Retrospecting Mamamoo

“Believe and listen to MAMAMOO”, a popular quote often used to describe the four-woman girl group that has dominated the music scene with their unique artistry. Starting from Jazz-esque brass ensemble, feather-like ballads, to hard-hitting synth-pop, Mamamoo has continually proved their versatility and brought a new color to the K-pop scene. Aside from their eccentric discography, individually, the members have also excelled in both the music and entertainment industry. While we’re at it, let’s look back on what the girls have accomplished.

2014-2015: Retro-infused Early EP’s

The year is 2014, a talent agency that was just starting up had four women, namely Solar, Moonbyul, Wheein and Hwasa come together to form the group called MAMAMOO. After having multiple pre-debut collaborations with known artists like Bumkey, K.will and GEEKS, they have released their first mini-album titled “Hello” with “Mr. Ambiguous” as the title song. The album had a retro-funk feel that showcased the soulful voices of the members which garnered attention. The music video also had various cameos that included artists like Baek Jiyoung, Wheesung, Bumkey, K.will, Lee Junghyun, Jung Joonyoung and Rhymer of Brand new music where they had comical sketches with the members.

After their first mini-album came out, November of the same year, “Piano Man” was released. The second mini-album with the same name as the title track was another retro-inspired banger with a swing feels to it which got them multiple Rookie of the year awards at the end of the year.

The following year, Mamamoo released a collaboration song with labelmate Esna titled “Ahh Oop”, a blues patterned arrangement with a funky dance beat that was later added to their third mini-album “Pink Funky” with “Um Oh Ah Yeh” as the title song, another retro dance-pop song that surely became a hit.

Along with their EP release the group also had OST debuts and held their first-ever fan meeting called “1st MOO Party” that was also held in Los Angeles, USA and became their first overseas event.

2016-2017: The Start of Their Rise to Fame

After months of performing for university festivals, 2016 came and their first full studio album titled “Melting” was released February 26th of that year. The album contained 12 tracks with music video releases for the title track "You're The Best", a brass-filled funk dance anthem that flaunted their powerful vocals, and "Taller Than You", a hip-hop diss track inspired by the dispute among the members' height difference. The album also included the soundtrack for the video game Innisia Nest that was titled "Girl Crush" released September of 2015 and another single that was released early January 2016, the mellow ballad "I miss you". And during the promotion for this album, “You’re the best” instantly became a hit and was known for their quick wits when creating ad-libs that got them their first music show win and got 8 wins in total as well.

A few months later, they have announced their first-ever concert “MOOSICAL” in Seoul, a two-day concert that had 7000 people in attendance and has performed their digitally released sub-unit tracks titled “Angel” by the Angel line that consists of Wheein and Solar and “Dab-dab” by Hwasa and Moonbyul and called their sub-unit the Rapper line. A follow up digital release titled “New York” which was the prelude to their next mini-album “Memory”. The 7-track EP's title song "Decalcomanie" which showed a much more mature sound, solidifying their versatility as a vocal group. The song got recognized by award shows and was nominated at year-end awards. 

At the start of 2017, Mamamoo announced their second concert “Moosical: Curtain Call” which was held in Seoul for 3 consecutive days and Busan for two back-to-back days racking up a total of 16,000 people in attendance. 

After taking a few months rest from their concert, they came back with their fifth mini-album “Purple” with “Yes I Am” as their title track, a synth dance-pop song that spreads a positive vibe of accepting one’s self. The track had a groovy beat that no one can resist, causing the song to climb up the charts and set the record for the highest number of unique listeners in 24 hours for a girl group on Melon. It also bagged a total of 7 music show wins, and charted first on Billboard’s World Album Charts.

2018-2019: Matured with Style

2018 begins with a release of an introductory song for the Four Seasons Project called “Paint Me”. The song mentioned each member’s color that was later patterned to each mini-album release that would show the girls’ mood or characteristic for the given season. Each album that was represented by the member contained one solo song written or composed by them. With the release, they wanted to show the depth of their artistry. 

The project starts off with the EP “Yellow Flower” and the title song “Starry Night”, a rustic sultry song, and Hwasa’s solo track “Be Calm” that was written by herself. The title track has 9 music show wins under its belt.

Mamamoo then held their third solo concert, “2018 Mamamoo Concert 4Seasons S/S”, at the SK Olympic Handball Gymnasium in Seoul. Within two minutes of being on sales, tickets were sold out.

“Red Moon”, the second EP of the project introduced another side of Mamamoo as it released the Latin-influenced title track “Egotistic” that shows off their vocal prowess and bagged them 2 wins. It also featured Moonbyul’s solo track titled “Selfish” featuring Red Velvet’s Seulgi. 

That year also saw the expansion of their audience as they released their first Japanese single, re-recording the Memory track "Décalcomanie".

The project continues with their third EP, “Blue;s”, the autumn-themed mini-album, featuring six songs. This includes the breezy R&B track title track "Wind Flower" and Solar’s solo, “Hello”. 

In 2019, Mamamoo ends the 4 Seasons Project with the final EP, “White Wind”. The EP contains seven songs, including its the electronic-pop title track "Gogobebe”, that garnered 7 music show wins. A music video for Wheein's solo track 25 was released on May 25.

Mamamoo announced their fourth solo concert, titled “2019 Mamamoo Concert 4Seasons F/W” as a grand finale for Mamamoo's "Four Seasons Four Colors Project”. The concert was held at Jangchung Gymnasium in Seoul. 

Mamamoo released a new single titled "Gleam" accompanied with a music video as a commercial film for Davich Eyeglasses.

MAMAMOO’s appearance on Mnet's “Queendom” helped them showcase their artistry and performances that highlighted each member. In October 31st 2019, MAMAMOO ended up winning the final performance.

Towards the year-end, on November 14, 2019, Mamamoo released their second full album, “Reality in Black”, with its fierce title track "Hip" with 7 music show wins. “Hip” is Mamamoo’s first music video to hit 100 million views on their official channel. 

2020: A New Era Continues 

In an interview, RBW’s co-CEO Kim Do Hoon shared his plans for Mamamoo in the future. “So I thought about focusing more on each member of MAMAMOO starting this year,” according to the RBW CEO, “You can see the 16 different colors in four different universes of MAMAMOO through their music video for ‘HIP’ which was released in November of last year.” January and February of this year, Mamamoo took their break. The CEO then thought about concentrating on the break and solo promotions starting with Solar and Moonbyul. In a meeting with the girls, each member had their own opinions. Even as one group, they are still four individuals with different ideas. Moonbyul wants to meet with fans and focus on performances, Wheein has little interest in music shows and is into quietly listening to music or drawing, Hwasa was suggest to do content like her Hwasa Show, but she thinks the broadcasts she’s already on are enough, and Solar just released her single album and is focused on her Solarsido channel.

Though the members have different thoughts on what they want for this year, Kim Do Hoon wants that every member is vocal about their opinions and to be able to tell their own story and express themselves through group and solo comebacks.

Six years after their debut, Mamamoo is still on the rise and they have no plans on stopping. We will just have to wait and see what they have in store for us.