A musical about a Korean princess has got TikTok in a spin

TikTok users aren’t just into parody videos and dance challenges, they also enjoy musicals. One such tale, relating the adventures of a Korean princess, has been particularly popular on the social network in recent weeks.

This musical is the work of Julia Riew, a Korean-American composer and lyricist from Saint Louis, Missouri. She was inspired by a Korean folk story when writing and composing the tale. The musical follows the story of a brave young woman called Shimcheong, who falls into the depths of the ocean while trying to save her father. She then enters the magical Kingdom of the Dragon, but cannot get out. Ten years later, she’s ready to risk everything to get back to her family. And, in true fairytale style, her path crosses that of a prince and an evil queen.

ALSO READ: ‘90% of everybody’s music is trash’ – AKA gets real with upcoming artists

Julia Riew recounts and sings about the adventures of her heroine in a series of short videos shot with a smartphone. She appears in the guise of a Disney-like cartoon princess. One of the songs that Julia Riew composed for the musical, entitled Dive, is particularly popular on the platform. It has almost a million views and has already been covered by many other TikTok users.

@juliariew There was no Korean Disney princess so I decided to make my own 🙂 #disney #korean #koreanamerican #disneyprincess #musical #originalsong #originalmusical #musicaltheatre #theater #music #newsong #dreamworks ♬ original sound – Julia Riew

From TikTok to the big screen

While music lovers must currently visit TikTok to discover Shimcheong: A Folktale, this could soon be set to change. Several production studios have approached Riew about adapting her show into a movie, according to CNN. And this isn’t the first time that a hit musical has seen the light of day on the platform.

Back in August, hundreds of American artists made it their mission to turn Pixar’s movie, Ratatouille, into a musical production. The outlandish project soon became a viral hit and even caught the attention of Broadway greats like Kevin Chamberlin and Andrew Barth Feldman. That’s all it took for a production company to partner with TikTok to produce the musical. It was even released on the online theatre ticketing site TodayTix, and generated over $1 million in revenue.