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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!<\/p>\n
Known as \u201cK-Pop\u2019s go-to collaborator,\u201d 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.<\/p>\n
As a genre- and label-agnostic artist and producer, Colde has worked with top talents from Korea\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
His ability to weave worlds together is a testament to the kind of music he creates. Colde\u2019s captivating vocals and natural rhythmic flows fits perfectly into genres like alternative & contemporary R&B, indie & chill-out, hip-hop, pop, and soul.<\/p>\n
Read on to learn what musical territory the artist is diving into on his latest chilling record!<\/p>\n
Angel: It\u2019s been three years since your last EP, and \u2018Don\u2019t Ever Say Love Me\u2019 stood out as a core emotional pillar of \u2018Love Part 2.\u2019 Sonic-wise, what was it like contrasting the bright, city-pop atmosphere of \u2018Hectic\u2019 with bringing RM into your heavier, more haunting universe back then\u2014and how did exploring those two extremes influence the sound of your new project?<\/p>\n
Colde: Since I was involved in RM\u2019s album, I felt that the vibe and color he was going for in \u201cHectic\u201d 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.<\/p>\n
On the other hand, with \u201cDon\u2019t Ever Say Love Me,\u201d 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\u2019s albums and show the different colors that each of us has was a really fun experience.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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?<\/p>\n
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\u2019s 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\u2019ve 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.<\/p>\n
Angel: When did the concept of the \u2018duality of youth\u2019 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?<\/p>\n
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\u2019s when I set the album\u2019s overall concept as \u201cYouth\u201d and started weaving that duality into every track.<\/p>\n
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 \u201cSHUT DA FXXKA AND GO.\u201d 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\u2019s 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 \u201cyouth\u201d keyword really started taking concrete shape for the rest of the EP.<\/p>\n
Angel: The collaborations on ICY BABY are exceptionally diverse\u2014from fellow Club Eskimo alum punchnello to Khakii, JJANGYOU, Choi Won-bin, and producers like APRO and Basecamp. As someone who\u2019s 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?<\/p>\n
Colde: Since ICY BABY is, in a way, the most personal record I\u2019ve made as Colde, I focused more than usual on shaping the story itself. So rather than working with someone simply because they\u2019re popular right now, the most important thing to me was whether they could add strength to the story I was trying to tell. They\u2019re also all veteran artists who consistently bring something fresh, so I\u2019m very satisfied with the quality of what we made together.<\/p>\n
Angel: \u201cLIFE IS A MOVIE (FEAT. DIMO REX)\u201d reflects on the ephemerality of youth. The futuristic synth track likens life to a film and asks what we\u2019ll 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\u2014what advice would you give to young listeners struggling to keep their own \u2018life movie\u2019 running when unscripted disruptions throw off their narrative?<\/p>\n
Colde: It might sound like a clich\u00e9 answer, but I want to hold onto every single moment where I\u2019m putting my story into words. So right now, the moment I most want to keep is this one, making ICY BABY, where I\u2019m telling my most honest story yet.<\/p>\n
Even for me, my own movie hasn\u2019t always gone the way I expected while I\u2019ve 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\u2019t know exactly what scenes are still ahead, but I want to hold onto each one of them, for as long as I can. That\u2019s why I\u2019m trying to live without regrets.<\/p>\n
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\u2019ll be cheering you on with everything I\u2019ve got, the whole way.<\/p>\n
Angel: I\u2019ve 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\u2014while simultaneously uplifting essential indie talents like wave to earth and the poles\u2014has 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\u2019ve 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?<\/p>\n
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\u2019ve made it this far only on the belief that \u201cI can do this.\u201d<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve always believed other artists\u2019 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\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
Building your own world rarely goes the way you planned, and there will be times that are genuinely hard. But if there\u2019s one thing I\u2019ve learned from going through that myself, it\u2019s that you still have to protect the world you\u2019ve built and cared for, because that\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
Angel: Choosing three distinct title tracks is a bold move. How did \u2018PULL UP,\u2019 \u2018LIFE IS A MOVIE,\u2019 and \u2018SHUT DA FUCKA AND GO\u2019 earn those spots as the core anchors representing the different colors of this EP?<\/p>\n
Colde: As I put the album\u2019s 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\u2019s what led me to set the album\u2019s overall theme as \u201cYouth.\u201d Each title track represents a different facet of that youth.<\/p>\n
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\u2019s 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\u2019s walked through anxious, uncertain times, to other youth going through that same period right now.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Angel: Since you\u2019re constantly collecting sounds from different cultures, what\u2019s a global genre or music scene you haven\u2019t tapped into yet that you\u2019re eager to explore?<\/p>\n
Colde: I have a strong interest in genre itself, so I tend to listen without sticking to any one category. Lately, I\u2019ve fallen into bossa nova, listening to artists like Jo\u00e3o Gilberto, Ant\u00f4nio Carlos Jobim, and Sergio Mendes. Of course, I\u2019ve already expressed my love for bossa nova within my own discography before, in songs like \u201c\ub9c8\uc74c\ub300\ub85c\u201d and \u201c\ub10c \uc27d\uac8c \ub9d0\ud588\uc9c0\ub9cc.\u201d 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.<\/p>\n
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