“Grace” by Adoy, Wednesday, August 3, 2022

"Grace" was one of the first hits for the South Korean electronic indie band Adoy. The song opens their 2015 debut EP Catnip. In a recent interview with Front Row Live lead vocalist Oh Ju-hwan and keyboardist Zee talked with Rob Herrera while they were on their first U.S. tour.  The two musicians talked about their writing process in Adoy. Although Ju-hwan is the lead singer and sings in English, he is not fluent in conversation, so Zee often handles the English questions and translates the interview questions and answers. So why then, would a band choose to write their songs in a language their lead singer wasn't fluent in?

WHY DON'T YOU TELL ME? At Cornerstone 2011, the year before the festival folded, Blindside flew from Sweden to sub-headline on Saturday, July 2nd, just before Anberlin closed out the main stage. The show was incredible. The band had just released their first album since 2007's Black Rose EP,  With Shivering Hearts We Wait, an album that pushed the band into electronic and pop influences. One of the things I remembered from the show was that guitarist Simon Grenehed rather than lead singer Christian Lindskog introduced all of the songs. I wasn't sure why. I'd seen interviews with the band and Lindskog had spoken. Now Adoy is not Blindside, nor is Korean Swedish, but I find it interesting when bands from non-English speaking countries make an artistic choice to sing in English, whether it's A-ha or Scorpions or the Japanese pop-punk band ONE OK ROCK. And then you find yourself traveling, even just a few miles north of the border in Quebec, listening to French DJs playing American music with a few French rock bands that seem to be everything that's missing in the American scene. 

I WAS ALWAYS WAS DREAMING OF A DAY LIKE TODAY. In the interview with Rob Herrera, Zee explains that Adoy tried writing in Korean, but felt that sound of English better illustrated their lyrics and the concepts behind their songs. The concept? Zee explains that an Adoy song is about "lifting" and "floating in the air" because they feel that sound promotes a feeling of youth and vitality. Zee explains that he usually writes the lyrics, but sometimes Ju-hwan or other members will write in Korean and Zee will translate the lyrics. A few years ago, the band was on a radio show on a Seoul English K-pop/indie station talking about their upcoming record Love and performing songs from Love and Catnip. Before playing the song "Grace," Zee told the listeners that the song was about an impending serious conversation in the car, when two lovers are about break up. But does the relationship still stand a chance? So that "floating in the air" feeling that Adoy's music gives the listeners is contrasted with the melancholy of the fear of a break up. "Grace," lyrically, is similar to "Bike" on the band's follow up EP in that both the happiness and the inevitability of the couple's breakup are told in a calm and positive tone in the nostalgic song. Still, the twinge of sadness in the lyrics aren't intended to kill the vibe of the song. Played in a largely non-English speaking country in trendy cafes and restaurants, the smooth sounds of Adoy can serve as furniture music, music that sets a mood but not a conversation piece. Well, today, Adoy, you set off the conversation, and we're all a litter sadder because of it!

Read “Grace” by ADOY on Genius. 

Live version: