“My Favorite Pillow” album cover art photographed by Nathanie Ngu
There exist two sides of hyejin as she evolves as an artist: one is a playful, bitter young woman, and the other is a more vulnerable and introspective hyejin. Her latest single, “My Favorite Pillow,” which was released on June 30, taps into the latter, a heartfelt alternative indie song about wishing for a pillow fight with a past romantic partner.
Seoul-born, New York-based Abby Choi, who uses her Korean name hyejin as her stage name, released her debut EP “WHAT A SHAME!” in March. Garnering over 2 million streams on her first professionally produced musical project, she followed with the single “DAVID LEE.” The 19-year-old songstress departs from her previous R&B sound with the alternative “My Favorite Pillow.”
“WHAT A SHAME!” marked many firsts for hyejin. It was her first time making music outside of her bedroom in a professional studio as she began the project while starting her studies at New York University’s Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music. During her first month in New York, she also met her producer and classmate Drew Lim, who goes by the stage name Lio. Hyejin describes their relationship as a turning point in her life. The two connected over their shared love for nostalgic music and have since then worked together to create a timeless sound that combines the authenticity of older songs with modern sensibilities.
“WHAT A SHAME!” and the subsequent “DAVID LEE” reflect hyejin and Lio’s tastes in an eclectic mix of genres– from city pop, jazz-funk, groovy soul, to retro R&B. While “WHAT A SHAME!” dances between tongue-in-cheek, acerbic lyricism and soft-spoken confessionals and “DAVID LEE” plays full throttle into hyejin’s unserious, angsty persona, with “My Favorite Pillow,” hyejin presents the most sincere version of herself.
The single features hyejin’s dreamy vocals and candid lyricism, backdropped by a sonic landscape influenced by the intimate dynamism of SZA, textured guitar work of Radiohead, and vintage-yet-contemporary experimentalism of South Korean artist So!YoON!. Hyejin and Lio had been listening to the three musicians at the time, so the inspirations naturally permeated into the song.
“We both think that sonic ‘nostalgia’ has a lot to do with the certain harmonies and phrases in the instrumental, as well as the particular tones and textures. Lio experiments a lot with unique textures and processing, heavily juxtaposing modern and nostalgic sonics,” hyejin stated.
The two first sat down and tracked the intro vocals, with Lio programming the wistful vocoder part simultaneously. He opted for instrumentals like drum breaks, B3 organ, and analog synths for a harmonious blend of electronic and acoustic sounds. The pair then brought the song to fellow collaborator and NYU classmate Joe Cho, who also worked on “WHAT A SHAME!,” and he laid down distorted and acoustic guitars to produce a contrasting effect and wrote out the bridge as well.
Hyejin explained the trio’s musical process, which to her, feels organic and intuitive. Lio and her would typically write and pan out the piece production-wise, and Choe would augment the music with guitar and arrangement decisions. Many of the production and arrangement choices were made on the spot, including the distorted guitars and live drums.
To hyejin, the new sound that she is delving into feels more existential as she incorporates different auditory elements through the scope of R&B, reflecting the progress she has made since she was 18. Making “My Favorite Pillow” wasn’t a conscious effort to create an “alternative” song, but rather a natural outcome of what hyejin and her producers thought would sound most fitting for the track.
“As time passes, I think I’m more inclined to think of a song in terms of sounds rather than genres,” she said. “I’m beginning to perceive genres as languages and vocabulary; the more I’m versed in different influences and backgrounds, the better I can convey my songwriting.”
In her future work, hyejin looks to keep harmonizing her sonic duality with sincere lyricism. She generally describes herself as a “pretty pessimistic person,” motivating her to gravitate towards writing about tragedy. She cites Amy Winehouse and SZA as two of her biggest inspirations for songwriting because she finds it difficult to pinpoint a “normal love song” in their discographies as every track provides a nuanced outlook on subjects such as love and growing up. As she continues to reimagine tragically sad experiences into narratives, hyejin expressed that “I feel the most authentic when I’m writing about the not-so-beautiful parts of life.”
