Woosung is no stranger to solo albums and released his 2nd studio album '4444' last September, but he has yet to release a full remix album -- UNTIL NOW! Lead singer of the K-band The Rose, he debuted with his first solo album, 'Wolf,' in 2019 as his bandmates were completing their enlistments and had a successful debut with even more successful follow-up albums. Woosung himself has always had such an air of honesty and authenticity to his music that is enhanced by his soulful vocals. Black Roses have always loved Woosung’s smooth, buttery vocals, and even with the addition of house and EDM elements, these songs have a different color than the originals, but Woosung’s vocals always shine through.
The album begins with the Raiden remix of “Let There Be Light,” where the beat in the background is sped up to help drive the song faster throughout while repetitions and vocalizations are used in the quieter sections to help fill the space. As the song builds upon itself, it climaxes to a big crescendo of melodies and harmonies. In slight contrast to Raiden's remix, the Lame Impala remix features fewer rises and falls and maintains the same momentum throughout its entirety, with a longer duration than the previous version. This version has a slightly elevated tempo that adds to the driving force of the lyrics as Woosung repeats, “let there be light.” Both remixes feature BOL4’s angelic voice as it adds an ethereal feel of these faster tempos and showcases her flexibility that highlights each remix. The message of this song is one of change and with these two versions being so different, yet interconnected, one can’t help but admire the weaving of lyrics and melodies.
“Happy Alone," featuring B.I., was originally a guitar-led ballad with the soulful lyrics taking center stage with declarations of happiness in loneliness. This concept carefully infuses B.I.'s rap to add to the story of why being alone is the best thing for them. The Lame Impala remix, however, incorporates reverb and a tempo uptick to make the beats slightly syncopated to the normal beat. This version trades out the guitar strums for keyboard strokes, and it lends the song a slight aggressiveness that listeners did not find in the original. The rap section blends seamlessly into the song upon first listen and effortlessly fits this more upbeat version.
There are 3 different versions of the title track “44 (Forget Forever),” which already contains a hint of EDM to it—highlighting an abundance of fades and builds, but each remix adds a different element and layering. The lyrics are the star of the original version, but in the Mathame remix, the driving force is heavy voice modulation and electronic buzzes with classic vocal repetition. Woosung’s chorus stands by itself on vocals until he starts to repeat “forget forever” and the beats build to an EDM/dance sound. For the IÖN remix, the beat is less aggressive, but the beats are still very electronic and use the classic build of house music with rises and falls that flow with the lyrics. For the KC Lights version, it is much shorter than the other remixes and is dreamier than the remixes but is closer to the flowy nature of the original. The song builds for the chorus and drops to a steady repeated melody akin to something from Dance Dance Revolution. Reverb and voice modulations are used to achieve the dreamy soundscape that helps make Woosung’s vocals even more ethereal.
“Before We Die” is a song about living life to the fullest, standing firm in your power, and believing in yourself to achieve your dreams. Like the other songs on the original album, this song already has dance and EDM elements, used to accentuate the powerful lyrics. However, the Radio Garçon version exaggerates these elements, using the title as a repeating force to drive the beat drops. This version leans heavily into the EDM style and sounds like something you would hear from a live DJ.
For the final remix, Woosung chose “Never Let Go,” which begs someone that Woosung holds dear not to let go and stay with him. While the original features a more consistent beat with fewer decrescendos, the AJ remix increases the number of rises and falls—lending to the emotional pull of the lyrics. This causes the listener to have a more intense pull in either direction while listening, following the ebb and flow of the waves of sound. As a remix album, Woosung and the people he collaborated with did an amazing job keeping the feeling of the lyrics for each of these songs, while also creating a new sound for each. These remixes won’t be the last we hear from Woosung as he is always working on music and treats the Black Roses to his dreamy vocals.
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