Watch: Chungha Explains Meaning Behind Songs On New Album "Querencia" And Performs On "Yoo Hee Yeol's Sketchbook"

Feb 19, 2021

Chungha was one of the guests on the February 19 episode of KBS’s “Yoo Hee Yeol’s Sketchbook”!

After opening with a performance of her hit song “Gotta Go,” Chungha said, “I feel embarrassed because I wasn’t able to perform as well as I wanted. But I did my best.” She added, “This song is more famous than I am. Even if people who are older, like moms and dads, don’t know me, they know this song. I’m grateful for it.”

About releasing her first studio album, “Querencia,” Chungha said, “Not one of the songs was produced with chart rankings in mind. I just filled the album with concepts and vibes that I wanted to do. After feeling like I was holding something in for a whole year, now I feel refreshed like I’ve finished all my homework. It’s been six years since my debut, counting from my time in I.O.I, but I was still really nervous.”

About the meaning of “Querencia,” she said, “It represents my ‘safe haven.’ I had thought of my ‘safe haven’ as something obvious like my bed at home, but after thinking more about it, I realized that albums were also a ‘safe haven’ for me. It’s a special relationship where I spend all day and night working on it, so that’s why I named my album ‘Querencia.'”

She added, “There are a total of 21 songs. Five of them were released beforehand. I wanted to show the fans the new path I was on as fast as possible, so I released them beforehand.”

Artists like Baek Yerin, The Black Skirts, and Colde participated in the new album. Chungha said, “Baek Yerin and I were briefly trainees together at JYP Entertainment, and she helped on my previous album as well. I was really grateful to her and cherished our time working together.

About The Black Skirts, who worked on “X,” she said, “I didn’t know them personally, so I got the agency’s help in contacting them.” She explained the meaning of “X” as, “People call their former lovers their ‘ex.’ I wanted ‘X’ to represent a marker of my past. It’s about remembering the stories of my past. I thought about my mom a lot while working on the song. My mom made a lot of sacrifices on my behalf. I think that the mom-and-dad generation will relate to the song a lot.”

Chungha also mentioned her title track, “Bicycle,” and said, “I worked myself to the bone in order to create this performance. It’s more impactful when seen live, so it’s unfortunate that we can’t perform in front of a live audience now.”