The Mixtape
2005 – Real love by Beatles
2008 – Sunny by Boney M.
2010 – Dolmaro by Jannabi
My Mixtape Autobiography
2013 – Roar by Katy Perry
(2003-present)
2019 – Champagne Supernova by Oasis
By Emily Kwon
Sunny
Real Love
2008
2005
Sunny
The first memory I have of formally learning something is
Thank you for the sunshine bouquet
attending a ballet class in my neighborhood as a two-year-old.
Sunny
Once a week, my mom would take me to a community center
Thank you for the love you brought my way
located in Lotte Mall and watch me as I struggled to mimic the
You gave to me your all and all
teacher’s poses. My short and stiff limbs would never succeed
And now I feel ten feet tall
to reenact her graceful motion, but I remember acting as if I
Sunny one so true, I love you
were a little fairy lost in wonderland. The pink fairy wand was
always with me during the ballet classes. Even though I did not
When I was six, my life could not be fully explained without
like dancing, I loved the two-hour trip to wonderland with my
talking about my little brother. He was my sidekick and I was
mom. It was real love I felt.
his as we wrecked the house in search of the lost treasures.
Just like little girls and boys
One particular day remains vivid in my mind. I was a secret
Playing with their little toys
FBI agent trying to sneak out information from a giant wooden
Seems like all we really were doing
cabinet. Wearing a blue shirt and a black blazer that my cousin
Was waiting for love
handed down to my brother, I discretely advanced my way to
my dad’s study, making sure he was not there to stop us. My
It’s real love
partner in crime wore his pants backwards and followed me
It’s real
close behind. The time came, and we bravely entered the
Yes, it’s real love
enemy camp and knocked down the cabinet. The result? We
It’s real
were captured by the enemy and were forced to surrender.
The fights and arguments we have, however many and intense
they are, cannot deter the bond we share. He is and will always
be the source of sunshine to me.
Dolmaro Roar
2010 2013
It was a bright summer afternoon. Cicadas screamed their When my mom, my brother, and I came to the United States in
summer songs. Winds were heavy from the recent heat wave. 2013, leaving the rest of our family in Korea, our future was
School had ended a few weeks ago, but my friends and I vague to me. I was scared of starting school.
gathered at the playground as part of a daily ritual.
“Mom, when do you think we’ll go back?” I asked.
“Do you guys want to play hide-and-seek?” somebody said.
“Well, I don’t know. Our plan is to stay here for a year,” she
“We did that yesterday! Let’s play cops-and-robbers today,” replied.
someone else suggested.
My mom’s answer did not comfort me at all. I could sense that
Tag, you’re it! The game for the day began. I laughed and she was hiding her own concerns and fears. It was her first time
laughed as we ran around all parts of the neighborhood. One of being in charge of her two children by herself, after all. It was a
my crocs was lost along the way and I had to go into the empty different country she had to do this.
school yard to fetch it, but it was not a problem.
You held me down, but I got up
Someday when I am forgotten Already brushing up the dust
Come here to Dolma-ro You hear my voice, you hear that sound
A place where my youth lives Like thunder gonna shake the ground
It waits for me forever
I remember thinking to myself not to be discouraged. I
Dolma-ro was the street I lived in. It was a part of me that reminded myself that I can do this. I looked out the car window
watched me grow. It is where my young days still live, and stared at the stars. Katy Perry’s song was sounding from
completely free of worries. the radio, and I felt as if she was speaking to me personally.
Champagne Supernova
2019
It was homecoming day my junior year. I got ready in my
magenta dress, and Sarah did my makeup. Four of my friends
and I got in the car, and Sarah’s mom drove us to Balboa Park.
Homecoming was a success, but what came after really made
our day.
When we came out of the venue, stars were bright in the night
sky. I thought they were flowing out of the sky, ready to drop
on top of us. All of us were lost in awe, and no one said a
word. Yet, we all understood each other at that moment. Words
were unnecessary under those stars.
I remember thinking that the friends I have were brighter than
those stars. That the memories we made were even brighter,
and that our high school days will never come back, so we
have to live it to the fullest.
Someday you will find me
Caught beneath the landslide
In a champagne supernova in the sky
Someday you will find me
Caught beneath the landslide
In a champagne supernova
A champagne supernova in the sky
