Adeline Um - May 2024 Alumni Interview
In our second installment of the Alumni Interview series, we chatted with East Coast-based singer-songwriter and alumna Adeline Um, who shared with us the details of her forthcoming album release, her inspiration and drive for making music, and what she hopes to see in the future of the music industry.
Adeline Um, Class of 2019 (MA Psychology & Social Anthropology) brought us through her personal history growing up surrounded by music. Raised in Boston by Korean immigrants, she recounts how her parents came to the U.S. as children, with her grandparents working several jobs to ensure the family’s financial security. Like so many with immigrant roots, Adeline described feeling the push-pull between the cultural and societal expectations of success within the Korean American community and her own dreams of pursuing a career in a creative industry. This dichotomy crystallized during her time at St Andrews, ultimately leading her to write her masters dissertation on Korean American identity and representation in the entertainment industry. As she was working through this project, she came to a new understanding of how much her own life and family background has informed how she approaches music.
“I have so much to say and I feel and think so deeply, and think that my music is such a beautiful way to turn my emotions into art, and to represent my cultural identity,” she expresses. In identifying this, she realized that the strength that comes from being raised by immigrants is what gives her the agency to pursue her dreams. One of the songs on her forthcoming album is dedicated to her parents, something that she said felt very important to include.
Throughout her childhood Adeline struggled with not seeing people that looked like her in the music industry, a fact that she recognizes is still an issue today and a barrier she is trying to help break down through the work that she does at Berklee College of Music. She is eager to share her excitement over the full-circle nature of working at Berklee in the Educational Outreach and Social Entrepreneurship department, which oversees the same youth music scholarship program in which she herself participated.
Recalling her time at St Andrews, Adeline laments the fact that there was not more of a scene for live music in the town, but was grateful for the chance to play live gigs at the Union and the Adamson on occasion. In her first year, she spent the 2-3 hour blocks between classes writing lyrics in the practice rooms of Younger Hall. The natural landscape of the Fife coast, along with the friends she made and experiences she had with the people around her, became a major source of inspiration as her songwriting developed.
“In May when the sun is setting late, you go to East Sands and have a bonfire and someone brings a guitar—that environment for me personally was so lovely to be creative and to gain a sense of peace,” she says.
Laughing, she adds, “St Andrews is so small so you spend a lot of time just hanging out like that, or going for coffee,” but it was this quality about the town that became such great fodder for lyrics.
When asked about her songwriting methods, Adeline explains that she would love to be a journal person, but out of convenience usually opts for the Notes app on her phone. She keeps a running list of snippets that she hears in conversations with friends or family, always drawn to phrases that rhyme or have alliteration. She mentions how embarrassing it can be to look back on old material, but recognizes the importance of tracking her journey as a writer and artist.
These days, Adeline primarily writes on her guitar and then works with a producer who helps bring the song to life. In her most recent project—a 9-track album which will be released later this year—she contributed more instrumentally with piano and guitar.
The first single off the album, “bed of roses”, was released in April, and along with several other tracks was made with London-based producer Lloyd Wayne, who traveled up to St Andrews in June 2023. She recalls working on these tracks for a few days in a series of intensive home-recording sessions in the flat that she shared with her husband Myles, and how inspired they felt by St Andrews.
Adeline’s long-term goal is to create some sort of space or organization that empowers and encourages the next generation of Asian creatives to pursue what they love to do. Regarding advice for recent alumni or soon-to-be graduates, she shares the following:
“This is an industry that can be so isolating and soul-sucking a lot of the time. There is no special path! Don’t compare yourself to others and where their path is taking them. If you love what you’re doing, just keep going,” adding that the last part is something she admits she should remind herself of more often.
As for what is next for Adeline, you can see her perform live at The Bitter End in Manhattan on July 19th. The show is titled "Inner Child" and it is a mixture of songwriting and storytelling from Adeline and another artist in residence. Stay tuned into her social media channels for more information!
Link to her recent release, “bed of roses” here: https://share.amuse.io/track/adeline-um-bed-of-roses
https://www.instagram.com/adelineum/
https://www.tiktok.com/@adelineum
https://adelineummusic.wixsite.com/website
https://open.spotify.com/artist/4KgNBDUTsA4PHunh86lffT
