Singer Chungha held a press conference at Blue Square in Yongsan District, central Seoul on Monday to reveal her second full-length album “Bare&Rare Pt. 1” which dropped the same day.

The album comes a year and five months after her first full-length album “Querencia.” Chungha participated in the lyric-writing and the producing process for all eight tracks. The singer says it was a challenge as well as an opportunity for her to grow as an artist.

“I realized that while I’ve been a singer for the past few years, I had never really expressed my personal memories through my music,” she said. “So far, I thought of myself as a performer; someone who performs the stage routine and lyrics that others designed for me. For this album, I wanted to fill it up with my innermost stories.

“Honestly, I felt naked during the production process. I felt like I had thrown away my bulletproof vest. People know me as the primped-up version of myself, especially my signature glittery makeup, but this time I wanted to take all of that off and show who I really am. That’s where the album title comes from.”

The singer says her previous album “Querencia” sparked her desire to participate more actively in creating her own music.

“After releasing ‘Querencia,’ I thought I did my best trying to give it my all, but I felt empty for some reason,” she said “I asked myself what was causing that feeling, and I thought of the times that I sang lyrics that I couldn’t relate to, or wanted to change some musical aspects in my songs. So I really wanted to tell my own story this time.”

“Bare&Rare Pt. 1” features tracks “XXXX,” “Louder,” “Crazy Like You” in collaboration with singer BIBI, “California Dream,” Good Night My Princess,” “Love Me Out Loud,” “Nuh-Uh” and lead track “Sparkling.”

“I recorded 24 songs over the past two months, including songs that feature other artists,” she said. “There’s still a lot left for me to reveal. It was a tight schedule, and I practically lived in the recording booth. But I really want to keep releasing albums that have a lot of tracks, making people say, ‘Chungha’s albums are always the fullest!”

Chungha debuted in 2016 as a member of girl group I.O.I, which formed through the first season of Mnet’s popular audition program “Produce 101.” After the group disbanded in early 2017, she debuted as a solo act with the EP “Hands on Me” (2017). She went on to release hits “Roller Coaster” (2018), “Love U” (2018), “Gotta Go” (2019), and “Play” (2020) and “Bicycle” (2021).


BY HALEY YANG [yang.hyunjoo@joongang.co.kr]