AUDREY NUNA
Frosted Flakes Lucky Charms, shades of Tickle-Me-Pink, and a notes page dedicated to potential indie band names, we take a look into the mind of the whimsical and genre-defying talent that is Audrey Nuna.
Audrey Nuna is unapologetic and unafraid. Although only twenty-two, the Korean American visionary has already proved herself to be a multifaceted talent balancing writing music and directing her own music videos. With her cool-girl attitude and nonchalant approach to life, she oozes confidence, charm, and wit: yet another Gen-Z we’re unashamedly obsessed with.
dress CHRISTIAN SIRIANO,
gloves HYKE, necklace MONDO MONDO,
nail hairpin and left cuffs BOND HARDWARE,
right cuffs MONDO MONDO & AUSTIN JAMES SMITH
ear cuffs PANCONESI,
ring and earrings AUSTIN JAMES SMITH,
boots R13
PHOTOGRAPHER: JAMES BEE
STYLIST: BRANDON TAN
INTERVIEWER: ROBYN NGAN
Nuna’s most recent project, her self-described sonic journal, a liquid breakfast, was released earlier this year. There’s an emphasis on the word project because, in the eyes of Nuna, it’s not an album per se as much as an introduction, a casual “hi” if you will. The mixtape’s progression mirrored her own: she became less and less fearful of sounding harsh or… “ugly”; it bred confidence and acceptance of the fact that she didn’t need to sound the sweetest, the prettiest, or the most put together. Walking a tightrope between different genres, Nuna creatively re-evaluates the relevance of categorising music whilst exploring her heritage and discussing racial stereotypes.
Creating music as fluid as her lais-sez-faire attitude, Nuna ascribes her transcendence of genres to her Korean American upbringing. “You get used to feeling that you belong to two places at once, so I think that – this is my theory, I don’t know if I’ll really be able to provide evidence that it’s true and I can only say it in retrospect, but I do feel that – it is a place of comfort for me, being able to be both hard and soft. Being able to write about being lonely and free at the same time, I think that duality is really important to my work.” Although her Korean American heritage has underpinned her work, she’s wary of the fact that it isn’t a definition of her existence. Nuna is mindful that whilst she is one of the few Asian American faces in music, her artistic identity is not anchored entirely to her heritage. Many believe your background and heritage naturally form much of your conscious being, for some it’s a passive understanding, while for others it becomes a deep dive into their psyche. For Nuna, it’s simply a part of who she is, “It’s never been something conscious to me, ever” she explains. Sure, her dual heritage inspires her work, but it’s just who she is. She will always see things through that Korean American lens, after all, she grew up playing Korean hand games with her cousins, packing Korean lunches for school, and visiting Korea in the summers. These are all fundamentals that are intertwined with her being and comprise every fibre of her brain. It’s not something Nuna herself can explain in minute detail, nor is it something she chooses to intensely fixate on.
shirt, dress and jacket SIMONE ROCHA,
skirt R13, bag PUPPETS & PUPPETS,
rings MONDO MONDO,
shoelace tie STYLIST’S OWN,
bracelet TALENT’S OWN,
earrings BOND HARDWARE
Nuna attributes much of her approach to life to her mother and what she considers to be her own obliviously naïve nature. The lack of external pressure when she was younger meant the only pressures she felt were internal; in her own words, “I almost hydroplaned above pressure”. Nuna was not subjected to the stereotypical pressures felt by many Asian children, such as the not-so-subtle nudge to become a doctor or a lawyer. There was no pressure to make a certain type of music, to sound a certain way, or to be a certain person. When her fam-ily members would make off-hand-ed remarks questioning why she wasn’t returning to school, she was left unphased. “Life is just so short, everyone gets their own life so if you want to do a certain thing with your life, then amazing, this is what I want to do with my life and luckily we each get our own lives so we can each get to do what we want to do.”
Nuna has a familiarity about her; she’s so down to earth and humble you’d think you were chatting on FaceTime with an old friend. She places a high value on human connection, crediting the people she surrounds herself with as a driving force behind her work. Nuna’s pride in her work stems from the knowledge that it was created with people that she truly cares about, people who share her opinion and merit the things she deems as important. “If you mean in terms of who’s doing what, I don’t really care. At the end of the day, if your eyes are on something, it’ll show, whether you’re conscious of it or not, people will recognise that and will appreciate it. And if not, who cares? We’re all going to die anyway. All the music files are going to dissipate when the world explodes so I really don’t care.” Nuna reminds us that looking to others and comparing yourself is unnecessary, we don’t have to take everything too seriously, we should celebrate what we enjoy and what exists now. Opinions will always be expressed whether you want to hear them or not, so we should just do what we think is best for us. It’s worked so well for Nuna so far, so who are we to reject the notion?
Surrounding herself with friends and people she shares a collective vision with is essential to the work Nuna creates. And just like the rest of us, Nuna is a meme amongst her friends. No conversation is complete without mention of the ‘Space’ lyric, “sick of the cinema, I’m burning Hollywood”. Whether the subject is food or taxes – something that she stresses more and more about nowadays – her friends have found their signature joke. “Space, in general, has become a meme in my friend group, which is so fucked up, fuck you guys.”
““Who are your inspirations?” Me, I inspire myself.”
jacket LRS,
mesh top TRIPP NYC,
skirt SACAI,
earrings PANCONESI,
rings MONDO MONDO
For Nuna, fearlessness, bravado, and being true to oneself is a recurring theme. In her eyes, that’s what makes an icon: being a pioneer, being unabashed and unafraid. If you ask what she considers to be iconic, she will give you an unexpected answer: Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups. It’s the combination of the unexpected and the ability to shift people’s perspective; it’s the ability to change minds about what it means to be great or what can be great. It’s recognising and utilising one’s own freedom. The names that came to Nuna’s mind were Kanye West, A Tribe Called Quest, Thundercat, Thom Yorke, Mulan (the 1998 animated classic, not the live action), and Lee Isaac Chung, director of Minari. “Oh my God… Minari,” Nuna marvelled. “Seriously, I think it’s something we should definitely talk about. First of all, I bawled watching that movie because it was the first time I saw myself represented in a movie, and I think that alone was shocking and emotional for me. We should definitely credit Isaac Chung, shout-out to him. Super human, super Korean-American, super realistic. It was authentic.”
coat MELITTA BAUMEISTER
trousers, hat, socks and shoes THOM BROWNE
bag PUPPETS & PUPPETS
Seeing a film like Minari was some what overwhelming for Nuna. Loosely based on Chung’s own South Korean immigrant upbringing in rural America in the 1980s, it’s a story known by many but rarely told on screen. Across the digital plane we call Zoom, we discussed Asian icons we had grown up with. We paused as we struggled to name anyone besides Lucy Liu. “Maybe Sandra Oh?” suggested Nuna, “I learned about her when I was older. My mom always mentioned Juju Chang was cool.” Although there has recently been a movement to include more minority characters as central protagonists, Nuna recalls seeing this as a rarity when she was growing up. Characters like London Tipton in Disney Channel’s Suite Life franchise defied stereotypes and were regarded as ahead of their time, but they were still primarily only there for comic relief. “I think it bypassed me in a weird way. Now you have Crazy Rich Asians, Fresh off the Boat, even To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before. You see more Asian characters in main roles. It’s important that Asian characters are represented as complex, as human beings, not just for comedic relief. I think we can do better though, we’re not there yet. Not just the fact that it takes a lot of energy to even think of examples. We’re just starting.”
dress and hood KENZO,
jacket and scarf NINA RICCI
The defiance and insouciance that Nuna displays is admirable. She shuns expectations, choosing to be driven by self-expression; she’s very much a catalyst to her own work and vision. When considering the idea of inspiration – a question interviewers retreat to all too often – Nuna had the best response. “Honestly… it’s a really hard question to answer because it’s nothing crazy. Living life, period, is just fucking insane. We’re on a floating rock, how is that not enough inspiration? ‘Who are your inspirations?’ Me, I inspire myself.” Nuna’s unfiltered and impenitent demeanour makes it clear why she’s on everyone’s radar. She understands the futility and, let’s be honest, the mundanity of 21st-century life. Questions about her inspirations and her dream artistic collaborations aren’t things that mean much to her, so why should we as bystanders or, in this case, readers, care? But for those who are curious, her dream collaboration is an ice cream collaboration – though she admits her answer changes depending on who asks her the question. Nuna wants to focus on the questions that she wishes she were asked more often, the random questions that will help people get to know her. Her ever-changing sources of inspirations aren’t integral to her personal life, but the Frosted Flakes Lucky Charms collaboration that she thinks is amazing is. Her favourite shade of pink is Tickle Me Pink from the Crayola box and collectively we invented a new shade: Hi-Chew pink – specifically the strawberry flavour though, not the watermelon. Nuna informed me that she has since added “Hi-Chew Pink” to her list of indie band names she’s considering upon retirement but given that she’s only twenty-two and just getting started, we will have to wait a long time to find out what name she ultimately chooses. Oh, and Nuna wants you to know she has flat feet… really flat feet.
A true force to be reckoned with, Audrey Nuna is an icon in her own right. Championing and exhibiting creative freedom and authenticity, she’s the walking embodiment of her own definition of an icon. Truly one-of-a-kind, her music and visual direction are as infectious as they are hypnotising. We can’t wait to see what Nuna has in store for us next, but in the meantime, if you ever see Hollywood on fire, we know who the prime suspect is – it’s someone sick of the cinema.
This profile was published in The WOW N° 5.
Issue5 available now.
TALENT: AUDREY NUNA
PHOTOGRAPHER: JAMES BEE
STYLIST: BRANDON TAN
HAIR: TETSU @ SIGNO
MAKE-UP: D'ANGELO ALSTON @ KRAMER+KRAMER
CASTING DIRECTOR: ANGELIKI SOFRONAS
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER JAYNE HER
LINE PRODUCER ASHLEY TONG
DIGITAL TECH: JACK JIANG
VIDEOGRAPHER: LEO HSU
STYLIST ASSISTANTS: DUNYA KOROBOVA & TAYLOR CHAMPLIN
SPECIAL THANKS: VNS STUDIO