Lakshmi너는 멍청이 yeah yeah
Twit twit twit twit!
K-pop artist Hwasa rose to prominence as a member of the girl group Mamamoo, breaking it as a solo artist with her multiple-award-winning debut single Twit.
She embarked on her first solo world tour in spring 2024 with stops in South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore, before entering the North American market in spring 2025, starting with Seattle and ending in Chicago.
Her soundcheck was good, but it was her energetic performance during the live concert that was the show-stealer. After a Bollywood-style video played in the background, she opened the concert with Hwasa, her self-titled track which she claims gave her strength to follow her dreams as a small-town girl into a record-breaking solo artist.
This was followed by Chili and undoubtedly her most popular track to date—Twit, which also happens to be the name of her extensive passionate fanbase.
In quick succession, she performed her side of the duet with Loco, Somebody!, Snooze, Lemon and Don’t.
The next segment shocked me, as I really didn’t have a clue about it until I heard the speakers’ blast “Diva is a female version of a hustler…”. Beyoncé’s Diva, Madonna’s Hung Up, Jennifer Lopez’s Let’s Get Loud and Britney’s Toxic were performered by this incredible woman. The whole crowd went wild as Hwasa began what she later addressed as her “Mother Medley”. Her dancing technique, singing and unapologetically energized performance was iconic and definitely a commendable tribute to the artists who inspired her to become the idol she is today.
Next, she performed Road, Ego and Kidding, before singing a soulful rendition of the song LMM, which she originally sang during an award performance shortly after the passing of the late Lee Sung-Kyun.
Subsequent to this emotional set was Maria, which she initially started as an a capella standing with a mic and singing alone on stage! I thought that was it, she had gone into emo mode and wasn’t getting out, but suddenly this music blasted for the original version of Maria and she broke into hardcore dancing. The crowd went insane.
The party mode was back on. She tuned into a rendition of Lady Gaga’s Always Remember Us This Way before swerving to the Mamamoo hits like Décalomanie, Egoistic, Dingga and Hip. The Mamamoo fans literally knew all the words by-heart!!
She said she would leave soon and performed NA and I Love My Body with killer moves in what seemed like her final performance of the night. She literally exited the stage after that and I noticed some people leaving the venue!
But, after a while, she came back for her encore and sang Lunch by Billie Eilish. Now, do I need to explain the audience’s reaction to this? I mean you can gauge it, right?
I bet she was super-exhausted by then because she performed a shortened version of NA and then actually left the stage and eventually our city.
What I like about her concert is the little videos that she makes of herself: every time she enters a city and goes around discovering that city, eating something, grocery shopping or simply getting ready for the live concert, the moments are captured on camera, adding to the personal touch depicting her love for that city.
For instance, if she is in Toronto, there was a video on the giant screen as a filler, where she can be seen buying every Ketchup Lays packet around the place she is staying.
She is a performer. Like a real performer who gives it her all on stage— physically and vocally, until she exhausts herself so much that she is barely able to sing a syllable after an action-packed two-hour set. I don’t even know how much she must be rehearsing to be able to perform like that in each show, with only a gap of around 2-3 days between each one!
If you ever get a chance to see her, go. Don’t even think ‘If’.
Lakshmi
