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July 22, 2020
Sung J. Woo's Playlist for His Novel "Skin Deep"
In the Book Notes series, authors create and discuss a music playlist that relates in some way to their recently published book.
Previous contributors include Jesmyn Ward, Lauren Groff, Bret Easton Ellis, Celeste Ng, T.C. Boyle, Dana Spiotta, Amy Bloom, Aimee Bender, Roxane Gay, and many others.
Sung J. Woo's novel Skin Deep is an engaging and refreshing beginning to a new mystery series.
Library Journal wrote of the book:
"With just the right mix of clever twists, endearing charm, looming threats, and contemporary issues, Woo debuts quite the absorbing new mystery series."
In his own words, here is Sung J. Woo's Book Notes music playlist for his novel Skin Deep:
The playlist for my third novel, Skin Deep, is mostly character driven, which is as it should be because even though this is a work of genre fiction, there’s no story if there’s no character. Front and center is my forty-year-old private eye, Siobhan O’Brien, an improbably named Korean American.
“The Story,” by Brandi Carlile
Siobhan works for Ed Baker, who owns the detective agency, and as the story goes, he hired her even though she had no background in investigation or the like. This song is a tribute, sung to someone who sees the truth in the singer in ways no one else does (“No, they don't know who I really am/And they don't know what/I've been through like you do”). I’ve also always felt sad listening to “The Story,” because I get the impression that this person the singer so reveres is no longer around. Which is the case with my book, for in the very first chapter, Siobhan finds Ed dead in their office. To continue her journey, she must forge ahead, alone.
“Make It Right,” by BTS
Since Siobhan is a Korean American, I believe it only makes sense that I feature the most popular K-Pop band in the world. I think Siobhan would give this boy band a listen and then promptly never listen to them again, because they are entirely too polished. If music could shine, BTS’s songs would blind all of their listeners. After a few moments of silence, Siobhan would no doubt pop the CD right back in her car (Siobhan is too old school for Spotify) and listen to the entirety of the lethally irresistible album on repeat, while feeling vaguely guilty.
“No Roots,” by Alice Merton
Siobhan is a transracial adoptee, meaning she was adopted by non-Asian folks. Her dad is of Irish descent and her mom of Norwegian blood, so her upbringing was more confusing than those of a standard family. I can easily imagine Merton’s song holding special meaning for her, with lines like: “I build a home and wait for someone to tear it down/Then pack it up in boxes, head for the next town running.” Over and over again, the rhythmic refrain repeats:
“I've got no roots, but my home was never on the ground.” True words for Siobhan.
“Missing,” by Everything but the Girl
At the core of Skin Deep is a missing persons case, the daughter of Siobhan’s best friend’s younger sister. Of course like most songs, this one is about a missing lover, but this actually isn’t too far off as the mother-daughter relationship is the stifling kind, a bit too close for comfort. At least it is for Siobhan, such as when she finds out that the mother was keeping track of her daughter’s menstrual cycle. (In the mother’s defense, there actually is a reasonable reason.) Unrelated to anything, this song has one of my all-time favorite lines: “Could you be dead?/You always were two steps ahead of everyone.”
“At Seventeen,” by Janis Ian
The missing girl is also a Korean adoptee, which is why the mother reaches out to Siobhan. Penelope is her name, and I guess I’m cheating a little here as she just turned eighteen. But Ian’s song is so full of appropriate angst that it seemed right to reference it. Penny is a freshman in college when she disappears, just a few months into her first semester. I don’t know what freshman year was like for you, but for me, it was one of the loneliest times of my life, depressive dislocation amplified by the enormous unmooring from family and friends. Ian captures the painful starkness of it all. A bit of trivia: Ian was the first ever musical guest on Saturday Night Live. On October 11, 1975, she performed this very song.
“Cycles,” by Tove Lo
There’s a little bit of romance in this novel, and that office romance comes in the form of Craig, the lawyer who shares the same floor as Siobhan. Flirting leads to a date at Craig’s place, which turns out be much more complicated than it initially looks. Tove Lo is sometimes known as the “saddest girl in Sweden,” and if you listen to her music enough, you may very well agree. “Cycles” is an anthem of a relationship in struggle, highlighted by the refrain: “How can I change it when I don't know when I'm in it?” How indeed.
“Run”, by New Order
During her investigation, Siobhan actually goes out for a run as a way to clear her head, to try to make sense of her missing persons case. While on her run, she’s joined by a fellow named Dharma, a yoga teacher, and as they run together, Siobhan’s case gets even stranger. And later on, Siobhan makes a mad dash to her car in the middle of the night with armed guards in hot pursuit. If you believe I’m really reaching for a connection here, you are right – but the beauty of this song selection is that the title “Run” bears little meaning to the lyrics themselves. This is from New Order’s fifth album Technique, and one of the many delights their release offers is that none of the titles are mentioned in the songs themselves, and some are not even slightly related!
“New York Is a Woman,” by Suzanne Vega
Eventually Siobhan ends up in Manhattan, for what may be called, in video game parlance, the “boss level,” to confront the big honcho. Even though there are many more famous Big Apple tunes, this feels like the right one as the song is about a newbie who visits the city for business and is overwhelmed by her: “In her steam and steel is the passion you feel/Endlessly.” When Siobhan arrives in New York City, she too is dealing with something larger than life, and she’ll need to use every ounce of her resolve to keep her cool.
“Coming Back to a Man,” by Dawes
For the other epidemic currently in the zeitgeist, toxic masculinity, there’s no antidote better than this song by Dawes. It’s about a man who knows his own limitations (“And the guy you know is someone I work hard at keeping hid”) but is on his way to being a better person (“...you broke the quick-giving heart of a kid/But you're now coming back to a man”). This is the song for Siobhan’s love interest Craig, who realizes the way he’s living now is not going to work and will find a way to be a better man. Go Craig!
“Get Home,” by Angus and Julia Stone
“Just as long as you gone get home/You get home,” Angus and Julia Stone sing on their eponymous album. Don’t we all just want to get home? It’s certainly what I want for Siobhan after being kidnapped, poisoned, and held at knife point. Worry not, she’s a survivor, and she’s already on her next case.
Sung J. Woo's short stories and essays have appeared in The New York Times, Guernica/PEN, and Vox. He has written two novels, Love Love (2015) and Everything Asian (2009), which won the 2010 Asian Pacific American Librarians Association Literature Award (Youth category). He lives in Washington, New Jersey.
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