MAMAMOO Aren’t Afraid to Risk Vulnerability on New EP “WAW”
Well-behaved women seldom make history, and MAMAMOO are not here to play by the rules.
Over the last 16 months, MAMAMOO have deeply captured the attention of K-pop fans. They’ve turned a clear corner in their music and performance style, whether it’s with their retro-style 2020 bop “Dingga,” or experimenting with individual solo releases from each of the four members: Solar, Moonbyul, Wheein, and Hwasa. Those solo efforts proved that each member could hold her own as artists — and rack up chart hits and music show wins while they’re at it. Now, MAMAMOO are back with a four-track EP titled WAW (Where Are We Now), a concise, ballad-focused rumination on the chemistry between the members, pain, and growth over time. The EP is striking in its intimacy; there’s no flashy pop single, making it clear that this record is for each other, a celebration of what they’ve accomplished as they look forward to the future.
The four ballads — “Where Are We Now,” “Another Day,” “A Memory for Life,” and “Destiny Part.2” — tell a story of the growing pains of maturity. With no pressure on a discordant lead single, they make space for introspection. “We’d put a lot of ballads as b-side tracks on previous albums, but this is the first time it’s been all ballads, including the title track,” the group said of the EP, according to Soompi. “We’re looking forward to showing a more mature image, as well as MAMAMOO’s harmony and chemistry that we’ve been developing for a long time.” And this sentiment translates. “Where Are We Now” isn’t a song of the summer contender in the traditional sense (although the album did top the iTunes albums charts in 21 different regions of the world). Instead, it’s a gentle introduction to what listeners can expect from the rest of the album, one that plays into MAMAMOO’s ultimate strength: their truly incredible vocals.
Reminiscent of the chorus in K-Ci and JoJo’s “All My Life,” “WAW” strips down the production, blending soft piano and guitar to let the members’ voices soar and harmonize together. The track, written by Kim Do Hoon, Cosmic Girl, and Lee Hoo Sang, examines a “beautiful and dazzling” experience that has entered a more wandering stage. It could be a metaphor for the group’s exciting seven-year journey together, but it has wider implications as well. “It’s about the past, the present and the future,” the group told South Korean outlet Seoul Economic Daily. “It’s not just MAMAMOO’s story, but a story that everyone can share.”
MAMAMOO are a group who understand the power of a well-placed break-up song. In the past, their analyses of doomed relationships have come in the sensual packaging of songs like “Egotistic” and “Aya.” However, “Another Day,” is delivered in a much calmer manner than its predecessors, from a vocal perspective. In the song, the quartet prepare to separate themselves from a relationship that's lost its meaning. There’s no unnecessary flamboyance; the piano is a guide to carry listeners through the track, with twinkling instrumentals and violin undertones that pluck at your heartstrings. It wouldn’t feel out of place in a drama, with its insight into the transformational nature of love. “Another Day” asks crucial questions: how can you honor memories you share with someone, but have the maturity to know that severing a relationship can be for the best? The lyrics are powerful: “Because these words will make us sick even more/Thank you for being with me for the first time and the last time.”
Continuing the thread of memory, “A Memory For Life” is a slow jam that credits Moonbyul as a writer. The song carries on from “Another Day,” almost as if the ladies succeeded in severing ties and have succumbed to waves of pain. The gut-wrenching lyrics add to the beauty of the instrumental and melody, which sounds like a mix of “Mr. Bojangles” by Sammy Davis Jr and “Never Can Say Goodbye” by the Jackson 5.
And that brings us to album closer “Destiny Part.2,” an apt concluding point given the significance of their 2019 track “Destiny.” That song, from their studio album Reality In Black, is a fan favourite that they performed in the final of Mnet’s competition show Queendom (which they won). The mood of the WAW track is pretty different from “Destiny”; in that song, they combine old western cowboy sounds atop a thudding base drum and pop-guitar riff. “Part.2,” meanwhile, feels more like an outro, echoey and somber. The 2021 version is more orchestral, as though it should be performed at the BBC Proms. “We walked different paths, time surrounds us,” the lyrics go. “We found each othеr again… We wеre destined to meet again in the end.” How fitting to end the album with a song that not only highlights the group’s chemistry, but also calls back to the song that helped elevate them to a higher plane.
MAMAMOO are an unabashed group of women who have fought for their right to perform as audaciously as their male counterparts and dress how they want despite criticism. They’ve also spoken candidly about how, in their early years, their company told the group that they didn’t fit the beauty standard of a typical K-pop girl group, so they would have to compete with their voices and performances. It’s poetic that they would primarily focus on the skill set that they had to weaponize to set themselves apart in the music industry. Their introspection and vulnerability on this album comes as no surprise — it’s a continuation of the defiance, boldness, and versatility each member highlighted in their solo releases. But the musical and narrative cohesion on WAW is especially poignant given its release during their seven-year anniversary, which is usually the time that groups decide whether they are going to continue or go their separate ways.
MAMAMOO, like many artists before them, have been able to tap into their seniority and put out an EP that feels intimate and open, the equivalent of a photo album, solely for themselves to enjoy. As a listener, it’s like sitting in on a private conversation between the four musicians, to watch and understand them a little better. MAMAMOO didn’t come into the game playing the same way as everyone else, and there’s no reason they would start now. On WAW, that soul-baring openness is worth the risk.
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