On days you need to hear ‘cheer up’: YENA’s morning and square-shaped love

The first song and title track of her third mini album, released on January 15, 2024. It’s pop punk and alternative rock built on a strong band sound, with a message not to be held captive by past worries or anxiety about what lies ahead. Over 3 minutes 4 seconds, feel the sense of greeting a new day at your own pace. It’s not a song to be heard only in the morning. On a tired afternoon, or at a moment when you want to restart your day, the title is a good clue too. Once you also notice that album tracks dealing with more complicated feelings follow this bright, encouraging music, you won’t remember this record as a single mood.

The second track of the same mini album deals with the feelings of a character inside a relationship that is falling apart. The agency’s official introduction mentions its mysterious melody along with a performance collaboration with TURNS, led by Jo Na-in. Listen first to the 3-minute-12-second track and take in the impression the title and the voice create together. It’s the point where a mood different from the energetic first song enters, which makes it good for discovering another side of the album. If you like the music, you can broaden the experience with the official performance video. Since the audio and the video are separate pieces of content, you might divide your time between focusing on the sound and watching the movement.

‘Damn U’ is the third song on ‘GOOD MORNING’. The official album introduction describes the ache of wanting to show every bit of what’s inside your heart as the emotional center. As you listen to the 2-minute-45-second track, recall a moment when the words you put out differed from what you actually wanted to convey. Rather than judging the song in advance by its blunt English title, it’s worth paying attention to the feeling the voice leaves behind. Placed after the preceding track about anxiety in a relationship, it shows a path along which feelings continue within one record. It’s an album track for anyone who wants to listen while learning that this isn’t simply a collection of pep anthems.

The final song of the third mini album, with the overseas title ‘The Ugly Duckling’. The official introduction reveals that it holds YENA’s autobiographical story, and you can stay with the emotion in her voice for roughly 3 minutes 34 seconds. Listening from the forceful start of the title track through to this song, you can feel that behind the energy of encouraging someone else there is also a time of looking back at herself. For anyone who first came to know the singer through bright stages, it’s a choice to hear a more personal story. You might leave its afterglow lingering before moving on to the next album.

The title track of her third single album, released on September 30, 2024. It looks at a relationship through the image of a square: there are moments when you fit well, yet corners get raised over small things. As you listen to the roughly 2-minute-58-second song, recall a love that couldn’t be explained by a round heart alone. The album’s perspective of trying to accept the other person’s good points along with their angular ones shows from the title onward. If you remembered it only as a repetition of cute words, we recommend listening on through ‘Sugar’ and ‘It was love’. Meeting all three tracks together, the story of sweetness and hurt sitting within the same relationship comes through more clearly.

The second song on the ‘Nemonemo’ single album; its Korean title is ‘Seoltang’, and you can find it as ‘Sugar’ on overseas music services. It runs roughly 2 minutes 46 seconds. The official album introduction links love to the image of a sugar cube: sweet, but with edges. Keep that metaphor in mind as you look at the title, and you can turn your attention to sides other than the pretty, soft feelings. Listen to the title track first, then notice which direction your impression moves in with this song. Rather than trying to explain the whole album with a single song’s title, you can also listen while thinking about what memories the sweet moments left you with. It’s an easy pick for a short break too.

The third track that closes the single album, with the overseas title ‘It was love’. A roughly 3-minute vocal track, it sits on the same release as ‘Nemonemo’ and ‘Sugar’ before it. Start listening from a title that steps back from present-tense excitement to look back on a relationship. You can recall from your own experience whether, after both the good moments and the angular ones have passed, that time can still be called love. All three songs together run around 9 minutes, which makes it easy to meet the flow of the record on a single walk or commute. After taking in the afterglow of its final words, you might also compare it with the first track.