Reality in Black

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.

Reality in Black
Studio album by Mamamoo
Released	November 14, 2019
Genre	K-pop
Length	36:56
Language	Korean
Label	RBW
Producer	Kim Do-hoon (exec.) Kim Jin-woo (exec.)
Mamamoo chronology
White Wind (2019) Reality in Black (2019)
Singles from Reality in Black
"Destiny" Released: October 25, 2019 "Hip" Released: November 14, 2019

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)	Kim Do-hoon Park Woo-sang	Kim Do-hoon Park Woo-sang	Kim Do-hoon Park Woo-sang	4:07
2.	"Universe"	Cosmic Sound Cosmic Girl Moonbyul	Cosmic Sound Cosmic Girl	Cosmic Sound Cosmic Girl	3:35
3.	"Ten Nights" (열 밤)	Won Yeon-jeong Kim Hyun-A Hwang Seong-jin	Coco Tofu Dad Jang Jin-yeong Hwang Seong-jin	Coco Tofu Dad Hwang Seong-jin	3:37
4.	"Hip"	Kim Do-hoon Park Woo-sang Hwasa	Kim Do-hoon Park Woo-sang Hwasa	Kim Do-hoon Park Woo-sang	3:18
5.	"4x4ever"	Lee Sang-ho IGGY Yongbae Moonbyul	Lee Sang-ho IGGY Yongbae Mayu Wakisaka	IGGY Yongbae	4:33
6.	"Better"	Cosmic Sound Cosmic Girl Moonbyul	Cosmic Sound Cosmic Girl	Cosmic Sound Cosmic Girl	3:16
7.	"Hello Mama"	Yongbae Lee Woo-sang Moonbyul	Yongbae Lee Woo-sang	Lee Woo-sang	3:39
8.	"ZzZz" (심심해; simsimhae; lit: Boring)	Lee Woo-sang Ryu Jisoo Moonbyul	Lee Woo-sang Ryu Jisoo	Lee Woo-sang	3:25
9.	"Reality"	Park Woo-sang	Park Woo-sang	Yeong	3:03
10.	"High Tension" (춤을 춰; chum-eul chwo; lit: Dance)	Jarry Potter Moonbyul	Park Hae-il Jarry Potter Big Sancho	Park Hae-il Big Sancho	3:18
11.	"I'm Your Fan"	Solar	Solar	Mingki	2:27
Total length:					37:00

Reality in Black – Japanese edition

No.	Title	Lyrics	Music	Arrangement	Length
12.	"Hip" (Japanese Version)	Kim Do-hoon Park Woo-sang Hwasa	Kim Do-hoon Park Woo-sang Hwasa	Kim Do-hoon Park Woo-sang	3:18
13.	"Shampoo" (Japan only)	Eri Osanai Moonbyul Im Sang-hyuck CocoDooboo PaPa SUKA	Im Sang-hyuck CocoDooboo PaPa		3:15
Total length:					43:33

Reality in Black – Japanese Limited Edition DVD Typ A

No.	Title	Length
1.	"MAMAMOO 2nd Concert Tour in JAPAN: 4season Final"

Reality in Black – Japanese Limited Edition DVD Typ B

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Hip (Japanese Version)" (Music Video)

Samples

• "Universe" contains an uncredited sample of "NASA" by Ariana Grande, written by Grande, Victoria Monét, Taylor Parks, Tommy Brown and Charles Anderson.[11]

Charts

Album Weekly charts Chart (2019–2020) Peak position Japanese Albums (Oricon)[12] 27 South Korean Albums (Gaon)[13] 1 US World Albums (Billboard)[14] 11

Monthly chart Chart (2019) Peak position South Korean Albums (Gaon)[15] 4 Year-end charts Chart (2019) Position South Korean Albums (Gaon)[16] 53

Singles

"Destiny (우린 결국 다시 만날 운명이었지)"

Chart (2019)	Peak position
South Korea (Gaon)[17]	68
South Korea (Kpop Hot 100)[18]	36
US World Digital Song Sales (Billboard)[19]	7

"Hip" Chart (2019) Peak position Japan (Billboard)[20] 48 New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ)[21] 35 South Korea (Gaon)[22] 4 South Korea (Kpop Hot 100)[23] 2 US World Digital Song Sales (Billboard)[24] 1

Year-end charts Chart (2019) Position South Korea (Gaon)[25] 142

Other charted songs

Title	Year	Peak chart positions
		KOR [26]	KOR Hot [27]
"Ten Nights"	2019	193	—

Awards and nominations

Music program awards

Song	Program	Date
"HIP"	Show Champion (MBC)	December 4, 2019 [28]
	M Countdown (Mnet)	November 21, 2019 [29]
		November 28, 2019 [30]
	Music Bank (KBS)	November 22, 2019 [31]
	Inkigayo (SBS)	November 24, 2019 [32]
		December 22, 2019 [33]
		December 29, 2019 [34]

References

1. "2019년 37주차 Digital Chart". Gaon. September 19, 2019. Retrieved December 8, 2019.
2. "Mnet Announces Lineup For Upcoming Variety Show, "Queendom"". HelloKPop. July 24, 2019. Retrieved December 8, 2019.
3. "Mamamoo to drop second album". Korea Joongang Daily. November 4, 2019. Retrieved December 8, 2019.
4. "Album announcement". Mamamoo's official Twitter. November 1, 2019. Retrieved December 8, 2019.
5. "Album cover and release date". Mamamoo's official Twitter. November 1, 2019. Retrieved December 8, 2019.
6. @RBW_MAMAMOO (November 2, 2019). "[#마마무] 2nd Full Album #Bless_Life_And_Carry_Knowledge ✔ 2019.11.14 Thu 6PM(KST) #MAMAMOO #MMM" (Tweet). Retrieved December 12, 2019 – via Twitter.
7. "MAMAMOO To Explore Parallel Realities With Upcoming Full-Length Album". HELLOKPOP. November 4, 2019. Retrieved December 8, 2019.
8. "Mamamoo drops 2nd full-length album, 'reality in BLACK'". Korea Herald. November 4, 2019. Retrieved December 8, 2019.
9. "Mamamoo drops 2nd full-length album, 'reality in BLACK'". Korea Herald. November 4, 2019. Retrieved December 8, 2019.
10. "Solar's MAMAMOO "HIP" [Happy Together/2019.11.28]". KBS World. November 28, 2019. Retrieved December 8, 2019.
11. "'Universe' by Mamamoo on Genius". Genius. Retrieved December 9, 2019.
12. "Oricon Top 50 Albums: 2020-03-23" (in Japanese). Oricon. Retrieved March 18, 2020.
13. "Reality in Black on Gaon Album Chart (2019)". Gaon. November 21, 2019. Retrieved December 8, 2019.
14. "Reality in Black on US World charts (2019)". Billboard. November 20, 2019. Retrieved December 8, 2019.
15. 2019년 11월 Album Chart [November 2019 Album Chart]. Gaon Music Chart (in Korean). Retrieved December 12, 2019.
16. "2019년 Album Chart". Gaon. Retrieved January 10, 2020.
17. "2019년 12주차 Digital Chart". Gaon Chart (in Korean). Korea Music Content Industry Association. Retrieved May 22, 2019.
18. "Mamamoo's Billboard Kpop Hot 100 history". Billboard Korea. Retrieved December 8, 2019.
19. "Mamamoo's US World Digital Song Sales chart history". Billboard. Retrieved May 22, 2019.
20. "Mamamoo's Japan Hot 100 chart history". Billboard Japan. Retrieved December 8, 2019.
21. "NZ Hot Singles Chart". Recorded Music NZ. Retrieved December 8, 2019.
22. "2019년 48주차 Digital Chart". Gaon Chart (in Korean). Korea Music Content Industry Association. Retrieved December 8, 2019.
23. "Mamamoo's Billboard Kpop Hot 100 history". Billboard Korea. Retrieved December 8, 2019.
24. "Mamamoo's US World Digital Song Sales chart history". Billboard. Retrieved May 22, 2019.
25. "2019년 Digital Chart". Gaon. Retrieved January 10, 2020.
26. "Gaon Digital Chart" (in Korean). Gaon Music Chart. Retrieved February 2, 2015.
    • "Friday Night, Words Don't Come Easy, Emotion".
    • "Hometown", Funky Boy, Recipe, Just, Cat Fight". Archived from the original on 2016-08-16.
    • "Memory, I Love Too".
    • "Aze Gag, Finally, Love and Hate, Da Ra Da".
    • "Star Wind Flower Sun".
    • "Midnight Summer Dream".
    • "Waggy, Where R U, 25, Bad Bye".
    • "Destiny".
    • "Ten Nights".
27. "Mamamoo Chart History: K-Pop 100". Billboard. Retrieved August 7, 2019.
    • • "Aze Gag, Finally, Love and Hate". Archived from the original on 2018-06-14.
      • "Star Wind Flower Sun".
28. "MAMAMOO Wins With "HIP" On Show Champion"".
29. "MAMAMOO Wins With "HIP" On "M Countdown"".
30. "MAMAMOO Wins With "HIP" On "M Countdown"".
31. "MAMAMOO Wins With "HIP" On "Music Bank"".
32. "MAMAMOO Wins With "HIP" On "Inkigayo"".
33. TBA
34. TBA