Hwasa has one of the most beautiful voices I've ever heard and her stages are fire. She's a lyricist and a composer, she always releases mvs with intricate concepts and symbolism. She was recognized as amazing artist even before debut and even Cyndi Lauper in an interview said she had Hwasa's LMM on her playlist. Hwasa said Maria is the crystallized tears and sweat that she shed. The MV starts with a crime scene, Hwasa is dead and people are still trying to take some shots of her. A red hair Maria (an alter ego after Hwasa baptismal name) is watching the scene careless. Hwasa funeral, only empty chairs with invitation on it and with its back turned, nobody cares like she says in the lyrics. Here an homage to the most beautiful and powerful scene in Malena movie, with all those men offering their lighter to her. Malena is the most beautiful woman of a SMALL village (it can be a comparison to South Korea restricted mentality), because of her looks and her solitary state, she is an object of lust for all the town's men and of hatred for its women…after many vicissitudes and a very hard time she understood that her beauty is her salvation. So she cuts her black hair and dyes by red her hair, changing her attitude as well. We can clearly see a difference among Hwasa and Maria, both in outfits and attitude. In the table scene we can see a bloodstained Maria with rubber boots and a pretty simple outfit at a table with people all dressed up, they're keyboard warriors. Again lyrics "You all worked hard hating. If you knock me down. Does that feed you?" She's serving them with all sort of things. The table is full with jewels, trove of tapes, mics, cds, diamonds…but they're just looking at those picky. Maria with a bored face is watching them and then she starts happily eating a brain. The difference among Maria and those people is so strong and impactful. I've also read that eat someone's brain means pester someone. The triangular tub is also interesting, she's bathing in milk and rose petals like a Queen and her skin is so white, but once again she looks bored and then she starts to make 'no' gesture with her finger with a smirking face. Like 'I don't need to be pale, I'm beautiful like this'… probably a references to all hateful comments she gets about her bronze skin since ages. We're back to Hwasa, she's trapped like in a mental hospital with a straitjacket, all her body is constrained by laces…this once again can be interpreted as the restricted South Korea mentality. They're monitoring her, pencils (comments) are pointed at her and she is trying to escape from this kind of net (network) until she finds a crown with diamonds and nails (representing the double faces of success). Ink-stained hands Hwasa decides to wear the crown, She got ink on her hands while fighting malicious comments, in fact we can see her beating her fists on the ground and shouting. The triangular tub is back but this time we can see Maria and Hwasa looking at each other through a bloody water. A triangle is a figure linked to different trinities like mind, body & spirit; past, present & future; thought, feeling & emotion and creation, preservation and destruction. And, personally, all those fit this MV perfectly. And now we discover Hwasa was not dead at all. Like it was all a dream, in fact she's on a coach with scissor in her hands, she is alone with her thoughts when suddenly Mamamoo members appear with big smiles. She said many times Mamamoo are her strength and she was able to face difficulties since trainee period only because they were together. The whole lyrics are beautiful and powerful but sad at the same time. She said this is an exciting yet sad song, she likes those kind of songs because they resemble life. With this album Hwasa became the FIRST Korean female solo artist to reach #1 on iTunes US Album chart and ranked 1st on the WORLDWIDE album chart as well. She co-wrote and co-composed 4 songs out of 6 of this album…an amazing album with powerful collaborations, a Queen like always.
Thanks for the reaction! Yes, Hwasa has such a demanding presence and cool voice! 🔥😍I've heard Maria is her baptismal name, so it's a message to herself as well. Mamamoo is a very vocally talented group!
I can totally tell just from this song her vocals are special so I am curious about Mamamoo now. Thanks for the suggestion, it’s a great introduction! 🔥
Interesting comments on the music. Now that you mention it I can see where you heard hints of reggaeton becoming obvious in the dance break bridge. Mamamoo has done a couple of reggaeton based singles, tho that's just one of many genres they've explored in their 10 year career. They have one of the most diverse discographies I've ever heard and folks say Mamamoo can sing anything and write a song about anything (with a bunch of crack songs as evidence lol). The lyrics you read weren't translated particularly well and imo the extra notes were that person's interpretation rather than the main line of thought about Maria, which is more like what you'll find in Maric's comment. The best translation is always the subtitles with the MV on Mamamoo's yt channel. Fyi, there are always two official MVs for Mamamoo songs, one on their channel and an alternate on a music distribution channel. Alt MVs released between 2014-17 on Stone Music Entertainment usually have no subtitles and MVs released starting in 2018 on 1theK have slightly different subtitles than the MVs on MMM"s channel. So whether it's a group or a solo song for the best subtitles go to MMM's yt channel and use the channel search field to find the MV you want. Unfortunately Mamamoo's label RBW has never made it easy for international fans and there's another wrinkle for some of Hwasa and Wheein's solo stuff - Wheein signed with another agency for her solo work in 2021 and Hwasa followed suit in 2023 so you won't find their recent solo songs and MVs on MMM's yt channel. If you want an explanation of the word play and some of the Korean and other cultural references in Maria watch the excellent explanation video by David Kim of DKDK-TV. The video also includes his interpretation of Hwasa's song LMM (Lost My Mind), which is the bookend song to Maria on her Maria album. Both songs are about all the hate she has received throughout her career but they're expressed in very different ways and musical styles and I'd highly recommend watching the LMM MV before the DKDK-TV explanation vid. Maria was an enormous hit and was the most socially impactful kpop song of 2020 but LMM is such a gorgeous masterpiece that it was my personal pick for 2020 SOTY and the MV is equally gorgeous and cinematic. You might also want to watch the performance video for Maria. Hwasa won the 2020 MAMA solo dance performance award for Maria, which is both impressive and ironic. Impressive because the nominees included kpop dance legend Taemin of Shinee and other idols known for their dance skills and ironic because Hwasa is considered to be one of the weakest dancers in a group that's not known for their dancing - haters claim Mamamoo can't dance. Tho that's obviously not true, during their first five years they usually did their own choreography and kept the dance moves fairly simple since they don't lip sync and almost always use hand mics while performing. In 2019 they started hiring well known choreographers and doing more complex dances that required headset mics but dancing has always taken a back seat to vocals on their priority list, as you might expect for a group that's considered to be the vocal gold standard among kpop girl groups. Hope you explore more solo work by Hwasa, the other members and the full group. Mamamoo is one of the most fascinating and talented groups in kpop. Since you're a composer I'm sure you'll appreciate the fact that they have the most songwriting credits among girl groups as lyricists and composers. They're a multi-talented all-star group of best friends and they each have a successful solo career - Mamamoo was the first group to have all members chart on Billboard as solo artists while the group was still active as a unit. They've released hundreds of songs as a group, solo or subunit and you can find hundreds of hours of fantastic live performances on yt. As any moomoo (Mamamoo fan) will tell you, Mamamoo is best when they're live. Have fun!
![Reacting to [MV] 화사(HWASA) - 멍청이(TWIT)](/img/n.gif)
From this album, you have to check out her song LMM (lost my mind). Such an ethereal song with amazing vocals! ❤
Hwasa has one of the most beautiful voices I've ever heard and her stages are fire. She's a lyricist and a composer, she always releases mvs with intricate concepts and symbolism. She was recognized as amazing artist even before debut and even Cyndi Lauper in an interview said she had Hwasa's LMM on her playlist.
Hwasa said Maria is the crystallized tears and sweat that she shed.
The MV starts with a crime scene, Hwasa is dead and people are still trying to take some shots of her. A red hair Maria (an alter ego after Hwasa baptismal name) is watching the scene careless. Hwasa funeral, only empty chairs with invitation on it and with its back turned, nobody cares like she says in the lyrics.
Here an homage to the most beautiful and powerful scene in Malena movie, with all those men offering their lighter to her. Malena is the most beautiful woman of a SMALL village (it can be a comparison to South Korea restricted mentality), because of her looks and her solitary state, she is an object of lust for all the town's men and of hatred for its women…after many vicissitudes and a very hard time she understood that her beauty is her salvation. So she cuts her black hair and dyes by red her hair, changing her attitude as well. We can clearly see a difference among Hwasa and Maria, both in outfits and attitude.
In the table scene we can see a bloodstained Maria with rubber boots and a pretty simple outfit at a table with people all dressed up, they're keyboard warriors.
Again lyrics "You all worked hard hating. If you knock me down. Does that feed you?" She's serving them with all sort of things. The table is full with jewels, trove of tapes, mics, cds, diamonds…but they're just looking at those picky. Maria with a bored face is watching them and then she starts happily eating a brain. The difference among Maria and those people is so strong and impactful. I've also read that eat someone's brain means pester someone.
The triangular tub is also interesting, she's bathing in milk and rose petals like a Queen and her skin is so white, but once again she looks bored and then she starts to make 'no' gesture with her finger with a smirking face. Like 'I don't need to be pale, I'm beautiful like this'… probably a references to all hateful comments she gets about her bronze skin since ages.
We're back to Hwasa, she's trapped like in a mental hospital with a straitjacket, all her body is constrained by laces…this once again can be interpreted as the restricted South Korea mentality. They're monitoring her, pencils (comments) are pointed at her and she is trying to escape from this kind of net (network) until she finds a crown with diamonds and nails (representing the double faces of success). Ink-stained hands Hwasa decides to wear the crown, She got ink on her hands while fighting malicious comments, in fact we can see her beating her fists on the ground and shouting.
The triangular tub is back but this time we can see Maria and Hwasa looking at each other through a bloody water. A triangle is a figure linked to different trinities like mind, body & spirit; past, present & future; thought, feeling & emotion and creation, preservation and destruction. And, personally, all those fit this MV perfectly.
And now we discover Hwasa was not dead at all. Like it was all a dream, in fact she's on a coach with scissor in her hands, she is alone with her thoughts when suddenly Mamamoo members appear with big smiles. She said many times Mamamoo are her strength and she was able to face difficulties since trainee period only because they were together.
The whole lyrics are beautiful and powerful but sad at the same time. She said this is an exciting yet sad song, she likes those kind of songs because they resemble life.
With this album Hwasa became the FIRST Korean female solo artist to reach #1 on iTunes US Album chart and ranked 1st on the WORLDWIDE album chart as well. She co-wrote and co-composed 4 songs out of 6 of this album…an amazing album with powerful collaborations, a Queen like always.
Mamamoo's Killing Voice medley is a must react to video and a great sample of some of their songs from their huge discography.
Yes, they are the other three members of Mamamoo at the end of the video.
Thanks for the reaction! Yes, Hwasa has such a demanding presence and cool voice! 🔥😍I've heard Maria is her baptismal name, so it's a message to herself as well. Mamamoo is a very vocally talented group!
I can totally tell just from this song her vocals are special so I am curious about Mamamoo now. Thanks for the suggestion, it’s a great introduction! 🔥
Love her voice
Interesting comments on the music. Now that you mention it I can see where you heard hints of reggaeton becoming obvious in the dance break bridge. Mamamoo has done a couple of reggaeton based singles, tho that's just one of many genres they've explored in their 10 year career. They have one of the most diverse discographies I've ever heard and folks say Mamamoo can sing anything and write a song about anything (with a bunch of crack songs as evidence lol).
The lyrics you read weren't translated particularly well and imo the extra notes were that person's interpretation rather than the main line of thought about Maria, which is more like what you'll find in Maric's comment. The best translation is always the subtitles with the MV on Mamamoo's yt channel. Fyi, there are always two official MVs for Mamamoo songs, one on their channel and an alternate on a music distribution channel. Alt MVs released between 2014-17 on Stone Music Entertainment usually have no subtitles and MVs released starting in 2018 on 1theK have slightly different subtitles than the MVs on MMM"s channel. So whether it's a group or a solo song for the best subtitles go to MMM's yt channel and use the channel search field to find the MV you want. Unfortunately Mamamoo's label RBW has never made it easy for international fans and there's another wrinkle for some of Hwasa and Wheein's solo stuff - Wheein signed with another agency for her solo work in 2021 and Hwasa followed suit in 2023 so you won't find their recent solo songs and MVs on MMM's yt channel.
If you want an explanation of the word play and some of the Korean and other cultural references in Maria watch the excellent explanation video by David Kim of DKDK-TV. The video also includes his interpretation of Hwasa's song LMM (Lost My Mind), which is the bookend song to Maria on her Maria album. Both songs are about all the hate she has received throughout her career but they're expressed in very different ways and musical styles and I'd highly recommend watching the LMM MV before the DKDK-TV explanation vid. Maria was an enormous hit and was the most socially impactful kpop song of 2020 but LMM is such a gorgeous masterpiece that it was my personal pick for 2020 SOTY and the MV is equally gorgeous and cinematic.
You might also want to watch the performance video for Maria. Hwasa won the 2020 MAMA solo dance performance award for Maria, which is both impressive and ironic. Impressive because the nominees included kpop dance legend Taemin of Shinee and other idols known for their dance skills and ironic because Hwasa is considered to be one of the weakest dancers in a group that's not known for their dancing - haters claim Mamamoo can't dance. Tho that's obviously not true, during their first five years they usually did their own choreography and kept the dance moves fairly simple since they don't lip sync and almost always use hand mics while performing. In 2019 they started hiring well known choreographers and doing more complex dances that required headset mics but dancing has always taken a back seat to vocals on their priority list, as you might expect for a group that's considered to be the vocal gold standard among kpop girl groups.
Hope you explore more solo work by Hwasa, the other members and the full group. Mamamoo is one of the most fascinating and talented groups in kpop. Since you're a composer I'm sure you'll appreciate the fact that they have the most songwriting credits among girl groups as lyricists and composers. They're a multi-talented all-star group of best friends and they each have a successful solo career - Mamamoo was the first group to have all members chart on Billboard as solo artists while the group was still active as a unit. They've released hundreds of songs as a group, solo or subunit and you can find hundreds of hours of fantastic live performances on yt. As any moomoo (Mamamoo fan) will tell you, Mamamoo is best when they're live. Have fun!
hope u had subs on ..so miuch symbolism..