Year Round: An Exploration of Mamamoo’s Four Seasons Collection

It’s hard to be seen as a “one-trick pony” in life in general but especially as an artist in the medium of music. I can’t imagine it’s particularly stimulating and engaging to continuously repeat yourself. Style, tone, genre, instrumentation, lyricism, etc it can get a little too derivative and repetitive after a while. Not just for the artist but for the listeners too. The artists and bands that find a way to stay true to their roots, while also deviating for their tried and true formula just enough to feel fresh often find the most success, both commercially and critically.

From their debut in 2014 all the way to the end of 2017. Mamamoo had always been known as an R&B-pop girl group with a focus on quirkiness and eccentricity throwing in the occasional ballad here and there. Rarely ever getting the chance to deviate from the rinsing and repeating. Not that their discography to that point could be something one could consider “boring”, but the desire for building upon what they have over the past 3 and a half years was gaining steam.

On January 4th, 2018 the announcement that Mamamoo would be releasing four EPs, each in conjunction with a season, and each combining a color and a specific member of the group in the spotlight (four girls, four seasons). Mamamoo themselves even stated that they wanted to show their depth as artists and present a more matured style with the project. This was a sign of intent from the girls. They wanted to be more than what they had previously shown, and what better way, collectively and individually, to show it than with these four EPs (or mini-albums as we like to call them in Kpop). 

Did you expect anything different from trash like me?

The first of which was called Yellow Flower, releasing on March 7th, 2018, focusing on the member Hwasa. Incorporating more elements of latin music as well as instrumentation prevalent in the genre it is in my opinion not only the most instrumentally cohesive of the four, but also the best, quite possibly one of their best releases ever by my standards.

I’ve always affectionately thought of spring in Korea as not so much a “season” but a full-fledged “event” in which the collective population can exhale and stretch their legs after the cold and unforgiving winter months. Thematically Yellow Flower touches on all of the things I’ve always associated with spring: the relief from frigidity, the blossoming of new hopes and dreams, but all in a measured and pragmatic sense. The maturity absolutely shined through this album, from the minimalistic ukulele sounds of the intro through to the very end.

Red Moon, the second of the four releases, this time focusing on summer and the member Moonbyul, the funky voiced rapper of the group, released on July 16th, 2018. Absolutely doubling down on the more latin-focused sound while also combining it with elements of hip-hop. The results were a little more inconsistent. Rap sections AGAIN felt forced into proceedings on some occasions (unlike the previous record in which they were FINALLY seamlessly incorporated, one step forward two steps back I guess…). It feels less focused than the previous effort, genres feeling more disjointed than naturally put together. The songs however are, for the most part absolute bangers. My personal favorite being Moonbyul’s solo and album closer “Selfish.” A song I’ve always interpreted as being about the lamentation of idol life being constantly public and the consumers expecting them to be a selfless images of moral purity.

They absolutely convey the idea that the uncertainty of spring has been forgotten, the excitement of summer is tangible, alive, and beckoning. Confidence is abound, it’s obvious they had the most fun recording this EP. Unfortunately themes are not quite as effectively as the previous effort, but it’s all undeniably in there.

Blue;s was released November 29, 2018, highlighting the leader of the group Solar (s presumably standing for “Solar” and it being a clever spelling of “Blues”). Predictably a departure from the sounds of the warmer months touching on the reflection of pain and poor decisions made towards the end of the previous season. The least boisterous of the four releases and tonally the most melancholy of the bunch too. Aside from a couple of confusing decisions regarding instrumentation I would say this is the most tonally consistent of the four releases, poignancy and uncertainty of the meteorologically harsher days.

And finally we conclude with White Wind releasing conspicuously later on March 14th, 2019. Featuring the dulcet tones of the eternally goofy Whee In White Wind is easily (for me) the weakest of the four releases. The only thing I can think of is that this album is trying to convey the idea that it’s okay to let go all of this tension in order to feel more free, hence the return to a lighter tone you might find from their debut era featuring elements of bossa nova and reggaeton. The songs are fun, I won’t ever deny that but it’s really confusing to me. I don’t understand why they would go to all of the trouble to be “taken more seriously as mature artists” and end the series like this? Not that I’d have a problem with it in a standalone release or utilized in a smarter fashion throughout the entire series but as a conclusion to this grand project? The second half makes an attempt in vain to incorporate a heavier feel but it just doesn’t come across to me. There is nothing “winter” about this EP to me with the possible exception of Whee In’s solo “25.”

I’m not sure it will ever make sense to me. Maybe someone smarter than I am can do so, but I should probably stop trying to on my own. Maybe it’s my own fault for listening to music the wrong way. In a medium as subjective as music maybe it’s silly for me to even try looking at it this way.

And with that it’s time to come full circle. I’m not really the person that needed to be convinced that they needed to “mature” or that they even really did. I’ve always heard the maturity in their sound from the beginning. Much more so than other doe-eyed girl groups that appeal to the traditional sensibilities of what a girl group is “supposed” to sound like. What I was worried about is that by mature they really meant less-quirky overall, which I don’t think plays to their strengths whatsoever.

Ultimately I’ve been less interested with their more recent releases because of what I assume is a realization of this drive for maturation. It more often than not sounds like other girl groups. It’s hard not to get Fall Out Boy vibes from these kinds of changes, and that it’s possible they’ve confused “evolution” with “revolution.”