The voice reclaimed: LIYVZ rewrites her story with “Nasty Boy”

“Nasty Boy” is not a love song—it’s an awakening. On her latest single, LIYVZ turns a story of manipulation into a declaration of self-worth, fusing personal catharsis with sharp pop craftsmanship. Released on August 22, 2025, the track marks a defining moment in her artistic journey: a bold reclamation of voice, identity, and power within and beyond the K-pop landscape.

For LIYVZ, this song is more than another release—it’s the sound of survival set to rhythm. She reflects, “The story behind the song is an entirely personal one. An older guy approached me romantically when I was 18 and way too young to know he had bad intentions. I was so naïve back then, but it’s crystal clear in hindsight.” What could have remained an open wound becomes, in her hands, a razor-sharp anthem that refuses shame, shifting the narrative from victimhood to agency.

The result is a record that feels both vulnerable and venomous, intimate yet electrifying. Built around pulsing synth lines and a sleek R&B-infused beat, “Nasty Boy” captures the emotional friction between disgust and empowerment. LIYVZ’s voice—silky, restrained, but never soft—cuts through the production with precision. Her delivery balances clarity and confrontation, each line hovering between confession and command. The hook, catchy yet loaded with subtext, transforms the title’s insult into a mirror held up to her past antagonist.

What makes “Nasty Boy” so compelling is its creative process: messy, instinctive, and deeply personal. She recalls, “I remember chilling in bed, browsing YouTube for beats like I always do. The hook came to me pretty quickly. I wrote a draft, recorded it in my voice memos, then on my computer the next day.” Months of revisions followed before she stepped into the studio. LIYVZ adds, “I felt like I had something good on my hands—it was very different from anything I’d released before, but it felt the most like me. I wanted it perfect.” That meticulous self-editing shows. Despite its sleekness, there’s a raw honesty in the delivery that keeps “Nasty Boy” from ever feeling overproduced.

Yet, beyond its sonic polish, the track’s impact lies in its message. LIYVZ wrote it at 26—the same age the older man was when he targeted her. She admits, “When I realized that, I felt complete disgust. So I wrote from the perspective of my now-older self talking to him, letting him know he’s a weird loser.” That blend of humor and anger—a sardonic maturity—anchors the song in emotional realism. It’s not revenge fantasy; it’s reclamation through clarity.

Visually, “Nasty Boy” reinforces that duality between innocence and accusation. The single’s cover art, conceived by LIYVZ herself, features her in a pleated skirt and dress shirt—a nod to the school uniform she might have worn at 18—paired with long red acrylic nails. As she explains, “Red nails have been associated with sensuality and promiscuity. I wanted to call back to the fact that a lot of young people who go through things like this get blamed, as if they seduced the older person. It’s a visual way of saying, ‘No. I was young. You were the one who was nasty.’”

This attention to concept and symbolism underscores LIYVZ’s evolution as an artist. A trained dancer and vocalist who once pursued the traditional K-pop trainee route in Korea, she has since carved out a hybrid identity bridging East and West. She notes, “K-pop informs almost every aspect of how I perform. From facial expressions to outfits—it’s everywhere in my identity as ‘LIYVZ.’ Bringing that culture to North America as someone who isn’t Korean is a huge responsibility, but my experience is unique, and my artistic identity will be too.”

That fusion of K-pop precision and Western introspection defines her growing discography. Her earlier singles,

“Venus” and “Bloom,” leaned into dreamy R&B textures and nostalgic grooves, but “Nasty Boy” feels like a turning point—tougher, more confessional, and unmistakably self-authored. It’s the kind of track that blurs the boundary between diary entry and pop anthem. On her independence, she admits, “It’s hard being away from Korea, where K-pop is just… pop. Being a Black K-pop artist outside of Korea isn’t common, even though others have done it before me. But I’m determined to make it work on my own terms.”

Her move from Vancouver to Korea, then London, and back to British Columbia, forms a looping journey of resilience. Each relocation sharpened her perspective, feeding into the authenticity of “Nasty Boy.” After all, she’s not just processing a single traumatic relationship—she’s examining an entire system of power, performance, and self-definition.

That maturity carries into her ambitions. LIYVZ shares, “I want to create music that’s impactful and pays homage to all of my influences but also establishes my identity as a unique artist.”

With an upcoming EP already in development for 2026, “Nasty Boy” serves as the first taste of that vision: music that’s unapologetically personal but universally resonant.

At its core, “Nasty Boy” is a song about looking backward without losing yourself. It’s a track that holds the gaze of a once-powerless past and refuses to blink. LIYVZ turns memory into movement, pain into rhythm, and shame into shimmer. In doing so, she crafts something that extends far beyond genre or geography—it’s empowerment in its most melodic form.

As she prepares for her next era, LIYVZ embodies what modern pop should be: global in sound, personal in story, and fearless in truth. She reflects, “I want to be a positive example of how someone can pave their own way in an industry that wasn’t quite ready for them. Whether it’s in Korea or Canada, I just want to make music that feels honest.” And with “Nasty Boy,” she’s done exactly that—turning vulnerability into victory, one unforgettable hook at a time.