Youn Sun Nah Announces New Album 'Waking World'

Today, the award-winning South Korean singer Youn Sun Nah has shared "Don't Get Me Wrong," the second single from her forthcoming album Waking World that will be released on January 28, 2022 via Arts Music, a division of Warner Music Group.

For the first time in her career, Youn Sun Nah wrote all of the songs that comprise her forthcoming collection. For Youn Sun Nah writing was a way to find light in dark times, a way to continue her growth as an artist, and the result is 11 haunting compositions that make up her eleventh studio album.

"I always thought I wasn't ready to take on the role of composer," says Youn Sun Nah, who released her debut album 20 years ago. Until now, she has mainly interpreted the melodies of others - most recently those of Leonard Cohen or Motown icon Marvin Gaye on her 2019 album Immersion, which JazzTimes praised for its "...pointed diction, a mastery of slow-flow aesthetics, noted appreciation for space, and pitch-perfect clarity." On Waking World she turns to exclusively original compositions that alternate between levity and painful insight, bearing her signature mix of pop sensibility, folk intimacy, and innovative jazz instrumentation.

Hailed as "one of the most beautiful voices in contemporary jazz" (Le Figaro), Seoul-born singer Youn Sun Nah went on her first tours and won prizes in jazz festivals and competitions at the turn of the year 2000. This was the beginning of a long list of distinctions culminating with the Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres title awarded by the French Ministry of Culture in 2009 and the Sejong Culture Prize awarded by the Korean government in 2014.

From her first album Light For The People, released in 2001 in Korea, to 2008's Voyage, which was released worldwide, she firmly established herself as a vocal jazz star. Her 2010 album Same girl, was a critical and commercial success in Europe, particularly in France (gold disc and Jazz Academy Award) and Germany (Echo Jazz Award), as well as in Korea (Korean Music Award).

Sometimes introspective, sometimes feverish, sometimes quite sparse, Youn Sun Nah's new album Waking World is a complex, long-exposure self-portrait - with a lot of light and a lot of shadow. "This album is both an incredible pleasure and a tremendous challenge," concludes Youn Sun Nah, who continues to push herself creatively and sonically more than 25 years into her esteemed career. Waking World is the closest she has ever come to her true self on record.

Listen to the new single here:

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