Poems is singer-songwriter nahyee’s debut album, featuring nine tracks in total. At only 18 years of age, nahyee worked on this album mostly on her own, in her room in Seoul. nahyee speaks in her interview with debaser magazine, “For a whole year, I barely went outside, just crying in my room.” It is clear that these nine songs aren’t just indie rock gems to be enjoyed, but they carry a deeper personal meaning to the young artist.
From the interview, nahyee mentions the coming of the album. nahyee started working on Poems ever since dropping out of high school a few months ago to focus solely on music. Each song is a story of its own, painting the world nahyee has created for herself, in a form of comfort, but also expressing her struggles in a poetic way.
Grounded in indie-rock, folk, and ballad sounds, the album feels extremely intimate, like you are taking peek into nahyee’s inner world. Musically, it holds heavy dream-pop textures with a shoegaze foundation. It sounds refreshing with the midi-lofi elements in between tracks, while nahyee’s lower vocal tone and raw delivery of lyrics really add that layer of indie flair to the project.
Lyrically, Poems speaks its title well. The album is essentially a collective of genuine poems written with a heavy heart. Every sentence feels like it has been taken straight from nahyee’s diary, and you can feel the pain and joy in her delivery. One of the lyrics in the title track “i love all the noise in the world” stuck with me,
Even the noise in this dark and damp room
I think I can love you
– “i love all the noise in the world”
Looking at nahyee’s experience with anxiety and mental health struggles, this sentence feels especially powerful. With more upbeat songs in the album, there is always an underlying hint of melancholy to the melody. It is as if nahyee is speaking to us, things don’t have to be perfectly fine, but they are not that bad either.
This is an album crafted of imperfections in amateur experimentations, but it is precisely those imperfections that shape Poems’ authentic sound and give us a taste of her bittersweet stories.
nahyee said that music had saved her, and Poems showed exactly how. Just as how nahyee has told us her honest stories, and we are here to listen quietly.
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Written by Jammy Chun for Korean Indie.