Interview: R&B Artist Echo Huang Speaks about Her Second Ep ‘Love Me a Bit More’, Upcoming Releases, and What Sparked Her Love for Music
By. Alicia Zamora
A Conversation with Echo Huang
Alicia: Welcome back guys to Alicia’s Studio, we have our second guest today
Echo Huang: Hello, my name is Echo Huang and I’m an independent artist based in New York and soon in La, so yes.
Alicia: Okay and then we are going to dive into the first question
Alicia: Did you know that becoming an artist was something you always wanted to do?
Echo Huang: Yes! So it started really funny because my dad gave me a CD of Whitney Houston when I was very young. Also, just one random afternoon I found this ‘You Belong With Me’ music video by Taylor Swift and it was just inspiring and motivational.
Echo Huang: After that, I felt like I just wanted to be one of them type of vibe.
Alicia: Going down that path of music were your parents supportive?
Echo Huang: Yeah they were actually super supportive. They were taking me to vocal lessons and everything. It was not an easy decision to make for Asian parents but they were very supportive of me doing that.
Alicia: Would you say that music is something you always felt a spark with?
Echo Huang: Yes! I wasn’t a very good student at school. My academics were not that good but always music and everything had my attention. So, I think from elementary school, music has always been the thing that I would take time to actually dive into.
Alicia: Okay. Now diving into your second EP ‘Love Me A Bit More’ could you tell me more about it
Echo Huang: Okay so this is an EP of exploring and finding love; the journey with it in a more vulnerable way. More like a different type of way to be vulnerable in this EP but it’s mainly a storyline of you meeting this person and then falling in love and then falling out of love. Then you just repeat the same cycle over and over again. Then try to find comfort in it but it’s a painful journey but also there's happiness in the journey itself so yeah it’s more of an EP on that.
Alicia: oo okay! Now were going to dive deeper into that
Alicia: So you mention how you don’t have luck with love in a lot of your tracks. In previous relationships did you feel like you had to give up on love?
Echo Huang: For sure! There are past relationships that didn’t end well but theirs so many factors that come within relationships. It's really hard to how do I say it.. You can’t control people's emotions and their hearts or where they want to go but you can always learn lessons with it.
Echo Huang: So, even though I thought about kind of just like giving up on it because it's tiring at one point but there’s always like.. Even though the hardships and everything there's still happiness and the memories that come with it and so yeah
Alicia: This EP felt really personal is writing music something you use as an outlet to let your emotions out?
Echo Huang: For sure
Echo Huang: Sometimes I feel like being an artist you have to be kind of delusional. You make up stories in your mind so it’s like sometimes when.. Not necessarily everything that's in my songs has happened in my real life but it's kind of like a thing where I wish something would happen in this relationship or on this journey of finding love.
Alicia: For this new release what song was the hardest for you to make and sing?
Echo Huang: I would say ‘A Bit More’ which is the outro because it’s a voice memo and it’s one take so my friend which is right there Thomas. We did like so many takes of it. Just trying to capture the raw but also kind of perfect raw type of emotions.
Alicia: Out of all the six tracks which one was your favorite?
Echo Huang: I would say ‘Wait & See’ because it’s a very interesting process because it came out of a jam session with me and my friends who are the two producers over there (Thomas and David).
Echo Huang: Also it’s the first track I have a feature artist on it so like in general it’s a very new experience to me.
Alicia: Going into musical inspiration. Do you have any artists that you get inspiration from?
Echo Huang: Yes so nowadays I draw inspiration from artists like UMI, Snoh Aalegra, and Lucky Days. In general R&B artists in that roam.
Alicia: How do you feel? What do you want out of this and what are your goals?
Echo Huang: It’s definitely.. At first especially for tracks like ‘Wait & See’ and ‘Discoball’ it’s surprising to me that people like it. I’m very grateful and thankful that people like my music but at the same time it’s humbling.
Echo Huang: I feel like I could always do better. It’s also a motivation for me and pushes me to do better and get out of my comfort zone more and more.
Alicia: In the future when you see yourself gaining more of an audience, do you see yourself possibly touring or collaborating with any artist?
Echo Huang: I would most definitely love to! Whether the opportunity comes to me or whether it’s just my own headline show or opening artist for another artist.. I would definitely love to do more shows and yeah just whatever comes to me.
Alicia: When it comes down to recording your music do you have a certain style or genre you go for?
Echo Huang: So mainly just R&B.
Alicia: how long does it usually take you to write a song?
Echo Huang: It depends. Sometimes when you have an idea or a story that you need to get off of your chest at this very moment it could take less than 30 minutes but sometimes when you just want to practice or write songs just to write or in situations where you just have an idea but it’s not very developed yet it can take 2-3 weeks.
Alicia: Seeing that you're getting more recognition. Congrats!
Echo Huang: Thank You!
Alicia: I saw that you did a little intimate show in New York
Echo Huang: Yes!
Alicia: How did that make you feel?
Echo Huang: It was super fun!!
Echo Huang: It was my first release show ever so I could technically say that it was my first headline show
Alicia: okay okay
Echo Huang: It’s nice to see people who are not just my friends but people who discovered my music through Spotify, apple music, or TikTok. They come to me and they're like “Oh I found you and blah blah”. It’s very refreshing and exciting to see fans come to my show and sing the songs with me. It’s very nice.
Alicia: Performing in front of an audience for the first time did you have any worries or regrets after the show?
Echo Huang: Definitely! But at the same time, it’s like you already did the show, and then people liked it and there are always heartwarming moments after the show like people saying “congrats” and “great job”.
Echo Huang: Even though you have regrets it was perfect at the moment
Alicia: For future work is there any artist you would like to collaborate with?
Echo Huang: Yes! I would loooove. Capital LOVE to work with like UMI, Christian Kuria and the ultimate goal artist that I want to work with is Snoh Aalegra. So, I would hope one day I can meet her!
Alicia: After the drop of this EP, can we expect anything else to come?
Echo Huang: Yes, I have a song coming out soon at the end of April and it’s called ‘Ease On My Mind’.
Alicia: oo at the end of April!
Alicia: Is that the only song you have coming out?
Echo Huang: Umm no. I have a few projects lined up for the rest of the year but right now we are trying to finish them one by one. Just one thing at a time.
Alicia: You live in New York right?
Echo Huang: Yes
Alicia: Do you come to La often and work on music here?
Echo Huang: Yes! Recently, I come more often because my producer just moved to La from Boston. Most of the time it’s still working remotely like I would just record and then they produce here in La.
Echo Huang: But recently I come here more often to do sessions in person.
Alicia: With the interview coming to an end I wanted to say thank you for letting me interview you
Echo Huang: Thank You!
Alicia: Do you have anything to say? Do you want to add anything?
Echo Huang: *laughs*
Echo Huang: Okay! The setting is so cute and actually, I was so surprised that it looks really good.
Echo Huang: this is my first in-person interview so thank you so much! So, thank you so much for having me
Alicia: No thank you! That’s such an honor
Echo Huang: I had so much fun but yeah I had a great time!
Echo Huang: Thank you so much!
Alicia: Do you want to introduce your producers??
Echo Huang: Oh yeah! So, David plug yourself in right now
Echo Huang: You can find me on all social media platforms under Echo Huang. But yeah these are my two producers David and Thomas.
David: Hi guys! I’m David
Thomas: I’m Thomas
David: We produce for Echo Hunag. Please like, subscribe, and follow
Echo Huang: Yes and please subscribe to Alicia’s Studio and then you know follow their journey because I know they're going to be super amazing in the future.
Alicia and Jaemie: WOOO! Thank you
