Audrey Nuna loves to have existential conversations. She sits in her Los Angeles studio and quips, “All interviews end up becoming like a therapy session. It’s so funny.”
The 25-year-old Korean-American artist grew up in suburban New Jersey, and music helped her navigate the ups and downs of adolescence. She went to New York University’s Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music for her freshman year. Then, she left her studies to record her smash debut, A Liquid Breakfast, with Arista Records. The songs on that album oscillate between vulnerable ballads, like “Space,” and gravity-defying bangers with intricate wordplay, like “damn Right” and “Comic Sans (feat. Jack Harlow).”
Her brain’s settings are in creative mode by default—especially when she’s in the midst of writing new songs. Over the past few months, she’s released two singles: “Jokes On Me” and “Starving (feat. Teezo Touchdown).” “Jokes On Me” was conjured during a lengthy desert trip with her longtime producer Anwar Sawyer and collaborators Manny Mendez and Myles William, where the group just freestyled over beats to a beautiful self-reflective anthem. The latter is about being at the wit’s end of a relationship: Audrey’s partner wants to friendzone her, but she persists to save the relationship. “My friends say I should just give it up / They’re probably right, but I just can’t get enough,” she sings in the first verse.
That determination bleeds into her music as well. Once Audrey starts on a project, it’s hard for her to stop. “I would relate the process of making music to sculpting—you just shave off a little piece of clay every single day,” she tells StyleCaster. “You just keep looking at it, and then you just keep going until you feel like it reflects some type of truth that you’re going through.” Audrey says her creative philosophy is all about being disciplined and consistent. “It’s also about feeling like you’re a kid who’s bored and wants to make some shit,” she adds.
We caught up with Audrey earlier this year to talk about her upbringing, what’s inspiring her lately, how performances make her feel, and being surrounded by Korean culture.
What are your fondest musical memories?
Definitely listening to CDs my mom made in the car when I was a kid. Granted, my mom wasn’t that tapped into American music culture. I think she was to a certain degree. She liked a lot of dance music, like Depeche Mode, because she came up in the Bronx in the ’80s or ’90s. She made mixtape CDs with Destiny’s Child and old Korean singers, like Lee Sun-hee. It was a very weird mix of stuff. My mom is very much an adventurous person, and she loved to take us on drives.
I was also very involved in choirs. I started in children’s choir when I was 8 years old. Those were my first experiences singing with other people and being part of a musical ensemble, and it was super rewarding at a young age.
Also, karaoke is extremely ingrained in Korean culture. So my mom, dad, and their friends loved going, and of course, they would take their kids. I just remember them being out late doing karaoke, and I would basically go to bed listening to a bunch of adults singing songs.
What is your favorite karaoke song?
“I Always Miss You (나 항상 그대를).” It’s a song from this one K-drama Lovers in Paris. It came up a lot when I was growing up, and my sister and I always duet it together.
When I was in Seoul for the fashion brand MSCHF this past December, they had me riding around in a van. There was karaoke inside, and I sang that song.
It’s that or Lady Gaga’s “Yoü and I.”
What’s been inspiring you lately?
Going to see movies has been inspiring lately. My friend invited me to see the Bob Marley movie in this surround-sound theater, so I was listening to the sound design. I also saw Dune in IMAX, which was nuts. And I saw the Hayao Miyazaki film The Boy and the Heron in theaters. I’ve been really immersed in films and kind of getting an experience—not just watching them on a streaming platform on my laptop or monitor.
The effort to go to the theater and experience these films is the equivalent of going to a studio and listening to music. I’ve always felt really connected to movies above all else. It’s the medium that really sparks my imagination to the point where I stay immersed in the movie for so long. It’s actually kind of annoying—I’m still in that world.
I saw you perform at Lollapalooza in 2022, and it was one of the sickest performances I saw there. How does performing and touring with acts like Ashnikko influence the way you write music and perform in general?
I’ve only been on two tours. The second one I did with Ashnikko was really fire. I think I grew a lot, interestingly enough, in terms of album themes and concepts. It reinforced simulation theory for me, because you do the same thing every day in a different city, and that is a really mentally wracking experience. Ash has a song called “Worms,” where one of the lines is “Play my life like a video game.” Every single night, I’d hear that line after doing the same thing in a different city with the same people. And I was like, “Wow, life is really like a video game.”
Observing her show was amazing, and something I took away from her show was the idea of teamwork. She has an incredible team of people around her, and I can tell they love the music as well. Having that energy is so important, and surrounding yourself with cool people is a strong tool for manifesting, having a great show, and curating energy in a room. I took notes on her professionalism and her skills as a performer. She’s an energy, and it was a huge privilege.
So you have your DJ onstage. How was it to perform with your friends and your close collaborators on stage?
It’s so fun. The best part is connecting to an audience and a group of people. It’s a very sacred energy exchange for me, where we’re all in our most vulnerable and raw human state. How many other places can we gather to be that way nowadays? Everything is so edited, where someone is like, “This is what I wanted you to see.”
There’s something about being present in live performances I love. At the Ashnikko tour, there would be times people felt like fainting because the energy was so overwhelming. That visceral side of it is animalistic, honestly. I think exercising that as people is important because we are animals at the end of the day. We all tap into some higher energy, and I think that’s really, really beautiful.
That’s such a great way of explaining performance. Especially in a TikTok-laden world, being present is such a glorifying feeling.
Totally! It’s hard to be present in a world where past, present, and future information is thrown at us constantly. The gift of just being present is something I try not to take for granted, especially during the shows, where it’s all just love.
You performed at SXSW’s Jaded Stage featuring Asian artists, and you’ve talked a lot about your Korean heritage—it kind of oozes out of your work no matter what you do. What’s it like being immersed in these kinds of AAPI spaces? You collaborated with So! YoON! from Se So Neon, who was there headlining.
I was so excited. Especially in AAPI spaces, you feel the love and devotion at another level, because it’s a group of people who share the same story. There’s an extra level of understanding and fewer barriers to being present. I’m very grateful to be part of that community, which obviously, I didn’t choose to be in. I was just born as an Asian American person.
I’m grateful to be in this time where so much of the suppression is sprouting into something very beautiful and productive. Obviously, there are traumas and things we have to heal. But at the end of the day, our hardships have made us stronger as a community.
And in terms of So! YoON!, we did work on some stuff in Seoul. She’s a great person to work with. I feel like we’re kindred spirits. She’s also on that sit-around wave, where we’re just hanging out and making music. We got a bunch of Korean snacks that day. I met her drummer and her producer. We just talked about random shit and somehow came up with something really cool. So excited to see how that all comes along.
In a recent Instagram post, you wrote, “it’s more important than ever that we as collaborators & community uplift / champion one another.” How does collaboration fuel your music and your own creative spaces?
For me, collaborations are everything, because I couldn’t ever do this shit on my own. My best ideas come from interacting with other people. It’s a balance, because there’s an introverted side of me, and my alone time is important and creatively fueling. But I feel like the moments where shit really goes down is with human energy and other people.
I’m super grateful for Anwar, who’s been a collaborator forever on the music side. I’m grateful for Myles and Manny, who have been integral to this upcoming project on the production side. Everything for me is better when I bounce it off someone else. Even if it’s just a soundboard to have people tell you something sucks or it’s a piece of shit—that’s important too. Collaboration is everything to me. I would say that’s what makes creating fun.
It’s always awesome to see the final product when everyone’s building toward a single goal and working around each other. Community is always great.
The whole point of creating is to connect with other people. Even though it’s a weird double-entendre type of thing. Because I do it for myself. I make decisions based on what I think is great. But at the end of the day, my greatest hope for everything I make is that it connects with people.
Around the same time as Lollapalooza, Yeonjun from TOMORROW X TOGETHER told Rolling Stone that you were his dream collaboration. What does it mean for you to have people be fans of you in that regard, and would you collaborate with him?
It’s an honor. I feel like I’ve gotten so much love from the K-pop world. The music genres are pretty different, but the fact that there’s a connection there is super sick.
In terms of the collab, I actually have to check out their music to be quite honest. I’m not as tapped into K-pop as I used to be. My favorite K-pop bands are BIGBANG, 2NE1, and Young Turks Club. But I think it’s really flattering that Yeonjun said that. I really appreciate the love and support there—and also from the Korean community in general.
Your music videos have such ambitious and cool-looking concepts. How do all those visuals come together in your brain?
Daydreaming is a huge part of visuals. I think a lot of the visuals are inspired by music, and a lot of the music is inspired by visuals too. Again, collaboration is a big part of that—combining flavors with different people and directors, getting their perspectives on things, and being open to that. I’ve always been a doodler, and I grew up wanting to be an artist. My dad and grandpa were in clothing manufacturing. Fashion, clothes, and discipline in that craft has been a part of my life for a very long time.
I don’t even know how all those visuals come together. I feel like it’s just like, you vomit and you eat shit and then you let it digest. And then you go through all this turbulence and the roller coaster of life, and you get off that journey. And then you just vomit it all again and that’s what goes on the canvas. That’s my best analogy for the process—that’s at least how it feels to me.
How would you help inspire people to find their own individual style?
Take risks. I think deep down, everyone knows what they like and what they think is cool. It’s about translating it into just wearing it—you know, going to the grocery store and just being like, “Hey, this is what I decided to wear today. “
I think fashion is related to the inner work of self-love. Just take risks, and try shit. Don’t be scared. Just wear whatever the fuck you want.
Do you have a favorite piece of yours right now that you love to wear all the time?
My friend made these jeans under the brand Herman Winters that have been on a heavy rotation. Also, the brand I did a show for in Korea, MSCHF—their clothes are so comfortable. Comfort is everything for me in fashion. Unless it’s, like, a sick pair of shoes, because I’d be down to be uncomfortable for that.
I also just like where Korean fashion is going. Brands like Hyein Seo, JUNTAE KIM, or Andersson Bell. I’m really proud of the visual lineage there.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
