Rosa Gulliver of TINYGMUSIC | 19th October 2024
Genre-defying Korean-American artist and songwriter Audrey Nuna releases her highly-anticipated second studio album, TRENCH, via Arista Records. Alongside the new project, Audrey made her debut behind the coveted NPR Music Tiny Desk today with a curated setlist of tracks off of TRENCH as well as some of highlights off her eclectic catalogue.
NPR TINY DESK SETLIST
“Damn Right”
“Time”
“Baby Blues”
“Suckin Up”
“Baby OG”
Following up on her critically acclaimed debut album a liquid breakfast, TRENCH sees Audrey emerging as her own bionic hero—one who’s armoured and undaunted, but also embraces vulnerability as her greatest strength. The duality of this character is epitomised by the album’s two parts, “SOFT SKIN” and “HARD FEELINGS.” Album singles “Starving (feat. Teezo Touchdown),” “Jokes On Me,” “Suckin Up,” and most recently, “Mine,” have all set the tone for TRENCH, marking a new chapter both sonically and aesthetically while serving as a testament to her evolution over the past three years. Overall, on TRENCH, Audrey takes a quantum leap into her barrier-breaking career.
Also out today is album focus track “Baby OG,” an icy trap song that sees Audrey sample an unreleased track from 2019. With heavy electronic bass and layered vocal tracks providing texture, the track embodies a learning lesson as Audrey is toughened up by life and finds power in her strengths while simultaneously accepting her weaknesses.
The music video for the track, thematically in line with the dichotomy heard throughout the project, depicts these strengths and weaknesses, with the first half displaying a confident, eccentric glamazon living in a colourful metropolis while the second half follows an vulnerable, complex individual in a black and white world. With long, majestic black hair pulling the two characters togethers, the video symbolizes the internal balancing act that Audrey continues to develop and master.
“This song captures inner strength while admitting the vulnerability of not knowing what’s going on,” Nuna shares on the track. “By sampling the original song, it felt like my older self got to have a conversation with my younger, more innocent self. So much has changed, but I still feel that underdog mentality.”
Following the release of the recent album single “Mine,” a fresh new take on Brandy and Monica’s classic hit “The Boy Is Mine,” Audrey premiered a stripped-back, live performance video of the track last week. While the original version is a beautifully chaotic track alternating between orchestral bliss and dancefloor adrenaline, the live version distinctly separates the two with sonic refinement and visual disarray.
TRENCH Tracklist
SIDE A: SOFT SKIN
- “Nothing Feels the Same”
- “Me & My Baby”
- “Suckin Up”
- “Mine”
- “Ca$h”
- “Jokes On Me”
- “Pajamas”
- “Baby OG”
SIDE B: HARD FEELINGS
- “Dance Dance Dance”
- “Doggie Pound”
- “1-Way”
- “Locket”
- “Starving ft. Teezo Touchdown”
- “What About Me?”
- “Jitterbug”
- “2High”
About Audrey Nuna
Amid a world full of the fake and jaded, Los Angeles-based singer/rapper/songwriter Audrey Nuna stands out as a true original and shapeshifting visionary. The 25-year-old artist blurs the lines between pop, R&B, and experimental trap on her anthems that act as a powerful declaration of her nonconformity. A multi-dimensional artist, Nuna has built a reputation for her out-of-the-box approach to everything she does—from her razor-sharp lyricism, to her dynamic visual aesthetic, her co-creative directed music videos, and more.
Born to Korean immigrant parents in New Jersey, where she was one of few Asian Americans in her suburban town, she began teaching herself how to record as a teenager out of sheer boredom. In 2018, her raw self-released tracks began to garner online attention, leading to her inking a deal with Arista by age 20 and dropping out of NYU’s Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music after a year. Nuna ascended to stardom with 2019’s “Comic Sans,” featuring Jack Harlow, and 2020’s “damn Right,” which got a high-octane sequel from DJ Snake. In 2021, she released her critically-acclaimed debut LP, a liquid breakfast, which brought her to perform at festivals like Lollapalooza, Head in the Clouds, Day N Vegas, and Hangout.
Now, Nuna takes the next quantum leap into her barrier breaking career with her sophomore album, TRENCH, arriving October 18 via Arista. Nuna reveals the full spectrum of her artistry as she explores the principle of duality epitomised by the album’s two sections, “Soft Skin” and “Hard Feelings.” From the hypnotic “Jokes On Me” and dreamy “Starving” ft. Teezo Touchdown, to the playful “Suckin Up” and “Mine,” a hard-hitting new take on the Brandy and Monica classic, Nuna oscillates between frenetic rage beats and smooth, underwater melodies—all grounded by her signature slick wordplay and emotive R&B vocals. Nuna comes true to form on the Huey-sampling “Locket,” a surrealist, tongue twisting “anthem about being an individual and embracing your weird ways,” as she puts it, before bringing it full circle on the icy trap song “Baby OG,” which sees her sampling an unreleased track from 2019.
On TRENCH, Nuna hopes to explore all facets of creativity throughout her career, no matter how close or far it is from music. “I don’t want to follow a certain trajectory,” she concludes. “I’m just trying to follow my curiosity.”
Keep up with Audrey Nuna
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