[Interview] MUSTB Discusses Their Newest Single Album “ROYALTY,” How They’ve Grown Since Debut, And What’s Next
In the last year, members Doha, Taegeon, Wooyeon, Soohyun, and Sihoo have been busy completing a 13-country world tour, collaborating with Grupo Control, and promoting new music.
MUSTB’s latest album, ROYALTY, takes listeners on an emotional journey from start to finish. The title track, “ROYALTY,” features lyrics written by Taegeon and Soohyun. The song is upbeat with a lively melody that offers hope to anyone listening. In comparison, the B-side track, “MEMORY,” is a beautiful contrast to the bright title. “MEMORY” showcases a more mature side of MUSTB with a softer, lyrical rhythm that invokes sympathy and longing in the aftermath of a breakup.
Ahead of their final promotions for ROYALTY, OK-What sat down with MUSTB to discuss the highlights of their successful comeback, how they’ve grown since their debut, and what MUFFINS can look forward to in the future.
Please introduce yourself to OK-What’s readers.
MUSTB (Doha): Hi, I’m Doha. I’m known as a sweet guy.
MUSTB (Sihoo): Hi, this is Sihoo. I am the youngest member of the group. Thank you to everybody for being here today.
MUSTB (Taegeon): Hi, I am Taegeon, the leader of MUSTB. Thank you!
MUSTB (Wooyeon): Hi, this is Wooyeon! I am in charge of being the peach of the group, as you can see from my hair.
MUSTB (Soohyun): Last but not least. Hi, I'm Soohyun of MustB. I am in charge of English, rap, and dance. I hope this interview goes well today. Thank you.
MUSTB (all): THANK YOU.
OK-WHAT: We recently saw your comeback performance on Music Bank. I really enjoyed it, and it was a great surprise to see you. What has it been like on music shows performing for MUFFINS?
MUSTB (Doha): We've been preparing a really long time for this comeback, so to be able to show our stages to our MUFFINS is the best part.
OK-WHAT: After working together for several years, how do you succeed as a team?
MUSTB (Sihoo): Since we've worked together for so many years, we all kind of know each other and each other's personality. We can exchange glances and know how the other member is doing. So working well together and knowing each other's personality helps the teamwork flow, which helps us together as MUSTB.
OK-WHAT: What was the most challenging part of creating your fourth single album?
MUSTB (Taegeon): We've been preparing for quite a while now. However, the original we were going to introduce on this album is not "ROYALTY." It was actually a different song, but then they decided to make "ROYALTY" the title track of this album. I feel like that was the most challenging part because we had been preparing the other song for so many months, and then they decided to go with "ROYALTY."
OK-WHAT: Can you give us some spoilers on what’s coming next for MUSTB?
MUSTB (Wooyeon): If you watch the "ROYALTY" music video, there are some Easter eggs hidden in the beginning and at the end for our future comeback.
OK-WHAT: Taegeon and Soohyun are credited with writing the lyrics title track, “ROYALTY.” Can you tell us more about this?
MUSTB (Soohyun): There's a part in our first album where Taegeon wrote the lyrics "I want u," so we added it in this song as well. You can see a little bit of our older albums inside this one, so that's really the creative process right there.
OK-WHAT: What do you think are MUSTB's unique colors? What are your individual unique colors?
MUSTB (Soohyun): MUSTB's official colors are navy and orange, which represents the ocean and earth. We had colors for each member, but now that doesn't really apply. We used to have seven colors based on the rainbow. However, we only have five members, so it's changed just a little bit.
OK-WHAT: Members of the Black and Latinx fan base enjoy hearing the cultural fusion of music represented in K-pop, especially your collaboration with Grupo Control. Globally, what are some other genres of music that have inspired you as an artist?
MUSTB (Doha): If you listened to our last album, our title track, "La Señorita," has a lot of Latin vibes to it. It is a genre we really enjoy, so we hope to do more of that in the future.
OK-WHAT: Which artist/artists would you love to collaborate with in the future?
MUSTB (Sihoo): During the "ROYALTY" promotions, we met a lot of really talented artists and watched some really amazing stages. There are a lot of great artists on the scene right now. We were discussing if you meant internationally or domestically. Right now, one of the domestic artists we would love to work with is LE SSERAFIM, as well as internationally, and we are always looking forward to working with Grupo Control again.
MUSTB (Wooyeon): If there are any artists who want to work with us, we are always ready to work together to make a great song.
OK-WHAT: Which member is responsible for the most laughs or is the biggest prankster in the group?
MUSTB (Taegeon): All the members are funny in their own right. We always have a lot of laughs together. But the funniest member is probably Wooyeon.
MUSTB (Wooyeon): It's a character the members made for me. I became a comedian just by being with them.
OK-WHAT: How has your music evolved since your debut?
MUSTB (Wooyeon): Since our debut, MUSTB has attempted a lot of different kind of genres. We've had cute concepts. Mature concepts, and I am sure you have seen our nice sexy concepts. So I would describe MUSTB as really an all-rounder because we've done so many different genres. That's how we've matured. We love to attempt any and all genres.
OK-WHAT: The music video for "MEMORY" is very different visually and emotionally from "ROYALTY." Can you share any stories about making the music video for "MEMORY?"
MUSTB (Soohyun): For "MEMORY," we don't have any choreography. The storyline and vibe are very different compared to "ROYALTY." "ROYALTY" is more about chasing and reaching your dreams as well as telling people ("those who ignored me" - see "ROYALTY" lyrics) who envy you or are jealous that you are more like "ROYALTY" than before. "MEMORY" is just a really sad song. We decided to use no colors in the music video, so it's just black and white. It looks like a slow-motion video, but we sped up the music when we filmed it, then reversed the sped-up version to get it to look like a slow version of a music video. We were doing gestures faster than normal, so it came out like that.
OK-WHAT: What is a future concept MUSTB would like to try and why?
MUSTB (Doha): MUSTB has done so many different concepts already, like cute, sexy, and mature, this time with "MEMORY." In the future, we would like to try a little bit more of a manly concept and show off a lot of our charms with that. So hopefully we can show you that real soon. As we mentioned, we do have another song prepared, so I am sure you will see it soon.
OK-WHAT: Between “MEMORY” and “ROYALTY,” which track does each member prefer and why?
MUSTB (Taegeon): As Sihoo mentioned how our emotions are always changing. When you're happy, you want to listen to more of a happy vibe song. When you are feeling down, some people like to listen to upbeat songs, while some people like to listen to slower songs. But for me, it just depends on my mood because both songs are just so great. So it really depends on the vibe of that day and my emotions at the time. It could be either one.
MUSTB (Wooyeon): I really like the vibe that "ROYALTY" gives - a lot of hope and solace.
MUSTB (Soohyun): Me too. I mean, "MEMORY" is also a good song, but I prefer "ROYALTY" because of the same reason as Wooyeon.
MUSTB (Doha): Although both songs are really great, at the same time, the meaning of the lyrics as well as the hope and solace that "ROYALTY" gives to people, makes me choose it.
MUSTB (Sihoo): That's like asking who do you like better, your mom or your dad. I like both songs. They are both such great songs that I can't choose.
OK-WHAT: “MEMORY” and “ROYALTY” are two very different tracks, so it’s cool to see the relationship between the two in the EP. How was the creative process when playing with two different genres and two different themes?
MUSTB (Sihoo): I just want to say we're all humans. Our emotions change like ten times, fifteen times a day - it's always changing. There are times when we are happy. There are times when we are sad. At the same time, when you are kind of feeling down, there are some people who like to listen to slow songs as well as some people who like to hear upbeat songs. When you listen to our album, "MEMORY," is for people who enjoy the slow vibe, whereas "ROYALTY" has a brighter, giving hope-type vibe. So we hope anyone who listens to our album can find hope and solace when they are feeling down and help them get back up.
OK-WHAT: In 2022, you spent a good chunk of the year on tour, visiting the United States, Latin America, Europe, and Dubai. What was it like visiting those places, and what are some places you hope to visit in the future?
MUSTB (Wooyeon): The chance to visit all these different countries all over the world is such a great opportunity in itself. We can get a lot of inspiration from these places that are different from Korea. We just want to visit any place that has MUFFINS, so that's where we are going to go next.
OK-WHAT: Fans are loving the choreography for "ROYALTY." Can you walk us through the process of coming up with a dance, learning it, cleaning it up, and making it ready to perform both in music video filming and in live performances?
MUSTB (Soohyun): We had completed the choreography for our former title song, but then a week later, the title track changed suddenly. We only had like two weeks to learn this choreography, but there isn't a lot of choreography in "ROYALTY." It was really challenging for us to try a new thing with the microphone stand. It's kind of heavy like the bottom part is very heavy, so it was really difficult to get used to at first. We just handled it, thinking about what MUFFINS would think to watch us perform with new unique skills. For choreography, we had our choreographer, but he was surprised that the title track had changed as well. So we worked together as a team.
OK-WHAT: Who are your musical influences?
MUSTB (Doha): The world-famous BTS is one of our greatest influences. Their great music and the meaningful lyrics behind everything that they do has really given us a lot of influence.
OK-WHAT: What do you think makes your music unique?
MUSTB (Sihoo): One of the rather unique things about MUSTB is that each and every member can be either a vocalist or a rapper. We all have talent in each area. From every song to every album, you will see the parts change -- sometimes, you'll see members as a vocalist, and sometimes, you'll see them as a rapper.
OK-WHAT: The album photo concept is “casual” and “street” themed. How does this compare to your personal style?
MUSTB (Taegeon): I like styles that are a little bit sexier and slightly revealing to give that sexy image. With this concept, it had more of a rockstar feel to it. It didn't really match me at first if you think about my personal style versus what was given. After wearing it, I realized that this type of style could be cool, and it gave off such awesome energy.
OK-WHAT: What was the most exciting part of promoting this time around?
MUSTB (Wooyeon): This time, we went on a lot of music shows like Music Bank. When we are filming that you can see a lot of our expressions up close because everything is on camera. It was really fun to see each of the members' expressions as well as the MUFFINS who saw all of those great expressions and performances.
MUSTB (Taegeon): The fact that all these music shows are on Youtube so everybody around the world can watch them. It was really nice for us to enjoy our performances together with MUFFINS.
