A couple holiday seasons ago, I set out to finally turn a TV theme song I knew growing up into a holiday record that really fit the Thanksgiving vibe. The following year was another classic TV theme I grew up with that really captured the gathering of friends and family that I knew from Christmas (and many of my friends knew from Kwanza and Chanukah). This year, I knew I wanted a high energy New Year’s Eve anthem and the “Perfect Strangers” theme song was…well, perfect.

Growing up, the adventures of Balki and cousin Larry were a favorite in the Kim household. We related to and laughed along with all of Balki’s mishaps of being an immigrant in America, and the premise of cousin Larry moving to the big city was kind of foreshadowing. Both of them were chasing dreams and this show somehow encompassed my parents’ (then) present and my (now) future. The theme song “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Me Now” captures that feeling in a timeless (and admittedly, cheesy way haha). I knew that my take on it would hit that iconic chorus with a D.O.R. treatment (that’s Dance Oriented Rock) to give it that big, mountain peak conquering emotion. The past year has been AMAZING for me, but I have to acknowledge it started with a couple of Korean immigrants who left everything they knew for where they knew they wanted to be and instilled that in me.

2023 was the year I decided to put my head down and worked more than I ever have (and I’m currently still grinding away at projects as you read this!). You may have seen some amazing things I had the great honor of being part of this past year, but all of that was either just the tip of the iceberg and/or a distraction for all the things that are about to be revealed next year. I’m terrible at keeping secrets, so the game show appearance and TikTok stuff (although INCREDIBLY awesome) were great conversation beats that I could talk about while I wait for all this other work to see the light of day.

From my folks taking the leap of faith in immigrating to a new country to me taking a leap of faith into the insanity that is LA and the music industry, it’s been a long few decades in the making (and I’m not done yet!). Thank YOU for being part of that story in one way or another, I am so immensely grateful. May this song be the soundtrack to whatever you are conquering this year and know that I am cheering you along…

Merry FaLaLa,

-Rod

*Recently I stumbled across those two separate mashed up placards on a store display and decided the resulting “Merry FaLaLa” was going to be my new holiday greeting :)

P.S. I had posted this early on in lock down not knowing what foreshadowing this would become, consider the prophecy fulfilled!