Lil Cherry and GOLDBUUDA on Creating Music as a Sibling Duo, NFTs and More
Hypebae chats with the musicians about their latest album, ‘SPACE TALK.’
South Korean sibling duo Lil Cherry and GOLDBUUDA followed up on their 2020 album CHEF TALK with a record titled SPACE TALK, releasing 12 tracks with their signature style that doesn’t fit in just one genre.
The project comes after both Lil Cherry and GOLDBUUDA dropped solo tracks — the younger sister worked on a single titled “CATWALK” with Rico Nasty, accompanying the track with a “CATWALK PYE CARAT DIAMOND” NFT. Meanwhile, GOLDBUUDA teamed up with Mudd the Student and Tyroné Laurent on “Power Rangers.”
The two returned to creating as a duo, with their upbringing in Seoul, Miami and New York, as well as Cherry’s background in poetry informing their music. SPACE TALK is led by titles like “WHO WE R*” featuring missA‘s Min and Lil Kirby, in addition to “Let Angels Dance” and “GGOOM” featuring Jvcki Wai.
“I highly recommend everyone to always read all my lyrics. I love feeling free while creating music… This is one of the biggest blessings I feel as a musician where a song can hold onto a moment’s energy and retain that timelessly,” Cherry shares in our interview, while her brother adds: “I spent the most time and energy on this project and I wanted to prove to myself that I’m talented in many ways besides being an artist. The beauty of mixing elements of hip hop with different genres? I’m lovin’ it.”
Continue scrolling to read our latest conversation with the sibling duo. SPACE TALK is now available on all major streaming platforms like Spotify and Apple Music.
Angella Choe/@angellachoe
Tell us about the key inspirations behind your new album. What messages are you looking to deliver through SPACE TALK? Which track did you enjoy working on the most and why?
Lil Cherry I really liked the free flow nature of work we had for track 3, “Golden Mulan,” and track 10, “WHO WE R *.” For the latter, when Buuda produced the beat he also came up with the hook, melody and lyrics, “This is who we are,” and then Min unnie from missA took it the next level with her voice and her harmonizing. Then Lil Kirby surprise dropped his verse and I immediately felt familiar with his nostalgic and angelic flow on his Korean lyrics. This very particular mixture of nostalgia and angelic sonic flow is one of my favorite elements that a hyperpop artist brings to a song. I dropped my verse the day after and made sure to carry on the angelic vibe while also writing about my newfound love for Lucy Liu after watching her on the dark comedy drama Why Women Kill, followed by a Charlie’s Angels marathon.
I highly recommend everyone to always read all my lyrics. I love feeling free while creating music and because I felt pretty free while recording songs like “WHO WE R *,” “Golden Mulan” and “MEMORY.” I feel pretty free when I listen to ‘em again even now. This is one of the biggest blessings I feel as a musician where a song can hold onto a moment’s energy and retain that timelessly.
GOLDBUUDA Through this album Cherry and I were able to showcase a range of genres once again. From compilations of SoundCloud hits that are in SAUCE TALK, to getting certified within the hip hop community with CHEF TALK, and lastly the final stamp of our duo trilogy, we wanted to attract more listeners and fans throughout the globe, entering the mainstream world.
As the main producer of SPACE TALK, I spent the most time and energy on this project and I wanted to prove to myself that I’m talented in many ways besides being an artist. The beauty of mixing elements of hip hop with different genres? I’m lovin’ it. We’ve been trying this since our first mixtape from SoundCloud, and now SPACE TALK is the new cherry on top.
My favorite track within the album has got to be “Golden Mulan.” It is a continuation of “All You Can Eat” but taken to the next level. We spent a lot of time perfecting the overall sound production but surprisingly the recording only took less than 20 minutes.
Angella Choe/@angellachoe
While the two of you have released plenty of music together as a duo, you’ve also released songs separately over the past year. Was there a reason for this? How has your creative and work process as a duo changed over the past few years?
LC For those who wonder why we venture into solo projects, it is simply because as you can imagine, there are different ways to approach storytelling. Some are best done as a duo and as a solo act. BUUDA and I are usually always in the studio together and our sonic chemistry and synergy are on point whether we’re working on a duo or solo project. BUUDA is a super producer and after taking part in executive producing for SAUCE TALK and CHEF TALK, he began directly producing tracks for SPACE TALK. I’m super excited to see other projects he will venture on, with SPACE TALK being a new starting point for him as a sound designer, director and executive producer.
GB The color of our duo sounds and solo sounds could be differentiated and we want fans and listeners to be able to enjoy a range of different sounds. We are always going to be a family but sometimes you gotta be able to eat by yourself too. We encourage each other when creating another world as a standalone artist for all of our individual projects.
Evolving as an artist is inevitable. The most exciting part of hip hop and internet culture is that it is all organic. We like to and are capable of pushing boundaries and adapting to new trends to support new movements we believe in to enrich our culture.
Tell us a little bit about the aesthetic and visual direction that you went for this time around. Did you collaborate with Yarntogo for this release as well?
Yarntogo is always gonna be our lifetime partner on this amazing journey. For the visuals in “Power Rangers” and “CATWALK” in the SPACE TALK album, we wanted to emphasize the characters we portrayed, so we went for a more conceptual look than an avant-garde look. Power Rangers and Cat Woman were such a meme idea, of course, we always wanna have our own high fashion twist so Yarntogo helped us with a lot of the reformation and accessory ideas here and there. Amazian mama!
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We can see that you’ve worked with Keely Majewski (@poiandkeely) on the album cover. How did this collab come to be?
Our previous album cover art for CHEF TALK was a precious childhood photo and that picture holds so much meaning that deciding on our next SPACE TALK artwork was a mind-boggle. We had long discussions on whether we wanted to prepare a new photoshoot or collaborate with a new 3D artist and which direction we wanted to take the artwork. Once we saw Keely’s style, we were confident that this adventurous synergy would birth the most tasteful character design to express and deliver our new sonic adventures of SPACE TALK.
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You’ve been showing a lot of interest in digital art and NFTs over the past few months. How are you using your work to expand in this space and were there any digital art or NFT elements that you incorporated into SPACE TALK?
LC My first PYE COLLECTION NFT collaboration with OP3N was a blast. Then the CATWALK PYE CARAT DIAMOND NFT was even more special, because there was only one in this universe. From now on, I think our pye gang lovers can expect more personalized NFTs from us soon, like BUUDA’s drawings and maybe a few short poems from me. 기둘려~! (Hold your horsies~!)
Are you able to share any additional projects you have in the works?
LC There’s going to be a whole lot more dancing, pyebaby! I’m bringing the wu-tang dance to Korea.
GB Yes, when the time comes, another wave of fun will be provided. We will be sharing lots of new tik and toks besides music, all for the culture! Millennials for credentials, you feel me.
Angella Choe/@angellachoe
