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Korean artist, producer, and WAVY label founder Colde sits down with Angel for an exclusive interview on K-ALL to discuss his new EP, ICY BABY!

Known as “K-Pop’s go-to collaborator,” the multi-hyphenate has been capturing hearts around the globe since his 2015 debut in the hip-hop duo offonoff. Since then, the artist has cultivated a powerful sonic empire with a truly strong resonance among listeners.

As a genre- and label-agnostic artist and producer, Colde has worked with top talents from Korea’s three major companies (HYBE, SM, and YG), building a sound world uniquely his own on both sides of the recording studio glass. On his EP Love Part 2, Colde brought together RM of BTS, Baekhyun of EXO, and Lee Chan-hyuk of AKMU: flagship artists from three rival powerhouse labels on a single record. In an industry where cross-collaboration between major label artists is rare, Colde pulls it off with ease.

His ability to weave worlds together is a testament to the kind of music he creates. Colde’s captivating vocals and natural rhythmic flows fits perfectly into genres like alternative & contemporary R&B, indie & chill-out, hip-hop, pop, and soul.

Read on to learn what musical territory the artist is diving into on his latest chilling record!

Angel: It’s been three years since your last EP, and ‘Don’t Ever Say Love Me’ stood out as a core emotional pillar of ‘Love Part 2.’ Sonic-wise, what was it like contrasting the bright, city-pop atmosphere of ‘Hectic’ with bringing RM into your heavier, more haunting universe back then—and how did exploring those two extremes influence the sound of your new project?

Colde: Since I was involved in RM’s album, I felt that the vibe and color he was going for in “Hectic” had a very purple tone to it, or perhaps the kind of colors you would associate with a city-pop sound and a cityscape at night.

On the other hand, with “Don’t Ever Say Love Me,” we envisioned something much darker and more monochromatic, almost black and white. In a way, the two songs had completely opposite moods and colors, even though there was still something similar between them.
So, being able to participate in each other’s albums and show the different colors that each of us has was a really fun experience.

I think that process of moving between those two extremes also carries over into my new project, ICY BABY. The contrast and flow from tracks 1 through 8 are very much built around that idea. I think it would be interesting to listen to the album while keeping that connection in mind, and I hope you enjoy discovering how those different moods come together throughout ICY BABY.

Angel: Looking back at where you started with offonoff ten years ago versus who you are now with ICY BABY, what made this the right project to mark this moment in your career?

Colde: ICY BABY is the starting point of a longer journey toward my first full length album. Since that full length will eventually hold every side of Colde’s identity, I wanted to pack as many facets of myself as I currently can into this project. So I think of this album as something that shows both everything I’ve built over these ten years, and exactly who I am right now, at the same time. From when I first introduced myself to people as offonoff ten years ago to now, both my circumstances and I myself have changed a lot. But through ICY BABY, I wanted to show that the passion I bring to music is just as intense as it was back then.

Angel: When did the concept of the ‘duality of youth’ first start taking shape for you? Was there a specific song made early in the process that unlocked the direction for the rest of the EP?

Colde: As I shaped the tracklist to shift in mood from cool to gradually hotter, I realized that flow mirrored the many faces of youth: the duality of being unsteady and unsure, yet burning all the more intensely because of it. That’s when I set the album’s overall concept as “Youth” and started weaving that duality into every track.

Of course, every track on the album reveals its own slice of my youth, each in its own way. But if I had to pick one, it would be the title track “SHUT DA FXXKA AND GO.” While making the songs for this album, this is the track where the message I most wanted to give to the people listening ended up landing. It’s also the one where I put down, almost as is, the things I felt over the past ten years, so it was really a message to my past self too: life is a series of problems, but believe in yourself and keep moving forward regardless. I think this is also the track where the “youth” keyword really started taking concrete shape for the rest of the EP.

Angel: The collaborations on ICY BABY are exceptionally diverse—from fellow Club Eskimo alum punchnello to Khakii, JJANGYOU, Choi Won-bin, and producers like APRO and Basecamp. As someone who’s mastered cross-collaboration and bringing together artists from totally different labels and scenes, how did you decide on this specific mix of voices for your first EP in three years?

Colde: Since ICY BABY is, in a way, the most personal record I’ve made as Colde, I focused more than usual on shaping the story itself. So rather than working with someone simply because they’re popular right now, the most important thing to me was whether they could add strength to the story I was trying to tell. They’re also all veteran artists who consistently bring something fresh, so I’m very satisfied with the quality of what we made together.

Angel: “LIFE IS A MOVIE (FEAT. DIMO REX)” reflects on the ephemerality of youth. The futuristic synth track likens life to a film and asks what we’ll remember once it ends. If you were to put your own life on the big screen, which specific scene would you want to hold onto? And building on that—what advice would you give to young listeners struggling to keep their own ‘life movie’ running when unscripted disruptions throw off their narrative?

Colde: It might sound like a cliché answer, but I want to hold onto every single moment where I’m putting my story into words. So right now, the moment I most want to keep is this one, making ICY BABY, where I’m telling my most honest story yet.

Even for me, my own movie hasn’t always gone the way I expected while I’ve kept making music. There were so many unexpected turns, and running WAVY alongside making music meant a lot of days spent wondering whether I should lean into my artistry or make music that reaches more people. But one thing is clear: we still have to keep moving toward the ending credits regardless. When the credits on my own life eventually roll, I don’t know exactly what scenes are still ahead, but I want to hold onto each one of them, for as long as I can. That’s why I’m trying to live without regrets.

I hope you keep moving forward too, all the way through, for the movie that is your own life. There are definitely some great scenes still waiting for you. I’ll be cheering you on with everything I’ve got, the whole way.

Angel: I’ve been tracking your journey since 2018 when you created WAVY at age 24. Watching your path unfold from the underground R&B and hip-hop scene into cultivating your own solo music empire—while simultaneously uplifting essential indie talents like wave to earth and the poles—has been profoundly inspiring. As a 22-year-old creator currently building my own independent path through my podcast, K-ALL, and my editorial work, I see what you’ve built as a massive precedent. What advice do you have for young creatives navigating their own early twenties on how to protect their artistic integrity and maintain control of their voice in an industry that so often tries to shape or quiet it?

Colde: When I first struck out on my own, I truly had nothing, and no one was certain it would work out. I think I’ve made it this far only on the belief that “I can do this.”

I’ve always believed other artists’ work matters just as much as my own discography, so I put the same focus into it. The underlying goal is always to make good music, but in that process I constantly find myself weighing whether to lean into an artist’s artistry or push toward something closer to the mainstream, and that same process ended up applying right back to how I make my own music.

Building your own world rarely goes the way you planned, and there will be times that are genuinely hard. But if there’s one thing I’ve learned from going through that myself, it’s that you still have to protect the world you’ve built and cared for, because that’s the only way it eventually gets to bloom. Even I never imagined, back when I started, that WAVY would grow into a wave this big. But I believed in myself, kept building that wave, and it brought me here. The opportunity does come. Until it does, I hope you keep believing in yourself and keep moving forward.

Angel: Choosing three distinct title tracks is a bold move. How did ‘PULL UP,’ ‘LIFE IS A MOVIE,’ and ‘SHUT DA FUCKA AND GO’ earn those spots as the core anchors representing the different colors of this EP?

Colde: As I put the album’s tracks together, the flow itself gradually built toward more heat and intensity. That range, moving between coolness and passion, felt like the duality of youth itself, unsteady and unsure, yet still pushing forward, and that’s what led me to set the album’s overall theme as “Youth.” Each title track represents a different facet of that youth.

PULL UP captures an immature, youthful kind of love, one that put on a brave, cheerful face but was ultimately left behind in regret. Love, I think, is one of the biggest keywords running through all music. LIFE IS A MOVIE compares life’s romantic yet chaotic moments to a film, carrying the attitude of pushing forward anyway. And SHUT DA FUCKA AND GO is my own encouragement, coming from someone who’s walked through anxious, uncertain times, to other youth going through that same period right now.

I chose these three as title tracks because I wanted each one, with its own temperature and story, to deliver a more specific, concrete piece of what youth feels like to listeners.

Angel: Since you’re constantly collecting sounds from different cultures, what’s a global genre or music scene you haven’t tapped into yet that you’re eager to explore?

Colde: I have a strong interest in genre itself, so I tend to listen without sticking to any one category. Lately, I’ve fallen into bossa nova, listening to artists like João Gilberto, Antônio Carlos Jobim, and Sergio Mendes. Of course, I’ve already expressed my love for bossa nova within my own discography before, in songs like “마음대로” and “넌 쉽게 말했지만.” But this has made me want to dive even deeper into that world going forward. The energy I felt during the South America tour left such a strong, warm impression on me that it makes me love this music even more.

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