In her fifth season competing in the Grand Prix series, Young You finished in 8th with a total score of 168.14 at her second Grand Prix assignment at Grand Prix Espoo. This season, She is working hard on building up her condition after recovering from injuries last season. we discussed her season thus far, a reflection on programs past (as well as future potential programs), and how much her fans mean to her.
Special thank you to Becs (@becsfer on Twitter) for transcription and revision. Photos by Gabb (@tegomass).
Young You after her free skate at Grand Prix Espoo.
Gabb: How was your off-season?
Young: The off-season was a little tricky because I had some injuries. I had some back problems and an ankle injury, and I had to recover from them. I went to the hospital and did my recovery. Also, I just became an adult in Korea this year so I went to hang out with friends. I also learned some guitar!
Oh! Are you good at it?
Not really because I just started at it.
Are you learning any specific songs or just how to do chords?
I'm learning the chords but one day I really want to learn to cover some pop songs on the guitar!
I'm glad you had a good off-season, injuries aside. How do you feel about this season so far?
In some ways, it was bad and also good. Recovery from injury from last year is getting better, I think, but I'm still not in the top condition I was before so it makes me feel like I have a lot of work to do. I have a lot of steps to get to where I want and that’s what I am working on.
You've had a lot of coaching changes. You worked with Mie Hamada, in Skate America you were with Coach Jinseo, and now you've changed your coach to Shin Hyesook. So what happened?
I think for Skate America it was fine but because I had injuries; my body was not in good shape. I had some discussions with my mom and my family to discuss what should we do to make it better. And I think it's better to switch coaches because I needed refreshment from the training system.
Is it hard to adapt to different environments? You've trained in different countries and now you're in Korea, is it easy to adapt for you?
There's always good and bad parts. When I was with Mie Hamada it was a better environment because in Korea we don't have that much skating time. It's always either early morning or in the night because we don't have a specific figure skating rink yet. So it's a bit tricky in regards to that but the Korean coaches are really good too. If I have a chance I really want to train outside of Korea again because I really like the environment and the sessions are at a really good time.
For your short program and free skate, what was the inspiration for both of them?
For the short program, the song is 'Listen to Your Heart'. So I thought about how I always listened to other people's opinions more than myself. I thought about how it's very important to listen to myself first and then listen to others. I wanted to give a feeling to the audience to listen to your own self first.
And your free skate?
It's more about the hardships I went through last season and to get up again. It's a very dark song and also there are a lot of sharp things in the road, so it's not easy to walk but when you walk through it you're finally done with that road.
Were you involved with the choreography of your programs when they were created?
For the long program, Drew Meekins did it. He was very good at the choreography. It's very hard because there are no resting parts but when you see the whole program with all the jumps and all the choreography in it it's very touching and deep.
I really like the program for you! And I also really like your costumes! Especially the ones for your short program. Did you help design them? Who are the designers?
Both are by Korean designers. The short is by Edge Plus. She worked with me for the Olympics short program too. I thought this one and my Olympics short costume were quite similar but with a very different feeling. The Olympic one has dark vibes and this one is brighter and has a water feeling. I really like her, she's really good at colors and styling.
The Free Skate one is by Ann Dress. I worked with her for the first time this year. She made the design really unique with lots of colors, using all the black, red, and yellow.
For your makeup do you just do it as you want the day of or do you plan it out beforehand? Because for Skate America you had little gems on your eyes.
For Skate America I planned it out to use the gems on my face. But for this competition I wanted to do it more clean since the makeup is already very strong and if I add the gems it might be too much. So I decided not to add them this time which was fine but maybe next competition I will do just a few.
I'm sure the fans will like to see that at the Ranking competition! Unrelated to this season's programs but is there a piece of music you'd like to skate to in the future?
There's a lot of music, but I actually maybe want to reuse my old programs like last year's tango short program. My fans really liked it! So I want to use it again because last season my body wasn't in the best condition or recovering well and I didn't have a good result with it. The short program is from Shae-Lynn, she did a really good job with it! It's very fast and it has to have very good quality with the steps and last year my body was not in great condition so I couldn't do it justice. So maybe next year I'll use it again.
Also my Lord of the Rings free skate, I didn't originally consider reusing it but I suddenly changed my mind while rewatching it and thought "Oh this program is actually very good!". I had it during the COVID season (20-21 season), so it didn't get used much in competition so maybe if I can use it and the tango short program again it would be nice for another season.
That would be really nice, especially the Lord of the Rings program since it was during the 20/21 season so not many fans got to see it live. On this topic, do you have a favorite program you've done?
There are a lot of favorite programs but one I did when I was really young, 'Don't You Worry Child', where I did a kind of Indian dance with blue pants. That one was my first favorite program because that program made me who I am now. If I didn't have that program I wouldn't have such a high profile and that program was very unique and no one else did that kind of style, so it was popular.
My second favorite program is my 'Pirates of the Caribbean' program because I really like the music and it's very strong. I think it really matches my character!
My third favorite program is 'Les Miserables'. Actually both programs from the Olympic season, 'The Leftover' and 'Les Mis' are favorites of mine.
Especially your 'Les Miserables' performance at Skate America 2021 was so good! One last program related question, you said when you were younger you really liked Kim Yuna's Danse Macabre, would you ever consider doing a Danse Macabre program in the future?
Yeah maybe! I thought about it a lot of times because the music is very good. But I'm a little afraid because Yuna did such a great job with that program that I don't know if I can be as good. But I really want to try that music someday.
So this is your first time competing in Finland, how do you like it here?
It was nice! It's really cold and snowy too but the audience was very good. I was very surprised by, how after the short program, they gave me a very warm-hearted reaction and said they loved me. It was not my best performance but they still gave me a lot back, so I'm very thankful.
How are you preparing for your next competition?
I'm going to go back to Korea and work on my ankle and some of my jumps that I had mistakes with here. So I can get stronger and land the jumps even when I'm nervous. The Ranking competition is quite soon, so I have very little time to be in shape again. I can't rest.
You've been competing for a while. You've been at the Youth Olympics, Olympics, you've been National Champ multiple times.. do you have any favorite memories competing in figure skating?
I have a lot of favorite memories. I don't know why but my favorite is always the 2020 Korea Four Continents because in the ceremony Yuna Kim was there and she gave me a hug. Also, the Youth Olympics was a very nice memory because it was my first time to be in the Olympics. Well, it's the youth one, but it's still the Olympics. So it was very nice to be there and I also won there so it's just a very happy moment. These were my two favorite competitions.
Are you excited about the Youth Olympics this upcoming year since it's going to be in Korea?
Yeah! I know that it's going to be in Gangwon and the medaled juniors are going to be there. It makes me reminisce about my junior season. I still can't believe I'm a senior and there are younger kids now because I was the youngest for so long.
That's true, You've grown a lot since then! So now a few questions are not related to skating. What kind of music have you been listening to these days?
These days I listen to 'I Need U', it's by BTS. I like the piano version. I've thought about maybe using it for an exhibition program because the music is very beautiful. Since I'm a fan of BTS I wanted to show Army the combination of the song with skating, I think they'd really like it.
You did a really good job when you had the BTS Spring Day exhibition so I would like to see it in the piano version! Are there any other songs you'd like to consider for an exhibition gala?
Maybe Titanic? Because I saw the movie this winter in the theatre, and it was very nice, actually it was my first time seeing it! I had a crush on Jack. So I really want to use that piece of music because it's very good!
That would be really nice! You also mentioned a few competitions last year that you really like Bambi, is that still your plushie of choice?
Yeah, I still really love Bambi! I have a collection in my room for Bambi because the fans gave me some of the stickers or stuffed animals. The reason why I love Bambi is that the character is very carefree, cute, and energetic. I think I like the character because I relate to it.
What are your plans for the rest of the season? You have the Ranking competition and Nationals coming up. Do you have any goals for them? Or overall what your next steps are?
My goal is to just skate clean. Sometimes, I feel like when I was younger, I didn't have any fear about making mistakes because there was no pressure. But when I started to grow up I felt the pressure going into me and when I made a mistake I got scared of others' reactions, like the audience, the coaches, and the judges. I get scared and lose some confidence. When I see videos of my younger performances, like Pirates of the Caribbean, I was very fearless.
You just attacked!
Yeah, I always just went for it! But now I think I'm missing that. Which is kind of sad too. I don't know why I am like this now because that was me and I'm the same person but just different now. For the next competition, I want to be like my old self, be fearless, and always be very bright and happy on the ice again. At the ranking competition and nationals, I want to skate clean with no mistakes hopefully. I'm really excited to see my fans again!
I know a lot of your fans at home are really excited to see you! So finally, do you have any messages for your fans?
I know a lot of fans are cheering for me and I know it's not easy to cheer for someone when they're at their lowest. Even me, if I see someone not do well I don't want to see it because it might influence me in a sad way but I'm very thankful to them that they're still grabbing onto and cheering for me. It's very sweet and I always just want to say thank you and that I always love them. If I don't have them then maybe I can't even be here, they're very strong for me and motivate me in every way!
