Red Velvet's Joy debuts as a solo artist with remake album 'Hello'

▲ This provided by SM Entertainment shows member Joy from girl group Red Velvet. (Yonhap)

▲ This provided by SM Entertainment shows member Wendy (left) and Joy (right) from girl group Red Velvet. (Yonhap)

▲  This provided by SM Entertainment shows member Joy from girl group Red Velvet. *

SEOUL, May 31 (Yonhap) -- "It is very rare for singers to release their first solo album with remake songs, so it felt burdensome. But with this album, I wanted to give people joy, just like my name."

Joy, a member of K-pop girl group Red Velvet will release her first solo album "Hello" on May 31, which is eight years since her debut. In "Hello," Joy reinterprets six masterpieces that were enjoyed during 1990-2000s by adding a modern touch.

During an online music broadcast, Joy mentioned "Last year I released a remake of the song,  'Introduce me to a Good Person' as an OST (Original Soundtrack), which was loved by a lot of people," adding, "I heard that songs in the past and my voice go well together, and my agency also suggested me to release a remake album."

"My number one rule when working on this album was to never destroy the emotions conveyed in the original songs. Instead, I thought about what kind of emotions I could express through my voice. I also referred to movies like 'My Sassy Girl' in order to capture the pure and honest charms  of the works that came out at that time."

A number of bright and cheerful songs can be spotted in the track list for "Hello."

In particular, the title track "Hello" will allow the public to enjoy Joy's clean yet cool vocals and hopeful lyrics. While Park Hye-kyoung's unique rhythm of the original version of "Hello," released in 2003, still remains Joy's remake seems to have added a faster beat.

Joy also mentioned she pumped up 200% of her energy when recording the song in order to give it her best.

"When I first heard 'Hello,' I wanted to convey the 'comfort' I received when listening to the song. In fact, there were people who opposed "Hello" to be the title track, but I pushed for it. The message I wanted to say was in this song," Joy commented.

In addition, Joy sings hit songs including As One's "Day by Day," Sung Si-kyung's "It Would Be Good," Hey's "Je t'aime," Kwon Jin-won's "Happy Birthday to You" and Toy's "Whenever."

"It Would Be Good" is a newly arranged duet song, which is sung by Joy and singer Paul Kim.

"I thought it would be better to express the romantic lyrics with a male singer," Joy said. "I only thought of Paul Kim as the featuring artist, and thankfully he was willing to participate."

On the other hand, Joy sings by herself in "Whenever," which involved several artists in the original making, including Yoon Jong-shin, Jo Kyu-chan, Kim Yeon-woo and Lee Jang-woo. Park Moon-chi, a friend of Joy's was also known to help arrange the song.

"The lyrics are calm and warm. I tried to sing it as plain as possible. When I try to put techniques, Munchi says, 'Don't flirt' haha. So I left out everything but innocence."

After the release of the album was decided, the first song I wanted to sing, "Day by Day," also has a lively atmosphere in the Joy version. The introduction a cappella and clear keyboard sounds seem to set the clock back to the '90s.

"I always admired how I wrote such pretty lyrics about the vague feeling between fear and excitement I felt before starting a new love," Joy said. "It's the most attached song to this album."

Joy had several difficulties preparing for her solo debut, but each time, the members cheered her up. Among them, Wendy, who released the first solo album in Red Velvet, sent a long message every day.

Wendy also lavished praise on the day, saying, "I'm a friend with no limits and that's why I'm attractive."

As he said, Joey appeared in dramas as well as girl group activities, as well as actors and continued to play in entertainment programs.

This time, he took care of each of the production processes by writing the story of the music video for the title song "Hi" and even choosing his own costumes.

"Now I want to do one thing properly and deeply," he said, expressing his passion for solo activities, saying, "I want to focus on what I am doing now rather than challenging."

"I wanted to give you energy with this album, but as I prepared, I got more energy from the staff and fans. I'm proud to think that we communicated emotionally with each other just by this."

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