Tiffany Young is on her way to world diva

Aug 5, 2019

Tiffany Young, a member of Girl's Generation, sings at her solo concert "OPEN HEARTS EVE" held at Yes 24 Live Hall, Gwangjin-gu, Seoul, Saturday.

There is a stereotype that K-pop idol group members cannot sing properly. However, Tiffany Young, a member of Girl's Generation, breaks that perception. Now it is more apt to call her a "pop singer," ― a singer not only limited to K-pop.

Tiffany Young held her solo concert "OPEN HEARTS EVE" at Yes 24 Live Hall in Gwangjin-gu, Seoul, Saturday. This was her first solo concert in Seoul in three years, since she moved back to Los Angeles in 2018, starting a new path in the United States with a new agency Transparent.

Tiffany appeared in silhouette in the midst of dancers who ran around with pink balls that lit up, swirling like planets in the universe. Posing like a diva, she rose up from underneath the stage and walked down the stairs while singing "Over My Skin." Her silver hair shone, as did her sparkling dress.

Tiffany's songs and performance was reminiscent of Ariana Grande. Her vocal range and volume were impeccable, and her "acting" and hand gestures were perfectly in control, and showed the composure of a singer with 12 years of experience on stage.

Although she no longer had seven other members behind her, she was still a seductive, sexy and strong independent woman, with tracks like "Teach You," "Heartbreak Hotel" and "I Just Wanna Dance."

Yet her solo concert consisted of many other songs and covers. Here, some may say her identity faded, but the concert was filled with diversity.

Besides her own songs, she sang a few covers of foreign artists, such as "Unpretty" by TLC, Coldplay's "A Sky Full of Stars" and "City of Stars" from "La La Land." After singing "La La Land" songs, she talked about moving to L.A. in 2018, starting her career as a solo artist in the U.S.

"Many people said I was crazy for leaving Korea and moving to L.A," she said. "But there were so many people helping me too, including producers who made me keep striving for new things. I have been waiting to sing 'City of Stars' for you guys. This was the very song that inspired me when I moved back to L.A."

Tiffany confessed she had been struggling after she went back to L.A., went to acting school for a year, while consistently making tracks. Although many people said she was not good enough, she was able to experiment with different sounds and messages there.

Tiffany Young sings for the fans who requested her songs at the spot.

Several other celebrities attended the concert, including Bora from Sistar, Uhm Jung-hwa, and of course, Soo-young and Seo-hyun from Girl's Generation.

Tiffany performed an homage to Uhm, one of the first generation K-pop singers, by singing "Invitation" with hand fans as a prop, just like Uhm did in 1998. After the performance, Uhm stood up and sent her kiss from the second floor of the concert hall.

"I wanted to pay tribute to my loving divas. They have been my inspiration since I debuted and I covered their music whenever I had the chance," Young said with admiration. "For me, Uhm gave me the biggest motivation to become a singer."

She went back to her Girl's Generation roots as she sung "Run Devil Run," and "Runaway" that was composed by Soo-young. The three Girl's Generation members gathered on stage, after someone yelled "Come up on stage!"

The three members sung requested songs including "Into the New World." The surprise gathering certainly satisfied the fans because most of them seemed to be Girl's Generation fans rather than just Tiffany Young fans.

The concert ended in a flood of tears, as fans showed a special video clip for Tiffany when she turned her back to take a picture with the fans. The fan-made clip showed Tiffany Young's12-year journey, and what she said to empower other people as well as herself. Tiffany thanked her fans for giving her a home for her music.

Tiffany recently won the iHeartRadio Music Award for Best Solo Breakout in March, and what seemed the end of her music career in Korea brought a new, bigger path into the new world.

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