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Music / Mamamoo

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https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tumblr_p4gd1zj2du1vbyqgjo1_r1_1280_8.jpg
clockwise from upper left: Solar, Hwasa, Wheein, Moonbyul

1...2...3...I say Mama, Mama, Moooooooo. Hello, we are Mamamoo!

Mamamoo is a four-member Korean Pop Music Girl Group under Rainbowbridge World (RBW). After releasing several collaborations with other popular Korean artists such as Bumkey, K. Will and Geeks, they officially debuted with their single "Mr. Ambiguous" in June of 2014. Since then, they have gained attention for their talent and charismatic stage presence, leading them to be hailed as one of the top rookie groups of 2014. Since then, they have experienced growing success with each successive release. The group is known for their retro, jazz, and R&B concepts and strong vocal performances.

In June of 2021, Wheein announced that her contract with RBW Entertainment had ended, and she had chosen not to renew, but that she would remain a member of the group until December 2023.

    open/close all folders 

    Members 
  • Solar (Kim Yongsun, born February 21, 1991) - Leader, Lead Vocalist
  • Moonbyul (Moon Byulyi, born December 22, 1992) - Main Rapper, Main Dancer
  • Wheein (Jung Wheein, born April 17, 1995) - Main Vocalist, Lead Dancer
  • Hwasa (Ahn Hyejin, born July 23, 1995) - Lead Vocalist, Lead Rapper, Maknae

     Sub-Units 
  • Mamamoo+: Debuted in 2022, comprised of Moonbyul and Solar. They are also referred to as the "Unnie Line", as they are the two older members of the group. In 2022 they debuted with the single "Better", and in 2023 made a comeback with the pre-release single "Chico Malo" and the single album "Act 1, Scene 1".
  • Angel Line: Unofficial subunit comprised of Solar and Wheein. They released one song ("Angel") in 2016 and appeared in Mamamoo's "Season's Greetings 2023".
  • Rapper Line: Unofficial subunit comprised of Moonbyul and Hwasa. They released one song ("DAB DAB") in 2016 and appeared in Mamamoo's Season's Greetings 2023".

    Discography & Videography (Group & Subunits) 

    Solo Releases 
  • Solar:
    • Solar Emotion - April 24, 2018 (Extended play)
    • Spit It Out - April 23, 2020 (Single album)
    • 容 : Face - March 16, 2022 (Extended play)

  • Moonbyul:
    • Selfish - May 23, 2018 (Single album)
    • Dark Side of the Moon - February 14, 2020 (Extended play)
    • 門OON - May 29, 2020 (Extended play, reissue of Dark Side of the Moon)
    • 6equence - January 19, 2022 (Extended play)
    • C.I.T.T. (Cheese In The Trap) - April 28, 2022 (Single album)
    • The Present - December 22, 2022 (Single album)
    • Starlit of Muse - February 20, 2024 (Studio album)

  • Wheein:
    • Soar - September 4, 2019 (Single album)
    • Redd - April 13, 2021 (Extended play)
    • Whee - January 16, 2022 (Extended play)
    • In the Mood - October 12, 2023 (Studio album)

  • Hwasa:
    • Twit - February 13, 2019 (Single)
    • María - June 29, 2020 (Extended play)
    • Guilty Pleasure - November 24, 2021 (Single album)
    • I Love My Body - September 6, 2023 (Single)

    Social Media 

Tropes related to Mamamoo and their music:

  • Abhorrent Admirer: Solar is rather repulsed by Hwasa's character's advances in "Um Oh Ah Yeah," to the point where she tries to slip a sleeping drug into his drink just so she won't be bothered.
  • Accidental Pervert: While filming the bed scene in "Um Oh Ah Yeah," Solar kept accidentally feeling up Moonbyul's chest as a result of the latter's androgynous styling disguising certain...assets.
  • A Day in the Limelight: As a special stage when they were wrapping up promotions for "Um Oh Ah Yeah," the members exchanged parts during the song. Fans were treated to the ultra-rare sights of Moonbyul singing and Solar and Wheein rapping. Since Hwasa can do both, she just stuck to her usual parts.
  • Affectionate Parody: Their 3-part sketch Impretty Rapstar is this to the show Unpretty Rapstar.
  • Album Intro Track: Hello has a short intro, also called "Hello", that introduces all the members and sets the mood.
  • All for Nothing: As this video details, they once had to re-do a recording of a cover of "Love Me" by Stooshe because Solar pressed "delete" instead of "save."
  • Animal Motif: Because of their playful, energetic ways, they refer to themselves as "Beagle Idols," and the intro for MMMTV used to feature a series of beagle heads with their hairdos photoshopped on.
    • Mamamoo's official fan lightsticks have stickers so that they can be customized for a certain member. Solar's stickers are clearly inspired by Squirtle, and Moonbyul's are a squirrel/rabbit because of her incisor-baring smile.
    • The fandom also likes to refer to Moonbyul as a hamster for her aforementioned incisor-baring smile and for how her nose crinkles whenever she smiles.
    • Wheein is usually referred to as a puppy and Hwasa is often paired with a lion. The former because of her near-limitless energy, and the latter because of an incident which has since turned into a Running Joke.
    • Though not as prevalent, fans sometimes use a dragon to represent Solar. More often, she's represented by a rabbit.
  • Badass Boast: The lyrics for "Yes I Am" are a textbook example of this when it comes to the girls knowing they're beautiful and not being afraid to flaunt it.
    • Hwasa's solo song "My Heart" where she boasts about enjoying life the way she wants.
    • The song "1cm (Taller Than You)" has Moonbyul bragging about how tall she is.
  • Bifauxnen: "Um Oh Ah Yeah" features Moonbyul, Hwasa and Wheein all dressed up and made to look like men, named Yul, Ricky and KuKu, respectively. The level of change varies from Moonbyul just wearing a suit and wig to the other two wearing prosthetic makeup, wigs and dressing like a 1950's greaser and nerd. Moonbyul's minimal changes actually make sense, as she is portraying a very androgynous woman.
  • Big Eater: A fictional example in Wheein's character in "Um Oh Ah Yeah." He is eating or drinking something in every shot he is in.
  • The Boxing Episode: Solar goes for it in HIP. Also the focus of one of her Youtube videos.
  • Bunny-Ears Lawyer: All four are absolute dorks, with their antics and interactions being a major source of comedy. When performing, however, they easily show their high level of competence.
  • Butt-Monkey: Solar. She's often the group's go-to target for their pranks and teasing, as this video shows.
  • Call-Back: Their singles name-drop their earlier singles and re-use bits of their choreography. Most recently, "You're the Best" mentions "Mr. Ambiguous" and "Piano Man."
  • The Cameo: "Mr. Ambiguous" is loaded with cameos from famous Korean entertainers such as Bumkey, Baek Ji Young, CN Blue's Lee Jonghyun and many others.
    • The members of Mamamoo have lent their vocal talents to many songs by other Korean artists and producers, a full list of which can be found on their Wikipedia page.
    • Hwasa makes one in the debut video for their labelmate VROMANCE.
    • Mamamoo make an appearance as examples of a K-Pop group in this article from the The Onion parodying the North Korean missile program.
  • Candid Camera Prank: Baek Ji Young and the rest of the crew pull one of these off quite successfully on Mamamoo in "Mr. Ambiguous" when they secretly film them practising in front of Ji Young who pretends to harshly criticise them.
    • MMMTV Episodes 9 & 10 involve Moonbyul and the RBW staff pranking the other girls by means of images and sounds of ghosts.
  • The Chanteuse: Solar in "Piano Man" is a more clean and optimistic example, donning a glamorous evening gown while seductively singing on stage at a jazz bar.
  • Chewing the Scenery: Solar did this quite literally during the celebration of their first music show win. Upon announcement, confetti was released, and she accidentally inhaled some.
  • Color-Coded Characters: "Mr.Ambiguous" is all in black and white except for some shots of the girls, and each member has a distinct color: Solar is green, Moonbyul is yellow, Wheein is orange, and Hwasa is pink.
  • Color Motif: A key point of "Paint Me" is comparing different colors to emotions experienced in love.
    • Their 2018 releases, beginning with Yellow Flower, will be built around color-based themes as well.
  • Combat Hand Fan: Moonbyul at her Queendom dance solo.
  • Contagious Laughter: Wheein has it in spades.
  • Cool Big Sis: Members of the other groups chose Moonbyul as the leader of Six Puzzles at Queendom, as she was known to be kind to younger artists.
  • Cool Shades: Worn by all four of them in the beginning of "You're the Best."
  • Cover Version: Hwasa made a comedic and altered cover of "Blurred Lines" called "Pink Panties" on their YouTube account.
  • Dancing Is Serious Business: "Dance God-Dance King" Kim Youngsun doesn't play around.
  • Dangerously Close Shave: Moonbyul and her shaky hands result in the customer getting cut with a straight razor in "Ahh Oop!".
  • Distaff Counterpart: RBW debuted a boy group named VROMANCE, and they were quickly billed as Mamamoo's brother group. Highlighting this, their first song is heavy on the vocal harmonies and has a retro style. Not to mention the group is a quartet as well.
  • Double Agent: Backstage on The Show, Solar was given a mission to act strange and get the other members to ask her why she's acting like that. She failed, but as it's later revealed, it's because the others were in on it the whole time, and had been given a counter-mission to stop her.
    • Moonbyul in episodes 9&10 of MMMTV with her mission to prank the other three girls. She even lampshades her eventual revenge prank done by the staff as well.
  • Even the Girls Want Her: 90% of the fanbase of Mamamoo is made up of girls.
  • Food Songs Are Funny: This self-parody of "You're the Best," "Kimbap, You're the Best."
  • Friendly Rivalry: A brief one erupted between the "Angel Line"* and the "Rapper Line"*, who released unit singles at the same time. Whichever unit's song charted lowest would have to eat a plate of spicy Tonkatsu.
  • Frothy Mugs of Water: When Wheein drank beer on-camera during the video about their first win celebrations, it was digitally replaced with a jug of milk to preserve her image.
  • Fun with Homophones: Mamamoo's fan club members are called "Moo Moos." Moo is also Korean for radish. As a joke, fans started bringing real radishes to performances as joke lightsticks. Fast forward a few months, and the radish motif became official with the release of Mamamoo's radish lightstick.
  • Gag Haircut: Solar gives some strange haircuts (afro, dreadlocks, bowlcut to name a few) to the customer in a montage near the end of "Ahh Oop!".
  • Girl Group: A Korean Pop Music female quartet.
  • Height Angst: The premise behind the lyrics and video for "1cm (Taller Than You)".
  • Helium Speech: In episode 4 of "MMMTV". Whilst hanging out with fellow k-pop group Lovelyz, they get hold of a balloon filled with the aforementioned gas, leading to the predictable results.
  • Heroic BSoD: Baek Ji Young's hidden camera prank in the "Mr. Ambiguous" MV launches Mamamoo into a brief one when they find out her harsh feedback of their performance practice was all an act. The girls simply stare in shock for a few moments until they all start laughing and crying. Solar even falls to her knees out of disbelief.
  • Hotter and Sexier
    • The song "Words Don't Come Easy" on the album Melting is a sultry, jazzy song with lyrics that border on Intercourse with You.
    • Hwasa does this a lot, whether it's intentionally doing chores sexily, or unintentionally making "cute" girl group dances sexy.
    • Both versions of "Decalcomanie" feature over a minute devoted to kiss scenes between each of the members and the male lead.
    • "Egotistic" has been regarded as one of their steamiest music videos, if not the most. Understandably, considering the shots that emphasize each member's sexiness, the leotard Hwasa wears, and especially Solar's pole dancing.
    • Some fans also consider Wheein's solo in the Memory album, "Moderato," to be this. The song is very sensual with lyrics that imply someone is staying the night.
  • I Can Still Fight!: During a performance of "Piano Man," Solar took a pretty nasty fall. She had to be helped to her feet by Wheein, and was shaken up for a few seconds, but managed to rally and give a good performance.
  • Incredibly Long Note: Their songs often have quite a few long notes, such as the long belt at the end of "Mr. Ambiguous" courtesy of Solar.
  • It Amused Me: The reason why "Pride of 1cm (Taller Than You)" and "Sleep In The Car" were created and produced as actual songs? Their CEO thought their constant teasing of each other's heights (for the former) and sleep-deprived ramblings and antics (for the latter) were hilarious.
  • It's All About Me: "Egotistic" is about such a person.
  • Jack of All Trades: Hwasa can sing, rap and dance well, and has already contributed a song on each of the group's first two albums.
  • invokedKorea Doubling: "New York" is about Wheein trying to convince a guy she likes that her and the others are in New York, when they're actually in Seoul. Naturally, this pops up in their attempts to deceive him.
  • The Leader: Solar. Despite her "beagleness," the other members have said that she is a very capable leader who always listens to them and knows what to say.
  • Lighter and Softer: For Showtime, they filmed a video cover of "Rough" by GFRIEND. To fit the concept of the original, they all acted cuter for the video and wore school uniforms similar to GFriend's trademark outfits.
  • Loveable Sex Maniac: Played for Laughs. All of the girls happily refer to themselves as perverts.
  • Ms. Fanservice: One of the things Mamamoo is famous for is their heavy-handed fanservice. Expect one of the girls to kiss, cuddle, or feel one or all of the others up in some way during a performance, interview, or any kind of appearance.
  • The Oner: Except for Moonbyul's rap break, the video for "Woo Hoo" appears to have been one continuous shot from beginning to end.
  • One-Woman Wail: Delivered by a supporting vocalist in this performance on Immortal Song.
  • Our Presidents Are Different: Hwasa in HIP shows what a president can be.
  • Outof Genre Experience: Hwasa's solo "My Heart," "Freakin' Shoes" and "Taller than You" are all hip-hop style songs, in contrast to their usual Retraux style.
  • Picked Last: Averted with Hwasa on Queendom. She's first choice for pretty much everyone.
  • Piss-Take Rap: "Woo Hoo" features a very out-of-place sounding rap break by Moonbyul.
  • Police Lineup: Used in "1cm (Taller Than You)" to illustrate their similarity in height.
  • Prank Call: Moonbyul teased Wheein with one of these as a prologue of sorts for "Pride of 1 cm."
  • Precision F-Strike: From Impretty Rapstar:
    Solar/Godyongsun/Jimin: "I'm the mothaf*ckin' Top Madam."
  • Pun: "Aze Gag" is a song about dad jokes, which are 99.9% puns, so naturally the song's lyrics are packed to the gills with puns.
  • Punny Name: The rappers played by the girls in Impretty Rapstar are based on the actual rappers in Unpretty Rapstar, but have names which incorporate puns.
  • Questionable Consent: Solar's kiss scene in the original version of "Decalcomanie" was very controversial for the way the man pulled her in and cornered her before she "gave in" to the kiss. In response to the backlash, RBW was quick to re-upload a new version with the encounter appearing more consensual than before.
  • Reaction Shot: Solar, together with AOA's Jimin, has some of the best reaction shots to other groups performances on Queendom.
  • The Rock Star: Solar in HIP is joined by crossdressers and a two colours wig and goes all out.
  • Scavenger Hunt: As a promotional campaign for their upcoming album Melting, their agency hid hints for "treasures" related to the album in Seoul coffee shops. So far, one has been uncovered, the song/video "Hometown."
  • Self-Empowerment Anthem: "HIP." In addition to the self-empowerment themes, it's also a blatant Take That! at detractors.
  • Shameless Fanservice Girl: Averted with Hwasa. She admitted on their most recent apperance on Weekly Idol that she was embarrassed by her "sexy house chore" act from their previous appearance.
  • Skinny Dipping: Hwasa suggests on Queendom that they should swim naked so they can't be filmed.
  • Stage Name:
    • Solar: Kim Yong-Sun
    • Hwasa: Ahn Hye-Jin
    • Moonbyul: Moon Byul-Yi
    • Averted with Wheein, as that's her name.
  • Theme Tune:
    • Their standard group introduction (the page quote) is sung.
    • The song "Hello" off the Hello EP also fits the bill, even delving a little bit into Theme Tune Roll Call territory by calling out everyone's names too.
  • Truck Driver's Gear Change: "Piano Man" goes up by a semitone for the last chorus to pump up the mood and prepare for a grand finish.
  • Vitriolic Best Buds: There is no doubt that the group is incredibly close, but expect them to casually insult, expose embarrassing facts, and prank each other just because they can. Their fansigns, fan meeting events, and behind-the-scenes vlogs tend to showcase this dynamic a lot.
  • Volleying Insults: The whole premise of "Taller than You."
  • Wholesome Crossdresser: The crossdressers from Neon Milk in the HIP video.
  • A Wild Rapper Appears!: Hwasa had a featuring rap in HookGa by High4 20...among all the other rap parts of the song.
  • Younger Than They Look: Hwasa and Wheein were both born in '95, but look like they should be another good 5 years or so older.
    • On the other end, Solar, the oldest, is often mistaken as younger (to the point where some people think she's the maknae) because of her baby face.

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