Ephney Tsai Girl group cignature has made their return with their fourth EP, Us in the Summer. Coming out towards the end of the season, the album was created with nostalgic memories of hot and happy days and the melancholic feeling of outgrowing those youthful summers. Following the release of the album, members of cignature shared some of their collective and individual thoughts on the album.
As a whole, this new EP focuses on topics and concepts that cignature has not shown their fans previously. “This album delves into the pure and innocent love experienced by girls. It explores the feelings of first love, puppy love, and the inner stories of individuals. In a world where expressing love has become somewhat challenging, we aim to help people rediscover their inner innocence through our performances and music, as if they’ve returned to their childhood,” started Chaesol. “Instead of adopting a new approach, we focused on getting the emotions just right by engaging in extensive discussions among the members. Personally, I prepared for it by immersing myself in movies and books that could help evoke memories from the past.” Chiming in, Seline believes the summer season itself is the biggest difference from their previous releases. “Our prior release was during the winter, so we aimed for a bright and energetic vibe. In contrast, this is a seasonal summer song, and we tried to capture the cool, refreshing, yet laid-back feeling of summer.”
The Us in the Summer EP consists of four tracks, each with a different musical style and meaning. First on the track list is “Mess With My Mind (어젯밤 이야기),” which starts the group’s summer gathering off with talks about love. “For “Mess With My Mind,” [the song is] like talking to a friend about the hardship of love,” shared Chloe, thinking about what makes the song unique. The next track is “Smooth Sailing (안녕, 인사해),” the main title song for the album. “For our title track, “Smooth Sailing”, there is a part where we exchange diaries, and our members wrote down the diary entries and we exchanged it with each other.” This song is the main track of the comeback EP, not just for its upbeat and summery vibe, but because of the members’ contributions, too. “Jeewon came up with the idea of the choreography. It was actually for a challenge, but our CEO really liked it so we are actually doing the ‘bow’ part in the actual choreography,” started Chloe, giving some insight into the process. “Also, I picked up this outfit for the music video and our CEO really liked it, so we were wearing that in the music video.” Moreover, the track itself was chosen by the members to be the title track. “It was a unanimous opinion that we really liked this song. We actually went through around 50 songs to pick a best one for the comeback, and this was the song that we picked.”
The third song on the tracklist is “Sorry So Sorry,” a song about walking away from a love that causes concerns and worries. “I believe the vibe of the song “Sorry So Sorry” is perfect for Semi,” Chaesol said. “Her vocal tone, which initiates the song, harmonizes seamlessly with the track, making it very captivating right from the recording stage. Furthermore, the song’s overall atmosphere, combined with her voice, allowed us to convey the essence of the song exceptionally well.” The last song in the EP is “Little Me,” a song offering comfort to an anxious inner child. For Dohee, this song reminds her of fellow member Chaesol. “She serves as an exceptional advisor not just to our members but also to our fans, consistently offering uplifting words of encouragement. Given that ‘Little Me’ centers on providing comfort to a worried self, I found it to be a reflection of Chaesol’s character.”
Putting the four songs together, the best way to describe the EP in one word would be “youth.” Us in the Summer goes through several different scenarios and emotions, capturing the fleeting youthfulness of falling in love in the summer. Chloe revealed, “This album marks our first attempt to capture the feeling of confusion. We believe that everyone goes through similar moments of confusion in their lives, and by witnessing our confidence in handling it, we hope our listeners can find empathy and solace.” On the purpose of the EP, Jeewon shared, “Furthermore, we’ve put a lot of effort into creating this album with the intention of being a source of energy and positivity. We hope that, as they listen to this album, our audience can sense and draw inspiration from that energy.”
With this new release, cignature’s greatest hope is to provide hope, strength, and positivity for their fans. “We want our fans to feel a sense of happiness when they watch our performances and listen to our music. We believe in consistently producing great songs that resonate with the public, so that people can trust that cignature’s music is always worth listening to,” Jeewon began. “Since our debut, we’ve been dedicated to creating rich and fulfilling music by incorporating various instruments and harmonizing with our voices. In this album, we’ve continued to emphasize harmony, adding adlibs and striving for top-notch sound quality. In comparison to our debut, our individual musical skills have improved, allowing us to convey a wider range of emotions. This enables us to express our feelings more honestly in our songs, and I believe this is the most significant difference compared to our debut music.” Continuing to describe their musical development and evolution, Chaesol proudly reiterated how much they’ve grown. “We’ve definitely improved our live performances since our debut, and our teamwork has also become stronger.” Dohee, agreeing with Chaesol, referred back to the EP’s title track to describe their path. “Just like in ‘Smooth Sailing,’ we often showcase the chemistry between our members. We hope that both the public and our fans see cignature as a group that brings happiness just by watching us. That’s the kind of group we aspire to be.”
Wrapping up with one final message, Seline shared that this release, suited to the season, is hopefully one of many to come in the future. “This is our quickest comeback, with just seven months since our last one, and it’s our first summer seasonal song. I’m really excited to show our fans what cignature’s summer style is all about. I hope this paves the way for more seasonal songs in the future.”
