Eric Nam on ‘House on a Hill’ and the true strength of South Korea’s music industry
26 July 2023
Ahead of his 'House on a Hill' album release on 8 September and his soon-to-be world tour, the singer-songwriter talks musical inspirations and career-defining moments with us
Warmth emanates from this side of the room; where Eric Nam sits candidly before us. He’s all ears when it comes to taking our cues on camera and strides across the room with a languid ease—all whilst effortlessly striking his affable charm with the people in the room. It’s a true joy to enter the universe of Nam, and it’s only made ever more apparent as our conversation progresses further. Having established a name for himself in South Korea since 2013, the Korean-American singer-songwriter, entrepreneur and podcaster expresses an amalgam of emotions when the camera begins rolling, yet through it all, nothing but an endless streak of sincerity is gleaned.
“The defining moment of my career? It’s this album,” ponders Nam, when we ask about the landmark moment of his decade-spanning musical career. On the cusp of the release of his third all-English full-length album, the independent artist has dropped two pre-release tracks—both titled ‘House on a Hill’, just that one of them features the vocals of American pop singer Em Beihold on it. “Not to be confused with House on a Hill though, which is also the name of the album,” he laughingly adds. Regardless, the track’s an infectious beat, filled with glistening guitar riffs and his smooth, enchanting vocals, a notable contrast against the rather wistful nature of the lyrics packaged within.
But perhaps the reflective temperament of its titular song just might be an apt teaser as to what the rest of the eight-strong tracklist holds. With credit inclusions of electric duo Honne and Oh Wonder amidst the yet-to-be-released album, it seems there is much more to be expected from the artist Eric Nam—a rather different side to the laid back yet confident guy we’re used to watching on the Daebak Show w/ Eric Nam, Dive Studios’s longtime podcast show. Lucky for us, for all of an hour, Nam let us step into his world and talked inspirations behind ‘House on a Hill’, the defining moment of his career and what South Korea’s music industry has taught him over the past decade.
Tell us more about the inspiration behind your latest song ‘House On A Hill’.
So the single, ‘House on a Hill’, was inspired by me wanting to buy a house, which I think is something that everybody wants. Everybody wants a place to call their own. So when I was wanting to buy a house, I went to see this particular house and I fell in love with it and everything about it. The only issue was that it was on this massive, massive hill which eventually seemed like a bad idea—so I didn’t actually end up getting the house.
But I was thinking to myself about why I wanted a house in the first place. And I started to ask myself all these questions about what it means to have a house. Is it stability? Is it a sense of place? A sense of my own success? What does it actually mean? That train of thought led me to start contemplating a lot of things about life; questions about what makes us happy, what makes us really want to live, what makes us really sad and all these very ‘existential crises’ types of questions.
Since it shares the same name as your upcoming studio album, is that the inspiration for the rest of the album too?
Yeah, so that is what a lot of the album is about too. There’s a song called ‘Exist‘. There’s a song called ‘Don’t Leave Yet’, which is very much about feeling lonely. There’s a song called ‘I Wish I Wasn’t Me’, where, you know, I love what I’m doing but sometimes at the end of the day, I feel incredibly empty inside. So it’s a full roller coaster of emotions and questions that we tend to ask ourselves but often want to ignore, yet we put it into some form anyway.
What would you say has been the defining moment in your career?
This album is the defining moment of my career. And I say that not only because I have a massive album coming out but this is also the tenth year since I’ve debuted as a singer properly. I like to think that it’s the culmination of all my musical experiences, and my experiences in TV and film and creative direction. It really took every single ounce and fibre of my body—pretty much everything that I knew to pull off this project. So with this album, the upcoming tour and the many surprises that we have coming in the next few months, House on a Hill is definitely a very, very big moment for my career.
As someone who knows what it’s like being on both sides of the camera, would you say you prefer being the interviewer or interviewee more?
Honestly, these days, I think I like being the interviewer more. And I think that comes with life and growth—of just being curious about other people’s stories and wanting to understand their perspective and where they’re coming from. Because what we often see is the final end product of a flashy music video or a concert or some sort of television show or film, but you don’t really get to understand what the thought process, or motivation or the logic behind the piece of music or film was. As an audience member, we can put together our own understanding of it and make guesses but to hear it directly from the artists themselves, is also a very interesting thing. Not to say I don’t like being an interviewee. It’s just that I’ve become so used to being an interviewer now that it just feels comfortable too.
Since your debut, what has been the biggest lesson you’ve learnt from South Korea’s music industry?
I think there is a very particular attention to detail that is put into production from the South Korean music industry. It is hard to explain because I’ve had to work between both the South Korean and the US teams. Sometimes when I work with people on the US teams, from their perspective some of the feedback seems over-the-top, nitpicky and unnecessary to them. But at the same time, I think it’s that attention to detail that has gotten K-pop to where it is today. It’s how K-pop has become so huge and why things look so beautiful and sound as great as they do. So it’s not that other places are cutting corners. I just think South Korea’s music industry is very good at looking at very small details and making things just better overall from these seemingly small things.
Nam wears Zegna jacket, MCM pants and Christian Louboutin loafers; tank top, stylist’s own.
His studio album House on a Hill drops on 8 September 2023. Listen to the pre-release ‘House on a Hill (ft. Em Beihold)’ now.