Reality in Black (stylized as reality in BLACK) is the second studio album and the third overall by South Korean girl group Mamamoo. It was released by RBW on November 14, 2019, and distributed by Kakao M. The album topped the weekly charts in South Korea, becoming Mamamoo's third number-one album, and entered the top 20 of the US Billboard World Albums chart. It contains eleven songs, including the singles "Destiny" and "Hip", with the latter reaching the top five of the Gaon Digital Chart.
Background and release
On March 14, 2019, Mamamoo released the EP White Wind, the fourth and last installment of the 4 Seasons, 4 Colors project. Shortly after, they embarked on their fifth concert tour 4Seasons F/W, which saw them visit Japan, Taiwan and Hong Kong besides their native South Korea. On September 4, 2019, group member Wheein released a solo single entitled "Good Bye". The song proved to be commercially successful, peaking within the Top 3 of the Gaon Digital Chart.[1]
In July 2019 it was announced that Mamamoo would join the cast of Queendom, a competitive reality television show, in which six female K-pop acts competed for their own comeback showcase to air on South Korean pay TV channel Mnet.[2] The song "Destiny" was released within the frame of the competition and later included on the album. On October 31, during the last episode of Queendom, Mamamoo were declared the winners of the competition.[3]
On November 1, the impending release of a second full studio album was announced through Mamamoo's official social media accounts. The day after, the title, album cover and release date were revealed through the group's official Twitter account.[4][5]BLACK was also revealed to partially be an acronym for Bless Life and Carry Knowledge.[6] Multiple concept pictures of the individual members and video teasers led up to the release of the album on November 14, showing the members in several alternate universe settings in which they were not part of Mamamoo.[7] The music video for the single "Hip" was released on the same day to coincide with the album.
Contrary to previous promotional cycles, the group focused explicitly on choreography, exchanging their trademark handheld microphones for headsets.[8] Group leader Solar remarked during an album showcase event that the choreography for "Hip" had been their most complex and hardest to learn so far.[9] While appearing on the KBS talk show Happy Together, she elaborated that this change was inspired by previous criticism over the group not having intricate, demanding dance routines and being self-choreographed.[10]
Track listing
Reality in Black – Standard edition
No.
Title
Lyrics
Music
Arrangement
Length
1.
"Destiny" (우린 결국 다시 만날 운명이었지; ulin gyeolgug dasi mannal unmyeong-ieossji ; lit: We Were Meant To Meet Again Eventually)
