CHUNG HA Recorded “Bare&Rare, Pt. 2”. Will It Be Released?
CHUNG HA announced she was departing MNH Entertainment in April. But the future of “Bare&Rare, Pt. 2” was left in flux.
Editor’s Note: On October 10, 2023 CHUNG HA announced she had signed with Jay Park’s label More Vision Entertainment. Future plans for music are still underwraps.
Over the last two years, CHUNG HA has emerged as one of the most ambitious female soloists of her generation. “Querencia”, her first studio album released in 2021, is one of the finest albums of the year by any genre. The record is a tour-de-force, stretching across 21-tracks as Chung Ha travels between four “sides”: NOBLE, SAVAGE, UNKNOWN and PLEASURES. The album takes flight when Chung Ha throws everything but the kitchen sink at the listener with tracks like “Dream of You” or “Demente”, a track she recorded entirely in Spanish for her Latin American fans.
A year later, Chung Ha announced another ambitious project called “Bare&Rare”, a double EP that she promised would express the more personal side of herself.
“I had never been able to share my real stories and memories in my music. Since my fans have been waiting so long for the new album, I wanted to open my heart [up] on it,” the singer said at a press event. “Before, the lyrics were written for me, and the performances were choreographed for me, but this time I felt naked.”
The initial album art seemed to support this. These concept photos were tight black and white closeup shot of Chung Ha, hair cascading over her shoulders, candid and refreshingly natural. By K-Pop industry standards, the photo was strikingly, and refreshingly, straightforward.
The original “Bare&Rare, Pt. 1” album art.
But only a few weeks after the album’s release, a new photo was uploaded for the digital album art. This cover depicted a glamorous Chung Ha in a highly saturated photo wearing a sequined top and pink eye shadow. In this photo she leans towards the camera as if she’s a supermodel. This cover felt in theme with the lead single “Sparkle”, but strikingly off-brand from the concept Chung Ha spoke about in interviews.
The new digital cover of “Bare&Rare, Pt 1” felt like a marketing shift.
Chung Ha tried her best for the EP to connect with new listeners. She performed “Sparkle” for weeks at multiple variety shows. She gave interviews and participated in press conferences. But the single never took off and the album did not receive the support, critically or commercially, that it deserved. I wondered if, perhaps, these unfortunate factors caused a panicked marketing shift from her label MNH Entertainment.
Over the following weeks, Chung Ha began to voice her frustrations with the company. She complained on Instagram Live that selfies she took for the album’s promotions were never added to her Instagram account. The second part of “Bare&Rare”, which is complete, was shelved, and she admitted that she had no idea when it would be released. Fan theories floated about the cause, but both sides stayed quiet until April when the label announced that Chung Ha would depart.
In the middle of MNH’s statement was one line that gave me pause because it seemed to confirm Chung Ha’s frustrations: “Bare&Rare Part.2” will not be released,” the statement read, “under our agency due to internal circumstances.”
What makes Chung Ha’s struggles with MNH Entertainment so hard to watch was because she is such a riveting artist. Even working within the strict confines of K-Pop, Chung Ha found new ways to experiment with her sound and image; and while many K-Pop companies are not interested in full bodies of work, Chung Ha embraced the power of storytelling.
“Querencia” is so compelling because of the unexpectedly daring frankness that Chungha talks about her quest for pleasure. “It’s getting late and the bar’s about to close,” she tells a man at the end of the night on “Dream of You”. “And you say you'll drive me home 'cause I'm on your way/ What can I say? Park the car and come on in/ I got whisky, I got gin and lingerie.” Later in the album Chungha tells her lover, “Just have fun/ Be chill and drunk on the music.”
Most of “Querencia” is set late in the night, times when Chung Ha’s exercises her desire for love and connection. While she’s straightforward with the men she’s interested in, she’s also candidly honest with her listeners about her own doubts.
“Can I do it well?” she asks herself early in the morning after a sleepless night. “When I think of them/ Tears come and fill my eyes/ I'm honestly tired.”
Chung Ha called the album her “second debut” because it showed a new side to her. But she wasn’t interested in making a large statement with the album. The work spoke for itself. “My intention wasn’t to prove anything,” she told Nylon while promoting the album. “I kind of let go of my way of thinking that I always need to be perfect.”
MNH demonstrated their belief in the music representing more than a typical K-Pop album by releasing a 4-LP vinyl that brought the “sides” into literal form. Yet Chung Ha was vocal that this album was not entirely her vision. “Bare&Rare” was the singer’s most clear-eyed vision, and one that she had complete creative control over.
Chung Ha acknowledged the obstacles she is facing in the letter she released to announce her departure from MNH. “I’m really, so, so sorry for not being able to keep my promise to those who were waiting for the Pt. 2 album and for letting you know so late,” she wrote. “If the opportunity arises, I will try to release the Pt. 2 that BYULHARANG [Chung Has fandom] has been waiting for in a new place!”
Back in July, while promoting the album, Chung Ha spoke about previous releases that left her “feeling empty”.“While I've been a singer for the past few years, I had never really expressed my personal memories through my music. So far, I thought of myself as a performer; someone who performs the stage routine and lyrics that others designed for me,” she told reporters.
Chung Ha thought about the times she had to sing lyrics that never felt relatable and how this left her cold. “Bare&Rare”, she said, was an opportunity to finally share a piece of her heart. “I really wanted to tell my own story this time,” she said.
