Guitar instead of piano, and a 19-second interlude cut to 6: SUHO (EXO)'s 'Let's Stay Well'

Today's NONOL PICK is 'Let's Stay Well' (잘 지내자, 우리), released October 4 by SUHO of EXO. It's a new recording of singer-songwriter Zitten's 2014 song for SBS's 'The Listen: 우리가 머문 계절' ('the season we stayed'), and when we measured the two side by side, gaps that the original doesn't have open up in two confessional lines. At '솔직해질 자신 있으니' ('since I'm ready to be honest') and '그땐 미안했다고' ('that I was sorry back then'), the drums and bass briefly step aside. The tempo is the same as the original, and the key is a whole step higher (two keys up on a piano, counting the black keys).

The original appeared on '사랑의 단상 Chapter 5' (roughly 'fragments of love'), a compilation for which Pastel Music gathered fans' stories and turned them into songs. Over 67 days, 1,255 letters came in, and this song was one of the album's two title tracks. In 2021, Choi Yu Ree sang it again too. SUHO's version was arranged by Lee Do-hyung and Pyeon Jun-won (AUG) with Jeong Su-wan; Lee Do-hyung played piano and drums, and Jeong Su-wan played guitar and bass. The video below is the full version posted on October 2, ahead of the first broadcast (October 7), on Studio:D, the channel of Donuts Culture, the company behind this single. The backing is the same recording as the released track, but the vocal is a different take. Times follow the video; on the released track, the same moments come 3.6 seconds earlier.

0:07 · Guitar where the piano was

The opening words, '마음을 다' ('all my heart'), come with no backing, and the guitar enters at 0:07. In the original, a piano comes in at the same spot. The Bugs introduction describes this arrangement as 'a sound centered on electric guitar'. Split the sound by instrument, and until 0:58 there's only guitar and voice. The drums and bass come in together at 0:58 on '같이 구름 걸터앉은 나무 바라보며' ('looking together at a tree where the clouds sit'), and the piano is added only at 1:00. In the original, too, the bass enters on this line.

2:15 · A 19-second interlude becomes 6

Because the tempo is the same, until the end of the first chorus the same lyrics arrive within 0.5 seconds of the original. Only the pitch differs: the top note of the chorus has moved up from the original's F-sharp (F#) to G-sharp (G#). The paths split after that. In the original, the voice rests for 19 seconds while the band carries the interlude, but SUHO's version moves on to the second verse, '지금 생각해 보면 그까짓 두려움' ('looking back now, such a small fear'), after a little over 6 seconds. In between, from 2:15, the drums and bass stop together for 2 seconds and only the guitar rings. Right then, the camera turns to the audience. This spot is also almost the whole reason the song is 13 seconds shorter than the original (4:23 down to 4:10).

2:34 · '솔직해질 자신 있으니' ('since I'm ready to be honest')

At the end of the second verse, on '솔직해질 자신 있으니', the bass drops out first and the drums follow. The bass falls by about 50 decibels (dB). Every 10 decibels down sounds roughly half as loud to the ear, so in effect it's switched off. For 5 seconds only the guitar and voice are left, and then the two come back together at 2:39, as '돌아오기만 하면 좋겠다' ('if only you'd come back') begins. In the original, the bass keeps going even on this line. The camera also pulls far back at this point to take in the whole stage.

3:38 · '그땐 미안했다고' ('that I was sorry back then')

The last chorus clears space once more. At 3:38 the drums and bass drop out, and the piano steps forward to hold up '그땐 미안했다고'. It's the instrument that came in first in the original. The band returns on '용서해달라고' ('asking you to forgive me'), and '이야기하는' ('telling you') at 3:48, right after, is the loudest moment in the song. The camera shows the whole stage beneath a spiral-staircase tower.

4:04 · '우리' ('us') left alone

At 3:57, as the last '그때까지 잘 지내자, 우리' ('until then, let's stay well, us') begins, the drums and bass leave first. At 4:04, with even the piano fading, the voice holds the final '우리' alone for 3 seconds, with almost no backing. At its end, at 4:06, the bass and guitar sound once, low, and fade away over 7 seconds. The original sings the final '우리' with the piano and closes on the piano. At 4:10, SUHO smiles on screen, and the cast members alongside clap. Apple Music · Zitten's original music video

If you're curious to see Zitten sing live, there's also a live session on NONOL Playground with four songs: 'Nonsense', 'Goseong', 'Flash' and 'Back Light'.