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SHAVONE.

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This Is SHAVONE.: Creative Renaissance Woman, Tech Titan, Artistic Force & Proud Advocate

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As a voice of experience, swagger and inspiration for women of color in the tech and creative industries, SHAVONE. is crafting a new intersection between music, fashion and tech
Rachel Brodsky
Nate Hertweck
GRAMMYs
Jul 10, 2019 - 5:37 pm

SHAVONE. has presence. Not just the online type of presence so many chase these days, but real, tangible presence. She's warm and engaging in the way you want your friends to be, yet commanding and articulate in the way you'd expect from someone with her track record as a creative Renaissance woman. Everywhere she's been, she became a star, leaving a path of meaningful progress, inspired innovation and lasting relationships in her wake. That's presence.

SHAVONE.'s story started in a familiar way, as a child wild about music. But her path took a turn toward tech, where she blazed trails and broke molds, launching her career at Google before creating her own role at Twitter as the first Head of Global Music and Culture. She went on to become Instagram's Head of Global Music and Youth Culture, developed and refined her own personal fashion style Elle dubbed "Instagram Cozy Queen" and was a shoo-in on Forbes' coveted "30 Under 30" list earlier this year.

Most important, she's become an ardent advocate for women of color, especially in the tech and creative spaces, traveling the country to inspire and advise. Recently, she's appeared at BET Experience and—fitting as SHAVONE. has spent the majority of her career in the Bay Area—at the San Francisco Women's Summit. When she was at Twitter, she created BlackBirds, a resource group for African-American employees. Forever ahead of the curve, SHAVONE. knew what to do to support and empower her colleagues before anyone else.

"I joke around with my friends and mentees about like being black in tech before it was cool to be black in tech," says SHAVONE. "When it wasn't like, 'Yes, we need you here to check a box,' when it was, 'What are you doing here?'"

But now SHAVONE., the artist, has her sights set on new creative horizons. After leaving Instagram earlier this year, she shifted her focus to developing both her own artistry and an artistic community around her. In March she dropped the empowering single "4C" with a striking video, showcasing the beauty of inclusivity.

She's also launching Magic In Her Melanin, her very own creative collective and in-house agency to serve as creative HQ for all her art and music projects. With music, fashion and tech overlapping more than ever before, it's hard to imagine someone better positioned to lead the way for creatives into whatever is coming next, which is exactly what she's doing.

SHAVONE. let us into her world for a conversation with Recording Academy, discussing the twist and turns of her inspirational, one-of-a-kind career and how her transition from tech change agent to authentic artist came "right on time." Jump into a portion of our conversation with her below, and follow her on social so you aren't left behind.

[this conversation has been edited down from the original for length]

I read that your family's also very musical—how did you spend your childhood and how did you get into tech?

As a younger person, I think my parents quickly figured out I'd need an outlet. I had a lot of energy, a lot of sh*t to say, and needed some sort outlet and, early on, I was already very intrigued by music.

My grandfather is from Trinidad, and so I've always been attracted to the Caribbean West Indies. And my grandfather's son, my uncle Terry, he's classically trained in classical and jazz across pretty much any woodwind instrument… He'd pick up the sax, he'd pick up the clarinet, he put down the sax, picked up the flute. This guy was just jamming out. He'd have a piccolo, so that already piqued my interest.

My brother JJ started off playing the flute. He switched over to sax because he thought that was a more masculine instrument, whatever JJ. [Laughs.] But I got attracted then, took piano lessons early on… I ended up shifting over to flute just because it was something that was familiar to me. My uncle told me "You're a bull in a china factory. When you play the flute, handling this instruments very delicate. It's very difficult. Are you sure you want to do this? This is going to take a lot of time a lot of hard work." I was like, "I'm sure I want to do this. Now that you said all that, I definitely want to do it! You know it's a challenge. Let's do it." So in second and third grade, I started on the recorder. That's what you start on.

Oh yeah, I remember. I think every young adult of a certain age had to play the recorder in grade school.

And I was like, "this is cute but like I'm trying to upgrade to that really shiny, blinged out thing that you have, Uncle Terry." So I started taking lessons. Then like upgraded to a beginner flute, and then kept playing.

I was in band in elementary school and middle school. Then I started playing competitively in high school, I was flute section leader in band and in marching band wind symphony. I basically went crazy with it.

But, in between me doing flute, writing had always been a huge piece of my self-expression, and I wrote a lot of poetry in middle school and elementary school, and then my brothers started rapping. And my dad, seeing that they were interested, he had a friend who had a studio space in San Diego and Downtown so he helped pay for their studio time, just to kind of more so support again positive outlet for them.

So then, I seen them rapping and I was like, "That's tight." I'm definitely really into music and rap so I'm like, "maybe I could do that was like my poetry?" So I started rapping. I didn't start seriously rapping until about end of middle school, going into high school, that's when I actually was like good enough to actually be heard publicly. So I kind of mixed it together but I always kept my flute musicianship separate, because flute is all about structure.

Now I'm working to break down all the structure that I've built up in my mind around flute. Because I'm now learning Ableton to basically make my set fully electronic and be able to improv DIY style in the moment. It's not structured, it's just feeling versus structure. So I'm tearing these walls down to bring the two worlds together now.

You held prominent roles at Twitter and Instagram... You're a self-proclaimed Data Queen. How did you end up getting into these hugely prominent roles in the tech world?

I interned at Google my junior year of college, and I had interned at BET. I did a talent relations PR internship there, and I also did a bunch of internships in public service. I interned on the Hill. I interned at the DOJ. I was actually kind of thinking more of a governmental route. Just because I'm a huge supporter of public service and community and civic engagement. I had to wear these stockings and these clothes and I've got to worry about my hair.

Pencil skirts?

Yeah. I interned there two of the years the Republicans took over the House. I was like, "you know what, this is getting kind of crazy."

But, I went to Google anyways, interned there at the Googleplex in Mountain View. I interned on the Global Communications and Public Affairs team, and I worked on Google Play when it started. I worked on the launch of Google Plus, which was very interesting at the time. I worked on Google Apps for education, that's how I got exposed to traditional tech world, but in a non-traditional way. I got to work on consumery topics, and I interned on their PR team but it was consumer PR. So I got a chance to scratch all my itches, but also still be in the epicenter of tech.

And I think at that time I just realized just how central tech was going to be to music and the industry. Even with Google Play and I saw all arrows pointing in that direction.

I knew, tech was the marriage of all these different, eclectic things that were stimulating for me. That's how I got into tech.

It's crazy, because right after college I had a job offer from MTV that, that was a real job, but I turned it down to go intern at Twitter. Because it was paid, number one, and it's like they're a startup but they're going IPO at some point, I just felt it was a good opportunity that I can try to mold. I'd have to work hard as hell, but maybe...

I think the numbers would support your decision.

So that's how I kind of got over there. I started out on the PR team covering everything. Fashion, music, culture, politics. Pretty much any cultural zeitgeist moments.

"I still need to learn. As a woman in music, you have to protect yourself with knowledge and knowing." -SHAVONE.

As a woman of color working in tech, how did you navigate that kind of stereotypically homogenous environment? 

Yeah, it's tough. It's still tough, honestly, it's still hard. I joke around with my friends and mentees about being black in tech before it was cool to be black in tech. When it wasn't like "Yes, we need you here to check a box," when it was "What are you doing here?"

And it was hard. I definitely believe in God and like, higher powers in the universe and I feel like the universe has always showed up to show support through people around me and mentors when I need them the most. I don't have a ton of mentors, but I feel like people move into the right place at the right time for me.

When I went to Twitter, there's a gentleman, whose name is Scott T, shout out to you. He was at Facebook, he left Facebook, and he's doing some other amazing work now. But he was a huge mentor of mine at Twitter... Scott is African, and there were not many faces of color there, but he was there when I needed him.

I also had allies, and people who I had actually met at Google. Because all the people from the tech company they go, "I'm with this company, I was at that company, I was at that company." So I had a lot of familiar faces. Having that support system really did help me stay grounded and confident about who I was and my skill sets. Because it's easy to go into those places and shrink. Number one you kind of just want to be invisible to avoid confrontation. And then the other piece is figuring out how to tap into your skill sets and who you are in a way that doesn't compromise what you stand for.

So as a person of color, having a role that's culture oriented, it's like, "okay, that's great. But how are you enlightening without like self-exploitation?" And enlightening in a way that's going to somehow help increase access, hopefully, and leave the door open for more... Beyond just bringing the company money, how are you kind of shifting what's normalized and normalizing your blackness and your diversity in the space. And this is a lot to carry around for anybody in a workspace.

Especially somebody that hasn't been in the workforce for that long.

Yeah, it was like my first job.

What was the impetus for you to make the transition from tech to music? And how did you find a way to professionally integrate all of your passions?

Yeah, I'd say it was a long time coming. When I left Twitter, I still felt like there was a little bit more to learn. I kept kind of stepping along in the background of music, making music when I could in the Bay Area. I recorded when I could, I wrote, I always kept writing. I have so many songs written, and kept recording where I could. And I was always around music, so I never felt so starved because I was always behind the scenes. I was working in the music industry.

Part of me, it was torturing, right? When you feel like you have your story, or a voice that you want to create. Then another part of it was so amazing because I got to be around my people. I was around you guys, I was around my people, I got to talk about cool things, tell cool stories. I was learning still.

You have got to say, "enough is enough." How much is enough? When is your thirst going to be quenched? When do you step up into your own purpose? And for me, it came down to me, figuring out that it's either now or never. And thinking a lot about trajectory for me long-term. I set out to do certain things in tech, and I felt like I gave it my all. A lot of me being motivated to have one foot in, one foot out as more of a multi-hyphenate creative was, I noticed that, even from within you can only do so much to increase access. Because you work for the company, no matter what, you got to stick to their agenda, their roles, their bottom line. If they say something's not important, you can't come back and say "Yes it is and forget you, here's what I'm going to do." You can't.

You're working as a full-time musician now, and you're launching a creative collective and in-house agency. I'd love to learn a little bit about that and any other initiatives that you're spearheading.

Yeah, so for Magic In Her Melanin, it's been a long time coming. I got Magic in Her Melanin trademarked a of couple years ago. It was sort of another one of those projects after work that I was like this needs to be done. Again, with just seeing the gaps up front, and like going out in the Tenderloin, working at Twitter in San Francisco, walking outside and seeing, feeling the gaps. Working with the Boys and Girls Club and literally feeling the gaps. I was able to take notes, go home and figure out, how can I be accountable outside of my tech job, right? What can I do outside of showing up like, "Hey kids, here's where you can be. All right, bye."

Well it's so easy to stay cloistered in your little comfy bubble.

Yeah, it's so easy. I mean it's normalized. It's like not actually frowned upon if you do do that, actually the opposite, right? So that allowed me to really notice the gaps and I couldn't just sit by, and I've been indexing the gaps, basically.

Magic is a result of me indexing the gaps and figuring out, "How do I show up in a way that's really valuable and true to me? And how can I make myself a resource for other people?" And I found that a lot of my network, even a lot of my friends and colleagues, contemporaries, even mentees, mentors are all these people of color who were amazingly creative who work in these different functions and tech, and music too. Just because my role was culture and youth and these new topics, I got exposed to people who covered similar realms at Spotify or Beats or Apple or wherever.

Magic is basically a collective, and it's literally a network of all the people I know who have a passion to give back in some way but will never have the time to start their own org. I basically want to leverage those relationships to do good out in the world, to create more access for underrepresented voices in the corporate space.

There's a gentleman named Quil Lemons who is a photographer. He's super young, Gen-Z photographer who does partnerships and is making a living off of just partnering and having value. Whether you're Pharrell, or whether you're me or you guys and you want to work for the company, you should be able to do both. You should be able to choose what you want to do, there should be accessibility. 

Then with Magic, I also have basically kind of made it, I guess what I Am Other is to Pharrell, or what Saint Heron is to Solange, it's sort of my in-house creative suite.

So my friends who are passionate about like the music and the art I'm creating, and incubating the videos that you see, the visuals, and sort of everything SHAVONE. does as a creative, I want to continue incubating with that group. And keep reading with other people, but really keeping Magic as the nucleus of everything I put out into the world.

Earlier we were talking about your video for "4C," which you said you recorded late last year in Brooklyn. Correct me if I'm wrong, but you recorded it at a salon owned by a woman who works with Solange?

Yeah, she blew up mainstream-wise from her doing a number of Solange's tribal inspired, like American-inspired braid looks, and Beyoncé's braid looks. She's incredible. She's a Nigerian hairstylist.

It looks like you got together a lot of your contacts, friends and familiars and that video serves as symbol for almost everything you're trying to achieve, the diversity of people's interests, and it all coming together. What are you trying to do next in terms of your music?

Right now I'm super focused on really honing in on my sound. I'm working with new producers. I'm also getting my like show set tight and together. That's the thing I'm most excited about. I'm actually, like holding off on performances until I get it right where I want it with me adding the flute instrumentation into it, in a way that, again, is authentic to me. And even tech kind of continuing to be this huge part of who I am and what I do. And really, I kind of more so envision an electronic vibe for my set like more of a kind of EDM energy just because of my tie to software and hardware as a person. I'm a tech person still at heart. So keeping that visible in my instrumentation, I'm excited about.

But I'm also working on,I don't know if it's going to be EP or a mixtape, I'm still kind of deciding. But, I'm basically working on a project which I maybe by the summer or fall. I'm collaborating with folks also who have reached out. I played a set for GRAMMY week at Soho House with 1500 or Nothin'. They're amazing. Larrance [Dopson], and my guy Mars, they're just incredible. They did Nipsy Hussle's Victory Lap. There are pillars of L.A. and the community.

So, yeah, they're amazing. I'm excited to just take it one day at a time and really put in the work. I think a lot of my experience and my knowledge, even with PR and music, only it goes so far. It's different from the scope of an artist. You can't skip putting in the rest of the work. And I feel like a lot of my work has been foundational with being able to read and write music, being able to write music and I feel like there's a new challenge now for me with writing music for consumption versus as a hobby. Writing music as a business is different, so I'm up for the challenge.

Someone once told me, "if something scares you, you should probably do it." But in many ways as an artist, stepping out on your own, you're the most qualified to navigate tech from the artist side. Do you feel that way?

Yeah, I do. I feel like where I have a leg up, I feel like, in a conversation with, even with some of the artists that I know, friends that I know, I'm learning from them and they're learning from me.

It's sort of like this: You realize you're so good at this, or you're so good at that, like, the sort of midway point. But it has been interesting to apply what I've learned in a sort of a different dimension to my artistry and getting the word out. And I think Instagram was truly the cherry on top of my experiences, because I really got a chance to see how important community is, and community online. Not just community in terms of fandom, but community for a cause, community behind topics that matter, body positivity, mental wellness, mental health, latte art. I mean, anything you care about, it's online. Even at Twitter, all the data stuff, I feel like my whole life is sort of this moment. So I do feel good in that sense. You start to think, "Oh, did I wait too long? Should I have like left earlier?" But I feel like no, I feel like I'm right on time.

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GRAMMYs

Sean Ardoin

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Sean Ardoin On Addressing Racism In His Powerful New Song & Video "What Do You See"

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The GRAMMY-nominated musician from Lake Charles, La., joins GRAMMY winner Kirk Whalum and many more to start a conversation about racial injustice against of black males
Nate Hertweck
GRAMMYs
May 29, 2020 - 10:17 am

Hard times call for hard questions. Louisiana-based GRAMMY nominee Sean Ardoin is asking one such question with his new song and video that addreses, head-on, racism and injustice against black males in America. At a time when the nation is mourning George Floyd, a 46-year-old black man who died on Monday after pleading with Minneapolis police for help while one white officer knelt on his neck, "What Do You See" not only carries a powerful message in the conversation it seeks to start about race but also grapples with perception's grip on reality in this country. Have a look and listen:

We connected with Ardoin over email to get more information about his powerful new video, the origins of the song, his diverse all-star collaborators in the video and the conversation he hopes to start with "What Do You See."

Let's start with the song. Can you share the mindset you were in when you wrote it and how you were able to find these moving words

I wrote this song four years ago, the day after the Alton Sterling murder. It was just a really heavy time, you know? For me, to see the execution was too much. Then on the heels of that, another one, then another one... I felt like it would never stop. That period was a dark time for me because I was grieving for the senseless loss of black life AND I noticed NONE of my white friends posted about the murders when they happened... not one.

I couldn't understand it.

How they could see what I saw and not feel moved to say something about it or even just share it and say this doesn't seem right. I mean they say they're my friends right? We hang out and are cool right? We're like family right? In my interactions with white friends, there was never a mention of it, even though it was the top news story. It was uncomfortably absent in our conversations. 

In my church, there never a mention from fellow white Christians about the atrocities committed against people that look like me... a flood, a fire, a tornado, a mass shooting overseas, famine, terrible regimes, sure, all fodder for conversation, but the killing of an unarmed black man pinned under a gang of officers getting shot execution style in the head for the world to see just two hours away.... nothing. The silence was deafening! 

As artists, we are sensitive to atmospheres. I could feel the heaviness in the country. I was deeply hurt for the families affected. Then I felt the outrage as, like a knee-jerk reaction, certain news outlets started assassinating Alton’s character, causing others to have to investigate his past.  But his past had nothing to do with why he was assaulted, tackled, and killed that day, because the officers didn't have that information pre-encounter.  All they saw was a large black man and their perception of what that means is how they proceeded to treat him. 

I'm 5'11" and over 250 lbs., so I could be seen as a threat to those same people. That could have been me laying dead in the street. So I sat down and wrote the song as a way to release the angst and grief inside of me.

It was then I realized that one of the root issues in the racial divide is perception. How do white people perceive black people? I learned a phrase in college that I've held on to, "perception is reality." How a person perceives something is how it is to them... whether it is the truth or not.

So, I wrote the song in the form of a conversation with a white friend. I like to "lead with love," because I believe it truly conquers all. I ask, what do you see when you see me? In my mind, if I could help my friends, who say they love me, to really think about how they see me, for real...honestly.  Then we could have a real conversation about it, in order to line up what they think with the reality.  All this, hopefully, in the end, coming up with a basis for how they then see other black people. 

But when the song was done, I hesitated to release it. Because the song was so powerful, personal, and painful to me that I wasn’t sure it would be received in the way I hoped it would be. This was not a political statement, not meant to accuse or berate, just to ask the question, because it felt like we weren’t being seen as fully human. Basically, the song was not released four years ago because I didn’t want to be misunderstood.

Now here we are, four years later and nothing has changed....and I am past caring about those who choose not to get the message. So, I made a lyric video for it and released it May 11th and in two weeks got about 7000 views.  

How did the concept for this powerful video come together?

I sent the lyric video to my friend, Ricky Anderson, currently the Secretary for the Recording Academy Texas Chapter, and he said, "Man I love it! It is an "on-time" message that needs to be heard, BUT you're gonna have to do a visual video..." I was kind of nervous about doing a video myself because I didn't want to mess it up. Ricky says, "...I've known you a long time and I know you to be a creative, so, how can the guy that wrote the song, mess up the video? You've got to do it yourself, don't wait, do it now!" I said, "Yes sir" and got to work!  

In my mind’s eye, I saw cell phone video from real people mixed in with static images of black men and boys in any pose other than a mugshot and past images that show how we got to these misconceptions. I felt like the song and this video would be a tool for breaking down those dangerous stereotypes of black men.  

So, I reached out to the guys in the video, and told them I wanted them to start the recording looking down and then slowly raising their heads until they're making contact with the camera. Then hold it there and give me whatever emotion that they wanted, EXCEPT, anger.  Most of the guys complied, and the ones that didn't, the creatives in the bunch, gave the little extras that the video needed to make it even more special, in my opinion, and it's even more proof that we're not one dimensional. I wanted to show positive images of us and then at the end of the chorus, where it says "all you see is a black man," to share negative things that happened to us, like lynching, redlining, and slavery etc. This, I felt, would go a long way to the viewer's ability to choose to see us as people, not caricatures. I want the viewer to see that we have gone through all these things that should have broken us. But we still are here, we are still productive members of society, we are thriving in all fields of human endeavor, and we are there for our children. That last part was really important for me to show, because there is a narrative out there that says all black men are absentee fathers....which is false. For a time, I was a single father who loved and cared for my son. 

The hardest part, was the video editing as I am NOT a video expert! I just would not be beaten! I did a couple test runs and my friend, filmmaker, Mike McGowan, kinda got me over the hump on a few details that would get me to the product you see here. So, really, even in producing this video, we have disproved another stereotype of black people, that we don't work together. The beginning and end were really important for me stylistically. I wanted it to be only words so that I could set the tone. The words were chosen prayerfully, as were all the static images. Once I got those together, the dish was complete and I released it yesterday at 8:20am and as I type this, 29 hours later, it has almost 29,500 total views!

Tell us about some of the people you brought in to be featured in the video.

I wanted the men to be from all socio-economic backgrounds, all different hues, shapes, sizes, styles and education levels. It needed to be as complete a picture as I could paint from my contacts. GRAMMY winner Kirk Whalum immediately said yes after hearing the song, he really believed it will be impactful. There are lawyers, law enforcement, real estate professionals, servicemen, journalists, photographers, former pro and collegiate athletes, airline personnel, producers, musicians, zydeco artists (I'm a Louisiana man so it was necessary lol), business owners, and black youth. I tried to get all of "us." 

How do you see music as a way to unite around fighting injustice and express collective emotions?

A song has the power, if you listen to it, to give you a message or tell you a story. You hear it without immediate chance for rebuttal. In today’s climate, it seems we are programmed to talk at people instead of to each other. For that very reason, music is one of the best tools to use to unite us. A melody and hook can stay in your spirit for days and sometimes weeks. It'll just pop in your head sporadically. throughout the day, you know? 

If it's a good message you're hearing over and over, it'll eventually cause you to deal with it and figure out how you feel about it... even if it’s subconsciously. I believe I was given this song to be used as that tool. My hope is that it will spark the necessary dialog to start the nation on the road to healing.

What would you like the impact of "What Do You See" to be on the music community and on society?

I have already experienced the power of this song and video.  I have had more conversations with people that don't look like me in the last two weeks than I've had in the last two years! Just reading the comments of those same people are super encouraging. It is doing what it was created to do! 

I would like to see more artists, labels, and peripheral entities in the music community, that are not black, acknowledge, on their platforms, that bad things are happening to black people and use their influence to help facilitate change. I'm not saying they need to become activists, just advocates for social justice, no matter the level. "What Do You See" is the conversation starter. I was speaking with my pastor, who is white, about the song being a bridge and he agreed and shared with me that a lot of white people want to have conversations across racial lines but don't even know how to start it. It's such a touchy subject, you know? 

"I would like to see more artists, labels, and peripheral entities in the music community, that are not black, acknowledge, on their platforms, that bad things are happening to black people and use their influence to help facilitate change. I'm not saying they need to become activists, just advocates for social justice, no matter the level." -Sean Ardoin

As artists, we have influence and the ability to create art that moves people to ponder, feel and act and we should use it sometimes for a greater cause. I would not have been able to live with myself, this time, if I wouldn't have released it into the atmosphere. I am a Kreole Rock and Soul artist and this song, while soulful, isn't necessarily what I play on a day to day basis, but it's just right for the times... so I released it as my contribution to the greater good. So, I guess my answer is the same for both the music community and society as a whole. Do whatever it is in your power to do to help right the wrongs. No matter how small the contribution, if we all make the effort, we will hit the mark. If you see injustice... do SOMETHING!

To all who read this, please understand that you have power. The civil rights struggle did not gain traction until white people saw the injustices inflicted on black people and realized that no HUMAN should be treated that way. They then got involved in whatever way they could and change happened.  We are at those crossroads again... and the nation needs that same kind of unity. As you watch the video, answer the questions I pose in the song and answer them truthfully. Then find a black friend that you trust and send them the song. After they listen, ask if they're willing to have the conversation with you… I promise you they will. Then have the conversation and share it with other people that look like you and urge them to do the same. Authentic conversations that lead to connection will help us beat this thing called hate. As I say in the song, "...we are less different than we are alike." One LOVE!

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GRAMMYs

Baekhyun

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K-Pop Superstar Baekhyun On His Sweet Solo Single "Candy" & Delightful Second Mini Album

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The multi-talented artist from EXO and SuperM talks about the inspirations and goals behind 'Delight': "I wanted to showcase a variety of different sides that I have to myself"
Tássia Assis
GRAMMYs
May 29, 2020 - 8:57 am

A soft humming is heard on the other side of the line while the call stabilizes — of course one of South Korea’s most prominent vocalists would be singing. Baekhyun, who debuted in 2012 as a member of the chart-topping boy group EXO, has just released his second solo album, Delight, and his excitement is palpable through the phone.

Just minutes before this call, he was interacting with fans on a live stream through the app VLive. There, he answered a series of questions while waiting for the album to drop at 6 pm on May 25 (KST). Nicknamed “Genius Idol” for his array of talents, Baekhyun has tried a little bit of everything throughout his career: acting, fashion design (he’s the co-creative director of the brand Privé by BBH), gaming, vlogging, duets, the EXO subunit EXO-CBX, and leading the supergroup SuperM — who was the first Korean act to top the Billboard 200 albums chart with a debut release.

His solo career officially started last year with the release of City Lights. The album sold more than half a million copies and became the best-selling physical album of 2019 by a solo artist in Korea. Delight follows the same footsteps: it amassed 732,297 stock pre-orders, sold over six hundred thousand copies on the first day according to Hanteo (a company that shares real-time sales data in South Korea), and topped the iTunes Album Charts in 68 countries so far.  

Sonically, Delight is a breezy, RnB-infused experience that showcases Baekhyun’s prismatic artistry. “I worked really hard on this album, and I was really happy working on it as well,” he tells the Recording Academy. Like “Candy”, the title track, each song has a different flavor. Deep cut “R U Ridin’” has a honey-dripping bassline, for example, while the bright “Poppin’” feels like chewing on sour candies, and the intense “Ghost” lingers with a coffee caramel aftertaste.

To deepen the discussion around his new album, The Recording Academy caught up with Baekhyun and talked about his inspirations, the development of his multifaceted persona, and, of course, his favorite candy.

This interview was edited for clarity, and an interpreter translated all answers from Baekhyun.

How are you feeling lately?

I’ve been really happy. There’s been a lot of excitement and expectation personally around the Delight release, so I’ve been relishing in all of that these days. 

What were your inspirations for this album?

I wanted to try the RnB genre more, so that’s what I focused on for this album. In terms of the title itself, within EXO my superpower is “light,” so I wanted to emphasize that as much as possible.

[Writer’s note: EXO debuted under a concept where each member has a superpower, and that appears throughout their branding.]

Just the way the word “delight” sounds is pleasurable. What are some of life's delights to you?

Right now, the top ones would be being on stage and performing. Another thing is that I’ve been taking vocal lessons on the side, and that has been a source of delight to me as well.

What's your favorite song in this album? Are there any lyrics you would like people to pay attention to?

I have to pick the title track, “Candy.” If you listen to the lyrics, there is a part where I list candy flavors and ask “what more do you want?” I think it truly expresses confidence and boldness, that I can become whatever you like, just tell me and I’ll do it. That’s the part I want everyone to pay special attention to.

This ability to become whatever is needed at the moment also shows up in the contrasting sweet and sensuous styles you explore in the album. Can you talk more about that?

As you mentioned, that’s exactly what I was trying to do with the concept of “Candy” and of Delight in general. I wanted to showcase a variety of different sides that I have to myself. In the past, fans would always say that they like both my sweet side and the more sensual, performative side, so I wanted to capture both and present them in a bigger package.

Comparing Delight to your first solo album, City Lights, what are the main differences between them?

With City Lights, because it was my first solo album, I wanted to focus more on the vocals and showcase what I felt like I could present the best. If you listen to it, it’s definitely more vocal-focused. In Delight, I wanted to take a step further and show a different side to fans. I wanted to incorporate more performance, which means a lot of choreography and thinking about the visuals on stage. I also tried to make this album a little brighter and fresher than City Lights, so visually and performance-wise it’s different.

When I think of Baekhyun, the word that comes to mind is "balance". You have an impressive talent to blend light and dark, highs and lows, laughter and tears in your performances. Are you aware of this fluency in yourself?

Since I was younger, I always heard that I’m pretty honest with my emotions. People see the bright and happy sides of me, but they see the other sides as well. Because my personality is one that is honest about how I feel, I want to showcase my true self to people. I think that’s why people say that about me as well, of showing the balance between many sides of things. That’s what I want to do because it’s who I am, and also what I want to showcase as an artist.

You have been an idol for almost a decade. What has been your biggest lesson so far?

Going back to my previous answer, I realized that if you’re honest with yourself and you’re truthful in the way you act, talk, and interact with everyone, then people will know. People will know that you’re being genuine, and over the years I learned to be honest with how I feel when I connect with my fans. As time passes, I think they have been able to recognize that and connect with me on a more genuine level too. That’s the biggest thing I learned.

And what is the achievement you're most proud of?

My debut with EXO. Even though my training period was short when compared to other members, just to be able to work together, come together as a group, and debut together, it’s definitely my proudest achievement to date. And that’s what launched me to be where I am right now.

You were always known for your powerful singing, but during all these years you have developed yourself and are currently recognized as a multi-talented artist and skillful dancer as well. Can you tell us more about that process?

My vocals have always been my main strength, so it’s something I continuously work on and want to improve on. In terms of dancing, I have a friend named Kasper who is a dancer/choreographer, and he teaches me all the trendy dances, gives me advice on how I should do this or that, so that’s a practical way that I have improved my skills. In general, because I have a lot of energy, I felt like just my vocals weren’t enough for the amount of energy that I can showcase, so I always wanted to channel that through dancing, which is a different outlet.

Did Kasper create the choreography for “Candy”? And did you have any input on it?

Yes. Because we’re friends, when he would show me the choreography, I would say “what about we do it this way?” and then we bounced ideas off each other, especially when it came to the formations of the dance overall.

In the current world situation, it's hard to expect things or make plans for this year, but what is one thing you are looking forward to in 2020?

It’s hard to make plans for the rest of the year, but I’m hoping that things get better so I can finally meet my fans in person. That’s the one thing I’m looking forward to the most. Because of the current situation, we had to shift things to digital, but I’m also excited to meet my fans via different platforms as well.

Have the members of EXO listened to your album? What was their reaction?

When they listened, they said that it matches the seasons right now, as we’re going into summer. All of them commented on how it was a new style for me as a solo artist, like showing another side of Baekhyun, another vibe. They also noticed that I put a lot of effort into it, they’re really supportive.

If you could describe yourself as a candy flavor, what would that be?

Strawberry. Because its flavor encapsulates both sweet and sour, and that’s precisely what I want to do — show different sides. With this concept in Delight, you can see a more relaxed, confident side, but you can also see a very sweet and doting side of my character.

To sum it all up, what is your favorite candy flavor?

Green grape! In Korea they sell bags of green grape hard candy, those are my favorites.

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Photo courtesy of Saddle Creek Records

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I Love You Far Too Much: Bright Eyes 'Fevers And Mirrors' Turns 20

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The Recording Academy looks back at the Omaha indie greats' third studio album—a celebration of solitude and harbinger of emo's new wave
Danielle Chelosky
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May 29, 2020 - 6:08 am

A child’s voice opens up Fevers And Mirrors—the third studio album by Bright Eyes—unconfidently reading the words: "So long, everything!"

There is not a better way to set up the tragedy to come in the following 11 tracks. In Nebraska in 1999, the indie three-piece recorded the folksy-emo masterwork with the help of many others on unorthodox instruments such as the accordion, flute, tambourine and organ. 

Released 20 years ago this week, Conor Oberst's now-revered Saddle Creek touchstone has the frontman's lofty ambition and creative quirk on full display. As influential to the indie genre as Neutral Milk Hotel’s thematically rich In The Aeroplane Over the Sea, Fevers And Mirrors featured inventiveness like the eccentric sampling of Johnny Cash’s "You Are My Sunshine” in the warbling love song "The Calendar Hung Itself…" The Jeff Mangum inspiration is evident, but it’s far less subtle about its darkness, and it seems to, in a way, predict the emo ballads to arrive in the following years—from Brand New’s "The Boy Who Blocked His Own Shot" to My Chemical Romance’s "Helena." Oberst is not making a rock opera, but he sure is theatrical. Love manifests in sinister ways—in this case, through jealousy and obsession. He sings: “Does he kiss your eyelids in the morning / When you start to raise your head? / And does he sing to you incessantly / From the space between your bed and wall? / Does he walk around all day at school / With his feet inside your shoes / Looking down every few steps / To pretend he walks with you?"

This third track is one of the most popular Bright Eyes songs, and it’s not hard to see why. Oberst’s brilliant songwriting is striking, along with his theatrical delivery; he comes through as the listener's emotionally vulnerable friend as he persists with a trembling 19-year-old voice: "Does he lay awake listening to your breath / Worried you smoke too many cigarettes?"

Even as deranged as Oberst gets on this record, there are moments where he morphs into the voice of reason—and even of wisdom. His insights are sprinkled throughout, an important one sitting at the beginning of the beautiful "Something Vague": “Now and again it seems worse than it is, / But mostly the view is accurate.” Oberst is aware of his own dramatized perspective, aware that his own youth can exacerbate his problems and his emotions. The tangled mess of adolescence is captured; he knows that he is not a reliable narrator, because no 19-year-old is.

On the second half of "An Attempt To Tip The Scales" is a fake interview, in which Todd Fink of fellow Saddle Creekers The Faint is impersonating Oberst and giving tongue-in-cheek answers to Oberst’s friend Matt Silcock of Lullaby For The Working Class. When asked about the symbolism in the record, Fink earnestly says, "Well, the fever is basically whatever ails you or oppresses you, it could be anything. In my case, it’s my neurosis, my depression, but I don’t want to be limited to that."

Oberst is clearly in a depressive mindset on the nightmarish 10th track "Sunrise, Sunset." His view of life is awfully cyclic and gloomy for a teenager: "You wake up, then you undress / It always is the same." This revelation resembles something of a midlife crisis, but it becomes palpable through Oberst’s work that he is constantly in a state of crisis. Whether it be brought on by existential wonders or romantic turmoil, it all leads him into a seemingly endless spiral of despair.       

When the album was unveiled in 2000, emo was on the brink of change. Brand New would join the scene with the passionately petty Your Favorite Weapon; My Chemical Romance would explode with the extravagant I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love; Thursday would unleash the violently anarchic Full Collapse. Emo was evolving from one-dimensional to a living thing that contained multitudes. It became more operatic; it became more empathetic; it became more violent; it became more existential; it became more poetic. Fewer dudes were just spitting out misogynistic clichés; emo was evolving to be more inquisitive, with Fevers And Mirrors arguably catalyzing the revolution. It’s not conventionally emo, but it’s not conventionally anything. It expanded the meaning of emo and left more space for bands to experiment.

Oberst was never an emo figure prior to Fevers And Mirrors. When people describe Bright Eyes, mostly the genres "indie" and "folk" are used, but "emo" can't help but sneak in there with the record's central themes of heartbreak and crippling depression. The eighth track "Haligh, Haligh, A Lie, Haligh"—a jangly breakup anthem that showcases Oberst at his most broken down—is the epitome of the genre. After getting a phone call from someone breaking the news ("No, it’s just some guy she’s been hanging out with / I don’t know, the past couple weeks I guess"), Oberst begins planning a funeral. His pain pours out in great poetry, metaphors and simple epiphanies—he realizes that people make promises they can’t keep, that plans are made to fall apart with time, that love can make you lose sight of yourself. All of these realizations build up to his proclamation: "And I sing and sing of awful things / The pleasure that my sadness brings." It feels like a confession, like Oberst is admitting that amidst the madness he is having a good time. There is a sense of belonging in the chaos, as it enlivens him and causes him to make revelations about life. 

This is essentially the whole point of emo as a movement: sadness provokes thought, inquiry and ultimately epiphany. Oberst’s misery may ring childish at points, but in reality that dispair caused him to age much faster than his counterparts, both emotionally and mentally. A line on Bright Eyes' later critically acclaimed album I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning echoes the same idea: "Now I’m drunk as hell on a piano bench / And when I press the keys, it all gets reversed / The sound of loneliness makes me happier." Solitude is where Oberst makes his greatest discoveries and conceives his best art. Fevers And Mirrors finds Oberst at his lowest, and from rock bottom he transcends upward.

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Quarantine Diaries: Phoebe Ryan Is Growing Crops On Minecraft, Watching Sunsets & Spending Time With Fans

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As the coronavirus/COVID-19 pandemic continues to rock the music industry, the Recording Academy reached out to a few musicians to see how they were spending their days indoors
GRAMMYs
May 28, 2020 - 3:53 pm

As the coronavirus/COVID-19 pandemic continues to rock the music industry, the Recording Academy reached out to a few musicians to see how they were spending their days indoors. Today, singer/songwriter Phoebe Ryan shares her Quarantine Diary. Ryan's album debut, How It Used To Feel, is out June 26.  

Hi there, my name is Phoebe Ryan and this is sort of what I’ve been up to during this quarantine!

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Every morning I log in to my Minecraft realm and tend to all the crops. I’m growing a lot of beets there. It’s really nice. It’s normally very relaxing for me but actually on this particular day, I killed a villager with a crossbow and now I’m cursed with a Bad Omen. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t worried about it.

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I make a swift transition from the video game world to the real world as soon as I put my Crocs on. Can you guess which pair is mine? I’ve been helping my mom weed the garden and it feels like it will never actually get done but I enjoy doing it anyway.

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My mom transported this tiny little praying mantis egg sack onto this tree in our backyard, and it was the cutest thing I saw all day. I love how my mom does stuff like this. She’s a magical person.

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There’s also a swan that comes to visit a few times a day, and I really enjoy having staring contests and wondering what life as a swan must be like.

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I watch the sun set every night. Tonight was especially amazing.

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I’ve been so grateful for my fans during this quarantine. It’s been a blessing to be able to be so interactive and engaged with them. I’ve made personal video calls to over 150 people from all over the world, and some nights (like this) we talk on Zoom and celebrate birthdays, song releases, and just keep each other company. I’m so lucky to have these people in my life.

At the end of the day, I log back into my Minecraft realm, tend the crops, and watch "90 Day Fiance" until I pass out. 
 
STAY SAFE, EVERYONE!

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If you wish to support our efforts to assist music professionals in need, learn more about the Recording Academy's and MusiCares COVID-19 Relief Fund.

If you are a member of the music industry in need of assistance, visit the MusiCares website.

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