By Hasan Beyaz
“I couldn't sleep for almost a week,” Korean singer-songwriter YOUHA tells me over a video call. It’s the evening before her debut album, pasado, is released – six years after she officially debuted as a solo artist with the dreamy pop track “ISLAND” in September 2020.
“I feel very excited, but I'm a little bit anxious,” she says when reflecting on the anticipation surrounding the album’s release.
Meaning “the past” in Spanish, the word pasado speaks to a desire to look backwards as a way to understand how far you have come. For YOUHA, that distinction is at the heart of a record that feels both like a personal archive and a declaration of artistic possibility.
“I guess you could say it's a collection of the artist's identity,” she tells tmrw, reflecting on what makes a full-length album different from the singles and shorter releases that have shaped her career so far. With a renewed determination to show listeners who she is beyond the music, pasado, she explains, is “like a curated book of my life story, told through music.”
That sense of intimacy runs through the album – particularly on “Pink Dress”, which explores her changing relationship with her father. Intentionally released on her birthday as the record’s lead track, the song finds YOUHA revisiting a once-close bond that gradually became strained with time. It is a vulnerable move for an artist who wants audiences to understand the person behind the performer, and its immediate resonance with listeners has only reinforced her decision to become more open through her songwriting.
Elsewhere, “수 (soo)” turns towards her grandparents and the experiences that shaped her upbringing, while the album artwork’s angel wings and prayer-like pose reflect her belief in the inherent purity of the human soul.
Sonically, the album finds YOUHA pushing beyond familiar territory, experimenting with Auto-Tuned, layered vocals and contrasting vocal personalities; the confrontational edge of “Black Diamonds” and the fast-paced rap passages on “COCONOT” sit alongside the dreamier pop sensibilities of “Pink Dress” and “수 (soo)”. The album closes with “Head in the Clouds”, a warm, uplifting track that marks a turning point in her career – and offers a glimpse of what lies ahead.
“I want people to see me as a limitless artist,” she says, describing a creative philosophy that extends beyond genre into storytelling itself. pasado honours the experiences that made her, while leaving the door open to everything she has yet to become.