were only seven, but we felt fearless. It was a massive park, huge even for grown-up legs, but we walked and walked. We found an abandoned cart and took turns pushing each other in it. Caught tadpoles. Crossed bridges. It was one of those long, golden afternoons. Eventually, as the sun began to set, a woman stopped us and walked us home. After that, we started building secret hideouts in the woods where no one else went. That was our kingdom.

           

"Don’t look for me

I’m already right beside you."

   

Q. Is there a place you go when you don’t want to be found? A little escape hatch when you just want to disappear? And if the universe handed you that chance, where would you go now?

I used to have one. A personal hideout. But it’s been a long time since that space existed. If I ever get the chance again, I’d build a cabin in the forest. A wooden cabin, two stories high. Somewhere quiet and green and full of trees.

           

"Back then, I didn’t even know who I was living for."

   

Q. Who, or what, do you live for now?

Right now, I’m learning how to live for me. I used to think I had to mold myself to other people’s feelings. That if I wanted to be loved, I had to make myself smaller, more agreeable. But the order’s flipped now. I want to be my own best friend. My own protector. If I don’t want to do something, I won’t. If I do, I will. I’m trying to live that way.

I recently went on a solo trip to Thailand for about a month. I shuffled around my March schedule, pretty recklessly, actually, so I could make it happen. It’d been ages since I traveled alone for that long, especially while making music, and I needed it. To be a stranger in a strange place. There were moments that felt lonely and even scary, but I also felt more alive than I had in a long time. I got to see the old thought patterns and behaviors I’d outgrown and started shifting them. It changed something in me. I want to do that more often.

             

          

Q. Oh, one more thing. That line, “The one saving the world isn’t you, it’s a pink cat paw,” hit hard. Was that pulled from personal experience? Because we spotted an extremely adorable cat on your Instagram…

That’s right. It’s my cat, Godol. That line is totally about him. Watching the news these days is exhausting. There are people out there saying they’re saving the world, but half the time their actions are hurting others. I think we need to be cautious with that kind of grand talk. Be honest instead. I honestly believe my sweet little cat does more good for the world than anyone out there declaring martial law.

           

"One thing’s for sure, we’re all going to die someday."

   

The theme of death echoes throughout many of your songs. Each narrator seems to confront it with their own voice and their own version of reflection. If you had just one day left to live, how would you spend it?

I think it’d look a lot like today. Except I wouldn’t hide my feelings at all. I’d tell the people I love (my family, my friends) how much I love them. No holding back. I’d spend every second saying it all.

            

          

To My Dear, Dear Taste

Because understanding others starts with something as small and sincere as personal taste.

               

Q. Favorite flower?

Lotus

             

Q. Favorite Food?

Thom Yum Goong

         

Q. Favorite Sports?

Yoga

        

Q. Favorite color?

Teal

         

Q. Favorite Actor?

Koo Kyo-hwan

        

Q. Favorite Musician? (It’s obvious, but we still have to ask)

Lee Sang-eun

            

Q. Favorite Designer?

Vivienne Isabel Westwood

It’s not just her fashion I admire. It’s everything. Her whole existence. She carried punk spirit through every step of her life. Her style, of course, but also her activism, her work for human rights and the environment. She moved through the world with integrity and wildness. What stuck with me most was her stance against fast fashion. Buy less, choose well. That’s the most sustainable thing you can do. It really resonated.

             

Q. One beloved personal item?

My moonstone necklace and my acoustic guitar.

             

              

Q. Most memorable stage look?

The one from my solo concert Doljanchi (First Birthday), held this February at Nodeul Island in Seoul. It was my first solo show ever, so I poured so much love into it, including the outfit. My stylist made it for me from scratch, with the concept of medieval armor. The body chains, the accessories, the details, they were exactly what I’d dreamed of.

             

ⓒMeaningful_stone instagram          

               

A Melody Between You and Me

The softest feeling in the world: connection.

             

Q. The keyword that runs through Interview with an Angel, and honestly, probably all of your work, is connection. Maybe not just in music, either. It feels like your entire creative life is built around staying connected, and keeping others connected, too. So, when have you felt that connection most powerfully while making music?

That would be during my solo concerts on March 22 and 23. For once, I let go of the pressure to do everything perfectly. I performed for myself. With ease. With joy. That’s when I started seeing the audience not as a crowd, but as people. I felt their hearts. Their energy came to me like smoke rising from a warm fire. I was happy. So happy that I thought: I want to keep doing this forever.

          

Q. Have you ever felt that same sense of connection through another art form? If so, when? With what?

Dance. Lately I’ve been deep into something called contact improvisation. It’s a movement practice more than a “dance” really, that’s all about connecting with others. There are no rules. You move however your body wants to move. You tune into your own frequency. And then, when your body touches someone else’s, you react to their energy. Every time I dance this way, I feel my faith in humanity grow a little. We comfort each other. We understand each other. Without speaking. Without explanation. Sometimes what we need most isn’t words, it’s eye contact. A hug.

           

Q. If you could ask an angel for three wishes right now, what would they be?

1. Help me always remember who I am and where I came from.

2. Give me the ability to heal people.

3. Let me meet an alien.