It’s been two years since pop music guru Simon Cowell described her as “phenomenal” following her striking audition on “Britain’s Got Talent.” And for the most recognisable East-Asian to have appeared on the ratings juggernaut, it’s also been a long wait tinged with regret.

But now Sue Son, back in Seoul and working on her own terms, is ready to step back into the limelight and prove that Korea isn’t only producing idol pop music, but that it’s a country offering genuine musical talent too.

“I couldn’t really be myself,” she says of her time on the British talent show, for which she was attacked in tabloids for separating from her initial audition partner, Janine Khalil, following encouragement from Cowell. Vindicated by her breathtaking solo audition days later, fellow judge Amanda Holden predicted, “it must have been tough decision but it’s going to be the best decision you ever made.”