The members of Mamamoo were older at the time of their debut than most other idols, who often debut very young, often between the ages of 16 and 18. The oldest member of a K-pop group is usually no more than 20 at the time of debut, while the maknae is often just 15 or even 14 years old. In addition, most people start training in their agencies at the age of 12 or 13, meaning that even at a young age they have already spent two years or more as a trainee.
Solar, who would later become famous as a member of Mamamoo, began her path to debut a little later than most. She was originally preparing for a future as a flight attendant when her singing talent was discovered by RBW Entertainment at the age of 20. She debuted in 2014 at the age of 23 with Moonbyul, Wheein and Hwasa; The latter, aged 18 at the time, was the youngest member of the group.
| Artist name | Real name | Birthday |
|---|---|---|
| Solar | Kim Jongsun | 21.02.1991 |
| Moonbyul | Moon Byulyi | 22.12.1992 |
| Wheein | Jung Wheein | 17.04.1995 |
| Hwasa | Ahn Hyejin | 23.06.1995 |
Wheein and Hwasa have known each other since school, when they were close friends, and moved together from their hometown of Jeonju to Seoul to pursue their dream of debuting. After both training at different agencies for a while, they met again at RBW Entertainment. Hwasa and Wheein were the first two members of Mamamoo to join RBW; Solar and Moonbyul followed shortly after.
debut
On January 9, 2014, Mamamoo released their first single, “ Don't Be Happy ,” in collaboration with R&B singer Bumkey. Perhaps because the group's members were on average older than most other idols when they debuted, Mamamoo had a mature and perhaps even sensual aura right from the start.
On February 11, 2014, the second single “ Peppermint Chocolate ” was released with K.Will, who is known for his ballads, featuring R&B singer Wheesung.
On May 30, Mamamoo released a third single: “ Heeheehaheho ” featuring rap duo Geeks. This was the last release before the girl group’s official debut on June 18, 2014.
The first album “ Hello ” contains the three previously released collaboration singles, a solo from Hwasa and three other songs, including the title track “Mr. Ambiguous”:
Like the pre-debut singles, Mr.Ambiguous also follows a retro, jazz and R&B concept. The music video is predominantly in black and white and looks like a behind-the-scenes video. The photographer, guitarist and other collaborators are played by familiar faces like K.Will, Bumkey and Rhymer. Towards the end of the music video, we see a scene where producer Baek Ji Young asks the members of Mamamoo why they don't sing live during the recording. They then sing the song live, but Baek Ji Young criticizes their performance and says that she is disappointed. The members' shocked reaction is completely genuine because they don't know that it's a hidden camera prank and that Baek Ji Young is just acting in the scene. Of course, their relief is even greater when they realize what's going on and the music video can continue. ;)
Mr. Ambiguous was named one of the best K-pop debuts of 2014; Above all, the strong voices of the members and the singing performance as a group quickly gain recognition. “Hello” entered the Gaon album charts again in both November 2015 and March 2020, showing how well the first album is still being received by fans today. A month later, Mamamoo is already recording her first soundtrack for the K-drama “Marriage, Not Dating”: “Love Lane”
From Piano Man to We Got Married & Immortal Songs to Purple:
In November, the second album " Piano Man " with the title song of the same name was released. At the end of the year, Mamamoo ranked tenth among all girl groups in terms of sales according to Gaon's year-end rankings.
In April 2015 the pre-release single “Ahh Oop” with agency colleague eSNA will be released, which is included on the new album “Pink Funky”, which Mamamoo will present to their fans on June 19th. The title song “Um Oh Ah Yeah” reached number three on the Gaon Charts; the girl group's highest placement to date.
This is followed by the first fan meeting, which was sold out in less than a minute and was therefore even extended to include another date.
For the rest of the year, Mamamoo attracts attention mainly through their performances on the music competition “Immortal Songs”. After they first appeared in January with a cover of Joo Hyunmi's “Wait a Minute”, they returned to the show several times. However, their biggest success came in October with their performance of “ Backwoods ” by Bae Ho, which earned them their first win on the show, a success that only a few idol groups have achieved so far.
Mamamoo begins 2016 with the release of the R&B ballad “ I Miss You ” in January and the song “ 1cm Taller than You ” on February 12th. Both singles are part of the new album “Melting”, which is released together with the music video for the title song “You`re the Best” on February 26th. “ You`re the Best ” reaches number one in the Gaon Charts and is Mamamoo's first number one single. The song also brings the girl group their first victory in a music show on March 6th. As if a dam had broken, seven more victories in other music shows follow in the next days and weeks.
From April to November - Episodes 316 to 348 - Solar appeared on "We Got Married," a show in which celebrities pretended to be married to see what life as a married couple would be like. Solar formed a couple with host and singer Eric Nam and held a "wedding party" with him for the show in June:
Nine months after “Melting”, “Memory” follows with eight new songs. These include three previously released singles: two unit songs - “ Angel ” sung by the vocals Solar and Wheein & “ Dab Dab ” sung by the two rappers Moonbyul and Hwasa - as well as the single “ New York ”, which is sung by the whole group.
In early 2017, Mamamoo recorded the soundtrack “ Love ” for the hit drama “Goblin” and in June they released their sixth album “Purple” with the title song “ Yes I Am ”, which topped the Billboard World Album Charts and the Melon Real Time Charts.
| Album | Release date | Title song |
|---|---|---|
| Hello | 18.06.2014 | Mr. Ambiguous |
| Piano Man | 21.11.2014 | Piano Man |
| Pink funky | 19.06.2015 | Um Oh Ah Yeah |
| Melting | 26.02.2016 | You`re the Best |
| Memory | 07.11.2016 | Décalcomanie |
| Purple | 22.06.2017 | Yes I Am |
On January 4th, 2018, Mamamoo announced their “Four Seasons, Four Colors” project with the pre-release single “Paint Me”.
As part of the project, four mini-albums will be released, each representing one of the four members. All four albums are assigned a season and color that suits the member. The albums contain six to seven songs, including a solo by the member in question. To give you an overview, we have summarized the “Four Seasons” series for you here:
| Album | Member | Release date | Solo |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yellow Flower | Hwasa | Mr. Ambiguous | " Be Calm " by Hwasa |
| Red Moon | Moonbyul | Piano Man | "Selfish" von Moonbyul ft. Seulgi (Red Velvet) |
| Blue;s | Solar | Um Oh Ah Yeah | " Hello " by Solar |
| White Wind | Wheein | You`re the Best | "25" by Wheein |
From May 19th to 21st, Mamamoo will host a concert entitled "2019 Mamamoo Concert 4Seasons F/W" as the conclusion of the "Four Seasons, Four Colors" project.
Since June 2018, Hwasa has been a permanent member of the reality show “I Live Alone,” in which celebrities who live alone show viewers their everyday lives. There she is not afraid to show herself without the strong make-up that she is known for on stage and impresses her fans.
Queendom
From August to October 2019, Mamamoo took part in the reality show “Queendom”, in which six girl groups compete against each other to determine the “real number 1”. During the show, Mamamoo released the new song "Destiny" and ultimately won the show against fellow contestants AOA, Lovelyz, Oh My Girl, (G)I-DLE and Park Bom.
One month after the victory in Queendom, Mamamoo's eleventh album "Reality in Black" is released with the title song " Hip ", which tops the Gaon Album Charts. "Hip" even reaches the first place in Billboard's "World Digital Songs Sales Charts", a new record for the girl group. In September, the single " Wanna Be Myself " is released and after the members of Mamamoo focused on their solo activities for a while, the group releases their new album " Travel " with the title song " Aya " in November 2020. The pre-release single " Dingga " was released in October.
Contract extension with RBW Entertainment
Like many idol groups, Mamamoo's contract with their agency expired seven years after their debut. In January 2021, RBW Entertainment announced that Solar and Moonbyul had renewed their contracts; followed by Hwasa in March. While Wheein is still negotiating with the agency, the agency announced that Mamamoo will celebrate their seventh anniversary with the "WAW (Where Are We) Project", which will include a new album, a concert and a documentary. The girl group's thirteenth album, which is named " WAW " like the project, will be released on June 2nd. The album topped the album charts in 21 countries worldwide and sold over 40,000 copies on the first day, according to the Hanteo Charts!
On June 11, RBW Entertainment announced that Wheein is leaving the agency but will remain a member of Mamamoo. In August it was announced that Wheein had signed an exclusive contract with the agency “THEL1VE”.
Fans didn't have to wonder for long what exactly would happen next, because Mamamoo announced the best of album “I SAY MAMAMOO: THE BEST” back in September, which will be released in the middle of the month. Find out more about the album here!
Solo
The members of Mamamoo have already released their own songs before their official solo debut. For example, the debut album “Hello” already contains a solo by “Hwasa” and the albums in the “Four Seasons” series also contain solo songs from all members.
Wheein debuted as a solo singer on April 17, 2018 with her single “ Easy ”. She released her first single album “ Good Bye ” in September 2019 and her first extended play “ Redd ” in April 2021.
On April 24, 2018, Solar presented her first solo album “Solar's Emotion”, which contains covers and a solo version of Mamamoo's song “Starry Wind Flower Sun”. Solar's official solo debut will not be until April 2020 with the single album “ Spit it Out ”.
In February 2019, Hwasa released her first digital single “ Twit ”, which she co-wrote and composed. After further solo projects, such as collaborating with Dua Lipe for a remix of “ Physical ”, Hwasa's first solo album “Maria” with the song of the same name will be released on June 29, 2020.
In February 2020, Moonbyul will make her solo debut with her first album “Dark Side of the Moon”. In May the singer released a repackage called “Moon”.
We believe that Solar, Moonbyul, Wheein and Hwasa's solo careers have just begun and we are very excited for everything that is to come!
Bonus
As you may know, Mamamoo's lightstick looks like a radish, because "Moo" is the Korean word for radish. Did you know that before the first Lightstick was released in January 2016, fans actually brought real radish to the group's performances to cheer them on? XD
