Alternative R&B Newcomer Korin Is A Formidable Force

Hailing from Atlanta, GA, Alternative R&B rising starlet Korin has escalated her inevitable rise to stardom with sheer vulnerability and unadulterated emotion.

Bursting out the seams with undeniable talent and a penchant for tactfully baring her soul, Korin’s vocal acumen compliments the heartfelt nature of her intimate, sublime songwriting.

Daring to take risks with her sound and consciously delving into topics of noteworthy relatability, Korin is a breath of fresh air among today’s R&B landscape with a distinctive feel that is unapologetically unique to her.

This month, Korin dropped “Numb,” which is the inaugural single from her upcoming debut EP: A Series Of Unfortunate Events.

Co-produced by Korin, Grammy Award winning multi-platinum engineer Dos Dias (credits: Summer Walker, 6lack) and high esteemed Australian producer Ojikae, “Numb” is a fiery track replete with raw emotion. Highlighting that unsavory moment when someone mentally checks out of a relationship, “Numb” harbors universal appeal with seamless ease.

In a matter of only seven tracks, A Series Of Unfortunate Events is a supreme offering of love, heartache, transformation, self discovery and pure disillusionment with reality. 

After being endorsed on prominent editorial playlists such as Audiomack’s “Best Of The Week” and “Verified R&B,” Apple Music’s “Day One” and “Brown Sugar” and much more, Korin is reaching the masses swiftly and it’s only a matter of time before she’s a full fledged household name.

In conjunction with all the great things she has going on, we were able to chat with Korin about a litany of matters: the inspiration behind the title of her latest EP, her thoughts on the current state of R&B, the motivation behind her latest single: “Numb,” where she envisions her future and much more.

The Knockturnal: So to kick things off, how’d you discover your name? 

Korin: It’s actually my first name. 

The Knockturnal: Oh really? 

Korin: Yeah, my name Korin Brooklynn

The Knockturnal: Oh ok, that makes total sense. 

Korin: I used to go by Brooklynn Summers. When I was rebranding for my artistry, I was like “I just wanna be called by my name.” I felt like I was putting on a character being Brooklynn Summers. I was contemplating it for like a year and I kept asking people. Many people were like “that’s up to you.” And I was like you know what, I’m going by Korin. I love my name. It’s a beautiful name. 

The Knockturnal: Who are some of the artists that have directly influenced your musical journey? When I listen to it, I feel like I can hear certain people. 

Korin: Who do you feel like you hear? 

The Knockturnal: I feel like I hear SZA a little bit when I listen. I’ve been so hyped up after hearing your debut EP. I’ve been sort of likening you to SZA in a lot of different ways. When people ask me about you, that’s one of the first things I say. 

Korin: That’s such an amazing compliment because she’s definitely one of my inspos. When I first heard SZA’s voice, I was like “yeah, I can feel this.” It still sounds passionate. I listen to a lot of music though. I listen to a lot of 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s and recently, I’ve been listening to a lot of rock music and a lot of alternative music overall. I’ve always been into it though. Even growing up, I’ve always been into a lot of alt artists. Rihanna has always been one of my favorite alt Black women. I also love how Willow began to experiment with different things. Erykah Badu. Lauryn Hill. I love how experimental she is and I really wish she would make some new music. I would say Whitney Houston. Even just like her image and her vibe. It wasn’t such a typical vibe and I really got to fully understand that when I watched her documentary. She was a full on tomboy. I really related to Left Eye. I liked her music. But right now, I would say who I’m listening to the most is SZA, Laya, Qendresa. There’s some bands I’ve been listening to. I’ve been listening to a lot of bands lately. I’ve been trying to develop my musical ear, so I try not to stick to one thing. I try to have variety in my playlist. There are different elements from different songs that catch my ear and it makes me want to deep dive and explore that side of it. 

The Knockturnal: I feel that. Are you into Steve Lacy at all? 

Korin: What!? Steve Lacy, Tyler The Creator, Syd. That entire Odd Future/Wolf Gang guided me my entire middle school journey. Up to like the 10th grade. Yeah, Steve Lacy is amazing. And I love Syd’s voice. It’s so soothing. 

The Knockturnal: What was the inspiration behind the title? As we know, the title of your upcoming EP is “A Series Of Unfortunate Events.” Yeah, just walk us through that. 

Korin: I immediately knew what I wanted the title to be. At first, the project was supposed to be called “For Research Purposes Only” and when we did the camp, after making the music, I had an idea for a project right after. It was gonna be like three songs. The three stages of downfall and love and the tragedy of love. After the camp, I was like “I ended up making a series of unfortunate events” and it just made sense. The project sounds like a tragedy. When you’re caught up with somebody and can’t stop thinking about them. In the second song, ok you’re acting a little funny but that’s usually how men get you hooked. They do this whole mysterious thing. The whole project was based on a former relationship of mine. And the way I am. I’m a very visual person. I grew up in theater. How I see people and how I view people around me. It’s kind of like a show or a play to me. Even people I meet in small amounts of time. They’re in a play in my head. They’re in a storyline in my head. Even how I describe the way the relationship went to friends and anybody who asked what happened. It sounds like a downfall. It sounds like a tragedy. So when we were making the project, I was like “oh, I think of him as Hades.” He had good parts but you’re not fully good. I also played my part as a good person and bad person. Integrating the light and the dark. There was so much symbolism that went with A “Series Of Unfortunate Events.” It’s sad. It’s f**king sad. Yeah, accepting the sadness in situations helps you grow. Accepting your part that you played helps you grow. And this relationship was like four years ago but I feel like I’m just now getting it off my chest. Like putting what I went through into words and even taking accountability in the project. And I love the show and the books from Lemony Snicket. And it was funny to me. It’s just all related to me in a way. 

The Knockturnal: How has living in Atlanta impacted your career? 

Korin: Atlanta has done so much for me. I’m not gonna lie. I like how Atlanta is so open to teaching one another and putting each other on. And I like how aware they are of everything that’s going on. There aren’t a lot of people here who are not open minded to trying new things. Atlanta helped me build community in a way because at first, I was confused. As I got older and started working more with the people around me and started becoming friends with these people. It started to show me why people move here so much. Like this is literally the land of opportunity. Like literally. I’ve always come to New York and have been in New York with my family. The support that I got from people in my industry here was immense. It was huge. Here is like a home and safe place for me because I learned everything I know just by living here. I’m so lucky to live in a city where all these people do the same thing. Or all these people can be in one room. It feels great being able to be myself. Yeah, everyone in Atlanta is like one person away from the next. And because I have my own presence and name in Atlanta, it’s nothing for me to be like “hi, my name is Korin.” And they’ll go “oh, I’ve heard of you.” Even if we don’t work together, my name is in your head. You know? Or my face but I definitely think Atlanta has brought me to where I am today. Even with acting or being apart of different things. I used to have a radio show. I used to be a host for all these shows and now I’m performing at these things. I used to host fashion shows in Atlanta. I used to model so much. Like all my friends were photographers. So it definitely built Korin. 

The Knockturnal: That’s amazing! Shoutout to Atlanta for holding it down and being your stomping ground to develop. I love Atlanta. So what are your thoughts on the current state of R&B in general? 

Korin: People keep saying that R&B is dead but it’s not. It’s literally developing and growing everyday. I find people I would love to listen to everyday. You know what the problem is. R&B is not dead. People aren’t getting the right press/PR/marketing. It is so rooted in influencer, influencer, influencer. It’s like ok, there are a lot of R&B artists who are not good at social media but their music speaks for themselves. I look for them. I find them and I enjoy them. Now I understand how everyone was into the whole soundcloud rapper phase and how they could find different artists. Social media has made everything so mainstream. You have to be mainstream or you’re not really doing s**t. If y’all just open your ears to something new, it’s possible. A lot of people just aren’t good on social media. R&B isn’t dead whatsoever. It’s just not getting the attention it deserves because rap is dominating right now and then you’ve got different female rap that’s dominating right now. And then you’ve got Afrobeat, which is completely taking over s**t. I don’t think R&B is dead. I just think it’s not in the spotlight right now because three amazing new categories have popped up: Afrobeats and Amapiano and female rap, which these things deserve that attention but R&B does too. It’s not getting attention unless you’re like the top five girls. Victoria Monét. Kehlani, SZA, Jhené Aiko. 

The Knockturnal: Teyana Taylor.

Korin: You know, those are the five we think of. Summer Walker too. If you have to put Summer Walker in there. That’s the six we think of. Then you’ve got people like Peyton. She’s from Houston, TX. She’s been making music for years. She has a beautiful voice. If we had that platform for her, everybody would know Peyton. All we can really do is try and make sure we allow our peers to get their flowers and support them in those moments because I know me. I love putting people on to new people that I listen to and I like being friends with me. That’s just who I am. It just depends on the person and how much they actually care about the music they are listening to. If you’re lazy, you’re going to just listen to the Hot 100 playlists and not know about any new artists. 

The Knockturnal: I think that’s a misconception. A lot of people will operate under the guise of the scarcity mindset and it’s just not good for the culture. What was the motivation behind your latest single: “Numb”? 

Korin: So the inspiration behind “Numb.” Basically, I was dating a guy and I’m already a very detached person, if I feel something for someone, it’s very strong and we were so far apart from each other and I started to tell him that I’m starting to feel “Numb” again. I’m warning you and begging you. Can we see each other? I’m not holding up well right now. I’m sad and I think I would feel better if I saw you. And he was just like “it’s not the time. It’s not a good time right now.” I was like “what, I’m a girl,” why would you say that to me? I’m boutta take that to hell with me. I just tried to tell him that I was feeling “Numb,” when I heard the beat, the beat kind of reminded me of somebody being sneaky. When I was at the camp, I came out my room and Dos Dias was making the beat and I’m like “hold on, I got something to this” and he was like “I’ve got something to this.” I was “like, oh it feels like we’re saying nothing. Numb” and then he said “isn’t how you said you felt when you and your ex broke up?” Literally, yeah. I felt Numb. I felt nothing. That’s it. I was just really writing what I expressed to him in that conversation. Like every word was things I communicated to him and finally, I had a conversation with him and I was like, I feel Numb right now. I don’t know how else to feel. I just feel blank. And yeah, he believed me. 

The Knockturnal: What a powerful story. I think a lot of this is content that is going to resonate. People are going to be familiar with it and I really can’t wait for the reception. It’s really exciting. I know if the reception is anything like I perceived it when I first heard it, it’s about to go crazy. 

Korin: Another thing I wanted to say about “Numb.” “Numb” was really good because although I wrote it about that, I related it to the bad relationship from four years ago and I literally checked out of that relationship seven months before I left. That’s really where the first conversation came from but the words from the current situation but the sense of song came from me mentally checking out from my first ex months. I was like you know what, do you. I’m slowly moving my stuff out. I’m slowly getting the ick. I don’t care. Do what you do.

The Knockturnal: What was the motivation behind using “Numb”? 

Korin: I love the arrangement. From the project, that’s the first one I would listen to is “Numb.” It’s one of those songs for me that kind of gets me in my bag. Like f**k it, you get no reaction from me. I love the live instruments that Ojikae put on it. Ojikae really helped me figure out this sound. Like seriously, Ojikae from Melbourne, Australia. I met him through Instagram. I was working with one of his friends and we never put out the song and then he ended up hitting me up and telling me that he really liked my music. I remember that one song that I wrote something to, which was Blame Game. I made it up in the shower. I make up my best lyrics when just in water for some weird reason. I used to make my friend go to the pool with me and write as I thought of lyrics and we would listen to beats as I’m swimming and I’d come back and say “write this one down.”Or I’d get out of the shower and I’d make voice memos. I did that with Blame Game and I sent it to Ojikae and I was like “can you make a beat around this?” And he snapped. I was like “you, you’re who I’m developing myself with” and we flew him from Australia to Atlanta for two weeks and locked in with my brother. It was so amazing. 

The Knockturnal: That is truly phenomenal. It sounds like it came together naturally. To my knowledge, you have a background in theater. I know you spoke a little bit about how that influences you but can you expound a bit more on that? 

Korin: Yeah, so I’ve always been an animated kid. My mom worked in film. She used to work as a DJ at radio stations in Atlanta. And then, she got into casting directing. And she always knew I wanted to be an actress. I expressed this in every way possible as a child. I begged her. When I was six, I began modeling and when I went to my first audition, she was very scared. After that, she said maybe TV’s not it right now. So I was like “ma, I wanna do theater. I wanna do plays.” When I was eight, I went to the Alliance Theater until I was 14.And then I started going to acting school until I was like 18 or 19. I started learning everything about TV and film and just getting out of my shell. I mean I never had a problem getting out of my shell but I had a problem showing other people that I know personally. I like performing. I really love performing. When I was 15, I was in a girl group and I was dealing with theater and music but I was trying figure out which one I wanted to do. Do I wanna be an actor then and then sing or do I wanna sing and then act, which kind of heart my feelings because I love acting. I love film. For me to take a step back from acting to focus on music kind of hurt me a little bit because I love it so much. But I still get auditions. I still do that. I’ve just always been into theater because I love stories.When I was a kid,  I used to write hella stories. I’m probably gonna publish them one day and now I’m writing a horror series and a short horror book, so I can eventually get into directing when I’m in my 40s. Because I would love to direct a play. I would love to be in a play. I would love direct films. I would love to direct shows. Like short films, series, everything. I wanna help score. I wanna help make the music for it. If I can pull a 50 Cent with Power, that’s really the goal. Or an Ice Cube. How Ice Cube went from music to family movies. How J.Lo went from music to acting to doing whatever the hell she wants to do now. Steve Harvey. You know! So theater was like tree stump for me because as I grew, I saw that I liked all different things involving entertainment as a whole. Theater is just hard. I love theater. I miss it so much. I’m going back to it. It has launched me and put a battery in my back for the rest of my life. I just learned so much from so many aspects of my life from being in theater. I think what I love the most about it is how powerful I feel when I’m expressing art. I feel most powerful when I’m in that mode. 

The Knockturnal: It’s so interesting to see how your background and acumen in that space translates to your music. For my final question, where do you see Korin three years from now? 

Korin: I see myself headlining my own tour with other artists that I have hand picked because they don’t have the proper fanbase yet or have the same opportunities that I had from young and try to put them on my roster and help them develop and from that, teach them. Each one, teach one. I just see myself being a very good boss. Someone that you feel like you’re in a partnership with, not just working for. Working with. And I see myself on a film. I see myself putting out my short book. And I see myself putting out two more projects within the next three years. No one else’s game, just my game. I don’t wanna take anybody’s lane. I don’t wanna be in anybody’s space. I don’t wanna remind people of anyone else. I want people to know Korin and the brand of Korin and I want them to be apart of the core. And I see myself playing different type of instruments by then. That’s a very big goal on my list. 

The Knockturnal: Thank you so much for chatting and taking the time to speak with me. Providing me with the honor of being able to interview you. 

Korin: Thank you. I really appreciate this so much. 

To keep up with Korin, check her out on Instagram.