SAAY Tells The Movie Couple Her New Single "Slow" Digs Into the Lingering Feelings After a Relationship Ends

SAAY has a new single out for the summer called "Slow," and she says the title is almost a contradiction of what the song is actually about. I asked her how she would describe the song and her sound to a first time listener, having first seen her perform live at the Morocco Lounge in 2024.

SAAY says "Slow" explores the lingering feelings left after a relationship ends

SAAY described "Slow" as "very my type of R&B song... very mid R&B," but said the title is contradicted by the subject matter. She wanted to dig into lingering feelings about when a relationship is over, specifically the feelings people miss even when they know a relationship isn't good for them. She said that as she has grown up she has become more interested in human psychology, and that the song is not just about delivering a message but about what is underneath it.

She explained the pull to hold on comes from holding onto possibility rather than the person or the relationship itself. "Maybe this time will different, maybe this time will, you know, we're going to have some different ending that wanted in the first place," she said. She added that the song represents her identity at the same time, and told me, "Once you hear it, then you're going to obsess it."

I told her I related to the song immediately and could even pinpoint it to a specific relationship and time in my life, and that it made me feel like I wasn't the only person who had gone through it.

SAAY says writing the song felt like release after feeling stuck

Asked whether writing the song felt like a relief, SAAY explained that she uses her writing process in the studio as an escape, bringing in messages from her own experiences or her journal. She said that once a song is released, she feels free, but that before that point in the process she can feel stuck. She described the feeling while making "Slow" specifically as "very stuck and stuffy," comparing it to a steamed, stuffy feeling.

She said that now that the song is out, she feels she has said her piece and can move on to the next chapter. I noted that she released it in the style she wanted and can now move forward.

SAAY reveals a hidden Valerie text in the "Slow" video points to an alter ego and an October single

I asked SAAY about a small cameo in the "Slow" music video, a text from someone named Valerie that flashes across a phone. She said nobody had actually noticed that detail before. She then shared what she called the biggest spoiler of the conversation: she is planning to release another single called "Valerie" around October. She said she wrote the song about four years ago, with the first demo made in the studio three to four years back.

SAAY described Valerie as "literally my alter ego that I'm about to make as my another identity as an artist." She said that when she creates the visuals or full production for a song, her main focus is on the connections between that song and the next projects, since she does not release songs in isolation. That is why her director made a book cover reading "Valerie" that appears in the "Slow" video, showing her reading it in her car.

I mentioned that some artists, including K-pop groups I follow, like to place small Easter eggs to tease what's coming, which now makes me suspicious of every detail. SAAY responded that telling a narrative through the music video is something she learned from the K-pop music industry system, adding that there has to be something explained about the next chapter so fans can look forward to it.

SAAY reflects on K-pop's global rise, its history and her own R&B name

I asked SAAY, given her own history in K-pop, for her thoughts on the genre's growing international popularity. Speaking from her perspective as a producer, she said she sees the wave of K-pop exploding into the global market as amazing, and said she is proud of it as a Korean. She said artists are now finding their identity more deeply, since once a group's official activities are done, they are already preparing a next chapter like a solo career. She said there are pros and cons to everything, but that overall she finds the whole process interesting from her position teaching, training and producing other artists, and said she hopes people from other countries will come to recognize artists' "real essentials" rather than just the group system.

Asked what drew her to R&B, SAAY said her first musical genres were jazz and traditional Korean music, since she lived in Brooklyn for a short time and her mother was a teacher at a traditional Korean music institute. She said the K-pop industry taught her how to align her identity and direction with discipline, while R&B taught her how to express her vulnerable side and be more authentic with her message. She said her artist name, Sai, originally means saying her own stuff through music to the world, and that this ultimately matched R&B's flow and vibe more deeply than K-pop for her.

SAAY on collaborating across K-pop and hip-hop, from EXO and Aespa to Snoop Dogg

I noted that as a singer, songwriter and producer, SAAY has collaborated with EXO, Becky, and Aespa twice, and was featured on Snoop Dogg's latest album alongside Method Man and Redman, and asked whether there is a mental switch between working in the K-pop system and the hip-hop and R&B world. SAAY said that finding her own balance across those spaces was hard at first, and said she does not think about her career that much, describing herself as "a very simple person" who finishes a project and moves on to the next.

She said that over time, growing up and going through the process taught her how to balance the different positions, and that when she is in the studio writing for another artist, she goes in as a producer only, focusing entirely on that artist rather than her own work. She said switching between those roles has become easier and now happens automatically rather than on a set schedule. When I compared her to a chameleon, she revealed she has an unreleased song actually called "Chameleon," though she said it is "too dancy" and joked she might have to drop it.

SAAY explains why she left Universal Music to launch her own label, Team SAAY

SAAY said her journey began as a trainee in the K-pop industry, one of the official steps within that system, where she learned a great deal but also faced a hard, highly competitive and survival driven environment. She debuted in 2012 as part of a girl band, her first official step as a musician, but said the band disbanded due to company issues, after which she focused on her solo career and began making her own solo album.

She said that when her contract with Universal Music ended a few years ago, she received some suggestions from other labels, but realized that having her own budget was the most important thing for her as an independent artist. She said, "Now I got the money, now I have my own budget. That's the most, you know, important thing as a independent artist," adding that she has her own team to help immediately when needed for production and that she now takes her own initiative in the process.

It has been two years since she established the label, and she said she has learned a lot as both CEO and main artist of the company. She said there is heavy pressure in handling the business side, but that she loves learning and is enjoying the whole process despite the good and bad that comes with it.

SAAY on visiting Los Angeles for horse riding and her first IMAX screening

Asked what she likes to do when she visits Los Angeles, SAAY said she goes horse riding every time, having found a place in Glendale with a full daily schedule of riding sessions, and said she was planning to go again two days after the interview. She described herself as "a huge horse girl." She also said she planned to see a film in IMAX the next day, noting that while IMAX theaters exist in Korea, she wanted to experience it in Los Angeles.

To close, SAAY said she is exposed to many different genres because of her upbringing and surroundings, and that while her main genre is R&B and soul, she expresses many other genres in her own way as she continues identifying her artistic identity. She said she is currently working on her next studio album and is excited about it, and that her main focus as an artist is always the message, since once listeners know who she is as SAAY, she believes they can relate to that message right away.

What do you think SAAY's alter ego Valerie will sound like when the single arrives in October?