Cydnee with A C is a fangirl and she’s making no attempts to hide it.

In fact, it's the contrary. Anyone with passing knowledge about the Los Angeles-based singer, producer and instrumentalist knows she’s a huge K-pop enthusiast – whether it be through her music or successful YouTube channel where she often reacts to new releases from some of her favorite Korean groups. It’s that excitement about the international music genre that her fans enjoy but is also key to how she creates.

Currently, in the process of learning the Korean language herself, Cydnee’s latest music may not sound in the same vein as BTS or TWICE, but it’s the expressive nature in which she sings and performs that she takes from the genre.

“When I got introduced to K-pop I think it just catered to my sensitive senses. So I needed that,” Cydnee told BET during a recent interview. On her latest single “Cry Alone,” she expresses much of that trademark emotion and energy while dancing energetically in the video for it.

Below, Cydnee with A C discusses her new EP Confessions of A Fangirl, the inspirations that create her musical makeup and splitting her time between music and being a social media personality.

BET: You’re from Atlanta but now reside in Los Angeles. Take me back a little bit in regards to growing up in Georgia.

Cydnee with A C: A lot of people get confused because they're like, ‘Oh, she's so poppy, but she's from Atlanta. I'm from Atlanta. I was born in Philly, raised in Atlanta, I think Atlanta inspires everything too, just as much as international stuff inspires me because it's my home, like my family's from the south like they’re hood. Like, you’d meet my family and never think that I came from them.

BET: You dropped your song and video for “Cry Alone” in January, which I thought was super dope. Can you talk about creating that and how it came together?

Cydnee: The “Cry Alone” video came together with the directors – you will never believe how much money I spent on the video, they really, really hooked me up. They're amazing. A friend of mine hooked me up with them actually and they are so excited to shoot again. They want to shoot “Don’t We Always.” They keep reaching out to me like Cydnee, ‘We wanna shoot that another record, we're gonna shoot the other record. But they're amazing. And then for “Long As You Love Me,” I did the video on Final Cut kind of myself. It's like a comic book. And still, I'm not a director or a video editor. But I can get creative, through stuff together.

BET: Aside from music you’ve got social media popping, particularly your YouTube channel where you do reactions to certain musical groups. Recently you did one for Twice, and you really love K-Pop. Talk about that a little because I love that.

Cydnee: Oh my god, bro, I listen to K-pop music more than I listen to my own music. So it's like, it's sad, but it's really amazing. I'm a fangirl and I thought I was alone and everything. Like I was around the Trippie Redd’s, I was around like all of the culture and stuff. So YouTube really introduced me to my community. So I saw it as like the theme of “Cry Alone” and the theme of being in Wizard of Oz and being lost, but finding people that are going through what you're going through – I really thought I was the only one.

BET: Do you feel that being in the times we’re living in now allows you to be more accepted in a community like that than maybe you would be 15-20 years ago? And not just in the community but to even make that a proud primary interest of yours and that be accepted?

Cydnee: Yeah, that's what YouTube did for me because I did feel nervous. I didn't want to let [anyone] know that I was listening to. I used to like turn my music down and s**t. I didn't want nobody to know what I'm doing or my people, my production team, they will make me feel bad. Like, ‘No, don’t learn Korean, that's lame. You're black. You're from Atlanta, that's weird. That's corny, just all types of stuff. When I found my community, I was like, Nah, nobody can tell me nothing. You should have seen the moment [when I discovered K-pop], it was just a moment that was life-changing.

BET: What is it about K-pop that really drives you in and interests you?

Cydnee: I think I have an advantage in K-pop because I'm a musician and artist and singer. So I love big melodies. I love in your face, like something that just grabs you, I love the pushes and pulls in music. I used to be in a girl group called AZ1 and we did XFactor. And I was in a girl group when I was really little with my cousins. We used to play around, we acted like we were Destiny's Child and stuff. I liked making a connection with each one of the members like, Oh, I'm like this one and I'm like that one there. But it all inspires my music and just my colors and my music, my lyrics, my ideas, everything. It literally inspires my music and ideas and creativity more.

BET: Speaking of Atlanta, what are some of the artists or groups from there specifically that inspire you?

Cydnee: I have to say Andre 3000 because he's always been hip-hop but he's always been something different. So I always appreciate that with him. I listened to a lot of Beyoncé, of course, and Rihanna. I love Sade – my mom and listened to Sade. I would listen to Coldplay and The Fray, and Nickelback and certain weird alternative groups and stuff. I have so many influences in music I can't even discount a genre, honestly. Like, there's a little bit of everything in there. When I got introduced to K-pop I think it just catered to my sensitive senses. So I needed that.

BET: Your EP Confessions of A Fangirl is dropping soon. How did that come together and tell me a bit more about it?

Cydnee: it's funny because I'm like this on my YouTube channel too and I think everybody that like f***s with that, my subscribers, because like they get it, I get it: Confessions of A Fan Girl. And I think what's most special about it is that it's a drum and bass project. Like, I think that that's so special to me because I'm grateful to my producer for introducing me to drum and bass music.

[You’ll hear some] bass guitar. [my producer] Jackson has some weird sounds, like oh my god. We were just talking yesterday. He was like, Cyd the beat pack is from Korea. It's crazy when and where he gets some of the sounds from. We connect on the nerdiest, beat pack weird music stuff ever. He's like this white kid from Berkeley and he was an oyster farmer and a national park ranger and an Eagle Scout. I can't even describe all the sounds and everything in it, but it's so amazing.

BET: When you move ahead in the next few years, what do you think will be your primary focus because your YouTube channel is popping but your music is so great too?

Cydnee: That's such a good question. Um, I mean right now, I really, really just want to focus on music because I love performing. Making music comes so natural to me. It's like everything else is rocket science. People be like, ‘How do you learn Korean?’ And I just be like, I don't know. But everything else is rocket science. I don't know why. So I definitely am focused on music right now. But I can see myself acting in the future. I see myself never giving up on YouTube. I never saw myself as a YouTuber until the past couple of years. I was just like I really built this community. So I guess I'm definitely part personality, part music because I’m always interacting. I feel like it's important for me through performance and obsessing.

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