SAAY Sings of Pain Because of “WINTER”
Solo singer SAAY gives comfort for the cold and lonely months with her soothing song “WINTER.”
SAAY unveiled her seasonal R&B single for the first time on February 2, 2020 during a solo performance at the Rolling Hall Theater in Seoul. She wrote the song two years prior, during her struggle with depression and insomnia as she described on Instagram, and after rearranging it almost 50 times, she released “WINTER” on February 5, 2020. SAAY’s third digital single also features rapper Woo Wonjae, the third place winner from Show Me the Money 6.
The 28-year-old singer began teasing the new track on her personal Twitter page on January 22, 2020. The images mainly came in black and white, with some in an orange filter, and included captions that described loneliness, the need to face it, and learning to love oneself through hardship. The eighth image particularly captured the bittersweet feeling of the song with the caption, “embrace and take care of yourself warmly than ever, who will get colder when frigid winter arrives.”
When “WINTER” was released on YouTube and streaming platforms, SAAY’s name quickly rose to No. 10 on MelOn’s Real Time Search Chart. The opening of the six minute music video gives the feeling of a horror movie, as viewers follow SAAY through dimly lit hallways and patient rooms of a psychiatric hospital.The video quickly cuts between scenes of people doing contemporary dance in flickering lights and then disappearing, while SAAY reads the captions that were first seen on the teaser images.
As the video continues and the music starts up, a more glamorously dressed SAAY moves through the hospital’s examination rooms and areas that resemble a Catholic church. SAAY is surrounded by contemporary dancers while she sings about the pain of seasonal depression as well as feeling irritable and uninspired. The video ends with her seeming to wake up from a dream surrounded by friends.
SAAY didn't promote "WINTER" on music shows as she did with her previous single "ZGZG," but on Valentine's Day of 2020, she uploaded a special live performance video to YouTube. The vintage style video featured SAAY singing against a brick wall in a white 1940s style collared dress. As the song picks up at the rap, SAAY changed into a more form fitting red dress that stands out among her backup dancers in all black.
Although SAAY didn’t receive awards for “WINTER,” the song has garnered almost two million streams on MelOn since its release, making it one of her most streamed songs on the platform. An ever hard working soloist, not to be deterred by the COVID outbreak in 2020, SAAY went on to release her fourth single "Don't Know" featuring Punchnello in May of that year and her first studio album Feelosophy in October.