R&B star Andra Day to perform in Seoul

Andra Day / Courtesy of Warner Music

By Park Jin-hai

American R&B artist Andra Day will hold her first Seoul concert on Friday.

The 31-year old singer says she never thought her music would be played or she would be performing in Seoul.

Nominated for a Grammy in 2015, she is best known in Korea for her song “City Burns” used in a commercial for a local cosmetics brand.

“I’ve received a ton of love after the Hera commercial that came out with my song City Burns,” said Day during a recent email interview with The Korea Times, “so I’ve been really excited about coming out and experiencing a different culture and sharing my music with the people there.”

Day first gained recognition with numerous unplugged covers and new arrangements of songs by famous artists on her YouTube channel, where most of her videos were filmed in her hometown, San Diego, California. Her cover of Eminem’s “Lose Yourself” drew millions of views on YouTube, which eventually earned her a deal with Warner Bros. Records.

Her debut album “Cheers to the Fall” released in August last year was nominated for Best R&B Album and its main single “Rise Up” was nominated for Best R&B Performance at the 2016 Grammy Awards.

Growing up in a music-loving family, Day spent her early years listening to Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey, Luther Vandross and other big R&B singers. In performing arts school, she studied musical theater and jazz vocal performance. She fell in love with amazing jazz vocalists and storytellers like Billie Holiday.

“Billie Holiday is one of my major influences, as well as Ella Fitzgerald, Nina Simone, Lena Horne, Dinah Washington and Stevie Wonder,” said Day.

The singer-songwriter says that all of the songs in her first studio album tell of painful moments of life when a longtime relationship went wrong due to her cheating.

“I always tell people that the album is truly an autobiography about the pain I inflicted and experienced, and the lessons I learned from that,” she said. “My faith was eventually what helped me face myself, tell the truth about everything I had done, face criticism, cope with guilt, pain, and grow from all of it.”

Day recently performed her song “Rise Up” at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia following speeches from the Mothers of the Movement, a group of mothers whose children were killed in police shootings.

“Cheers To the Fall” tells that story and also talks about moving forward in freedom and not being afraid of the truth, she says.

“Whether it’s telling the truth about something you’ve done, or whether it’s pursuing who you are truly meant to be,” she said, “it’s about not being trapped by the fear of criticism and failure.”

Showing great expectations for her Seoul concert, she added that audiences can expect an emotional but entertaining show.

“At my shows, I like everyone to have a good time… but, I like for us to be real because there’s freedom in that,” she said. “Some of the songs may skew even more on the jazz side, but we always like to experiment and create musical fusions.”

Day’s concert will be held at Yes24 Live Hall on Friday. All tickets are priced at 88,000 won.

"Actors and singers share common ground in that they both express something. I’ve been dreaming of becoming a singer since I was a high school student and it is not awkward. But acting is new to me and I am still learning.

“Now I will be active on TV music shows for a while but when my solo schedule is over, I will go back to acting. I am happy that I can challenge myself in various fields,” said Song.

Song debuted as a Secret member in 2009 and rose to stardom with the group’s hit single “Magic” included in the first mini album “Secret Time.” The band’s second mini album also gained huge popularity with the title track “Madonna” released in August 2010 topping the Gaon Singles Chart.

“It has been seven years since I debuted and rankings of my new songs on the music chart don’t matter as much as before. I want to keep challenging myself and try music that I want to do and I can do well. This time I am a dark Barbie doll but I can play a different role next time,” she said.