inaekkum Confront Shame and Self-Doubt on ‘Yips’

South Korean quartet inaekkum wrap a deeply personal story inside the infectious indie-pop pull of their new single, ‘Yips’.

Taken from the band’s forthcoming second album, MY, the track carries the swagger of early 2000s indie rock. Sparse, driving rhythms sit alongside shimmering synth textures, elastic bass and Min Wooseok’s hazy, almost sensual vocals. It feels immediate and easy to move to, but beneath that bright surface lies something far more vulnerable.

‘Yips’ uses a baseball game as a metaphor for life. Its narrator makes a serious mistake before being mocked by the “runner on second”, a figure who represents the humiliation that can follow when somebody believes they have failed to meet society’s expectations. That judgement does not only come from other people. It can become internal, feeding shame, doubt and an increasingly fractured sense of self.

The song’s title refers to the sudden inability to perform a familiar skill, often caused by anxiety or psychological pressure. Within ‘Yips’, that idea becomes much broader. Wooseok explores what happens when the mind and body no longer seem to move together, captured in the striking lyric, “Blaming the head for not following the body.”

This disconnect is also tied to Van Ji Chook, the dissociative character running through MY. Created from the inner child Wooseok had buried for years, Van Ji Chook is not presented simply as a reminder of past trauma. The character gradually becomes a liberated creative identity, allowing him to reclaim parts of himself that had previously been suppressed.

That tension sits at the heart of ‘Yips’. Its bubbly beats and sweet melodic hooks make it feel like an intoxicating indie party track, while its lyrics reveal a person caught between public embarrassment, private blame and the desire to regain control. The contrast is deliberate. inaekkum use pop as a way of making difficult emotions approachable without reducing their weight.

Formed in Daegu in 2020, inaekkum consists of bassist, singer-songwriter and producer Min Wooseok, keyboardist Choi Wonmin, guitarist Kim Taeyang and drummer 314, also known as Sam Il Sa. The group have become part of the city’s thriving indie-rock community, receiving recognition from Melon and winning the Grand Prize at Daegu’s TBC D-Rookie Festa. Their live journey has also taken them across South Korea, Taiwan and, more recently, the UK as official showcase artists at Liverpool Sound City.

‘Yips’ offers an early glimpse into MY, which is due for release in March 2027 through the band’s independent imprint, headindieclouds. The album chronicles Wooseok’s recovery from childhood sexual trauma and his journey towards self-acceptance, drawing upon personal experience alongside ideas from Heidegger’s existentialism and Plato’s Theory of Ideas.

Despite that wider conceptual world, ‘Yips’ remains strikingly human. It captures the moment after a mistake, when outside laughter becomes an inner voice and the body seems unwilling to cooperate. Yet the song is not content to remain trapped there. Through its confidence, movement and addictive pop energy, inaekkum begin turning humiliation into self-possession.