Following the May 9 release of her latest single ‘fries, bb’ via Beeline Records, Jacqui continues to make her mark with a distinctive mix of offbeat charm and neo-soul nuance. The Seoul-and-Shanghai-raised artist has built momentum with over 500,000 streams on Spotify alone, establishing herself as a fresh voice in alternative R&B. Influenced early on by her discovery of Erykah Badu after moving to the U.S., her sound bridges introspective soul and genre-blurring production, drawing comparisons to artists like Mahalia and FKA Twigs. Recent syncs in Netflix’s My Holo Love and Amazon Prime’s BUTTERFLY, along with a performance at FOCUS Wales 2025 and a slot at The Great Escape 2025, show Jacqui steadily expanding her reach with plenty more to come.
Tell us about you, how long have you been making music? What inspired you to start?
Nice to meet you. I am Jacqui, a singer-songwriter based in Seoul, South Korea. I’ve always known that staying creative is my calling, and songwriting was one of the things that came naturally to me. I was around 14 years old when I wrote a full song for the first time in my life. I believe it was for a spring break project for music theory class.
The music industry is super competitive these days. Was there a moment in your life when you wanted to give up on music? How did you manage to stay focused and achieve what you wanted?
I think the thought of giving up on something is a part of the package of pursuing something you love. The more I am willing to walk away from the things I love and the less of the expectation and the pressure I put on it, the more present I become of the here and now, which ironically helps you stay focused. It’s probably the law of nature.
How would you describe your creative processes? Are the music and lyrics written in conjunction or separately?
I never actually thought of my process, but recently I’ve been in a lot of writing sessions during my tour in the UK, and all the producers I worked with seemed to ask the same question. To answer the question, I usually come up with drums and put keys or bass over it to give it a structure. Sometimes melodies pop out first, or at other times, I have a word stuck to my head begging to be written down as a lyric. Or they happen simultaneously like magic.
Where did the inspiration come from?
Most of my inspiration used to dwell in my internal experiences, so a lot of my lyrics were pulled from there. But now that I am allowing myself to expand and go through a bigger outwardly human experience, I feel encouraged, and I am getting back in touch with the things I used to be disconnected from. So you can expect more of that version of me from now on.
What’s next for you?
It’s been fun 3 weeks in the UK, and I wish it didn’t have to end, but the end is just around the corner. For now, I am working on a new sound for my next project. I am happy I got to work with many different producers from different backgrounds and genres. After my tour in the UK, I am going back to my city, planning to solidify the ground and path by working on music and myself, like I always have been.
