Tag: Hwasa (Mamamoo)

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Making her return to the stage yesterday was Hwasa, with I’m a B (I’m a 빛). This new song is the title track off Hwasa’s second single album, Guilty Pleasure, which also dropped yesterday. This is Hwasa’s first solo comeback since Maria last year, and the first time we have seen her since Mamamoo’s return with mumumumuch earlier this year.

With a title like I’m a B, I’m a B is pitched to us initially as a bold track. But interestingly, the song isn’t that bold. The only boldness I really get from the song is when Hwasa exclaims ‘I’m a 빛‘ at she exclaims during the chorus. As an English speaker, that is pretty gutsy, but very clever when you factor in the Korean pronunciation of the Hangul there. But apart from that, I’m a B is a pretty tame song that sits in very subdued territory. I wished the official song featured the traditionally instrumented dance break in its entirety from the music video. Hwasa and her producers were on to something! It really pulled me in, and felt bold in a sophisticated manner. Its omission from the official audio felt like a missed opportunity. But while that is the case, I’m a B still manages to appeal with its nice melodies and the fact that Hwasa can captivate in such constricted territory. For I’m a B, the melodies felt simple. But they were also highly effective. In conjunction with Hwasa’s raspy vocals, I’m a B is charming and exudes a lot of charisma and confidence. All of which is a constant factor that Hwasa has managed to bring to us in her title tracks thus far. Also adding to the appeal of the song was the mature-sounding instrumental. While it played a heavy role in that tame/subdued nature, I also think it also brought out additional charm. Nothing really stands out in it, but I do find that it keeps true to the current trends of heavy bass and snappy percussions. It also felt a bit like a blank canvas, enabling Hwasa to do her thing. Overall, I’m a B plays towards Hwasa’s strengths, though I wished that it was bolder like how its title suggests.

What a stunning video. The visuals throughout this music video were on point, and amazed me. Underneath the visuals are some meaningful scenes/details. I stumbled across this one tweet (see below) while search for hashtags that I thought was very interesting. I liked how it explains the start of the video (i.e. Hwasa was in a crate full of water) and I believe the start also ties into the Maria music video. Aside from that, I also wanted to mention the epicness of the dance break that features in the music video. I was in awe and stunned at the beauty of that section. Not just at Hwasa’s presence, but also the instrument player and the dancers. Also when the instrument crumbles, that was a really strong and impact shot. Definitely a video to watch!

Once again the confidence that Hwasa exudes in the performance/choreography has to be mention. It make the rest of this component even better. More sensual and mature. I really liked the elegance of the dance break, and its contrast with the following part of the song where she does some tutting. A few different influences that somehow blends into one stunning performance.

Song – 7.5/10
Music Video – 10/10
Performance – 8.5/10
Overall Rating – 8.5/10

It is one busy Monday with a total of four releases that I intend to review as soon as possible (may need to split over a few days to get them done). First up is Hwasa’s solo comeback. Hwasa made her official solo debut at the start of the year with the hit, Twit. That, however, was only a single and actually features on her first mini-album, which shares the same name as her new title track, Maria. She is also the third member of Mamamoo to release a solo single this year, following Moonbyul and Solar, with Eclipse and Spit It Out (respectively).

If we were to judge the song based on its title, we would be expecting Maria to go full steam ahead with the Latin influence, the trend that KPOP in Summer probably will never escape. Mamamoo too also contributed to this trend with the release of Egotistic in 2018. But don’t be too quick to judge, as the Latin influence is very small. In fact, it localised just to the dance break, which gives off energy in a very fashionable sense for this song. Its presence doesn’t necessarily fit in the rest of the song, but it is definitely needed. The rest of Maria seems like a blank canvas, in terms of its instrumental. Sure, it is an upbeat and, at times, intense track. But apart from a minimal amount of synths, the instrumental is quite plain. It isn’t plain in a dull way though, as the vocals give the song some much-needed action and Hwasa’s vocals help fill in those gaps. I really like her nasally delivery during the verses and her raspy whisper that kicks off the chorus. I also a fan of her vocalisation in the latter half of the chorus, which is where the song gets a little intense and sensual. Together, it forms a decent song that plays towards Hwasa’s strength as a performer and vocalist. Maybe a more captivating instrumental would have been more appealing and made this into a winning track.

The music video reflects the lyrics well. We see Hwasa being hurt by others at the very start of the music video with all the photographers taking photos of her body at a crime scene and all those people providing a lighter for the cigarette she is holding. In the hospital, she is surrounded by all these pencils pointed towards her, as well. But what the music video also shows is that she gets up and stands up for herself. We see that during the hospital scene once again, where she escaped the pointy pencils and walks down the hall as if she never had that encounter. The start where she is serving a heart seems to be her bouncing back as it looked like she just killed the person who hurt her and serving it to other people who are going to hurt her. That is just my take on the video though, so there can be many other views out there. For the other elements in of the video, the sets and the camera work during her solo shots were nice. Some of her closeups in the choregrahpy shots were a little ‘in your face’ for me, as I wanted to see more of the choreography.

The one thing I really like about Hwasa is that she doesn’t hold back. If the performance is going to be sensual, then she will make it happen. We have seen that through her solo stages at award shows. While I am sure this performance will get some flack in Korea, it looks pretty good. There is a fair amount of hip grinding action in the chorus which seems very bold and I liked how the final chorus had a different routine to feature both genders of dancers and end the song with a more powerful vibe.

Song – 8/10
Music Video – 9/10
Performance – 8.5/10
Overall Rating – 8.4/10

In the past year,  we have seen the Mamamoo members through multiple comebacks including Starry Night, Egotistic and Wind Flower. On top of that, we saw the members through solo songs on the albums released throughout the year and through solo works. Moonbyul made her solo debut with Selfish, which Wheein also made her solo debut with Easy. It is time we turn our attention to the maknae of the group, Hwasa, who recently gained attention for her sexy outfit on the MAMA stage. She made her solo debut today with Twit.

Listening to the song, I felt like the song was more suited for the Summer seasons. It is bright and upbeat, something you don’t get too much in these colder months (though Korea is fast approaching the end of the cold season). But that being said, it is a strong song suiting Hwasa’s image from the very second it started playing. The song shows how a person is calling themselves (and others) a dummy and twit for not being able to care for their respective lover. The instrumental is made up heavy beat and dramatic flair, offset by a light panflute that is played over and over again at consistent intervals. I find this to be very intriguing. Alongside the song, we get Hwasa’s raspy vocals that really adds another sound and texture to the song. I particularly like how she kicks her vocals up a notch via the bridge, which is where we get the vocal climax to the song. Overall, Twit is a nice song that showcases the strengths of Hwasa.

The music video opens up with the male actor trying to get the attention of Hwasa. While this does annoy her throughout the video, the guy ends up leaving her at the end of the video, making Hwasa the ‘twit’ of the video for disregarding her lover. Another take on the video (see the comment section for a more detailed explanation) is that Hwasa calls the male actor a twit for being too focused on her (the scenes throughout the video showcases Hwasa as the centrepiece (i.e.e she is the queen, all the guys are staring at her and she is uniquely confident). This causes the guy to become upset and leave Hwasa at the end, despite her best efforts of her showing him that she still cares for him. Throughout the video, we see shots of Hwasa being confidently sexy, which could be an indirect response to her recent controversy regarding her outfits at the MAMAs. Wheein also pops up in the video, where both Wheein and Hwasa are rubbing shoulders with each other. It is a very bold video, which I think suits Hwasa and the song very well.

We don’t see much of the choreography in the video. But from what I can see, Hwasa is going to be bringing sexy to the stage with this performance. On top of that, an element of fun may be present. We won’t know for sure until a live performance is available so I will be back when that occurs.
[Updated] She definitely brought her sexy game to the stage with this comeback. Though, I wasn’t as impressed with the choreography that was chosen for this comeback. It didn’t feel as enticing as I had hoped for, Her moves felt fitting with the song but I couldn’t help but describe the performance as mediocre.

Song – 8/10
Music Video – 8.5/10
Performance – 6/10 [Updated]
Overall Rating – 7.8/10 [Updated]