“What if we could delay time, even just for a second?” - Calista Kweon explores her latest single, ‘Delay’.
On October 25th, Korean-American singer-songwriter Calista Kweon released her third single, Delay, an emotive and seamless blend of indie and jazz. For fans of introspective lyricism and personal storytelling in songs, listening to Delay might just make Calista your new favourite artist.
Inspired by a spontaneous trip to San Francisco that gave Calista a much-needed break from reality, she spent the time reflecting deeply on her relationships with family, friends and most importantly, time.
Delay discusses the age-old question of ‘what would you do if you could stop time, even for a second?’, and is done in such a way that leaves its listeners feeling euphoric and grateful for the time they’re given. To live in the moment is something that we all strive for, and if anything will motivate you to do so, it’ll be Calista’s latest single.
Speaking on the trip, Calista explained: "San Francisco changed me completely; I felt spiritually awoken from the headspace I was previously in […] but the trip passed so quickly before my eyes that I felt like I barely absorbed any aspect of what I was experiencing.”
Exploring that feeling in her songwriting, Delay confesses how hard it can be to live in the moment whilst time is slipping through our fingers - so what if we could just delay time, stop the clock, and embrace the now?
Soon after its release, we had the chance to speak with Calista about Delay, discussing everything from her songwriting idols to connections with time and the city that inspired her latest track.
Photo by Elizabeth Marsh
Was there a particular moment that made you realise you wanted to pursue music professionally?
“Honestly, it was COVID and that sudden realisation of being home and that you're not going to go to school - you’re not going to go anywhere - and music is something that has always been a part of my life. I grew up doing classical music, musical theatre and I thought for so long that was my path; that I was going to do musical theatre in undergrad, but during the pandemic I realised that wasn’t something I wanted to do as a profession, I just liked it for fun. I didn’t know what options there were for musicians that weren’t doing classical studies or musical theatre because I wanted to be a singer, but there aren't too many degrees for modern music, right?
So, I remember finding this university in Nashville, and my presumption of the south, as someone who grew up in Northern Ohio was, ‘I'm not going down there’. I don’t listen to country music, I'm not a country singer, I’m a person of colour. Am I going to be safe down there? That was a big concern for me, because I’d never been to the South and I was scared by all the news I was seeing. But, I found the school and it really shocked me; the city really shocked me. I found really great pockets of diverse music communities that had nothing to do with country music, and so I am so grateful that I took the plunge because it was kind of a one off ‘I think I’m going to do it’ because I’ve been wanting to do music my whole life and I feel like, if I don’t do it now, I’ll never do it. They had my degree, I tied the bow, and it was a little rough at first because the pandemic was still ongoing and it was like ‘sing with the mask on - okay how do I do that?’ Going to school, that’s when I knew that I was going to do this for a job, whatever that job may be.”
Many musicians started up in COVID because they had so much time to just do what they wanted, so that seemed like the perfect opportunity, right?
“Yeah, because I was writing songs, but I didn’t really know how to write songs. I was also playing music. I learned a lot; I learnt keys and guitar by ear, so I didn’t really have any formal training in the regard to be like a commercially trained musician. It was more like, alright, you know how to read this classical sheet music and musical theatre music but that was it. So, COVID was a good learning time to just sit and figure music out for myself.”
What does the song Delay mean to you and what inspired you to write it?
“The song is about the passage of time and how it really just goes very quickly. I still feel like I'm 16 and that my life hasn’t moved since like 2018/2019. I feel like I'm still there, and I'm in denial over the fact I’m in my last year of university. I'm just stunned at how much I've grown, even though I don’t feel like I’ve grown.
Things just seem to be on this exponential path of ‘we’re just going to keep getting faster and faster’. So, I wrote the song to reflect and honour that feeling, like ‘time is moving really really fast, but what if we could delay time, even just for a second? Would it be more blissful? Would I be more intentional? Would I live more in the moment? Would I enjoy this trip more or enjoy my undergrad degree more?’ And, the funny thing is, you can’t delay time, but I guess that’s why I wrote that song, because you can’t.
I was going through a really rough patch in my life last Fall, because I was struggling with my degree, I was having issues with my family, and I felt like I had a lot on my plate, so I wasn’t prioritising my mental or physical health. My best friend had also found out that her mother had cancer, and she was really going through it. Then, there was a moment we were sitting on campus and we were like ‘we need to get out of Nashville’ and we thought ‘let's go to California’. I’d never been before, but I'd always wanted to go to San Francisco specifically. We took a really cheap flight and booked a really cheap Airbnb and we went everywhere, doing 20,000 steps a day, maybe more, just inhaling the city.
As soon as I got there, I felt like it was over. On our last day, we were sitting on the beach and I said “Oh my gosh, we just got here, how is it already over?” and my best friend said “don’t think like that”. It felt like I was grieving the trip before it was even over, but that trip was so necessary and influential at that point in my life, and so the song walks through that turmoil that I was feeling here in Nashville and how I yearned for that experience, then being in that experience, but then realising that experience is already over and then kind of capping it off with I wish I could delay this a little longer.”
In the song, you touch on themes of nostalgia and longing for the past, so what is something random that makes you nostalgic?
“Well, my walls are covered in art that I collect whenever I travel. Behind me, I have something from the National Portrait Gallery because I just thought; that painting is so beautiful, I need it for my room. So, whenever I sit here and look at one of those pictures, it takes me back to a moment. Even if it’s just like a picture with my friends, I’m glad I have that moment commemorated in a tangible form because I tend to forget a lot of things when it’s all on my phone.
Also, I was really into film photography during the pandemic and I think photography is beautiful. So, when I get my film picked up and I get all the pictures, it’s like I'm looking at it for the first time and it’s been sitting in this camera for five months and I get nostalgic over those. Film and art are really nostalgic things to me.”
How did your time in San Francisco inspire the song and its lyrics?
“I had never been to such a diverse city before! I have travelled a lot but there was something different about San Francisco and so I wrote the song to kind of digest my experience. It was so fun to roam around the city with my best friend and just not think for a second, and I remember we were sat on the beach and I was literally thinking about the song, I didn’t know what it was going to sound like but I knew I wanted to write it and so I had jotted a few things down like ‘we’d stay in San Francisco, write songs like Joni Mitchell’ and I came up with that line whilst I was still on the trip.
There’s also this district called Haight Ashbury Street, which was where the youth kind of went in the 1960’s and it was a huge centre for social activism too, but it was so amazing to be on that street because it was the kind of place I’d only ever read about in books or seen in movies and then I got to be there, which links back in with the song because I just wanted to stay there forever and delay that moment in time.”
“Alongside my degree, I also take some songwriting classes and one of the things we’re talking about at the minute is ‘building the furniture in the room so that your listeners have somewhere to sit’. So, I wanted to make sure that the people listening were walking through the streets seeing, hearing and feeling how I was feeling in some regard. Like, in the lyrics ‘Fog so dense, it enclosed me/ which ways left and who knows right?’ I am describing this experience as being in a dream-like state because the city was just so beautiful I felt like it couldn’t be real.
I also loved connecting with people that I met there and I loved connecting with nature, but I wanted to talk about some of the key things that I was seeing there like the architecture or the weather, which felt like the easiest way to personify time and place. Also, I purposefully don’t tell the listener that we’re in San Francisco until the line ‘We would stay in San Francisco’ which isn’t until the bridge because I like that they have to figure it out on their own, whether that be through interviews like this or picking up context clues.”
Which artists do you look up to, whether that be for your sound or your lyricism?
“I love jazz music, it makes me feel so alive - like wow, we’ve come so far in music from simple to complex chords and speaking on really difficult things from African American history. I remember when my dad first introduced me to jazz music I was like ‘woah what is this, I want to get into that’. I had a hyper-fixation on old Hollywood jazz movie musicals, which is kind of where my musical theatre background comes from.”
Laufey is a huge influence for me; to see an Asian descent female doing non-conventional pop music is awesome - we need more of that. I remember listening to her on YouTube before she released music and I have a poster on my wall from when I saw her live at this tiny venue in Nashville. Her lyricism is so conversational and real, but also very poetic and beautiful. I love how she turns something sad into something beautiful and relatable, which is also something that I like to do in my music because if I can be strong enough to be authentic with myself, but also with the music I’ve been writing, then I am going to connect with more people. If I could ever make music with Laufey, that would be the dream.”
“Also, Ryan Beatty, who is a singer-songwriter that randomly popped into my life when a friend said to me ‘I think you’d like him, your songwriting is very similar.’ He’s really good at metaphors and I love a good slap in the face ‘oh, there's a double meaning there.’ He has this very sombre singing voice, like if Harry Styles was more indie and belty. I recently saw Ryan live with Maggie Rogers, who is just the queen of authenticity. I think she does a really great job of performing and not letting things like the lights do the work, no, she is out there dancing and that’s the kind of performer I want to be like. By being fun on stage, I think it really invites that energy back from the audience. Her songwriting is also just insane, she wrote her last album in three days!
Tiny habits are a huge influence, as well. They’re a trio from Berkley in Boston, who are all independent artists, but they come together to make this group. They have this sense of harmonic movement that makes me feel like I’m floating, and their songwriting just pokes holes in my chest. Also, Olivia Dean - her energy is just insane, her vocals are so intentional and her inflections scream the emotion that she’s going for- I want to do that so much in my music, and that’s something I’m really working on right now. And finally, Leon Bridges, who is an like an R&B soul artist and he’s just released a self titled album and it’s honestly some of the most beautiful music I’ve ever listened to.”
With such incredible artists on this list, we’ve made a playlist for our readers to enjoy all of Calista’s favourites:
How do you hope your listeners feel after listening to Delay?
“I feel like the lyrical content of the song is really deep, like; can we delay time to enjoy the moment, to enjoy the season of life that we’re in, to enjoy the family member that still alive? There’s always a lot of change in life, but I feel like my circle is enduring a lot of change right now, like, my sister just entered her first year of University and there's a lot of change there. I’ve lost family members, there’s change there, but it’s both good and bad change. So, I hope when people listen to the song it’s an escapism route, because the song is quite driving and happy.”
What was the production process like for this song?
“I wrote it on the guitar as a slow, more Lizzy McAlpine-esque song, but when I went to the studio, I thought ‘maybe we should make this fast’ and I liked how the beat was driving but the sentiment was still reflective. My producer has a home studio, and I’d previously sent him a rough demo of the song and he’d laid down some simple drums and guitar but he was like ‘yeah we should do it fast’.
So, we began looking through our playlists, looking for some fast songs that we would want to emulate, and I chose a song by Tiny Habits called People Always Change because even though the vocals aren't poppy, the feel is poppy and the vocals are still true to who they are as artists. We were also inspired by upbeat Olivia Dean, because she has a really great texture and many layers in her songs.
Originally, the bridge wasn’t belted, it was actually my producer said ‘you should belt that’ and so I did and it changed the whole arc of the song, there was a new energy to it that would get people dancing, which I loved because it really feels like ‘oh my gosh I have 5 more minutes’.”
Which lyric in Delay is your personal favourite?
“Honestly, I think my favourite one has to be ‘I thought that you would hate me with that look you gave me.’ and here’s why: A) It’s the start of the bridge and B) I can picture that moment on the beach where I said something to my friend and she just gave me a look - obviously I twisted the reasoning a little bit but my internal dialogue was saying ‘Would you hate me if I told you I wanted to stay here forever?’
I will also say that I do like ‘splendid days and tipsy nights’ because it’s such a weird way for me to just say ‘good times’ and ‘splendid days’ can be whatever you interpret them as; it could be reading, it could be sitting on the beach or it could be hanging out with your friends so I just love it for that reason.”
Then it was time for some fun questions…
Delay feels like it could fit perfectly into a coming of age film, so if the song could be featured in any film, which would you like it to be in?
“The Perks of a Wallflower is so sad, but I feel like it fits because time is moving so fast but honestly, I think it would fit better with a film like Ladybird. Those are my picks!”
If you were stranded on a desert island what three items would you bring with you?
“I would definitely take a guitar because I would get bored and it would be good to just fiddle around with it. If I could, I would bring my keyboard but that would be far too chunky. I would also bring a phone camera and I would bring a bag of salt and vinegar chips that would constantly replenish because they’re my favourite snack.
Also, I wrote a song about my quilt which I actually have on my bed right now, so I would bring that because it smells like home. I would also bring my cat who lives back in Ohio and I miss everyday, so I think I would bring her to the treasure island so I could see her.”
If you were an animal, which would best describe your personality?
“I feel like a tiger, because they just want to mind their own business but if people get in their way, they will lose it. I think I'm unproblematic - for the most part, I don't like to fight - I don't like conflict but if I need to stand up for myself or somebody else then I will. Also, I’m very goal-oriented so if I’m on a mission to do something I will do it, just like a tiger.”
What is your favourite song of all time?
“I’m going to have to give a top three because that is a hard question! My number one, for sure, is a song called Strings by Young the Giant, who I was introduced to by my boyfriend in college and he surprised me with tickets, which was actually my first ever concert, and so that song just makes me feel like I’m 16 again.”
There’s a song called Hello It’s Me by Todd Rundgren, which makes me feel like I'm back in high school, once again linking back to nostalgia. I think music should be timeless and it should take you back to a particular moment.”
The last one is going to have to be Above a Chinese Restaurant by Laufey. Honestly, I think I've listened to this album one too many times. When I’m driving back home, bearing in mind it’s a nine-hour drive, that’s the first one I put on - or Phoebe Bridgers!”
And finally, what's next for you in 2025?
“I have a couple more songs that I have already mastered and that are completely finished, but I also want to have an EP out by the time I graduate University in May. At the end of my degree, I get to put on my own show which I have already done before, but it will be in a beautiful auditorium/music venue which is super exciting! So that's the current plan, but we shall see.”