Chungha Shares Meaning Of New Album "Querencia," Goals For Her Comeback, And More

Feb 15, 2021

Chungha has made her long-awaited comeback!

On February 15, the singer released her full album “Querencia” along with a music video for the title track “Bicycle.”

Leading up to the release of her first full album, Chungha dropped pre-release singles “Stay Tonight” and “PLAY” the previous year. Although “Querencia” was scheduled to be released in January 2021, the album was postponed after the singer tested positive for COVID-19 in December 2020.

At the press conference held in commemoration of the album release, Chungha spoke about her experience with the virus. “I thought about the things I was grateful for during that time,” she said. “Fortunately, because I found out early that I had contracted the virus, I didn’t go out. Thankfully I was asymptomatic and didn’t have a fever.” She added that she has since completely recovered, and that she hoped her fans would no longer worry.

Chungha described what the album means to her. “‘Querencia’ is my safe haven,” she explained. “Even if it’s just for three minutes, I hope it will become a refuge for my fans as well. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, I haven’t had many performances and my time spent meeting fans has been reduced. The more anxious I feel, the more ‘Querencia’ becomes a safe haven. I was so happy to release songs one by one and see the fans’ reactions.”

The singer also shared her experience working on the lyrics for the album. She explained, “While working with various producers, I discovered how much hard work I should put in from here on out as well as what kind of style I liked. I was so excited. I want to challenge myself to work on more tracks from now on, and I realized I can keep on challenging myself as I move forward, so I’m really grateful.”

The title track “Bicycle” is an R&B pop-trap song that expresses the excitement and thrill of pedaling ahead and moving forward. Chungha spoke about the effort she poured into preparing for her performance and described the overall mood of the choreography as strong and bold. Chungha also revealed that “Bicycle” was next to “PLAY” in the ranking of her most difficult songs to perform. “The dancers also have various opinions on the matter,” she said. “It’s to the point where they can’t choose between ‘Bicycle’ and ‘PLAY.'”

Chungha emphasized the importance of health over setting new records as she said, “As this album was a long journey, I thought for a moment about wanting to win the top spot as a sort of reward. However, I gained even more things in the preparation process, so I think it would be great to share those moments with everyone. I want to wrap up promotions in good health.” She added, “I want to show everyone that I’m healthy. There’s still plenty of people who don’t know that I’ve recovered. I want to show them that I’m promoting my album in good health.”

Chungha concluded, “We’re stuck in an undesirable situation due to the pandemic. Amidst all of the melancholy, I wanted to relieve people of their pain through music, if only just a little bit. I created this album in hopes that it would help everyone forget just a little.”