[Exclusive] Part 1 : MAMAMOO returns with Piano Man

Imagine yourself in Seoul. The breeze gives the autumn morning a 10 degree Celsius crispiness. I had just arrived from a 34 degrees Kuala Lumpur and my assignment was to interview 4 of the most beautiful newcomers in the Korean music scene. MAMAMOO, a group consisting of 4 female vocalists Solar, Moon Byul, Whee In and Wha Sa was ready to take on the K-pop scene with a comeback song titled Piano Man!

MAMAMOO came back to the music scene with the song Piano Man. Just like their previous hit,  “Mr. Ambiguous”, this is a song dedicated to a certain mister too, but this time, the guy who caught their eyes plays the piano. With Piano Man, they will showcase their own style and their own choreographed performance. “We put a lot of effort in the chords and harmony,” says Whee In when we asked about the come back song. Fans should also expect a spectacular performance on stage.

For those who did not know MAMAMOO, the talented ladies do not only sing and dance on stage, but they also compose their own songs. Moon Byul and Wha Sa wrote the rap parts in MAMAMOO’s cover of Love Me (originally sung by Stooshe). Having experience in writing previously, Moon Byul also lend a hand by writing her rap sequence in the new song Piano Man.

What about Solar and Whee In? “I used to play the piano casually but never really tried making music before. We might compose songs for our album in the future” chimes Whee In while Solar mentioned that they actually composed a small part of their debut single, Mr. Ambiguous. Even though it was not perfect, in the future, with more experience, they would like to compose and write music for their album. Their cover of Love Me was loved by the fans, and the song suits the genre that they debuted with. So will we get to see another cover from them soon? “Of course, we would like to try different genre of songs, for example, we want to change a trot song into our style”, says Wha Sa.

As for collaborations, we have seen MAMAMOO collaborated with Whee Sung and K.Will for the song Peppermint Chocolate (썸남썸녀). When asked about which other artists will MAMAMOO collaborate with next, they anwered, “We did collaborations before but mostly with male artistes, so we would like to try collaborating with female artistes” said Whee In. And Solar added that if they were given a chance, they would like to collaborate with Malaysia’s female artiste – any suggestions K-popped! readers?

Talking about collaborations, in their previous music video “Mr. Ambiguos”,a lot of top stars were featured, such as Lee Jong Hyun (of CNBLUE), Bumkey, Jung Joon Young, and Baek Ji Young, to name some. In the video, the ladies were pranked with a hidden camera trick by Baek Ji Young. “With Baek Ji Young, she had this really strong and respectful feeling. Since we did not know about the hidden camera, we were shocked and cried. But after knowing that it was a hidden camera prank, Baek Ji Young was actually caring towards us and liked us a lot. She even gave us tips on performing” said Solar. Whee In added that “Whee Sung, whom we collaborated for Peppermint Chocolate (썸남썸녀), wrote the rap parts right on the spot. Whee Sung was also a very good mood maker while filming”, added Wha Sa.

We all love seeing MAMAMOO dance, with the jazz and rhythm & blues feel. What inspires them? For Moon Byul, she said that during her trainee days, she liked watching Chris Brown performed and thought that he was good looking. DBSK also played a part in inspiring her, especially Uknow Yunho who makes the dance moves look cool and looked handsome while performing. “I want to make people look at me and think that I am a good dancer too, like when I see how cool Uknow sunbaenim (senior) looked like”.

The interview went on with a lot of laughter from our side and MAMAMOO, with the ladies looking calm and composed. It intrigued us though, how do they maintain calm and not be nervous even during live music shows?  According to Whee In, before each performances, the members would gather around and do a cheer just like EXO. Moon Byul also added that they tend to talk a lot before going on stage to avoid being nervous and to relax that sometimes they talk too much (we can imagine :)). Hearing Moon Byul’s reply, Wha Sa laughed and added that the nervous feeling was not too much that they were shaking, but it was a feeling that makes you feel like there’s butterflies in your stomach, but when they stepped on stage, they just relax and the performance took over.

Successfully being in MAMAMOO, and known for their great vocals, what other personal goals would they like to achieve? All the members were unanimous in wanting to be happy and for MAMAMOO to be widely known. Solar also added that she wants them to be able to do the music that they dreamed of. As for Whee In, she hopes to still be in MAMAMOO when they are no longer young while Wha Sa also added that she would like to try and challenge many different areas – to compose and maybe venture into the movie industry (wouldn’t you like to see MAMAMOO in dramas?).

With that, we have come to the end of the first part of our exclusive interview with MAMAMOO. Look out for the second part of the interview coming soon! In the meantime, watch the music video of their new single, Piano Man. Give them lots of love everyone!

We would like to thank Rainbowbridge Agency for the opportunity and to MAMAMOO, all the best with Piano Man, ladies!