MAMAMOO’s Hwasa Is Affected By The “Obscenity Controversy” — But It Led To Her New Song

Recently, MAMAMOO‘s Hwasa opened up about her feelings about the “obscenity controversy” that happened around four months ago.

MAMAMOO’s Hwasa | @_mariahwasa/Instagram

Earlier this year, on May 12, Hwasa attended the Sungkyunkwan University festival for tvN‘s Dancing Queens on the Road, where the four divas Lee Hyori, Kim Wan Sun, Uhm Jung Hwa, and MAMAMOO’s Hwasa performed at university festivals.

While performing, she made a gesture of licking her hand with her tongue and then putting her hand on a specific body part. The crowd went crazy, but some netizens were not impressed, and it soon became an “obscenity controversy.”

Your browser does not support video.Hwasa doing the controversial action during her performance | DaftTaengk/YouTube

On September 4, Hwasa appeared as the first guest of singer Sung Si Kyung‘s new talk show on his YouTube channel.

While talking about various topics, she brought up the controversy, saying that the reason she chose to release her recent song “I Love My Body” was because of the controversy.

Hwasa (left) and Sung SI Kyung (right) | SUNG SI KYUNG/YouTube

Hwasa explained where she was when she found out about the controversy once people started sending her messages. She was shocked by the level of hate comments she received.

I was on MAMAMOO’s U.S. tour, and on the day I arrived in the U.S., my KakaoTalk blew up. I thought, ‘Ah, something big happened,’ and prayed before checking my KakaoTalk. I found out there was a controversy about me on stage and thought, ‘I see…’ but the level of hate comments was really extreme. I’m not the someone who dwells on hate comments, but this time it was [too much].

— Hwasa

| @_mariahwasa/Instagram

Although she tried to keep in her emotions, she eventually burst into tears because of the hate comments.

It was the first performance in New York, and until then I had to take care of my mentality. I thought, ‘Let’s just go on as usual,’ and tried to clear my thoughts… I pretended everything was okay [during the performance], but as soon as the New York performance ended, I burst into tears… I think it was the biggest cry I had this year. My tears flowed like a waterfall.

— Hwasa

| SUNG SI KYUNG/YouTube

Hwasa continued that when she arrived at her hotel after the show, she ran to the parking lot to get a breath of fresh air and cried. She cried on the ground

I was sharing a room with Wheein at the time but told her, ‘I’ll be right back,’ and burst into tears while coming out of the hotel… I ran to the parking lot because there was nobody there. I fell to the ground and cried, then finally regained my composure after letting it all out. But cars kept stopping in front of me asking, ‘Do you need help?’ and at first, I said, ‘It’s okay…’ But then about five cars stopped in front of me, so at first I said it was okay but by the fifth car, I thought it would become a problem and all my tears dried up immediately.

— Hwasa

| @_mariahwasa/Instagram

While doing her U.S. tour concerts, Hwasa stated she felt down and wondered what kind of song she could sing from now on. At the perfect timing, Psy contacted her and sent her the song “I Love My Body.”

I wasn’t even signed under P Nation at the time but Psy said, ‘Good news!’ and sent me a song. This song was ‘I Love My Body.’ When I heard it, I laughed for the first time during the U.S. tour… I was having such a hard time because of the obscenity controversy then the fact that I’m suddenly shouting, ‘I love my body!’ cheered me up. It freshened my mood.

— Hwasa

| P Nation

Hearing the confidence of the song made Hwasa feel good, and she decided to pick this as her first song after the controversy.

“I Love My Body” was released on September 6.