Video: Audrey Nuna Releases Vivacious New Single 'Suckin Up'

Continuing to take 2024 by storm, genre-defying Korean-American artist and songwriter Audrey Nuna has unveiled her new single “Suckin Up.”

Audrey shows off her musical dexterity on “Suckin Up,” effortlessly jumping between melodic vocals and playful raps. Audrey’s flow is undeniable as she laments the superficiality of modern society while name-dropping historic greats like Machiavelli and Botticelli. 

“The song references a lot of pop culture but also historic figures—Wendy Williams, Botticelli, Sakamoto, Cinderella, Machiavelli—all playing their part in illustrating my take on performative love and admiration,” Audrey says of the single. “It's fascinating to observe this type of synthetic love & how it always plays out... I was feeling a desire to cut the cord on all of this weight and start fresh.” 

Meanwhile, the music video pays homage to Audrey’s former home of New York City, weaving together shots around current day Manhattan and otherworldly scenes. 

“We shot the video in a lot of places that have sentimental value to me - whether it was in Chinatown, near where I shot one of my first videos, ‘Souffle’—or Mitsuwa, a Japanese supermarket I grew up going to,” Audrey says of the “Suckin Up” music video. “The song is about the search for something real—so the scene with the white hair represents purity, but on the other end, so does the gritty and more raw settings that allude to my youth & adolescence.”

“Suckin Up” marks Audrey’s third single of 2024; she ushered in the year with dreamy track “Starving” featuring multi-hyphenate Teezo Touchdown, South Korean R&B visionary So!YoON! on guitar and multi-platinum pop sensation Lauv on bass. In May, Audrey debuted “Jokes On Me” alongside an exclusive collaboration with leading luxury fashion platform SYKY titled “Glamour As Armour.” The singles both showcase Audrey’s musicality—steeped in intricate layers, each borrowing from different genres. 

“Suckin Up” continues Audrey’s album-wide exploration of the concept of duality, which can be summed up by the mantra “Soft Skin, Hard Feelings.” Of this exploration, she tells Hypebeast “I want to illustrate a yearning and desire to stay soft through the underbelly of adolescence while dealing with all of the dark things that happen that can harden you as a person.” 

Audrey will soon announce a new body of work, marking a new chapter both sonically and aesthetically while serving as a testament to her evolution over the past three years. 

ABOUT AUDREY NUNA

Amid a world full of the fake and jaded, Los Angeles-based singer/rapper/songwriter Audrey Nuna stands out as a true original and shapeshifting visionary. The 25-year-old artist blurs the lines between pop, R&B, and experimental trap on her anthems that act as a powerful declaration of her nonconformity. A multi-dimensional artist, Nuna has built a reputation for her out-of-the-box approach to everything she does—from her razor-sharp lyricism, to her dynamic visual aesthetic, her self-directed music videos, and more. 

Born to Korean immigrant parents in New Jersey, where she was one of few Asian Americans in her suburban town, she began teaching herself how to record as a teenager out of sheer boredom. In 2018, her raw self-released tracks began to garner online attention, leading to her inking a deal with Arista by age 20 and dropping out of NYU’s Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music after a year. Nuna ascended to stardom with 2019’s “Comic Sans,” featuring Jack Harlow, and 2020’s “damn Right,” which got a high-octane sequel from DJ Snake. In 2021, she released her critically-acclaimed debut LP, a liquid breakfast, which brought her to perform at festivals like Lollapalooza, Head in the Clouds, Day N Vegas, and Hangout. After showing more of her versatility through her 2022 collaborative EP with Deb Never, chump change, she joined Ashnikko’s Weedkiller world tour as an opening act in 2023. The following year, she contributed “Pleasures” to the soundtrack of the Paramount animated film, The Tiger’s Apprentice. 

Now, Nuna takes the next quantum leap into her barrier breaking career with a sophomore album on the way.

Photo credit: Leeay

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