By Hasan Beyaz
With her first full-length album, pasado, the Korean singer-songwriter YOUHA turns towards the experiences, memories and unresolved emotions that have shaped her, tracing a journey from the desire to be loved to the uncertainty of figuring out what comes next. Named after the Spanish word for “past”, the twelve-track record explores what happens when the person we once were continues to influence the person we are becoming.
“I see this album as a journey of moving forward while bringing my past self along with me,” YOUHA explains. Rather than presenting a neat narrative of personal growth, pasado makes room for the feelings that resist easy resolution. Its songs move through longing, anxiety and loss, capturing the contradictions that emerge when desire meets reality.
By the end, there is no definitive conclusion, only a growing understanding of herself and the courage to keep moving forward despite the uncertainties that remain.
That emotional complexity is reflected in the album’s shifting musical landscape. YOUHA steps beyond the familiar sounds of her previous work, exploring different styles and vocal approaches while drawing inspiration from both everyday experiences and the imaginative world within her mind. On “pasado”, the desire for love takes on an intensity that sits somewhere between confidence and vulnerability, while “DSLR” confronts the need for reassurance beneath its more provocative questions. Elsewhere, “COCONOT” brings a different energy, challenging YOUHA to push herself through rap passages that proved unexpectedly difficult to master in the recording studio.
Yet the album’s most personal moments arrive on “soo”, a song dedicated to her late grandparents. Holding a particular significance for the singer, it captures the love and longing that continue to shape her understanding of the past. Across the record, these intimate experiences become starting points for broader reflections on identity, desire and the ways relationships leave their mark long after particular moments have passed.
“I hope pasado can meet each listener’s own memories and become not just my story, but your story as well,” she says. By sharing the parts of herself that remain unresolved, YOUHA invites listeners to reconsider their own histories – and the experiences that have made them who they are.
Read on for our full catch-up with YOUHA about the stories behind creating pasado, the memories that shaped its twelve tracks, and how revisiting the past can help us understand who we are becoming.
What does the album title mean to you personally?
YOUHA pasado means “past” in Spanish. To me, this album is a record of moving forward while bringing my past self along with me. There are emotions that stay with us even as time passes. Sometimes, we only come to understand how we felt long after the moment has passed, or we find ourselves revisiting memories we thought we had already moved on from. I wanted to capture those feelings in music.
Can you talk about the ideas or experiences that inspired this project?
YOUHA This album was created around experiences I’ve had in my everyday life and the emotions I felt through them. Even the smallest moments can leave a lasting impression or give us something to think about, and those moments became the starting points for many of these songs.
I also found inspiration by looking into the imaginative, fantasy-filled world inside my mind. By blending real-life experiences with scenes and emotions I imagined, I wanted to express my own inner world through music.
Following the tracklist, how would you describe the journey of the album as a whole?
YOUHA I see this album as a journey of moving forward while bringing my past self along with me. At first, I openly express my desire to be loved and the things I long for. As you go deeper into the album, you begin to encounter more complex emotions, such as anxiety, longing, and loss. By the end, I start to discover the kind of voice I want to have moving forward, after experiencing everything that came before.
It’s not a story where every emotion is neatly resolved by the end. It’s more about learning to understand myself a little better and finding the courage to move forward, even when I still feel uncertain. That’s why I really hope listeners will experience the album in its intended track order. Listening to each song individually is one experience, but when you hear them in sequence, the emotions from one track carry into the next, allowing you to feel the story of the album as a whole.
How does this album differ from your previous work?
YOUHA Musically, this album is quite different from my previous work. It was a new challenge for me, and I wanted to step outside of familiar ways of expressing myself and show different sides of who I am.
I’m still discovering and learning how to work with new styles, so I feel both excited and a little nervous. This album reflects the kind of music I want to make at this point in my life, and I hope listeners will enjoy exploring that change with me. Please look forward to the new sides of me that I’ll continue to show in the future.
Can you introduce the world of the title track and explain what it means to you personally?
YOUHA As the title track, “pasado” honestly explores the desire to be loved. I think that behind the desire to appear attractive to someone and become the person they want is, ultimately, the hope that they will genuinely love me. It’s a song that captures two feelings existing side by side: the confidence to approach someone boldly and the curiosity of wondering how they truly feel about me.
What emotions or atmosphere did you want to express through this song?
YOUHA This song is about the feeling of constantly wanting reassurance from someone you love. It’s wonderful to be together in the present, but you also want to know whether they would still choose you when things get difficult.
The more deeply you care about someone, the more questions you sometimes find yourself asking. You start to wonder whether the relationship means as much to them as it does to you. That feeling is at the heart of this song.
Is there a particular lyric, melody, or moment in a song that stands out to you?
YOUHA In “DSLR,” Track 2, the questions “Would you ride for me?” and “Would you die for me?” stand out to me the most.
The words are intense, but the feelings behind them are actually quite vulnerable. At the heart of those questions is the desire to know whether someone will stay by your side until the very end. When listening to this song, I hope people pay attention not only to the questions themselves but also to the emotions that make someone keep asking them. I think the song might resonate differently when you listen to it from the perspective of someone who desperately wants reassurance.
Can you share your experience recording “COCONOT” and performing it live?
YOUHA I performed “COCONOT” as the opening song of my set at HITC 2025. Since it was the song that opened the performance, I still vividly remember the excitement and thrill of that moment. It was truly an unforgettable experience for me.
What ideas or emotions are captured in this song?
YOUHA When I make and listen to this album, it makes me think about what I truly want. Is it the person themselves, the version of myself I become when I’m with them, or the emotions I expect that relationship to give me?
I think the way desire and fantasy overlap is what makes this song so compelling. I hope listeners follow the lyrics and pay attention to how far those feelings grow. Depending on their own experiences, the song might feel exciting and romantic to some people, while others might find something a little dangerous about it.
Which song stands out to you the most?
YOUHA The song that stands out to me the most is “soo.” It’s a song that holds my feelings for my late grandparents. I wanted to express my love for them and how much I miss them through music. That’s why this is the most meaningful track on the album to me.
Can you talk in more detail about a lyric, melody, or particular moment in a song that you especially love?
YOUHA Personally, I think “Honey Cake” is a really unique song. I feel that the lyrics “Hopin’ he finna love me real” and “사랑이 답이야” (“Love is the answer”) capture the heart of the song particularly well. It starts with the desire for someone, but underneath that desire is the hope for genuine love. I hope listeners encounter that honesty from the very first track of the album. I think it’s even more interesting when you listen for the little bits of hope and uncertainty beneath the moments that sound bold and confident.
Were there any interesting or challenging moments, or memorable anecdotes, from working on this song?
YOUHA One of the interesting things about working on this album was how much I struggled with the rap parts during recording. They were much harder than I expected! In my mind, I was already delivering them so effortlessly and looking cool, but my mouth just wouldn’t cooperate.
Still, I challenged myself over and over until I got those parts right, so I feel especially proud of them whenever I listen back.
Also, whenever I listen to the songs again, I’m reminded of the moments I spent filming the music video. I had several meetings with the director, and we worked together to bring our ideas to life. I especially remember discussing how we could translate the emotions in the song into actual scenes and then watching those ideas come together on screen.
What does this song mean to you personally?
YOUHA This album is connected to my desire to move in the direction I want for myself. When we think too much about other people’s expectations or how they see us, we can sometimes lose sight of what we truly want. Through this song, I hope listeners can feel that desire to step away from those thoughts and follow their own choices.
I think the desire to be free can hold many different emotions. There’s excitement, but there’s also the fear of leaving behind what’s familiar and the realization that you have to take responsibility for your own decisions. To me, freedom in this song isn’t about a carefree moment of forgetting everything. It’s more about finding a moment when you choose to trust yourself.
While listening, I hope people can focus on their own feelings rather than the expectations of those around them, even if just for a little while. I want this song to naturally encourage them to think about what they want right now and the direction they want to take in life.
Is there anything in particular you hope listeners will pay attention to when listening to the album?
YOUHA I hope listeners will experience all twelve songs on the album as one continuous story.
Each song has its own emotions when you listen to it individually, but when you listen from beginning to end in order, the conversations between the songs can take on a different meaning. That’s why I really want people to listen to this album in its intended track order.
Is there anything you’d like fans to know about the album that they might not discover simply by listening to it?
YOUHA The songs on pasado were part of a process of reconnecting with the person I used to be and revisiting the time I’ve lived through. Some songs hold the desire I once felt to be loved, while others carry a longing that I still haven’t been able to let go of. One thing I really want my fans to understand is that completing this album doesn’t mean all those emotions have been resolved. It simply means that I’m now able to share those feelings in my own voice.
What emotions or message do you hope listeners will take away after experiencing the entire album?
YOUHA After listening to the entire album, I hope you’ll take a moment to look back on your own past, too. I want you to think about how the happy moments, as well as the moments that still hurt, have all played a part in shaping who you are today. I hope pasado can meet each listener’s own memories and become not just my story, but your story as well.