Fresh from dropping her solo debut album, Howl, CHUU went live on the popular KBS show Leemujin Service to perform a few songs including ‘Say You Love Me,’ made popular by Filipino acoustic band MYMP.
Leemujin Service is a talk and live music programme, whose tagline is to “provide the best live performances for your greatest satisfaction.” Its format usually includes the guest’s promoted song, another 2 songs of their choice – often covers, and then a duet with the host himself – all accompanied by only a pianist.
The ATRP act and former LOOΠΔ member’s take enchanted even host singer-songwriter Lee Mujin, who remarked, “It made my heart really peaceful (되게 마음이 편안해지네요.),” adding that it was the first time that he had heard the song.
A popular cover of ‘Say You Love Me’ appeared on MYMP’s 2005 album, Versions, including the aforementioned track, which in turn was originally written and sung by the American singer Patti Austin for her debut record, End of a Rainbow, in 1976. The cover, as performed by Juris Fernandez and founding band member Chin Alcantara, is distinctive for its “unplugged” approach, compared to the original’s layered R&B.
The MYMP rendition itself has a history of airtime in Korea. The band itself represented the Philippines at the Asia Song Festival, in 2013 and its Acoustic Festival in 2016. Singer IU performed a similar arrangement at least twice, first in 2014 on Yu Huiyeol’s Sketchbook, and another during her 2019 Love, Poem Manila stop.
Chuu credited MYMP’s cover as the basis of her own performance.
Aside from ‘Say You Love Me,’ Chuu performed her new original track, ‘Howl,’ ‘여우비’ (Fox Rain) from the 2010 series My Girlfriend Is a Gumiho, a snippet of Apink’s ‘Mr. Chu’, and finally, 10cm’s ‘서울의 잠 못 이루는 밤’ (Sleepless in Seoul) as a duet with the host Lee Mujin himself.
Watch the episode with Chuu here:
Like MYMP’s cover, Chuu sang ‘Say You Love Me’ with minimal accompaniment, but what set the cover apart, the host and ‘Traffic Light’ singer noted, was the vocalist’s impeccable switches or “transitions from natural to falsetto.”
Chuu responded that this was something she had honed since she was younger. “After using falsetto so often, whenever I use my natural voice like this, I think that it has become easier to make these transitions.” (가성을 많이 하다 보니까, 진성으로 이렇게 얘기하다가... 이렇게 성구 전환이 쉬워진 것 같아요.)
Since premiering his show in February 2022, Lee Mujin has invited BTS’s Jimin, SEVENTEEN’s Jun and Seungkwan, EXO’s D.O., NewJeans’s Hanni and Danielle, TXT’s Taehyun, aespa’s Winter, TWICE’s Jihyo, Stray Kids’s Han, I.N. and Seungmin – among many others. The series airs on YouTube via KBS Kpop and South Korean broadcasting service KBS2.
On October 18, CHUU made her impactful comeback with the 5-track EP Howl. “Everyone gets hurt at some point in their lives, so I wanted to offer my consolation to them and give them the courage to face whatever they want to hide from,” she told members of the press ahead of the record’s release, as quoted by Korea JoongAng Daily.
The new album showcased the singer’s breadth and maturity as a soloist. “Even my friend of 10 years, despite already knowing how I sing, said she didn’t know I could sing this way,” she shared, adding: “I think this album helped me show everyone a side of me that I was unable to before.”
The ‘Howl’ artist also recently announced that she will be going on a US tour from December 3 this year.
CHUU originally debuted in December 2017 as the 10th member of girl group LOOΠΔ, a.k.a. 이달의 소녀 in Korean (literally, ‘Girl of the Month’), with a self-titled single album including the tune ‘Heart Attack.’
In 2021, she faced a lengthy legal battle with her former agency, BlockBerry Creative, culminating in her “expulsion” from the group in November 2022, accusing her of verbal abuse. Herself, former colleagues, and some industry observers slammed the allegations. The following month, CHUU filed for an injunction on her exclusive contract, and in August this year, a local court sided with her.
The other LOOΠΔ members had also sought to suspend their own exclusive contracts with the company. In June 2023, a division of the Seoul High Court ruled in favour of the last 5 injunctions of Haseul, Yeojin, Yves, Go Won, and Olivia Hye, which meant that all LOOΠΔ members managed to sever their ties with BlockBerry.
Some of the former members have recent releases, notably: ODD EYE CIRCLE (Kim Lip, JinSoul and Choerry), LOOSEMBLE (HyunJin, Vivi, Gowon, Hyeju [f.k.a. Olivia Hye], and YeoJin) and HeeJin with her own upcoming solo release, Algorithm.
Watch CHUU with ‘Howl' below.
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