Q&A: R&B City Pop Darling hyejin Protects Her Energy in New Single “U GOOD?”
A SONG FOR MIDNIGHT DRIVES THROUGH THE CITY — hyejin’s “U GOOD?” layers jazz-infused tracks with ’80s-inspired city pop melodies. The Korean-American R&B singer is on the rise after debuting her first two singles, “I’VE SEEN THIS MOVIE BEFORE” and “SABOTAGE.” “U GOOD?” is the final pre-release of her upcoming EP, WHAT A SHAME!, releasing March 4.
Born and raised in Seoul, South Korea, the artist moved to Southern California for high school. “I think my fixation with music came from a place of wanting to escape and rebuild a life for myself that I could fantasize about,” she said, reflecting on her struggle adapting to the West Coast. Eventually, she found an outlet through songwriting.
Now a sophomore at New York University’s Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music, the singer-songwriter frequently collaborates with fellow classmates and collaborators, Joe Cho and Lio.
Hyejin shared that the culture of the city meshed well with the artist. “I definitely feel connected to the hustle culture here, which is honestly so motivating.”
Growing up as a third culture kid, hyejin pays tribute to her East Asian roots in her music. A blend of jazz, funk, and soft rock, the ’80s city pop influence intermixes with modern R&B soundscapes to create the ethereal, dreamy releases the singer is known for.
Despite the romantic tunes, “U GOOD?” isn’t a song for a fairytale — it’s a bold, audacious track that calls out the haters. Hyejin’s trademark honest, pessimistic lyrics contrast the sticky-sweet music, producing an empowering anthem that strikes down those who doubt us.
Read below to learn about hyejin’s inspirations, her musical process, and where she’s headed next.
LUNA: Hey hyejin! How has the new year been? What are you looking forward to this year?
HYEJIN: My new year’s been busy but exciting. I just played my first show at Sound Of Brazil and released my new single. Balancing school and my career has honestly been very challenging, but I’m having a lot of fun because I get to work with my closest friends. February is going to be just as busy, since I’m releasing my debut EP as well as opening for Loopy at The Sultan Room in Brooklyn. I’m really excited to be releasing music back to back this year, and I have another follow-up EP in the works.
LUNA: What inspired your love for music?
HYEJIN: I grew up listening to a lot of classic singer-songwriters. My dad was a huge fan of the legends like Stevie Wonder, James Taylor, Carole King, Prince, and Norah Jones, and their albums were the soundtrack of my childhood. My palette diversified once I got into middle school, where I became obsessed with old-school hip-hop and R&B.
I began writing songs as an only child who moved around a lot. I grew up spending a lot of my time alone, and I never really felt like I belonged anywhere. I was raised in Seoul for most of my childhood but relocated to Southern California in high school. I really hated California, especially [with] how sunny and mundane suburban life was. [Everything felt] fake and lifeless. I think my fixation with music came from a place of wanting to escape and rebuild a life for myself that I could fantasize about. My songs are very dreamy and ethereal but the topics I write about are often pessimistic and anti-romantic, which I think has now become my trademark. Now that I’m in New York City, I definitely feel connected to the hustle culture here, which is honestly so motivating.
LUNA: The way your music fuses ’80s city pop with contemporary jazz and R&B sounds lovely. What inspired this unique combination?
HYEJIN: My love for city pop and fusion jazz definitely developed throughout high school, where I fell in love with female Japanese city pop vocalists like Anri and Mariya Takeuchi. I wanted to combine my love for this nostalgic sound with more digestible, modern R&B sensibilities, which is something that artists like JENEVIEVE and maye are killing at right now.
LUNA: What do you want listeners to feel when listening to this song? Do you hope to inspire them? Lift their spirits?
HYEJIN: I want my listeners to walk away feeling empowered. I wrote [“U GOOD?”] as a song dedicated to the people who don’t support you and quite literally “pray on your downfall.” I’ve dealt with a lot of rejection in my past, however I think a part of growing up is learning to use that rejection to your benefit, which for me is writing a good song about it (laughs). All in all, “U GOOD?” is about protecting your energy while also calling people out, which is definitely the ethos that I am carrying on in 2023.
LUNA: How did the idea for “U GOOD?” come about? Was it a sudden inspiration, or did it come very gradually?
HYEJIN: “U GOOD?” was the final song that we wrote and recorded for the EP. My producers, Joe Cho and Lio, and I wanted to bring a fresh sound to the R&B scene, especially because the current sound of modern R&B is very saturated with trap heavy sounds.
At first going to do an acid house–inspired track then a sad acoustic song, [it wasn’t] until we listened to Kim Hyeon-Cheol’s “Drive,” featuring George, [that I was] inspired [by] the “city pop meets contemporary R&B” theme. We went through a [ton] of demo revisions before landing on the final arrangement of the song, so this was hands down the longest and hardest song we wrote [for] the project.
The instrumentation was all recorded live in the studio at NYU, and funny story, the Fender Rhodes in our studio hadn’t been used in so long that the sustain pedal was detached from the piano itself. I had to go underneath the piano and reattach the pedal, only to realize that the piano needed to be moved into the vocal booth for recording — it was such a nightmare.
We were lucky enough to bring on some of the most talented jazz instrumentalists in NYC, and shoutout to Augie Bello, Martin Shapiro, and Sora Kim on this track — they absolutely elevated this song to another level.
LUNA: What are some artists you hope to collaborate with in the future?
HYEJIN: I’m currently a huge fan of boylife, Yoshi T., 8RO8, and BTS’s RM.
LUNA: What's in store for the future? What goals do you have, career or personal?
HYEJIN: My biggest goal this year is to maintain the relationships that I already have in my life and continue hustling towards a full-length LP by the end of the year.
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