It’s been 358 days since Whee In’s last visit to San Francisco. But she’s now back.
It’s been nearly a year since the last time she returned to the place natives calls The City. The last time, she toured with her group Mamamoo. But for this US tour – named Whee In IN THE MOOD from her Instagram (@whee_inthemood) – she would perform as a soloist at the Palace of Fine Arts.
Known as one of the four members of Mamamoo, the group debuted back in 2014. Over the years, Whee In has been lauded for her smooth, powerful vocals, as she eventually released her own solo work in 2018, her single album Magnolia. In more recent times, in 2023 she released her full album, In The Mood. This year, she released her single, Wheee, in preparation for her 2024 concert tour, IN THE MOOD.
With the throngs of radish, white-and-green Mamamoo light sticks called Moobangs shining in the audience, it’s time to kick off Whee In’s SF show.
Opening the Concert with a Bang
The starlet opened up her concert with “I Know I Know I Know (Beyond)” to the delight of the Mamamoo fans, dubbed Moomoos. Throughout the concert, she danced with four dancers – two male and two female dancers – as she and her team brought the energy early on. Whee In balanced her powerful vocals with her dancing moves, singing hits such as “Spark,” “Water Color, and “Bite Me.” She showed off her vocals in her songs “Butterfly” and “On the Island.”
Later in the concert, she would perform her collabs, such as “Easy” with rapper Sik-K, as well as “Trash” with rapper PH-1. She would later switch up to more upbeat songs “17 feat. Hwasa” and “Make Me Happy.”
One of the unique concepts of this concert was featuring the makeup team. They came out often during the second half of the show, where they would fix her costume, wipe sweat off Whee In’s foreheard, and reapply makeup every 10 or so minutes. While the makeup team was fixing her up, Whee In would talk normally, like the four people surrounding her wasn’t even there.
At one point, she said, “at other concerts, you don’t get these makeup, behind the scenes. But at my concert, I decided to show this part” to the laughter of the audience. This comedic part of the concert was well-welcomed and rarely seen at K-pop concerts.
Pop Quzzing Whee In
During the intermissions, a video would be displayed showing Whee In’s staff and her talking behind-the-scenes. A question would show up, such as “Does Whee In like cold or hot drinks better?” or “does she like sweet or salty food more?” The video would wait for a few seconds for the audience to answer before revealing Whee In’s answer.
These intermission videos were a clever way to show Whee In’s tastes while she was changing into another outfit backstage.
One of the most interesting questions posed was, “Does Whee In prefer being in a group or being a soloist?” Of course, this question is quite loaded. Fortunately, she says she prefers being part of Mamamoo than being a soloist (although I’m sure she liks being solo too).
Her love for SF
“Hello San Francisco!” Whee In shouted at the beginning of her concert.
She described her visit to San Francisco as cozy and relaxing, as she and her team arrived in SF a few days before her concert. During this time, she showed pictures touring the city, walking down the streets visiting food stands, and shopping.
Whee In said she wished she had more time to tour the city, yet because of her tour, her sleeping schedule was thrown off. So she often found herself catching up on sleep to readjust to the West Coast time.
Yet, when she was awake, she had some entertaining Bay Area stories. In one funny story, she said she visited Pier39 to visit her friend she saw last year with Mamamoo, a seal named James. Yet, when she saw James, he was sunbathing and sleeping. Whee In joked that maybe she should have texted the seal, telling him she’s coming to visit James beforehand.
It’s Getting Steamy in Here
During the midpoint of the concert, the mood shifted to more sensual and sultry. One of the video intermissions showed Whee In writing on a mirror “deserve” with red lipstick. Then the singer soon appeared with a revealing outfit, marking the more mature portion of the show.
She performed the full version of the song “Deserve,” “On the Stage,” and “Dance 4 You,” showing off some risqué moves and showing a more sexual side of Whee In. Fans were eating it up and cheering perhaps the loudest during the more mature portion of the show.
After all the sultry songs were over, Whee In asks the audience, “you guys really liked that section, didn’t you?” to the hollers of “yesss we did!” She then replies, “you guys are 변태 (byeong-tae)” or “perverts” to the delight of the audience. The crowd wasn’t backing down from their perverted tag that the Mamamoo singer bestowed on them. They wanted more of that mature side from her in the future.
As Whee In switched up to a more poppy, upbeat song in “17,” the finale was soon coming.
Her Finale and Encore
After she finished the song “Here I Am,” she declared that was her final song. Yet, with all K-pop concerts, that was definitely not her last song, as the audience chanted “encore, encore, encore!” as the lights went off.
Five minutes later, as expected, Whee In came back with her dancers in more casual wear to perform “Ohoo.” She would perform four more songs after: “Shh,” “Springtime,” “D-DAY,” and the true final song, “Whee.”
After finishing “Whee,” she took pictures with the audience and thanked her dancers and staff. Then she promised to be back in SF. Whether that will be as a soloist or as part of Mamamoo, it’s safe to say that Whee In will be welcomed back with open arms.
A special thanks goes to Wonderwall, who invited us at Popsori as media / press to cover the Whee In concert. We’re truly humbled to cover this event.