K-Pop Spotlight: Eric Nam
This week, we’re highlighting Korean-American singer and songwriter Eric Nam as he embarks on a few new journeys—debuting his first album entirely in English, entering his 31st year, and leaving his mark on a music industry that leaves something to be desired in the way of representation.
We caught up with the Atlanta native to discuss his new album Before We Begin and more!
Your latest album is titled Before We Begin—is there anything you’d like to say before we begin this interview?
Before we begin—If you haven’t yet, you should go listen to my new album and then come back. Thanks.
How would you describe this album and how it differs from Honestly?
I think this album is sonically more mature and a little heavier than Honestly. It is also probably the most honest and vulnerable album to date. Oooh so much honesty, so much tea, so much heaviness, so many feelings.
This is your first album totally in English—can you tell us a little about the process and how it differed from creating music in Korean?
The process is largely the same, minus the fact that I don’t have to write Korean lyrics and record everything in Korean—which saved me a lot of time and effort. This is because I usually write all of my songs in English to start with and then write new Korean lyrics for each song, when the album is in Korean.
What’s one piece of advice you would give teenage Eric?
Do whatever you want and start music earlier than you did. You can do whatever you want.
What’s one thing that scares you and one thing that excites you?
One thing that scares me—rats. One thing that excites me is my upcoming tour and this bomb-ass album.
Favorite lyric off of this album and why?
“What happens when it’s over, when we’ve breathed our last breath?” This is such a simple and almost cliche line, but I think that it is timeless and relatable to anyone, anywhere. It is also open-ended enough for listeners to ask if this is about love or life or work or whatever, but I think the song LOVE DIE YOUNG really allows listeners to listen and apply the song to their life in whatever way is true and real to them, which is important to me.
If you could change one thing about the music industry today, what would it be?
I wish it wasn’t a massive numbers game and that ASIAN AMERICANS had a solid chance at representing and being represented.
Want more Eric Nam? Check out his video for Congratulations and follow along with the conversation here.
