I am CL,
so everything I do, I'm gonna make sure,
you know, it's me.
I think "HWA" definitely was an extension of who I was,
and I want this to be the bridge of what sound I want to go,
'cause it has, you know, all the K-pop essence also,
which I, you know, come from.
I have different layers,
so now that I am completely a solo artist,
I want to make sure I introduce different layers
and talk about different things that I never got to before.
I had this song for a while, but I wanted to make sure,
I don't know, it was visual.
All my songs that come out, it's visual for me.
And I felt like I wasn't getting there
with the original version.
So one day, you know,
I just thought about that Korean version hide and seek.
And from there, it's take off.
How you play it is,
I think this is like the most important part
of explaining the lyrics.
It's when you say
and I turn around, then everyone has to stop
and look at me until I look back.
Because I wanted this to be my comeback song,
and I haven't been putting out music
for over two, three years.
It's almost like Pink, you know,
like when she was like,
"Na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na,"
like that one, that like kept going on in my head.
And I wanted that.
Like, that felt like a intro to me.
I'm starting independent for a reason.
And you know, letting people that want to do this,
want to come back from whatever they're going through,
to be like haters are always gonna be there
and they're always gonna have something to say.
There's a difference between being different and wrong.
means you wanna play this game?
You got it?
Mugunghwa, which is the national flower of Korea,
has blossomed.
So even if you don't know the game,
it means it's talking about me,
that I finally grew up to be my own self as a artist.
That's the game.
And
so I'm the one who's leading the game.
And the other half is,
is part of the hide-and-seek game where it's like,
"Make sure you hide
and not let a single hair follicle be seen."
It's a very Korean saying, but you know,
that's how unseen I want them to be.
No.
This is also a Korean saying.
And it means, "Sometimes when there's no news,
it's good news."
And I think it is, to be honest,
'cause how can someone have news all the time?
That's very, that's a very dramatic life.
That's a Korean saying,
and I'm talking about that,
like I said, I've been kind of gone for a while.
So that was not to be worried about to my fans also,
You know, it was good for me.
Ppeongtwigi is like the Korean rice cake
where you put a lot of pressure and heat into the rice,
and at one point it just suddenly, out of nowhere,
it pops and it becomes this big.
Don't sell your soul easily.
You know, like I said, like your identity, yourself,
like is what's gonna keep you steady forever.
So don't easily do that.
Maybe you have to share it sometimes,
but make sure you're sharing,
you know you're sharing it,
when you do.
You can't kill me - is,
you know, I'm pretty sure a lot of people
thought I could never bounce back, but I did.
- Got it?
Is, "This my seat, got it?"
And I'm not saying like...
I'm just saying where whatever role I play
where, who I am, this is my seat.
I'm not saying anyone took that seat,
I'm just saying like, "This is my seat, got it?"
"Keep it very cherry,"
has a lot to do with me
putting this project out independently.
It's, "I'm alone, you're in a group,"
and -,
it also means, "You can't quite make it,"
but that's a twist.
Then I say I keep it very cherry,
'cause Very Cherry is the name of my team
that I put together from scratch.
When anyone does follow me, or copy me,
I think it's flattering.
That's what I do as a artist.
That's what I want to do to people,
inspire them and all that.
So I'm like, "I'm here, let's do it."
"I'm fire, I'm burning up this stage.
I'm water, I'll wake you up.
I'm knife,
if you come close, you'll get cut."
I'm not saying I'm literally fire, or water,
but it just means, yeah, these are the things I wanna do.
Burn up the stage, not literally, everyone.
Wake people up, you know, water,
like just third-eye wise, like thinking wise,
and, you know, just don't come...
You know, I'm pretty... I'm cool,
but don't come too close.
I will bite you or cut you.
And every word I spit is a seed.
How interesting is it in 2020 I have four verses?
That alone I think is a, "Fuck you," to everyone.