Mamamoo’s “Travel” provides truthful messages
Released on Nov. 3, Mamamoo’s tenth mini-album “Travel” conveys relatable messages in their lyrics.
December 2, 2020
Following the members’ individual solo comebacks, South Korean girl group Mamamoo dropped their message filled tenth mini album “Travel” on Nov. 3 after a year of releasing their second studio album, “Reality in Black.” Mamamoo, which consists of four members, Solar, Moonbyul, Wheein, and Hwasa, debuted on June 18, 2014 with “Mr. Ambiguous” and are recognized for their powerful and soothing vocals that go along with the intriguing songs they sing.
The song “Travel” opens up the album with its upbeat-driving vibes that immediately gives the feeling of wanting to escape reality and travel. Wheein and Hwasa’s smooth vocal contrasts with Solar’s rough vocal, and Moonbyul’s low tone are blended together to show how the ups and downs of everyday lives are like traveling, especially given how our summer would’ve been different if it was not for the current situation.
Pre-released on October 20, “Dingga” was a massive hit, with its retro-themed music video hitting 5.9 million views in 24 hours. Its energetic melody and the members’ vocals immediately hypes up the listener while the lyrics cause an empty feeling. Because almost everything has stopped, the lyrics of “Dingga” talk about the difficulties everyone is going through at the moment because “The distance between me and society is far” and how “loneliness is piling up”. The relatable message the song conveys is that everyone wants to escape reality, and even though the upbeat melody contrasts with the lyrics, the group’s high tension passes on the feeling of comfort of how everyone is in this together.
Following the pre-release, the title song of the album,“AYA,” is an Arabian style-song with the sounds of the Arabic flute continuously playing in the chorus mixed with reggae rhythms. The remix transition from the bridge to the outro shows a different style of music in one song, and the group talks about how the crying after breaking up isn’t for the lingering feelings of regret for the other, but rather for themselves. The husky vocals of Wheein and Hwasa along with Solar’s clear vocal blend well with the song, and makes the song relaxing for the ear to listen to. The different voices each member has gets represented in a way that emphasizes their different voices but also how their vocals balance out as one.
While the catchy synthesizer sound pops into the ear, “Chuck” has the listener tapping their foot along with the song. After getting the ears used to the background music, the lyrics start to enter the ear. The lyrics tell a story about how after fighting multiple times, two people are tired of pretending to be nice and are tired of each other, thinking “Let’s stop wasting time all we need is one word.” The title, phonetically translated, means pretending, tying in with how the lyrics talk about wanting to stop pretending to act nice, and how everything wasn’t sincere for a while. Although the melody and lyrics don’t go together at first, the more it’s played, it becomes clearer how it shows the transition between ending a relationship and living their own life.
As a diamond shines brightly when it’s with what matches with it, people are also their own “Diamond,” and as long as they realize it, they’ll be able to do most everything. The fifth song of the album, “Diamond,” talks about how they got their own diamond and “unexpected events will occur so leave the future days blank.” The contrast between the bass and the smooth melody along with the emphasis on the word “diamond” itself expresses how the one that knows their diamond can “move on” first before the other finds theirs. Solar’s contrasted vocals to the melody in the chorus challenges how easy it is by word to find your “diamond.”
If the start of the album was like the morning, the final song of the album is “Good Night.” As the only ballad of the album, the soft tones of the members’ voices along with the calming piano melody in the background not only relax the ear, but also give a feeling of warmth. The members talk about how on a cold windy night where “you” can’t sleep, they’ll be there to make sure the nightmares don’t come and how they’ll take the bad dreams. The calming vocals and melody creates a sweet ending for the album, closing it with a gentle feeling.
From start to finish, the group hooks the listener with multiple genres like reggae to ballad in one album. Despite the different genres, the songs connected to each other, not giving the feeling of different sized pieces forcibly put together but smoothly joined pieces. The group’s varied vocals met songs that were necessary to complete the album while both separating and combining the unique voices in different ways in each song. As the lyrics explore different topics, there is no doubt that all of them provide a feeling of connection between the singer and the listener as everyone gets comforted just by the truthful message the lyrics deliver.
