Interview by Divya Rawat and written by Erin Wen Ai Chew

It has been just over ten years since Korean Australian superstar singer Dami Im almost won Eurovision back in May 2016. Her career has always been large, since winning season 5 of Australia’s X-Factor back in 2013. It was this final where she really established a name for herself. That grand final performance on the 27 October, 2013 – required her to perform 3 songs:

• “Hero” by Mariah Carey – which was also her audition song;
• “Alive” by Im herself – which was the winning song single she performed;
• “And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going” by Jennifer Holliday, which was her last shot song and debuted at 29 on the ARIA Single’s Chart.

Reflecting upon her career from the start to the present, Im spoke about this and the responsibility she felt in not just representing herself but also representing Asian Australians in music.

“I remember when I won the X-Factor in 2013, no one expected an Asian woman to win such a popular mainstream TV show. People didn’t believe that the general public would vote for someone that looked like me”, Im discussed in an interview with Being Asian Australian.

“At any album signings, there were so many young Asian girls and their families who told me how encouraged they felt seeing someone like me on television. Moments like that reminded me that my visibility and public career meant something beyond just myself, that it represented something more meaningful for the Asian Australians”.

Born in Seoul, South Korea- Im grew up in a family where music played an integral part of her life/ At age 5 she began learning the piano and taught herself to sing by recording herself copying songs and artists she loved herself.

All these childhood experiences with music has moulded Im to who she was and is today. Now a mother herself, Im sees music as a huge part of her and her family’s life.

“When I first came to Australia from Korea when I was 9. I went to a very small school in Brisbane and even though I couldn’t speak English, friends and teachers noticed that I was good at the piano so music became a big part of my identity. I trained in piano, then later discovered a love of singing through my teenage years”.

“Writing songs helps me process my thoughts and emotions and I often draw on the inner conflict I’m going through… My last album was called In Between and it’s all about the feeling of being in between – between two different cultures, being a career driven woman to a mother, growing up in the church to working in the secular world.. You could say being in between is a running theme of my life”.

 Finally, Im touches on how much of her Korean identity she injects into her song writing and performing. Im is proud of her Korean identity and it shows in her music. For her incorporating her Korean-ness is part of her art and makes up who she is.

“I love being able to incorporate elements of my Korean culture into my art. On the In Between album, there is a song called Collide and in the music video I got to film on the beach wearing the Korean Hanbok. It felt like a beautiful reflection of the two cultures colliding together like waves of the sea crashing onto the shore”.

Im has been busy, with her EP “Stormy Weather” topping the Aria “Top 20 Jazz & Blues Albums” for the week of 22 June, 2026. Her new song “Sight Of You” is also out. For more information on her music and her upcoming tour dates, please visit her website by clicking here, or by going to: https://www.damiim.com. You can also check out her link tree by clicking here or going to: https://linktr.ee/dami.im?utm_source=linktree_profile_share&ltsid=93b7eedc-9da4-4b83-bda6-9fa84d0fd186.

Images via Dami Im’s Instagram and Facebook page