Once as a voice memo, once with a band: woosoohyun's 'January 30th'

Today's NONOL PICK is 'January 30th', the title track of 'In Our Own Time', the EP woosoohyun released on October 5. woosoohyun wrote both the words and the music alone, and the song appears on the album twice. Track 4 is the full version, 3:59 long, arranged by umzi with a band and strings; right after it, track 5 is 'January 30th (voice memo)', 3:18 of just one piano and a voice. The voice memo was arranged by woosoohyun. We picked it because listening to the two side by side lets you follow, by ear, what the same song gains and what it leaves out. In the album notes, woosoohyun wrote that loss made singing impossible on some days, yet '기어코 기어코 목소리를 붙들고 다시 살아내고 싶게 만들었다' (in the end, it made me hold on to my voice and want to live again). Times follow the official music video, and its sound is the same recording as the track. The music video stars the actor An Chaeeun rather than woosoohyun.

0:01 · 26 seconds before the lyrics

The full version starts at 0:01 with the voice and the backing together, no intro. But the first lyric, '나는 아직 당신이 필요해요' (I still need you), doesn't arrive until 0:28. The 26 seconds before it are six wordless 'ooh' phrases. The same melody returns at 2:18, after the second verse, right down to the spacing between the phrases. The voice memo skips those 26 seconds and goes straight into '나는 아직 당신이 필요해요' at 0:02.

1:23 · Drums and bass arrive on the first line of verse two

The full version goes more than a minute and 20 seconds without drums or bass. The bass settles in low at 1:22, and the drums come in at 1:23.6, just as the first line of the second verse, '어제처럼 서로를 붙잡고' (holding on to each other like yesterday), begins. The music video also moves from an outdoor view to an indoor one at 1:23.5, showing a person kneeling in front of a wooden chest of drawers. The voice memo has no drums or bass from start to finish. The two versions share the same key but not the same speed. With the band in, the full version runs at about 70 beats a minute, while the voice memo is sung about 3% slower in every section, so by the end of the bridge it arrives 5 seconds later.

2:59 · Three seconds of voice alone

As the bridge begins at 2:46, the drums and bass drop out again. Then, from 2:59.8 to 3:02.6, while the last line of the bridge is sung, the full version pulls back even the remaining backing until it can barely be heard, leaving only the voice. The picture goes into a close-up of a face with hair blowing in the wind at 2:59, and at 3:02.9, as the backing returns, a train passes in a blur. The drums come back at 3:04. In the same passage of the voice memo, the piano chord only fades; it never cuts out.

3:12 · A casual 'you' only in the last chorus

Throughout the song, the other person is addressed as '당신', a polite and slightly distant 'you'. But in the full version's last chorus, at 3:12, the line '결국 내일도 넌 없을 테니' (since you won't be here tomorrow either) switches to the casual '넌'. The same line in the voice memo is '결국 내일도 당신은 없을 테니'. That's how the Bugs lyrics read, and transcribing both versions shows that's how they're sung.

3:30 · 23 seconds of music after a black screen

When the last line, '사랑하지 않고 옆에 있을게요' (I'll stay by your side without loving you), ends at 3:30, the sound almost goes out and the screen stays black until 3:34. Then 23 seconds of music without a voice play the song out. The voice memo finishes the same line at 3:13, and the sound stops soon after. Apple Music

The full version's credits list Park Jongbin on guitar, Min Jisun on bass, Kim Dongwook on drums and With String on strings (string arrangement by Heo Eunji), and the piano on the voice memo is played by Luca minor. The EP holds six songs: 'In Our Own Time', 'no words can', 'Helpless Summer', 'January 30th', 'January 30th (voice memo)' and 'Farewell'. woosoohyun also put 'I've been in love (Voice memo Version)' on the debut EP 'Unnamed forest' (2024). The four songs woosoohyun sang on NONOL LIVE are in our playground article.