Alt-R&B Singer Rakiyah on Her New Dark Fantasy Single and Singing in Korean
In Rakiyah's musical world, she calls all the shots. There are no rules or expectations. It's fitting, given that she's not the type of artist to conform to trivial concepts such as genres, but the type to keep listeners on their toes. Inspired by her time as an aerospace engineer and her love of space, Rakiyah's alternative R&B style is known to include references to space and the occasional verse in Korean, challenging the notion that there is one "right" way to do R&B. For a while, she had taken a break from singing in Korean, but with her latest release "Ready or Not" her bilingual lyricism is on full display.
"Ready or Not" is a bewitching ballad carried by Rakiyah's ethereal singing. In two ways, it's a new beginning for the alt-R&B singer. After her most recent releases being English-only songs, the single is her return to featuring Korean in her music and also shows a departure from her space concept in favor of a new dark fantasy one. However, despite the changes, Rakiyah's signature elements are still as strong as ever. The song is brought to life by her ethereal singing, ambient production and reflective lyrics. It's an enchanting return that proves it's Rakiyah's world, and we're just living in it.
In this interview, we sat down with Rakiyah to get to know more about singing in Korean, the inspiration behind "Ready or Not," and what she's looking forward to this year.
Sweety High: Why did you decide to go back to singing in Korean?
Rakiyah: I was very hesitant and self-conscious to sing in Korean again. At the time, I didn't want to be put in a box and be expected to do it all the time. It also was like an identity thing where I still wanted to be true to myself in being an African-American woman, so I didn't want to divest my musical identity in another culture so much. I feel like taking that break gave me the time to just focus on what it is that I want to do. I wanted to be sure that I'm doing it because I want to do it and now I understand that it's what I want to do. I don't have to do it in a very specific way, I'm just doing it in the Rakiyah way if that makes sense. It's also representation. A lot of my fans also really love Korean culture, Korean language, Korean shows. Everybody knew me as a YouTuber for that first, so it's nice to kind of come back to what's familiar to me and to my fans and just remind them that people who look like us can do this too.
SH: "Ready or Not" has a strong supernatural element with a witchy vibe. Were there any legends or folklore that inspired it?
Rakiyah: No. I'm not a native Korean speaker, so I always want to do it right and respectfully. I always have my friend who's a co-writer help me. Once that was all done, I listened to the song a lot to be like "Okay, what's the vibe I'm getting? What's the new era that I want to do?" I figured the song has elements of darkness to it but also sensual whimsiness to the sound, so I figured, "Okay, let's go with a dark fantasy era for this song" and I just made a moodboard. I didn't think of something specific as my inspiration for this concept. I did keep in mind the legends before me that I've always been inspired by, which is Janet, Aliyah and Missy Elliot, because they are always okay with going the sci-fi route or the alternative route I'm always going to be comfortable doing the same thing. I didn't really think of anything, just my genuine love for fantasy and I love horror. It kind of gives witchy, but the intention was supposed to be alchemist, dark fantasy, dark magic.
SH: When writing a bilingual song, is it easier for you to come up with the English or Korean lyrics?
Rakiyah: For me, it's always naturally going to be easier for me to express myself as a lyricist in English. The Korean part is always the most challenging. Really, singing in Korean is for me to challenge myself. Once I made the melody of the second verse and had some of the keywords that I knew I wanted to say, I hit up my friend/co-writer to see if she was down. I try to communicate the concept because even though the lyrics in English and the lyrics in Korean when you translate them exactly are the same, they don't exactly have the same meaning. It's more of a feeling and melody focus for that second verse, the Korean verse. I'll have a melody, I'll have some words and sentences, so I'll do the bare bones. She'll jump in, and then we'll go about it together with the usual co-writing process.
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SH: You recently restarted your Instagram, you've gone back to singing in Korean and have a new supernatural theme. It's almost like a whole new era for you, so what are you most excited for going forward?
Rakiyah: I feel like my element of space as being an aerospace engineer won't go away, the Rockets will always be Rockets. I will always be the Cosmic Queen, but I am a storyteller, so having different themes and concepts is what makes music so enjoyable for me. I'm excited because this year I'm still going to be doing sci-fi and fantasy, but It's going to be one umbrella of a concept. For example, if the theme of this year is sci-fi fantasy, I'm going to give pieces of different parts of fantasy or different parts of sci-fi all under one giant story which I haven't done before. It's like how a storybook has different tales. I love that and I want to do that in music, so I look forward to this year being able to kind of keep people understanding what the theme of the year is but also keep them on their toes a little bit.
SH: Are there any new genres you would like to try or incorporate into your music?
Rakiyah: I've come to realize that I am an alternative artist, so alternative R&B is the main sound that you hear in my music. Sometimes you'll hear hip-hop or trap so this year you'll get a blend more of alternative R&B and hip-hop or trap. It's more of me still being ethereal with the same vocals and high tone but sometimes under deeper, darker, ambient production or trap drums. That is something I'm doing more, and I also am coming in with more rock and pop-punk. I finally get to show my Paramore side. Especially as a Black woman, I really want people to understand all that I do and see themselves within alternative spaces. It's really important for me to be myself and then be that to all the other listeners who are Black and love rock.
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SH: What else can we expect from you in the future? Will there be more Korean or different projects?
Rakiyah: There will definitely be a lot more singles. In the past, I've been a project artist, which is great, but it takes so much time, effort and money as an independent artist to make a project. Once it's done, recuperating fast enough to drop again is not really doable, so dropping a lot of singles this year that'll come together as a project is a lot easier, so my plan is to do that this year. I also plan to sing in Korean more. I want to see what happens with "Ready or Not" to see if that's really what listeners want to listen to, but I would love to drop more music in Korean, more Korean verses or even a full Korean song. Tapping more into visuals and storytelling is always something I love, so I'm going to keep that going this year with different themes in fantasy and sci-fi.
SH: What message would you like to give to your fans?
Rakiyah: I want to always say I appreciate them for being such amazing fans and so supportive. They keep my spirits high. Little do they know how low they are at times trying to be an artist. It's been very hard to stay motivated on this path. I'm trying to stay focused on the positives and just keep pushing and keep going and the Rockets' support has helped me so much in those times, so I want to tell them thank you for that. I'm here, I'm listening and I want to grow and do more, so take a seat and get ready because Mother is back.
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