10 songs by other people, sung on the playground — from Yerin Baek to YOUNHA and Harry Styles

NONOL Live musicians usually sing four songs at the playground. Most are their own, but often one song by someone else slips in between. Each has a reason: the song sung when winning a contest, a long-time favorite, the song that comes to mind first on a rainy day. From the very first episode in autumn 2022 to sessions filmed the following summer, we picked ten covers in the order they were filmed. Timecodes follow each video.

9:09 · Rosanna '우주를 건너' ('Across the universe', original by Yerin Baek)

This is the very first episode of NONOL Live, filmed in autumn 2022 at Neuti Children's Park in Yeonnam-dong. Rosanna introduced it as a dearly loved favorite. After a debut song and a drama OST, it sits in the third slot as the song of taste. Rosanna session

0:06 · Jajung '품' ('Embrace', original by MAKTUB and Jung Young Eun)

The opening song from Jajung, a vocal duo named with one syllable from each member's name, Jahyun and Minjung. It's the song Jahyun sang when winning the grand prize at a contemporary music competition. Jajung session

4:20 · Jajung '보고싶었어' ('I Missed You', original by WSG Wannabe)

The second song in the same video. It was a much-talked-about WSG Wannabe song at the time of filming, and the duo noted it's one they love. A memory from the competition, followed by a song they were into right then.

4:46 · Dong Eun 'Fly Me to the Moon' + 'Isn't She Lovely'

The jazz standard 'Fly Me to the Moon' (original by Bart Howard) and Stevie Wonder's 'Isn't She Lovely', sung as if they were one song. The two came together naturally during a jam session. A single keyboard builds the bridge between them. Dong Eun session

10:11 · Dong Eun '내사랑 내곁에' (original by Kim Hyun-sik)

The next song in the same video, described as one that wells up in Dong Eun's heart. It starts almost as a whisper, builds slowly for over three minutes, and around 13:45 rises to about the same size as the peak of the opening song, '을'.

8:03 · YUNINI 'Don't Know Why' (original by Norah Jones)

YUNINI, who debuted after winning both the gold prize and the lyrics prize at the Yoo Jae-ha Music Contest, chose a song by a musician YUNINI loves. Between 'That Girl and I', about the moment of falling in love, and 'Let's Go', about promising to protect it, sits a song whose title says it doesn't know why. The video has been played over 210,000 times. YUNINI session

0:01 · Jungsik '회상' ('Reminiscence', original by Sanullim)

The session opens with an acoustic cover that retells Sanullim's 'Reminiscence' with the band's own wit. It runs from someone else's song to their own, and the last song, '나는 반딧불', was written and composed by member Jung Joong-sik. Hwang Karam's 'I'm Firefly', now on the Bugs weekly chart, is a new recording of this very song. Jungsik session

10:29 · DABINCHI 'Event Horizon' (original by YOUNHA)

The band DABINCHI sang it as a male version on a snowy playground in Changdong. With the vocals separated and compared with the original, it sits exactly seven semitones lower, turning the original's A major into D major. We introduce the whole DABINCHI session in the playground story at 7 p.m. on October 5.

4:00 · YeoReum 'As It Was' (original by Harry Styles)

At a Han River park playground, YeoReum called it "a song about solitude and loneliness" and rearranged it in a personal style. The lyrics follow the original in order, but the same words are sung about 12% slower, and the song closes on the last line of the bridge. YeoReum session

8:26 · Tasty Shop 'Je T'aime' (original by Hey)

Chosen as the song that comes to mind first on a rainy day. Even on a blazing sunny day, the singer holds up a clear umbrella with a cherry print while singing, with a double bass holding things up alongside. Tasty Shop session

Once you hear why a musician picked someone else's song, their own songs start to sound different too. On the last afternoon of the long weekend, pick a cover you like and play that session from the beginning.