By Chi Tung

For some people, talent comes in droves. Being blessed with a sensational physique wasn't nearly enough for Kaila Yu, who has her sights set on another prize: an illustrious singing career.

Interview with Kaila Yu

October 9, 2003
Interviewed by Chi Tung
Transcription by Allan Axibal

Click here for the RealVideo interview with Kaila Yu.

Kaila Yu, famed import model gone pop, R&B singer, redefines club music with her own Madonna-esque flavor. After transferring to UCLA from UCSD, KailaYu.com was created and Kaila became a full time model, working the Import Car show scene and won the title of "Most Searched Import Model." As a "triple-threat" model, dancer and actress, her work includes gracing the pages of Playboy, as well as being in fashion spreads and calendars like the "Pacific USA 2001 Calendar," and even releasing her own calendar in 2003. She's made appearances in such TV shows as "MTV's House if Style," and "The Man Show," and on major networks like E!, USA, Playboy TV. Kaila Yu can also be seen in music videos, international television and films, such as "Three Sisters" and "Toilet Stories." In 2002, Kaila added to her credits, by releasing her first single "Our Last Night," and then, in 2003, a self-titled album, "Kaila."

Chi: Please introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about your background.

Kaila: Basically I grew up in Southern California all my life. I was born in Taiwan but I came here when I was three. I went to high school in San Bernardino and went to college at UCSD, but then I transferred to UCLA. I started pursuing a career in acting and modeling and went and did the import scene for about two years. I toured with "Hot Import Nights" and "Import Revolution" for about two years across the country and started doing music about a year ago.

Chi: You graduated UCLA with an economics degree. What did you want to do with this major? Why did you change paths?

Kaila: I had already been through two years of school at SD, and I started doing all of this entertainment stuff and just wanted to finish school. I chose economics because it was the closest thing to a business degree that UCLA has just to have a generic degree to fall back on. I really hope to never have to use that degree. That would be if my career didn't go through.

Chi: Much of your past has been devoted to modeling, yet you deny being a fashion model. You said that modeling is "stupid and boring." How do you feel about other Asian American girls who are trying to break out in this industry?

Kaila: When I said modeling was stupid and boring I didn't mean overall modeling. I meant actually sitting there in front of the camera and posing is really, really mind-numbingly boring. I think most of them will tell you that too. But compared to doing acting or singing, in acting, every single time you act is different, it's a different situation, you're playing a different character. And in singing you're always performing for a different crowd and writing new music; whereas modeling is the same thing over and over and over. I would say that in modeling, I love getting the pictures back and seeing the pictures and I love traveling around and those are great things for girls to enjoy when they're young.

Chi: Do you appreciate the modeling industry at all for laying the foundation for your career?

Kaila: Yeah. I think that my original plan from the beginning, being that there had never been an Asian American artist who had succeeded at all, the closest being Jin and he's still at the baby steps of his career, was to go and get a fan base. And it's very hard to go out there and try and get a music fan base and I knew at that time that the import scene was really huge, so you could go and get a name and get that kind of recognition to launch something off of. So definitely, I do appreciate having done that.

Chi: How differently are you perceived now that everyone is aware of your musical talent?

Kaila: I think when I first started to do it there was a lot of resistance. "Oh, she's a model trying to sing," or whatever and people tried to discount it. But I think a year later, with the music being solid, and not being really bad music, people are starting to take it a lot more seriously.

Chi: Do you find it really invigorating to being able to carve out an entirely different niche in the entertainment industry?

Kaila: It is very much of a challenge and very fulfilling whenever we accomplish something. But I am definitely lucky to be able to pursue it every single day.

Chi: Tell us about your first record and how it was to executive produce it.

Kaila: I can look back at it fondly now, but it was a really awful experience at the time. I was crying every day having to make a lot of decisions that you should have somebody else come along and do. But I really felt that I knew the direction I wanted the music to go. So there were a lot of times where we brought in writers because I didn't think I could write originally. So we'd bring in writers and they'd write and it would suck, then we'd have to rewrite again and rewrite again so in the end, I just decided to go and co-write the songs and write the songs. Then we'd go into the studio and we'd record and I'd be unhappy with the vocals so I went to a friend's house and we hooked up a microphone. I learned cue-base and I just sat there in a room by myself and recorded my own vocals. In the end, I had one really good producer who produced the vocals. But the vocals I'm happiest with, some of them, are the ones I recorded. So in the end, it wasn't fun doing it, but the end result, I'm happy with. I don't think I would do it again though.

Chi: Is there anything in particular that inspired you to write the lyrics behind the music?

Kaila: I wouldn't say I really got inspired by anything. It's just pretty much life experiences. And the album is pretty much a club party album so it's about going out and girls getting their hearts broken and stuff like that.

Chi: Should we expect a more personal album from you?

Kaila: Yeah, I'm working on song right now, which digs a lot deeper.

Chi: You claim to look up to Mya and Little Mo as your musical influences. What is it about their music that really inspires you?

Kaila: I wouldn't say they're so much musical influences as much as their vocals are the vocals I aspire so much to be like. A real musical influence for me would be MadonnaÑnot necessarily her music, but her career path. How she took nothing and faced rejection throughout the early part of her career and just hit he club scene and made people hear her music and made people start paying attention.

Chi: As an Asian American woman trying to make it in the American industry, what did you expect your experience to be like?

Kaila: I knew it would be very hard. That's what everybody said every single day and many have tried actually, not that many have tried. But the ones who have tried have just hit obstacles. I do think it's coming soon. And it only takes one person, whoever it is, to break. And Jin's doing his thing and every label is actually looking for Asian rappers and signing them. So it only takes one person to break a little bit to have people pay attention.

Chi: So is the process harder or easier than you expected?

Kaila: Oh, it's definitely harder. Much harder.

Chi: In what ways?

Kaila: You think that you have a pretty good product and people will come and listen to it. But music isn't just about music. It's about marketing. There's a lot of money that needs to be put in and many different things you have to do to get people to listen besides just having a good product. There's a lot of legwork to put in that people don't know about. Trying to get stuff played on the radio is political. Just everything in the music business is really, really political.

Chi: What joys did you derive from the experience?

Kaila: I think the best part of it is having somebody write and say they like a song or performing before a really receptive crowd. I think those are definitely the best things. And getting to travel around and meet different people from all different places, you'd be surprised at where there are Asians in the U.S. There are Asians everywhere. In Ohio and Kansas. Pretty large populations popping up.

Chi: Do you have any misgivings about pursuing a singing career? Do you think that it will detract from your other passions and interests?

Kaila: No, because it's definitely my number one interest. I guess you go day by day and once in a while you feel like, "Oh am I choosing the right choice?" Having Asian parents, they're always on the side of, "Are you sure this is what you should do? Why don't you go get a regular nine to five job?" But for me I know it's what I'm supposed to do.

Chi: Do you think you'll be able to gain acceptance, not only within the Asian American circuit, but among the general public as well?

Kaila: I think the response to the music is pretty good, but the important thing that I'm trying to do with the new music I'm writing is to do something different. Just being an Asian artist really doesn't say anything so you would want your music to stand out from the rest and not have them see you like, "Oh, that's the Asian girl trying to sing." You would make music that is able to be seen as the music itself and not put you in a category like, "Oh that Asian girl trying to do R&B." It's kind of like how Shakira came along with her own style of music.

Chi: How would you describe your intended music?

Kaila: The music right now is best compared to 3LW. It's kind of pop, R&B. What we were trying to do is like how Missy put in a lot of Indian sounds in her new music and that's really big right now. So for a couple of the songs of the album, we had the producer go in and we brought him a Chinese opera CD and he took samples from there and kind of stuck it into hip-hop. So we'll probably be going deeper into that direction next time.

Chi: How was opening for Coolio in Honolulu?

Kaila: I thought that was really a great experience. We were all intimidated by him because he's more gangster rap and he had an entourage of ten and all the girls were coming up and running up and molesting him. But we went on and I think Hawaii's my favorite place to perform. The crowds are really receptive and they were very nice and we all got along really well. So it was definitely a great experience.

Chi: What are your future plans?

Kaila: I think pretty much this next year, I'm just going to spend touring. We're going to Hawaii again and I think next is San Francisco, Atlanta, and a couple of random places. We're probably going to go around and just promote the music. We've been promoting it here on the West coast a lot more, so we're going to go hit up New York next. There are probably some collaborations coming up with a couple of Asian rappers that are up and coming.

Chi: What about your acting career?

Kaila: I wouldn't say that there's much of an acting career. I did a couple of roles this summer in a couple independent movies. But I'm not really an actress who's going out there auditioning every day. I think in the industry, people regard singers and rappers as people who can generally act because it takes a lot of emotion if you can perform on stage right. So for now the acting career is on hold because I just don't have time to go out on auditions. But perhaps at a later time, I'll pursue it more.

Chi: What about your modeling career. Are you still active in that?

Kaila: I'm not too active. I do go to a lot of import shows because I do perform there now and I sell my CD's there. But I'm not shooting a lot of new stuff or anything and I've just shot so much there's nothing new to shoot anyways. So that's pretty much phasing out.

Chi: It seems that Jin got big because of all of the Asian American support he received. But after signing with the Rough Ryders and gaining his own fan base, it was as if he left the Asians behind. And whenever Asian Americans would ask him for support, such as coming to perform at one of their events, he would always turn them down. What do you think about Asian American artists not Jin specifically who use Asian Americans to gain support but in the end, turn towards the mainstream audience because they are trying to make money anyway possible.

Kaila: I don't know what to really say about that except that it's wrong. I'd just say that I would never think that abandoning any fan base you had who helped you along, whoever they might be, if they were an Asian audience or a Latino audience or whoever helped you along first, would be the right thing to do. They're all still supporting him really strongly. I know from what I've seen that Jin is very dedicated to his Asian audience and I myself am I fan of him and his work. It's still the Asians who are the core audience. So I wouldn't ever agree with anybody abandoning their roots.

Chi: Thank you very much, Kaila.

Kaila: Thank you.

Published: Friday, November 21, 2003