We always cling to something or someone to believe in. We admire false idols, people we idealise, and end up putting them above ourselves. That’s what is about Protégé, the fourth single by Sumi X, a proposition that revives the pop vibes of the early 2000s while seeking to expand the boundaries of the genre.
Sumi X turned her dream into reality by moving to Los Angeles to try luck in the music industry. The artist has always been committed to creating possibilities, and she didn’t want to leave her artistic side behind. After leaving the tech company 5x Inc. that she founded in college, she took the plunge this year to become a songwriter, performer, and singer. Fortunately, her direction changed to what she is really good at. As a demonstration, her first single, Electric Baby, has received excellent reviews, and in less than a year, she has thousands of streams on Spotify.
With influences as diverse as John Coltrane to James Blake and from Pink to Pink Floyd, the artist navigates between themes of love and vulnerability, representing with her lyrics everything that makes us human. Protégé is about the process of searching for truth, a challenging mental game we’ve all fallen into. Have you ever put the wrong person on a pedestal? This situation can destroy anyone’s self-esteem, and that’s exactly what Sumi X expresses.
In the process, you slowly discredit yourself to please the other person in a desperate attempt to feel loved. And, as life is full of ironies, this person ends up distancing and leaving you behind. It’s not a taboo subject, we’ve all lost ourselves in the attempt to satisfy others. The expected ‘truth’ can never be found if we are not aware that it is in us. In essence, this song encourages us to let only ourselves dictate how we should live or love.