Crystal Kay talks her getting in touch with her Korean roots, her Black fans and how her record label sat one of her songs for 2 years

Crystal Kay sat down with Uprisers, where she discussed her experience of reconnecting with her Koreanness and how revelatory her experience of touring America was.

Crystal Kay has a really weird sense of perception when it comes to herself and her music, and she alludes to this in the interview. I really need to know what Crystal’s team around her is saying and showing her in order for her to feel this way. Because Crystal should not be surprised that she has a lot of Black fans outside of Japan. GURL. Your songs? The R and the B!? That voice!!? And she should not be surprised that “Only One” has connected with American audiences. GURL. Did you hear your own song!? Of course American audiences are gonna like it. It’s great for radio and great for the Summer. Also, you toured North America last year and sold out venues, so you KNOW you’ve got fans and people in the States who are not only listening to your music, but seeking it out.

Somebody call Iyanla. I’m tired.

This strange sense of perception and lack of awareness partly explains why Crystal has been releasing the music that she has over the course of the past decade and why the setlist for her last 25th anniversary show was such a mess. She seemed to have completely lost touch with who her audience was, what people really loved about her music and what made her so unique. There is another reason too, but we’ll get to that.

Navigating Identity: Crystal Kay & Ryan Alexander Holmes on Belonging | Uprising

Crystal Kay really has no idea of her impact or how far her music has reached. Even in big-big 2026. Crystal does not get enough props for making Black girls raised in Japan feel seen, and for having the career that she had and still continues to have as a Black woman in Japan. There was nobody else in Japanese music in the early 2000s who looked like Crystal, had a record deal with a major label and was charting on the Oricon. And now there is going to be a wave of Black Korean girls who see Crystal and feel seen. And even Black girls in America — who have no shortage of Black women in popular music to look to — feel seen by Crystal. I’m willing to bet that these Black girls are R&B fans who are also anime nerds and / or fans of Japanese culture, and that Crystal makes them feel seen because she sits at the intersection of each of these things.

Crystal sweetie. DM me your PO Box so I can send you your damn flowers.

Navigating Identity: Crystal Kay & Ryan Alexander Holmes on Belonging | Uprising

But the green tea in this interview was that Crystal Kay recorded “Only One” 2 years ago, but her record label was hesitant to release it. I was about to stand up and shout ‘GIRL. FIRE THE WHOLE MANAGEMENT AND MARKETING TEAM’. But “Only One” releasing now makes far more sense than if it was released 2 years ago — especially with where Crystal is now in her journey of reconnection with her Koreanness, and both Japanese and Korean culture having a bigger spotlight and audience than it did before. And had the song been released 2 years ago, Yoonmirae would not have been a part of it. But Crystal sharing that Universal sat on “Only One” for 2 years made wonder how many other fire songs she had recorded that her label ‘Ummm’d and ‘Ahhh’d over and chose to sit on, all the while making her release beige doo-doo.

Girl. Fire the whole management and marketing team.

The past few years have been pretty transformative for Crystal personally. And it’s so cool that she’s been more and more open about her journey of getting in touch with her Korean roots, the space she occupies as a Black woman in Japanese music and seeing that her music is reaching audiences outside of Japan. And I really hope that her team starts to factor all of this into Crystal’s promo and the music she puts out. Because despite the climate of music changing and Japanese and Korean music not being as niche as it once was, Crystal is still in a really cool and unique position. And there is still a huge chance for her to reach wider audiences and do all of the things that her team really shoulda been having her do 18 years ago. Color Change! really should have been a huge turning point for Crystal’s career which did all of the things and set her shit up, and it just wasn’t. But that’s a whole other post.

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💿 CK album reviews: C.L.L. ~Crystal Lover Light | 637 -Always & Forever- | Almost Seventeen | Crystal Style | 4Real | Call Me Miss... | All Yours | Color Change! | Spin the Music | Shine | Vivid | For You | I Sing | All Time Best 25th Anniversary

☕ CK tea: The ways Crystal Kay influenced and impacted J-R&B AND Japanese music that not enough people talk about

🎛️ CK mashups: Crystal Kay x Janet Jackson | Crystal Kay x Jordan Knight | Crystal Kay x Janet Jackson, AGAIN