Dami Im On Going Unexpectedly Viral: 'TikTok Wasn’t A Thing When This Song Came Out!'

Almost a decade after its initial release, Dami Im’s hit single, Smile, has gone viral in China. 

We check in with Dami to discuss why she’s suddenly big in China and how her team plans to capitalise on this viral moment by locking in some Chinese tour dates.

Dami Im cheat sheet

This chart-topping, Platinum-certified, South Korea-born artist moved to Australia with her family when she was nine and has said she learnt how to speak English “through listening to pop music like the Spice Girls and Mariah Carey” (she auditioned for The X Factor with Mariah’s Hero).  

Winner of The X Factor and The Masked Singer Australia, Dami also placed second at Eurovision and was handpicked by the Australian government to record a new version of our national anthem, backed by the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra.  

Smile’s Chinese TikTok takeover 

“The song Smile came out in 2015 – it’s a while ago now! – and it was used for a Pepsi commercial in China and Taiwan. Then, a month or two ago, my management team just kept getting tonnes and tonnes of Google alerts of my name popping up, and they looked at it, and it was, yeah! We were trying to figure out, like, ‘Wow, what’s happening? How can it be?’ – just trying to get our heads around what was actually going on. 

“Smile has been used for Chinese TikTok videos and it was being Shazamed in China – in Taiwan, as well – and so that was my most-Shazamed song.

“It’s so random! That’s why it took us ages to figure out, like, ‘Why are they doing this? What happened?’ There’s also the language barrier and, you know, the Internet in China’s obviously very different to what we have here. It’s all very confusing.” 

“It’s not even a dance or a particular trend as such, it’s just like, ‘Yeah, I know this song, let’s go!’ [TikTokers] just use the song as background music or even put the lyrics on screen and then put whatever they wanna put – like, a lot of them use scenes out of their favourite movie, or a TV series, other times it’s their dog or their child. I think they just go, ‘Oh, yeah, I know this song. I’ll use it.’ 

“And it’s really great because, you know, every artist is trying to get a viral moment with their song. Whether they want to or not, that’s something we all have to do – hosting and making content for TikTok – and so for it to just happen without any effort is fantastic [laughs]—very exciting times.

“[Having a viral moment] is a very new, contemporary thing, right? I’ve always done it the old-school way, trying to just release songs, promote it and perform it on TV and big platforms, so going viral – I can’t get my head around it! Unless it happens organically, I don’t know how to do it.”

Charting in China 

Smile also entered several Chinese music charts, including the China Top 40, where it maintained a steady presence and peaked at #32 earlier this year.

“The landscape’s definitely changed” 

“The landscape’s definitely changed so much, and it’s not so much about labels and marketing plans – like, every marketing plan is TikTok and a viral moment – so we get the numbers, the team can track what’s going on and all of that. And I think things are moving at such a rapid pace – things are developing, the systems and how the industry works – that nobody really knows what’s right or wrong anymore, you know?”

On artists composing with TikTok in mind

“TikTok wasn’t a thing when this song came out!” Dami points out, laughing. “I mean, people do [write songs to court TikTok] – 100 per cent – and I don’t think there’s anything wrong with it, necessarily. Because you always have to fit the format and go with the era of what you’re living through, people are adapting so that they have a better chance at [having a song] cutting through, so I think there’s nothing wrong with it. 

“I try not to think about it, personally, because then it’s like another layer of something that just restricts me from doing what I really wanna create. But I think it’s good to keep in mind, like, people have really short attention spans, so try not to – I mean, it’s in my nature that I don’t wanna bore people… So, I do try to keep that attitude in mind when I create. But it’s not necessarily like, [puts on comical voice] ‘Oh, this might go viral…’” she trails off, laughing. “I don’t really have the brain to be able to do that.”

Capitalising on a viral moment 

“There’s no one right way to do it, so when something unexpected like this happens, it’s important to try to grab it and see where it takes me. 

“We plan what we’re gonna do – booking tours and new releases and all that – almost two years in advance, but then when something like this happens, we just have to be flexible and try to keep things a bit more open and, yeah, just work around what we already have in place.

“I mean, the good thing is that I had already planned more activity over in Korea. I just filmed a TV show [Immortal Song] – a big music show that’s going to air this weekend [14 September], over in Korea.

“[Immortal Song] is a music show for established singers, and you do get a ranking at the end of it – like, the audience in the studio votes on the night – so it’s a competition. But it’s more like a concert: performances of different songs that people like. And there’s a theme every week. So it’s, I dunno, I guess it’s like a mini Eurovision that happens weekly.

“And that will be the start of more of my musical activities, performances and whatnot over there.

“We’re in contact with people on the ground in China at the moment and if we can get something happening, then hopefully, I can go across from Korea. It’s not as crazy as going over from Australia – just the distance, I mean.”

Korean focus: take two

“I’ve done some things [in Korea] over the years – just very scattered – but I’ve not done a concentrated campaign as such over there. It’s always just been a one-off, then I come back; I do one thing every few years, which, you know, doesn’t actually build to anything. So I did my first showcase in Korea at the beginning of this year – just with 100 fans in a room – and that was my first official concert as such, as a starting point. 

“So the plan is to have some momentum and actually make it continuous this time. We started to do this pre-Covid, so now it’s just starting again.”

Queen of Masked Singing competitions 

So how did competing in South Korea’s King Of Mask Singer (Dami came in third) compare to Australia’s version, The Masked Singer, which she won in 2023?

“First of all, I had to sing Korean songs, so that’s a challenge for me,” Dami enlightens, laughing. “Then also the costume wasn’t as extravagant in Korea, like, you just put on a dress, I had some light gloves on and a mask. Whereas the Australian one, I had to be covered head to toe, wearing a 20-kilogram costume on my head and shoulders. So it was a lot more full-on, whereas there [in Korea] it was more like I’m just covering my face with a mask created out of cardboard and felt kinda thing. 

“I was the Statue Of Liberty, so I had a blue, Greek goddess-looking dress, and then the face was covered with a Statue Of Liberty mask. They’ve been doing [King Of Mask Singer] in Korea for probably close to ten years, I reckon – it just keeps going.” 

“K-pop’s just taken over the world”

“K-pop’s just taken over the world. It’s hard to fathom the scale of how they do it now, and they’re just on another level. I mean, they’re comparable to the acts that come out of the US! They’re very thoroughly trained and practised, and the standards are really high. Visually, they’re all very unique and beautiful. It’s like its own world and, yeah! So many people love it, so I’m very proud of that.”

Ushering in A New Era 

Dami was invited to record an original song for Black Box, a new Australian musical based on the extraordinary true story of David Warren, the Australian inventor who created the black box flight recorder, which has become mandatory for major aircraft worldwide. 

With its crisp fingersnaps, dynamic interplay, showy string arrangement and power notes for days, A New Era would make a cracking Bond theme. And it cannot be easy to sing! 

Dami chuckles before recalling, “Even recording it in the studio was like, ‘Okay, I’ve got a few more of these I can do, but not for much longer. It was at the maximum of my range. Because it’s a show tune, it was a bit different to other more pop or jazz songs that I’ve been doing. 

“I just imagined I was on a big stage and belting the biggest note that I can, and getting the biggest applause [laughs] – it was a bit of fun. 

“I’ve done a pop-jazz record in 2018 called I Hear A Song, and it had some of those more bluesy, jazzy tones, and I do feel like I do that naturally; when I’m in that genre, that’s where I can just play and enjoy. 

“Not that it’s all belty – I don’t think I’ve done something as loud and big as this one [A New Era] – but in terms of it being a little more like a Bond theme, a bit jazzy and bluesy and a little bit old-fashioned as well. And more in the old school, you know? Ella Fitzgerald and Nina Simone and all of that.

“Funny you mentioned that song, yeah; it’s definitely where I think I’m headed. I feel like I wanted to explore writing more songs in that world, and I have been doing that for my next EP – whenever that’s gonna be ready.”

Dami Im’s upcoming Australian tour dates include Eurovision On Tour in November and her own Christmas Songbook Tour in December. You can find more details here.