PRETZELLE, a Thai female vocal group composed of four talented performers – Inc, Ice, Aumaim, and Grace – is the group that’s ready to fully break T-pop into the international market.
Just last week, PRETZELLE released their comeback single titled “U R Mine,” which positively astounded fans who were not expecting such a new musical direction for the group. With their stunning choreography, impeccable songwriting skills, and gorgeous melodies, PRETZELLE pulled out yet another successful return with a song that feels more confident and powerful than anything else they’ve released before. Adding to the magic of “U R Mine” is the mixer of the song, Shin BongWon, who also happens to be the mixer of NewJeans’ recent hit, “Ditto.”
Since debuting in early 2020, PRETZELLE’s music has reached over 85 million plays across all streaming platforms. As they continue to explore the concept of love, their musical journey only strengthens, and fans definitely have so much to look forward to within this upcoming year.
Pop Crave chatted with PRETZELLE about their new comeback single, “U R Mine,” the evolution of their musical sound, and their reaction to watching their latest music video for the first time. Keep reading for the full interview!
Hi PRETZELLE, congratulations on the big release of “U R Mine”! For those reading who haven’t heard the new song yet, how would you describe the concept of the song and what it personally means to you?
AUMAIM: For us, we’re very excited for the songs to be released because we write the songs ourselves, so everybody is involved in the writing process of the song. With the song content and everything, we really like the song in general with the melodies and everything. It’s something very fresh and something PRETZELLE has never done before.
The lyrics for “U R Mine” are entirely written by the four of you. How long did that songwriting process take, and would you say being part of the writing process has made you feel more passionate about the song?
AUMAIM: The process of songwriting in general, the whole song is written in two days. The process of corrections and everything, to make sure that the melodies go along with the lyrics, takes about a week. It makes us understand more of the songs and what we want to convey. When it comes to recording, it’s easier for us because we’re very into the lyrics.
“U R Mine” is mixed by Shin BongWon who also recently mixed “Ditto” by NewJeans. What was it like hearing the production of “U R Mine” for the first time, and how impressed were you by the production that BongWon had put together?
GRACE: We were excited to hear it since the melodies already with just the demo, because the melody is very catchy and everything. After the recording and when we heard the pre-mixed version a bit, we thought there was a lot of intricacy in the vocal recordings, and we felt that it would sound very, very good. After we heard this version of it, it sounds amazing! The production is very good, and we’d like to thank Shin BongWon for helping us mix the song.
I’ve seen so much love for “U R Mine” on social media! How does it feel to be receiving such positive feedback from fans about the new song?
ICE: We’re very happy because this is our second comeback officially, and we were very excited to release the song. After its release, there was a lot of positive feedback. We worked really, really hard on it, and we feel like our hard work is being paid off.
The music video for “U R Mine” is so much fun, and you guys have a history of amazing music videos! How fun was it to play a group of powerful company bosses, and what was your favorite part about filming this music video?
INC: It’s funny because I’ve never had to act like this before as a boss person. My favorite part is the part where I’m in it [laughs]! It’s the part where I have to scold the actor.
GRACE: Overall with the MV, there’s something quite fresh because it’s a concept we’ve never done before. It’s something quite memorable because to us, it’s something very new. Our fanclubs, TWISTS, have never seen PRETZELLE this way before, and we’re very excited!
AUMAIM: For me, it’s a lot of fun as well! Becoming a boss is something I dreamed of when I was a kid, and it’s come to fruition from PRETZELLE’s MV [laughs]!
The reaction video to the “U R Mine” MV was such a treat to watch! How nervous or exciting is it to watch yourself back in a music video for the very first time?
ICE: Both! Both at the same time [laughs]!
GRACE: We’re excited because during filming, we film quite a lot. There’s a lot more that hasn’t made it to the cut, so we want to see, when the MV comes out with the finished product, how it will look like.
You have some fabulous choreographies, with the “OH MY GOD!” choreography being one of my personal favorites. How did learning the choreography for “U R Mine” compare to other choreographies you’ve had to learn in the past?
INC: The look of the choreography is more confident, and there’s a lot more sexiness in the dance moves!
GRACE: And the song is not as hip-hop as the other previous songs. It’s more of PRETZELLE’s style.
AUMAIM: This song, we use a lot of arm movement, and the dance moves are quite easy. We had a lot of fun dancing, because we feel like these types of dance moves are easy. It’s very us. We hope a lot of people can dance along with the song as well.
Since debuting, PRETZELLE has had over 85 million music plays, and the number keeps climbing with each new release! How does it feel to know you have such a fast growing fanbase with every new release that comes out?
INC: It feels good. We’re very thankful for the fanclubs. There are fanclubs in the fanbase that are consistently selling PRETZELLE to potentially new fanclubs.
ICE: In every release, the fanclubs help us a lot with trending hashtags, cutting videos into cute videos on Twitter, tagging us and everything. We’re very thankful for that. I’m very glad that people are actually waiting for us to release new songs. We usually do a premiere, and there’s a lot of people waiting to see the premiere.
For those who haven’t been able to visit Thailand, how would you describe the beautiful culture and music that you grew up on?
AUMAIM: Thai culture is very soft, and it’s very distinct in the sense that people are very kind and humble. They’re very kind.
GRACE: Thailand has a lot of music styles, and Thai people really like to listen to music. There’s many, many songs that become a trend.
ICE: Thai people are inherently funny. With the Thai language, it’s a tonal language. Thai music has more tonal characteristics to it, so there’s a lot of plays on melodies and words that we can add to the music itself.
AUMAIM: I want to expand on what Ice was saying with Thai people being funny. There’s a lot of funniness in Thai because we have a lot of catchphrases on TikTok that we’re saying, and the exciting part of that is that artists are always picking up on those words and then composing it into songs.
PRETZELLE debuted in early 2020. Since your debut, how do you think you’ve musically grown as a group over the past three years?
ICE: We’ve grown musically, as well as with the story that is being told. The whole debut, we started telling a story about love, and it’s more like some sort of kid love or puppy love, and now we’ve sort of grown in the lyrical sense. We feel like we’ve grown with the songs that we’ve released as well.
INC: Not just only the songs themselves, but the looks as well. From our debut song, “Never Give Up,” it’s very sweet and young.
GRACE: The understanding of love itself, it’s not very understood yet. Now, it’s sort of grown into something about more of a young woman and young adult now. Our fans since the beginning, they’ll see the development of the lyrical sense with growing as a person with the concept of love, growing up with the lyrics of the songs as they release.
AUMAIM: If you haven’t listened to us since the beginning, if you go listen to our first few songs, you’ll see the story of love is being plotted. As we are learning about love, we are growing with the knowledge of learning about love.
Are more live performances something fans can get excited about in 2023?
GRACE: We haven’t performed live since New Year’s, and we’re always excited to go and perform live anywhere. This song, “U R Mine,” has never been performed anywhere yet, so we are very excited to go perform this song!
Now, I felt it was important to end on a question about actual pretzels. Can any of you name the place or moment in your life where you had the best pretzel you’ve ever had?
AUMAIM: There’s a Thai brand that sells pretzels, and then they hire us to go eat pretzels at their store, and then we dance with them to our music [laughs]!
PRETZELLE’s new song, “U R Mine,” is out now.
