Audrey Nuna rediscovers freedom on stage

For singer Audrey Nuna, artistic honesty means not bowing to sonic conventions. Her lyrics are equal parts playful and serious, imaginative and down-to-earth: “Need a petticoat, feel like Comic Sans / Overused for that paper by the gram,” she rhymes in “Comic Sans.” In “damn Right,” Nuna muses: “Guess I'm supposed to be grown, this how it feel bone to bone / And I did post but I'm alone, rich off catfish like Petco.”And in “Suckin Up,” her just-released single, Machievalli and Botticelli are mentioned by name instead of 21st-century contemporaries, as is the Mona Lisa, but everything returns to the present: “Why are you so slimy?” sings Nuna. “When I need something real…”

Her songs combine motifs and methods from hip-hop, pop, R&B and indie to create a sound all her own. The same goes for her videos, which are set in lush backyards, dingy rooftops, ultra-modern dining rooms and Hype Williams-esque non-places.

Her honest approach worked. After a quick rise in New York and the release of her debut LP a liquid breakfastThe 25-year-old from New Jersey has since collaborated with artists such as Jack Harlow, Saba and Teezo Touchdown and has performed at Late Night with Seth Meyers.

Document met Nuna at her LA home for an improvisational, logophilic exploration of her practice, process, and universe.

Drew Zeiba: I've been watching a lot of your videos over the last few days. You have such a strong visual language. To what extent are you involved in the conception or direction?

Audrey Nuna: I'm more like a collaborator. I want to be involved in the conception of everything. I never just show up on set and say, “Okay, what should I do? Where should I go? What should I wear?” Honestly, I love creative direction as much as musical direction. I definitely have people that I trust to execute certain things and handle the logistics of certain things and of course be creative collaborators, but I would say for the most part I love having agency on that side.

Signed: I really liked the video “Chump Change” and I was impressed by this technique that is used in some of the videos – kind of like “breaking the fourth wall,” I guess – where it suddenly goes quiet or the music becomes diegetic. I wonder about these silences and interruptions.

Audrey: Nobody is talking about this video. It was a funny one. It was funny because Deb [Never] and I was able to interact on a real level. We're actually friends – it was just a random day in LA.

Signed: How much of it was scripted?

Audrey: It was a mix. Some of it was spontaneous and then captured, some of it came from the director Alexandra Thurmond. She's cool. I love working with female directors. It's always a quiet day on set. A lot of it was her master plan, her brain, and Deb and I said what we liked and didn't like and contributed ideas. I'd say it was a real collaboration.

Signed: You've also recently released a few performance videos. What energy do you bring to the stage? How has your performance evolved as the audience has grown?

Audrey: I think it went through a cycle. I started playing shows like everyone else that were DIY, a little shabby, a little sloppy, thrown-together shows where you don't even know if anyone else is going to come except your mum and sister – which has literally happened before. I come from that background and I'm almost punk, even though the music isn't necessarily punk. Those shows had this energy that you don't know what's going to happen and you just have to get on stage and exist.

Doing two tours as an opening act for others, I learned the Polish side, the craft side, the crowd control side – the professional side. This year it's been nice to find the balance between the two. I recently did a show at a venue I won't name, but there was a mix-up. The logistics were messed up. At the end I said to my friend Anwar: [Sawyer]who produces all the music, said, “Let's just do a jazz jam session.” It was so much fun. It was so important for me, regardless of the circumstances, to tap into that energy of the 2019 Bushwick showcase again, where anything is possible and it's just about enjoying the music. It became a very personal experience. It was really cool to be a part of that cycle.

Signed: Did you improve on this show?

Audrey: I improvised a little bit. It was just so free. Because on tour, sometimes the shows are kind of programmed. On this one, I had a DJ triggering live. It was very living and breathing. I still think about it, even though it was last month, because I want to bring a lot more of that live energy into the live performance. That sounds redundant, but sometimes things can get overlooked when you're busy doing other things. I'm looking forward to bringing more jazz elements, more punk elements into the show.

Signed: I can imagine doing any show, but especially with a huge show, you want everything to be perfect down to the smallest detail, but maybe something gets lost in the process of making everything run smoothly.

Audrey: It's a balance between being an artist and being a craftsman. They're very different in nature. Craftsmanship is all about repetition, monotony and consistency, and being an adult and showing up. I think being an artist is about being a child and being free and not giving a damn about your obligations – in a healthy way, of course. The same goes for live performance. It's about finding the balance of having practiced this so many times that I'm completely free on stage. And the artist can now take over because the craftsman has muscle memory of the things you have to stand on in performance, but in terms of expression and just being present… I feel like when you Do the work and if you rehearse and do it 50 times, then you have more leeway in not knowing what you're doing on stage, if that makes sense. It's a strange balancing act on a tightrope.

Signed: Art definitely needs a bit of identity to get through. That's the punk dimension. It's not necessarily about harshness, but about some friction or surprise.

Audrey: Absolutely. And I think that's why I love being nervous. I'm always so nervous. It's just a different energy level. I'm not a very outgoing person by nature either. I think I'm much more comfortable with myself now. But as a kid, that was my worst nightmare – like my dad was asking me to sing for my family. The whole time I was performing, it was not about fighting that feeling, but about trying to embrace it and see how it felt. And that was such a blessing.

Signed: I read in some of your previous interviews that you were in a book club. Does it still exist?

Audrey: I'm sad. I left my book club! My family is still in the book club, but I'm not in it anymore. It was more about the book selection. I feel like I have different taste in books than my family. Like I'm here trying to read The diary of Anaïs Nin or something like that. And they say: “No, we don't feel that.”

“I try to only include the things that I find really interesting. It's an attempt to be honest with every word on a micro-radical level.”

Signed: Maybe Anaïs Nin is not someone you should read with your mother.

Audrey: No, in the truest sense of the word. Or even Children onlyPatti Smith, that was something I suggested. And they said, “Oh, we want to read that instead.” But now that I'm feeling a little more grounded, I'd like to start a book club here in LA.

Signed: On the Words Topic, I wanted to ask about the lyrics. A lot of imagery stands out. In “Cellulite,” there's this chorus: “Surfin' too high, I'm off the Pedialyte / Leave you behind, I cut the cellulite.” The cutting is an unexpected metaphor, but I also find Pedialyte a really funny rhyme. It's kind of absurd. It's almost treated like it's a drug. I also find it interesting that that's the brand name. So you're not singing about Balenciaga or anything. How do cellulite and Pedialyte fit together?

Audrey: I just have my taste and what I find interesting in life overall—and everyone does—but to me, Balenciaga is not as interesting as Pedialyte. Maybe that's a logophile perspective. There are certain words that I love. And colors too. I'm a very visual person and I love finding colors that haven't been used before—if we look at concepts, metaphors, and words as colors. I like to look for things that are real to me. Pedialyte is real to me, you know? That's on my rider for every show. Cellulite is real to me. I grew up with so many billboards saying how bad cellulite is and I questioned that. I just tried to be honest. And I try to only put in the things that I find really interesting. It's a micro-radical attempt to be honest with every word.

Signed: There is also some humor. Even if the humor is a bit dry. It is both unexpected and forced. Serious, but somehow also cheerful.

Audrey: I love the word you said: “absurd.” Sometimes I get so fed up with everything and so bored that I want to shake myself up and say, “Okay, what do I want to write about?” I want to tap into something I haven't even thought about, at least not on a conscious level, and run with it. Like “Comic Sans” – the idea of ​​using a font as a song title. My only job – I always say this – is to be honest and not say, “Well, I can't say that because it's not 'normal.'” I just want to remove the barrier. And I think anyone can do that. Everyone has their own unique interest. We're taught that there are certain things that are worth revering and certain things that aren't. I just don't buy that shit.

Signed: What is the writing process like? Do you jot things down as they come to you? Or do you sit down and think, “It's time to record a track?”

Audrey: A little bit of both. Depending on how open I'm feeling, I often write down a lot of words throughout the day. I literally have 2,000 iPhone notes. I do it in phases. There are times when the words don't come to me as easily. And then there are times when I'm talking to people, I can't stop having intrusive thoughts about lyrics. I'm definitely on the cusp of… I've been driving inconspicuously thinking about ideas and deciding if I should risk my life to write them down. I'm very open at the moment. But the final form always comes about in the studio. Even when I write something down, I don't think about it much until there's an idea there that brings it to life. It's very free-flowing. I don't like being rigid. I like to let everything coexist.