Last year South Korean artist Yujin Jo aka nijuu delivered her debut EP, nijuu in the sea, and today reveals plans for a follow-up called nijuu in the forest. She says: “The key theme on nijuu in the forest is about ‘growth’ and about the journey to find a new place where I could learn more and be more independent. nijuu in the sea was about a little girl who just got separated from home, learning to find the way out of the darkness. If nijuu in the sea was like a little bird who just broke out from the egg then nijuu in the forest is about the little bird trying to learn how to fly and move its wings. Like learning to have more maturity and awareness (mentally, physically) and to be a better person.”
The first example of this growth is lead single “나에게로 Come To Me”, which nijuu introduces by saying:
“I was thinking about – who am I? I was questioning myself again and again. And always I thought I’m no one. I’m not special. I’m nothing. In 2018, I was walking on an uphill road, I saw the sunset and I felt like the light told me ‘come to Me, please come to me. You are not gonna be staying in the dark. If you feel nothing, that means you could be anything’ and right after I went back home and wrote the song.”
“나에게로 Come To Me” begins in similarly quiet fashion to her previous outings, her whisper-sung voice accompanied by lonesome acoustic as if she’s traipsing along, unsure where she’s going or what she’s doing. Pulled into her plight, we feel her sadness, but it’s soon vanquished as nijuu and her bandmates (who traded files between South Korea and London) build the song into an uplifting anthem that feels like wholly new territory for the songwriter. Twinkling tones light up the atmosphere, heavenly synths descend to caress our singer, and bass and drums come booming out in characterful fashion, illuminating nijuu in a whole new way. As she she is joined at the end by a resounding group of singers that carry her home, it feels like we’re hearing her evolution in real time. If this is nijuu in the forest, then it feels like the trees have come alive and the critters have scampered up alongside her, and she has the whole woods singing in unison.
There’s no official release date for nijuu in the forest yet, but stay tuned here to find out. You can find nijuu on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
