DEUX Sets November 21 Release for First Studio Album in 31 Years, With AI Recreating Kim Sung-jae's Voice

Two voices return to new music after three decades

DEUX will release its fourth studio album on November 21, 2026, bringing Lee Hyun-do's production together with an artificial intelligence recreation of the voice of his late musical partner, Kim Sung-jae. The release comes 31 years after the Korean hip-hop duo's third album, Force Deux, arrived in April 1995.

WA:ID COMPANY announced the release date on November 9, following a listening party at Bolero in Seoul's Itaewon district two days earlier. The event introduced music featuring Dynamic Duo and a remix by French electronic duo Braxe + Falcon, placing new collaborations alongside the recreated vocals.

Lee, the album's executive producer, has shaped the project around original songs rather than new versions of the group's old hits. His label developed an AI vocal filter with voice technology company SORISORI AI to reproduce Kim's tone and distinctive vocal characteristics.

The project also includes arrangements involving Kim's family. Lee has said he received their consent to use Kim's voice, and he pledged to share part of his own royalties as a performer with them. The Korea Music Performers Association established a distribution structure for those payments in December 2025.

For listeners who remember DEUX's brief career from 1993 to 1995, the album reconnects two familiar voices. For younger audiences, Lee wants the songs to stand as a fresh introduction to the group, whose music helped bring hip-hop and New Jack Swing into Korean popular music.

From an August announcement to a November release

Lee publicly described the AI project on August 16, 2025. At that stage, he discussed releasing a single toward the end of the year, followed by an album. He also expressed an ambition to release the full album by the end of 2025; the confirmed schedule now places it in November 2026.

Two advance tracks established the musical rollout: Rise in November 2025 and Another Day in April 2026. November's listening event then brought together the next releases, giving fans an early opportunity to hear how the album connects DEUX with musicians working today.

The main dates trace a project that has developed across more than a year:

• August 16, 2025: Lee outlined plans to create new DEUX music using an AI recreation of Kim's voice.
• November 2025: Rise was released, and Lee announced his intention to share part of his performer royalties with Kim's family.
• December 2025: The Korea Music Performers Association established the payment arrangement for the family.
• April 2026: Another Day followed as another advance release.
• November 4, 2026: WA:ID COMPANY announced that limited vinyl preorders had begun.
• November 7, 2026: DEUX held its listening party and released The Future and its music video at 6 p.m.
• November 14, 2026: Rise (Braxe + Falcon & DEUX Remix) is scheduled for release as a digital single.
• November 21, 2026: The fourth studio album is scheduled for release.

How Kim Sung-jae's voice was recreated

WA:ID COMPANY and SORISORI AI jointly developed the vocal filter used for the album. Lee had described extracting Kim's voice from DEUX's existing recordings and training an AI system on that material, then combining the synthesized voice with his own vocals in new songs.

A vocal filter changes the sound of a vocal performance so that it carries the qualities of a particular voice. Here, the stated aim was to reproduce Kim's vocal tone and individual characteristics. Recordings from the duo's original career supplied the material from which the system learned.

Lee remains responsible for the album's musical direction. The project brings together his production decisions, newly created songs and technology built around Kim's recorded performances. That combination allows the DEUX name to appear on original music decades after the duo stopped performing together.

The album was selected under the 2026 New Technology Convergence Music Content Development Support program, run by South Korea's Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korea Creative Content Agency. The program supports music projects that combine creative production with new technologies.

Family consent and the royalty arrangement

Lee confirmed during the project's earlier development that Kim's family had agreed to the use of his voice. He also announced, when Rise was released in November 2025, that part of the neighboring rights distributions he receives as a performer would be shared with the family.

Neighboring rights are rights connected to a recording and its performance, separate from the copyright in the underlying song. A songwriter can receive payment for writing music or lyrics, while a performer can receive a different payment connected to the recorded performance. Lee's pledge concerns part of his own distributions as a performer.

The Korea Music Performers Association put a structure in place in December 2025 so the family could officially receive the money. The percentage being shared and the amounts paid have not been disclosed.

Consent and payment address two practical parts of this release: permission to recreate Kim's voice and a route for his family to receive a share of Lee's performer income. They sit alongside the creative decisions about how Kim's voice and image appear in the new work.

The Future introduces the album's direction

The Future, one of the album's two main promotional tracks, was released with its music video at 6 p.m. on November 7. Its lyrics focus on living today and moving toward tomorrow, matching Lee's intention to make new work rather than remain within memories of the duo's past.

Lee attended the preview party at Bolero, where the album was introduced in partnership with digital media company Dingo. DJ Soulscape and DJ NODO performed DJ sets, while Dynamic Duo gave a celebratory performance and revealed their involvement in the album.

The event had been announced for 5:30 p.m. and was organized for album purchasers who applied in advance. Invitations were allocated in order of application, with attendance confirmation sent individually. Organizers also offered commemorative hoodies to the first 100 attendees.

The listening party connected the album's physical release with its first public previews. Purchasers could hear new tracks before the full release, while The Future became available beyond the venue that evening.

A new performance built from archives and dancers

THE APE SQUAD produced The Future's music video after also making the video for Rise. For the new production, the studio used archive material and AI recreations of the two members' likenesses to place them inside a newly constructed story.

The production combined AI 3D previsualization, motion tracking and training on archive material. Previsualization means planning scenes and camera compositions in three dimensions before filming. Motion tracking follows movement so it can be transferred into a digital performance.

Professional dancers performed choreography whose movements were tracked and incorporated into the members' onscreen performances. The process joins newly performed dance movements with digitally recreated appearances, giving the video movement beyond what exists in old footage.

The story follows Lee and Kim as they search for one another across repeating spaces and different times. They move separately through imagined future settings before meeting and continuing into a new world. Kim Young-gi, known as YK, the studio's chief executive and director, said the production focused on their reunion, dynamic performance and the energy associated with DEUX.

Kim had previously appeared as a virtual avatar on TV Chosun's Avatar Dream in 2022. The new album extends the use of digital recreation into a connected series of original songs and music videos.

Dynamic Duo and Braxe + Falcon join the project

Dynamic Duo feature on Only for You, the album's other main promotional track. Their participation was revealed at the listening party, where the song was previewed. It will be included on the album released November 21.

The collaboration places two Korean hip-hop duos from different generations on the same recording. DEUX's original career ended in 1995; Dynamic Duo's involvement connects that earlier music with another generation of Korean performers through a new song.

Braxe + Falcon bring a different connection through their remix of Rise. The French electronic duo consists of cousins Alan Braxe and DJ Falcon, whose work links them to some of French dance music's most familiar recordings.

Alan Braxe was part of Stardust, known for Music Sounds Better With You. DJ Falcon collaborated on Contact, a track on Daft Punk's Random Access Memories. Their DEUX remix was previewed at Bolero before its scheduled digital release on November 14, one week ahead of the album.

Reaching people who never knew DEUX

Lee has described younger listeners as a central audience for the new music. During the project's development, he explained that recognition of the group's history should not be required for someone to enjoy the songs.

Lee, DEUX's surviving member and the new album's executive producer, put that ambition in direct terms:

I want to create music that even those who don't know Deux can listen to and say, 'I don't know who this is, but it's cool,'

Renewed attention to the group's catalogue has already offered an opening. Lee cited the use of Look Back at Me in Netflix's animated feature KPop Demon Hunters as a reason to feel grateful that people were still talking about DEUX.

DEUX debuted in April 1993 and helped establish New Jack Swing in Korean popular music. The style blends dance rhythms with elements of hip-hop, funk, pop and R&B. Their best known songs include Turn Around and Look at Me, We Are, Weak Man, In Summer and Break Free from the Shackles.

The duo announced its breakup in June 1995 and ended activities with a farewell concert in July. Kim died on November 20 that year, the day after his solo debut performance. Lee has said he wants the new project to foreground Kim's presence as a performer rather than the tragedy surrounding his death.

What vinyl buyers can expect

The limited vinyl edition is available for preorder through DEUX's official website. WA:ID COMPANY announced the opening of orders on November 4, before revealing the album's release date.

The package contains one 12-inch LP, available in black or red, with a gatefold cover, lyric sheet and inner sleeve. A gatefold cover opens like a book, providing more space for the album's artwork and printed material.

Production will be limited to the quantities ordered during the preorder period. A shipping date will be announced later, so buyers should distinguish the November 21 album release from the delivery schedule for the physical edition.

The release brings together three parts of the same project: new DEUX recordings directed by Lee, an AI recreation developed from Kim's recorded voice, and collaborations that introduce the music to audiences beyond the group's original generation.

Key Points

• DEUX's fourth studio album is scheduled for November 21, 2026, 31 years after Force Deux.
• Lee Hyun-do is executive producer, with Kim Sung-jae's voice recreated using AI developed by WA:ID COMPANY and SORISORI AI.
• Lee said Kim's family consented to the voice recreation, and a structure was established to share part of his performer royalties with them.
• The Future and its video were released November 7. Dynamic Duo feature on Only for You.
• The Braxe + Falcon remix of Rise is scheduled for November 14.
• Limited vinyl preorders are open, with the shipping schedule to be announced.