Letter #125: Weki Meki, Mohae?
Good morning, Erin.
Sorry for the delay, seonbae—so much ridiculous real-life stuff to deal with. It’s like the universe doesn’t know my list of priorities starts with “letters to Erin” and that there’s a sizable gap before we hit the second item.
Ugh. Such a hassle.
But here we are, at long last: the Weki Meki letter—or, at least, the Weki Meki, Mohae? letter, which is ostensibly about my time with the group’s relatively short reality show following them around for the couple of months surrounding the promotion for their second EP, Lucky, but which is also going to serve as memorial to the now-disbanded love of my (very, very brief) k-pop life.
They deserved better. But what we did get was wonderful.
And now, I will share that with you. In great detail.
…okay, in some detail. I won’t make you sit through all 30 pages of notes.
Wait, unless I…no, never mind—I won’t. Promise.
…
Yes, promise.
So, without further ado: “Let’s get crazy!” (...which is the intro line for Weki Meki.)
0. Just so you know who we’re dealing with, Weki Meki has eight members: Suyeon, Elly, Yoojung, Doyeon, Sei, Lua, Rina, and Lucy (going oldest to youngest).
0A. I am in love with every single one of these girls.
0B. No, seriously. I don’t care that I am going to rank them at least once by the time this letter is over—if you ask me which of these eight girls is my bias, my answer will be “yes.”
0C. …except Yoojung is totally my bias—SHE’S JUST SO FRIKKIN’ CUTE. But that doesn’t mean I’m not also simultaneously in love with the other seven girls and if you tell them otherwise Erin I will never forgive you.
0D. So, despite my unshakable love for Weki Meki, my affinity for their music tends to come in small drips rather than being immediately wowed by their discography. That is, with the exception of the first track of theirs that I heard (which absolutely did grip me immediately), I pretty much shrugged off most of their tracks as not being my taste—but then I’d find myself humming one of those songs that I thought I didn’t particularly like…and then looping the song for days. And then, a month or so later, I’d find myself humming another song of theirs I didn’t think I liked. And then, a couple of weeks later, another one—until I found that I liked a whole bunch of their songs, actually, and couldn’t remember why I didn’t love all their tracks from the start.
0E. …which is a great time to list my (current) list of top Weki Meki songs:
“Picky Picky”
“I Don’t Like Your Girlfriend”
“La La La”
“Dazzle Dazzle”
“Lucky” (...which is kinda cheaty, ‘cus it’s basically a “La La La” remix, but it’s so good)
“Oopsy”
0F. “I Don’t Like Your Girlfriend” has my favorite choreography. “Picky Picky” is my favorite music video. I live for Sei’s “Booooooooooooooooy” 58 seconds into “La La La.” All of their relay dances are amazing—but they did a [quickly throws the title into google translate] “gap crush” version of “Dazzle Dazzle” where they edit together the girls doing three different style performances (one in regular stage costumes, one in cutesy pyjamas, and one in sexy Pulp Fiction-style suits) that absolutely rocks my socks.
0G. More than anything else, I think it’s fair to say Weki Meki’s strength is their dancing. The girls aren’t all at the same level, but you’d never know it from seeing them operate as a group: their movements are sharp, clean, and always in sync—and their choreography is THE BEST. Which is why their music videos are SO FRUSTRATING: they’re edited in such a way that you miss out on the best moments from the choreo. I know that videos are not designed to show off the full dance, but you’d think at least the most impressive parts would be given time to shine, but…no. (See: the arm spiral for “I Don’t Like Your Girlfriend.”) Because why would we want any part of Weki Meki to be managed in a way that gives them maximum impact?
0H. Yes, just as I discussed in my The Devil’s Plan letter, I absolutely ended up typing “I Don’t Like Your Boyfriend” in the section above and had to go back and correct it. Sigh.
0I. But maybe we should just get into Mohae, huh.
0J. …Elly’s blue hair for “Dazzle Dazzle” was best OKAY YES TALKING ABOUT THE SHOW NOW.
1. The stated goal of Weki Meki, Mohae? is to help people fall in love with the girls of Weki Meki so that they then become fans of the group. As far as that goes, I can’t say the show is much of a success. To me, the situations they are placed in feel vague and haphazard, a bit too dependent on the girls inventing fun for themselves rather than them having fun doing whatever they’re up to. Some of the set-up sections certainly work out well enough, but the most successful parts are mostly instances where the girls are just going about their days being idols—whether it’s rehearsing or trying to kill time as they wait for a photo shoot or performance. Left to their own devices, the girls are charming and cute and down-to-earth—but, admittedly, they aren’t often TV-level dynamic (apart from Yoojung) on their own, making this maybe not the best vehicle for luring people in. HOWEVER—if you already like Weki Meki, this will absolutely further endear you to the girls. So, for me, it was a fun time.
2. Comparatively, Weki Meki has much more personality as a group when they appear as guests on established variety/interview shows. All of their charms shine brightest when someone else is providing the proven structural momentum for them. So, I’d say the better bet would be checking them out on one of those shows (my suggestion: Ep 320 of Weekly Idol) first, if you want to get a feel for the group overall. Or watch their dance practice videos. I mean, definitely do that anyway (‘cus…wow), but I think you’d probably be better “seduced” by those than Mohae.
3. That said, Mohae starts pretty well. And, no, not because the series starts with the girls all wearing little pyjama shorts.
3A. Well, not just because they’re wearing sho—I mean, yes, obviously that was awesome, but it wasn’t specifically why it started off w—okay, just…let me explain:
3B. It seems that Mohae starts filming only a few months after Weki Meki’s debut, so the girls are ELATED to hear that they’re going to get a reality show and being given the same kind of treatment as all the groups they love—but they also don’t know they’re getting a reality show until after the show starts filming. That is, the first episode begins with the production crew sneaking into the girls’ apartment while they are still asleep to set up their cameras, then blasting music to wake the girls up. Only when the first couple of girls stumble out into the common area do they realize that there are 20 strangers in their home with video cameras and lights. As such, we start the show with the girls being introduced to us right after waking and, therefore, still in their little pyjama shorts.
3C. My favorite reaction to this ambush announcement comes from Yoojung, who is the slowest to react to the unfolding chaos, initially sitting up in her bed for about five minutes assuming she’s in the middle of having a strange dream. Only after Doyeon has repeatedly shouted at her to get up because they’re really going to film a reality show does she finally realize that she’s already awake. She then A) alternately mumbles and shouts noises to herself for several minutes, B) sort of bounds jovially out of her bedroom, and C) collapses in a heap on the floor when she realizes a room full of strangers has just seen her shimmy into the common room. Hilarious.
3D. Suyeon, on the other hand, quietly pulls the curtains around her bed shut, trying to avoid being officially woken up. Which I found immediately endearing.
3E. Also, Suyeon soooo reminds me of my college ex-girlfriend. (Like, even more than Lee Hye-ri does.) Which I find less endearing.
4. When the girls are tasked with luring 300 people to watch them perform a surprise concert at an amusement park, they approach a group of students in the hopes that they’d be interested in coming. The girls in the group recognize them and are happy to attend. The boys in the group do not recognize them but are happy to do whatever the pretty girls tell them to do.
5. Relatedly: as the girls wander through the amusement park trying to drum up interest in their surprise concert, Elly uses a little bullhorn to announce the details to those passing by. Yoojung then starts shouting the details—and drowns her out. Elly hands the bullhorn to Yoojung and walks away.
6. Overall, Sei’s role in the series is to be happy about something and then have her happiness cut out from under her. The first time this happens, she is telling Lucy that she noticed how slowly she (Sei) speaks when she’s tired. Lucy tells her that she always speaks slowly, causing Sei to respond by saying, “No…I…don’t!” with an annoyed pout.
7. Lua has cheekbone dimples, which are a thing I didn’t know a person could have.
8. The show spends a lot of time insisting that Doyeon is gorgeous—as if this is something anyone would need to be convinced of.
8A. At one point, Lucy is video-chatting with her mom, and she asks who her mom thinks the prettiest girl in the group is. “You, of course,” her mom answers. Then, as Lucy smiles broadly at the compliment, her mom says, “But, really, it’s Doyeon, isn’t it.”
9. For the Lunar New Year arc, the girls wear identical traditional poofy dresses, and I leave it to you to decide if I like this more than the pyjama shorts.
10. Boy, these girls sure do get excited about being able to get food. I don’t know if it’s because they’re foodies or because they don’t usually get to indulge, but it sure seems like 90% of their excitement over getting to do a reality show is that they anticipate it means lots of chances to stuff their faces. I love them either way, but…I mean, A LOT of the show is them eating. Or doing a game so they can.
11. Did you know Lucy can rip an apple in half with her bare hands? Because she can.
12. While in Japan for a promotional show, the girls are tasked with a Secret Santa-esque gift-buying mission for each other, and Yoojung ends up giving Rina a gift that leaves everyone in awe:
That’s right: the girls discovered the 1980s and could not believe the promise of something so magical.
12A. Meanwhile, Elly received a package that said, “Enjoy the gloves!” from Rina—and then unwraps it to find yarn and knitting needles. Which cracked me up. (There was also a small pair of gloves, which makes it sweet-funny instead of just mean-funny.)
12B. But then Sei excitedly opens up the biggest gift of the bunch…only to find that it was a styrofoam head with barrettes glued to it (from Lucy, who had won the biggest budget for buying gifts). She pouts, annoyed.
13. There’s a second Secret Santa-style even when the girls are in Thailand, and the best gift in that iteration is given to Elly by Lua: a tissue box that’s shaped like a butt. Where you pull the tissues out of the anus. It’s…incredible. Half the girls laugh uproariously at the sight of it—but Sei seems worried that their managers will be upset, Yoojung looks just shy of frustrated, and Elly is more confused than anything else. Lua, on the other hand, seems very sincere about why she chose it: “She…said she wanted it,” she says, quietly. (Elly doesn’t seem to remember this, but she doesn’t fight it.)
14. One of my fascinations with the show is seeing how the girls pair up when they walk anywhere. Not that there was ever a pattern to who would walk with whom, but…I dunno, I just always wanted to know. Even though I gleaned literally nothing from this.
15. The girls spend a couple of hours at an arcade in Tokyo, enthusiastically—and hilariously—starting their visit with the myriad claw machines on offer. I could not get enough of how infuriated they were with how “rigged” the machines were. (And they are, of course—at least in terms of not really being winnable in direct fashion.)
15A. Rina cottons onto the need to sort of move what you want to win incrementally towards the drop point, but she can’t quite finish the job. After her final attempt to knock her prize free, she crumples to the ground, softly whining at the claw. “How can you be so weak? Why are you like this?!”
15B. Unlike the gentle-mannered Rina, Yoojung goes extra…well, extra at the machine, tearfully throwing herself against the glass and shouting at the stuffed bear inside as though she was in a romance drama: “Why are you in there? We were supposed to meet at 12:15! You promised me! WHY ARE YOU LYING DOWN AND NOT SAYING ANYTHING?!” She then wanders off into a corner to curl up into a ball and sulk. Because she is a child. A hilarious, adorable child.
15C. …until Doyeon comes over and drags her over to the big drum rhythm game on the next floor, which is Yoojung’s favorite. She instantly perks up, as if she’s only ever been having a good time at the arcade. Because she is a child. A hilarious, adorable child.
15D. But don’t worry, Erin: some random Japanese guy wins the bear Yoojung had been crying over and gives it to her. He didn’t know who she was and wasn’t trying to hit on her or anything—he’s just really good at claw machine games and gets a thrill at winning, not at the prizes themselves. So he just hands her the bear. And she doesn’t stop hugging it for a couple of days.
16. In the hours before one of their performances, Sei grabs one of the cameras to play VJ and everyone just gives her a hard time when she goes to talk to them. She pouts, annoyed. (Then Lua comes over to talk to her, and she stops pouting.)
17. We get both Rina and Lua in floppy beach hats, at different points, and I leave it to you to decide if I like this more than the pyjama shorts.
18. Did you know Suyeon is a human calculator? Because she is.
19. There are a few surprisingly serious, emotional moments throughout the series (such as when Doyeon and Yoojung admit they feel like they’re letting the other girls down by not being able to bring Weki Meki the attention and success they got from being in I.O.I), but, for me, nothing beats the makeup tutorial segment, where a makeup YouTuber comes in to help the girls with specific makeup-related problems. (Sei, for example, wonders how to offset how small her lips are.) When it’s Lua’s turn, she tells the woman that she’s really self-conscious about how uneven her eyes are—specifically, how she feels like she never looks good in any of the photos they have to take for their albums or promotional stuff. She tries to smile through her explanation, but you can see how upset she is. Which suddenly gives the audience context for a moment several episodes earlier, when the girls were having a photo shoot for their new mini-album: after Lua’s individual photos were taken, she sort of wanders away from everyone, and Rina has to go over and console her. Because the girls all know she’s upset about how her eyes look in pictures, and none of them can do anything to make her feel better.
19A. Now, in fairness, each of the girls has a mode that works best for them and a mode that doesn’t work as well for them. (Except literal professional model Doyeon. She’s always on.) So, yes, Lua doesn’t look her best when she tries to do “striking supermodel face”—but she beams when she’s happy, so she rocks the playful look…which they just don’t go for, very often. (Fortunately, she eventually cuts her hair shorter and shorter and starts to own the whole “princely” vibe, so I want to say this becomes less of an issue for her. But that’s well after the Mohae period.)
19B. Anyway—point is, it broke my heart to see her doubt herself so strongly.
20. All eight girls will at one point or another complain about their faces looking “puffy”—whatever the hell that means. I hear it all the time, and I swear I must not know what they’re talking about because no one ever looks “puffy” when they say that they are. I mean, certainly with Weki Meki, I don’t think there was a moment when any of them looked less than gorgeous—and I mean that literally, whether they’d just woken up or just been through that YouTuber’s professional makeover. (Plus, doesn’t face puff just mean more squish to smooch? And you know I love a squishy cheek.)
21. Lucy really likes to eat. Like, really, really likes to eat.
22. Speaking of: there’s a mukbang episode, believe it or not—or, rather, there’s an episode that features a famous(?) mukbang YouTuber who comes on to do a mukbang-y segment with them. Only four of the girls will be in the segment with him. Yoojung, Elly, and Sei aren’t at all interested, leaving the other five to decide who the four will be. Everyone agrees Lucy should do it because she’s the biggest eater. Then everyone agrees that Doyeon should do it because she’s got (their words) a big mouth that will look good having food put in it. Lua and Rina are huuuuuuuuge fans of the mukbang guy and both want to be in the segment—but Suyeon pulls rank (as the oldest) because she’s hungry and just wants to eat something, leaving one spot for the two fangirls. Lua bows out so the more outwardly excited Rina can do it. She’s smiling, but you can tell she’s disappointed. And I feel awful for her, again.
22A. But don’t worry, Erin—halfway through the mukbang video, Doyeon makes the executive decision to let Lua swap in for her! And she just f***ing devours everything in front of her. Like, the YouTuber legitimately gawks and tells her how impressed he is with her. She’s thrilled. It’s adorable. I love Lua.
23. …but not as much as I love Yoojung. (Or, well, officially exactly as much as Yoojung—but you know what I mean.) The show introduces her as being “bold and daring” (read as: loud and frequently impulsive), emphasizing that she is a ball of energy who cannot ever sit still. And that is all absolutely true. It’s what often leads to her funniest moments: she’s got this childlike exuberance and playfulness that drives her, meaning she doesn’t often hesitate to express her thoughts in whatever way strikes her fancy, which usually means she’ll say or do something no one else would think to. Which is how we get magical moments like this:
I mean…how can you not love this girl? She’s ridiculous.
24. Believe it or not, Mohae actually has some fairly prominent product placement: an English-learning service called Engoo, which allows you to have something like 20-minutes video chats with native English speakers so you can practice having casual conversations in English. Which is such a handy coincidence since the girls so frequently find themselves wishing they could work on their English skills! Coincidentally!
24A. I mean, as much as this is obviously a sponsorship thing, it really does seem like at least Doyeon legitimately uses the service—or is easily the best at making it look like she does. We get to see everyone use it at least once, and it’s not difficult to see who’s there as a corporate requirement and who’s potentially able to use the service properly.
24B. Based on what we see of their conversations, either Lua or Rina is the best English speaker. We only see Rina use the service once (with Lua, as it turns out), so there isn’t as much to judge as we have with Lua (who does it three separate times, I think), which means I can’t really say who is better than whom. Both girls seem to understand what’s being said very well. Rina seems to respond more naturally, but Lua seems like she might have a broader vocabulary and is chattier. Which is how we learn about all the movies Lua likes to watch but mostly only that Rina thinks the Korean actor in Maze Runner is “sexy.” (To which Lua responds, “...I was going to say ‘cute’.”)
24C. Doyeon is probably the only other member whose English is good enough to really get by, though she doesn’t think that’s the case. Her English is a bit broken, but she speaks what she knows confidently (and correctly enough). What impressed me about her was that she clearly knows enough English to be aware of when she misspeaks or comes up against a gap in her knowledge—that is, she isn’t just throwing spaghetti at the wall when she speaks. She also likes to take selfies with the person on the video chat. Which I would never think to do. But, y’know, I don’t take selfies, so maybe that’s not saying much.
24D. Doyeon is also the only one with any chill when the native English speaker turns out to be a handsome guy. I mean, she sort of gawks for a moment, but she rolls with it. Meanwhile, Suyeon basically starts hooting at the guy and telling him that he’s hot. And poor Sei turns into a little girl with a crush on her friend’s dad, shrinking in on herself with a giggly expression on her face—but still muttering to him that he’s hot. (She’d been dragged to the session by Doyeon, who was appalled with Sei’s English skills, and you could see how much she wished she could say something to the guy. Like, Doyeon tells him a story about how she had just met Drew Barrymore, and the look on Sei’s face…hilarious. When the session ends, Sei says she wishes it didn’t have to end so quickly—which the show puts up a caption to frame her comment as being about how Engoo is such a good service that you just want to continue studying, but we all know she just wanted to spend more time looking at the handsome dude.)
24E. But, even so, I think the Engoo session of the season came while Weki Meki was in Thailand, with Yoojung hoping the woman on the video chat can tell her her how to ask someone where the bathroom is, because she’d had an upset stomach the previous day and had had a hard time getting someone to point her in the right direction. HOWEVER…just as she struggled with asking in English the previous day, she had a hard time asking the Engoo video chat person the same thing. So, forced to improvise, Yoojung describes “having an upset stomach” as “having a cold that made me sneeze out my butt.” Which is just sensational.
24F. Meanwhile, Lucy can’t really speak English, but she’s pretty good with individual words. So, she can’t have a conversation with you, but she might kick your butt at Hangman.
25. The Weki Meki promotional concerts in Tokyo are performed at a Tower Records—which blew my frikkin’ mind. We haven’t had a Tower Records in I think all of America in 18 years.
26. Speaking of the trip to Japan: we learn that A) Elly is an excellent packer—and she takes literally anything she thinks could possibly need with her; B) Rina decides not to pack much, because she can just borrow anything she needs from Elly; and C) Yoojung’s “special talent” is being able to easily fit inside a standard-sized suitcase…which she proves by crawling into Doyeon’s empty luggage.
26A. Of course, the reality is that her special talent is being able to do pretty much any k-pop dance on record. I mean, she is an excellent dancer (and the best in Weki Meki), and if you have not yet seen her in the “girls version” of EXO’s “Growl,” treat yourself right now. And then look up her impression of PSY.
27. At the end of their trip to Thailand, the girls float little ceremonial wish-granting “boats” out into the water. Each of them makes a wish about Weki Meki continuing to work hard for each other and their fans—except Elly, who says she hopes they win the lottery. I love Elly.
28. Sei and Doyeon bicker frequently, in an old-married-couple kind of way. Which people enjoyed so much that, at the “awards show” they have near the end of Mohae, the pair wins a “best chemistry” award. Sei excitedly walks over to Doyeon and takes her arm. Doyeon then hits her in the face with a rose to get her off. Sei pouts, annoyed.
29. Yoojung’s defense for (sensibly) chickening out of going on the giant rope-swing “ride” at the amusement park:
Hilarious. And channeling my littler little sister. So, double-hilarious.
29A. …and then she takes a picture of herself in the harness you need to wear for the “ride” so that it will look like she went on. So, triple-hilarious.
30. Doyeon is absent from a chunk of the Japan trip because she’s filming a web series back in Korea—the male lead for which is JUN-HO FROM EXTRAORDINARY ATTORNEY WOO!
31. During a special restaurant trip for seafood, each girl takes a turn gifting another member a piece of her meal as thanks for something specific that member had done for her. Suyeon selects Lucy, who is then told it’s her turn to make a pick. Lucy says she’s too thankful to all the girls to pick just one person, so she eats the piece she’s supposed to give one of the others instead. Everyone keeps going from there, but, because of Lucy’s choice, Sei is the only member of the team who does not receive a food gift. She pouts, annoyed.
32. Oh, gosh, have I not given you my rankings for the girls? Well, let’s fix that right now! From favorite to also-favorite-but-not-as-much:
Yoojung
Elly
Sei
Rina
Suyeon
Lua
Lucy
Doyeon
33. I’m sure it’s a designer or something, but one of Rina’s t-shirts she wears to bed says, in big block letters, “THE F***IN BLACK JACKET.” (But without the censoring.) Which…seems very out of character for her. Which makes me wonder if anyone has any idea what her shirt says.
34. I’m not sure what to make of this, exactly, but Yoojung puts a suspicious amount of effort into trying to kiss her bandmates. Like, not just on the cheek, I mean. (She does do that, though. And snuggles up to people. She’s quite openly affectionate.) She throws her arms around someone’s neck and moves in to full-on mouth-kiss her AT LEAST four times that we see. Whether she’s ultimately into girls or not, I think it’s a goof—certainly when she’s trying to kiss Elly, who is the only one in the group who openly dislikes being physically affectionate with anyone (and, thus, Yoojung is trying to playfully annoy her)...but Suyeon seemed sort of blase about it, only stopping Yoojung because she knew her mom told her not to do that on TV, and Lua seemed aaaaaaaalllll set to get right into it but pulled back at the last second. So…I dunno. Maybe it’s part of the whole idol life, and Yoojung just needs to get her, um, energy out with whomever she’s allowed to be around.
34A. Hang on—at one point, Lua promises not to kiss the girls if they share their food with her. They agree, and she seems really hurt. Rina in particular is very vocal about accepting those terms—but Yoojung is suspiciously quiet. She’s never quiet. Hmmmmmm.
35. And one more Yoojung story: the group is at the beach, eating some snacks, and seagulls eventually come by in increasing numbers to see if they can nab some of the girls’ snacks. While everyone else is sort of half-nervous about this. Yoojung absolutely revels in the size of the swarm that’s approaching them, gleefully tossing her chips in the air to get them to swirl around her. When she runs out of chips, she sprints up the beach to the snack shop to buy more. While she’s gone, the seagulls continue to pile in around the girls, with one whacking Sei in the head (who pouts, annoyed) and another pooping all over the back of Elly’s coat. When she returns, Yoojung seems displeased to have not been a part of the seagull-contact festivities and, as such, covers her body in corn chips, demanding the seagulls swoop down and eat off of her. Because she’s a loon. A hilarious, adorable loon.
…and we’ll end it there, lest this turn into a play-by-play of literally the entire show.
I dunno if you found any of this interesting, but…I just really love these girls. And I appreciate the chance to talk about them.
There was something both fitting and terribly sad about hearing them lament “the end” (of recording Mohae) just as I knew they were going through “the end” of Weki Meki in the real world. I’ve been a fan for about ten months, but I’m still devastated. And I’ll never get over it.
…no matter how much I’m loving this rebound I’m having with IVE.
Anyway.
More soon—but, like, actually soon, this time. Promise.
…
Yes, promise.
—Daryl
P.S. - Speaking of heartbreak followed by a rebound: my car was, in fact, totalled—which saddens me to no end…buuuuut I also bought a new car, and I’m head-over-heels in love with her.
Her name is Ju-mi.
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