BEHIND THE CALLA
Welcome to the fifth instalment of Behind the Calla. This was a series inspired by @LostInTheDream (just want to make sure I appropriately credit as I haven’t been doing that in the past whOops). I didn’t really get to cover everything I wanted to discuss in this BTC, because the album was so long and I actually spent a long time PERFECTLY CONSTRUCTING the tracklist instead of just being like wow this song is a bop it’s mine now… For the sub-units, I think I’m going to make a second mini BTC for some time in the near future. As I’ve said many times in the past, I’m about to go on exam leave, so this will be the last CALLA comeback until maybe June but possibly July.
CONCEPT
To me, CALLA is a girl group that embodies femininity and finding the power in being a girl. In the past, I’ve gone for a more elegant, mature sound with their music. However, in the questionnaire sent out at the end of last era, I had an overwhelming number of people say they wanted a cute concept. Now, even though this doesn’t fit my image for the group, I do quite like the fact CALLA have this diversity, as a woman who embraces her cuteness is no less powerful than a woman who rejects it.
This isn’t the tracklist section of the comeback, but I did want to use MAGO as the comeback after this one anyway, so I brought it forward by one. The overall sound I aimed for with this album was fantasy, as my favourite line in MAGO is the “no more fairytale” line, which is basically just saying dreams are coming true, so they’re no longer dreams. There are some songs that don’t perfectly fit the concept, but overall I do like the sound of the album.
To me, I think No More Fairytale is a Sophia era. I feel like the deep and mysterious sound a lot of the songs have on this album suit her so well and with the fact she has also gone viral for her pole dancing in MAGO, I just think Sophia is the face of this album. Though Hyunjoo is definitely second place.
TRACKLIST
First, let’s start with the units. And for ease sake here are the names:
Vocal line (Sophia+Yejoon), Lemak (Hyunjoo+Yejoon), Jemma (Juni+Emma), Emphia (Sophia+Emma) and Hyunni (Hyunjoo+Juni).
I’ve actually been planning on having sub-units bsides since the early phases of album planning. However, other than one unit, I didn’t know the other four I wanted. So during I Love Me era I ran a poll for people to vote for what they wanted to see.
Vocal line got 2 votes. I felt like both members suited a more dark tone song, due to Sophia’s voice and Yejoon’s personality. Love Foolish wasn’t originally their song, but I ended up switching it in because I thought it really suited them.
Lemak got no votes at all. So why did I make them a unit? It was the only way I could find to ensure the more popular units existed and had a way of each member having two parts. I wanted this song to be pretty and powerful, and Where You Are was one of the first songs that came to mind. I did switch it out for a couple other songs but circled back to it and overall I’m happy with this song choice for Lemak.
Jemma was the unit I was going to have on the album regardless, however then they got 3 votes so we all shared a vision woo. Round & Around was also one of the earliest tracks on this album. I did switch the song out with another SONAMOO song from the same album but overall I was attached to this idea and returned to it. I just always associate Jemma with being sweet and bubbly just like this song.
Emphia drew with Jemma with 3 votes, so they were a guarantee for this album. But despite their popularity I really had a hard time choosing a song for them. There were different options I went through but I didn’t particularly love any. In the end, I chose I Like That Kiss because I felt it suited the vocals and style of Emphia well.
As for Hyunni, they only had 1 vote but again to make all the combinations work they were the only choice I really had. Similar to Jemma I felt they would have a softer and sweet song, and then I stumbled across Weather and thought it was really lovely for them. So that’s why they got this song.
For the group tracks, MAGO and in fact No More Fairytale as a whole was actually originally set to be the 2nd CALLA comeback, not the 3rd, while No was the title track of the full album which was titled ‘Love?’. Obviously No ended up being the title track for I Love Me, while No More Fairytale was then moved to later with a different album and title track replacing it (which shall remain secret…). However, after I saw people wanting a cuter sound for CALLA I decided to bring No More Fairytale forward as the full album.
Oh! My Mistake was actually suggested by an anonymous user to suggest a concept they wanted to see. Initially I actually wanted to use Oh! My Mistake as a solo debut song for Emma, but I decided using it for CALLA would work too as I didn’t know when Emma would ever actually debut.
I had Snowy on the tracklist before Cheshire was even released… I just knew it would be perfect. It’s also the reason CALLA had to come back in winter because I needed it to still be relevant lol. I think it brings a bit more of an intense yet still playful and magical sound to the album.
Metronome is a bit of a filler song, I’ll be honest. But I think it really suits the concept that I imagine for CALLA and so I think it still belongs on the album.
Rumor is the first time I’ve decided to have a CALLA member be credited for a song. I felt most comfortable doing this for Rumor because it was only released for a survival show and therefore I don’t feel like I’m taking away from real artists. But now I’ve done this once, I hope I’ll feel more comfortable crediting CALLA members in the future. Overall again I just feel Rumor fits the mature but elegant sound I know CALLA to have.
And finally COOL. I felt like CALLA needed a proper ballad in their discography, though I feel like COOL doesn’t even fit that conventional ballad sound. But I really like how the parts I gave each member suited them really well, and so I really love this song for them.
LINE DISTRIBUTION
I feel like No More Fairytale has quite a mix of fair and unfair distributions. Sophia has the most time on the album with Juni having the least. 4 of the songs rank in the top 10 for fairest CALLA songs (out of 25), those being Snowy (1st place overall), Metronome, MAGO and Oh! My Mistake. However, it also has the most unfair distribution in CALLA history, with Weather by Hyunni having almost double the unfairness of Eung Eung, though you could argue since it’s only a two member song, the difference in distribution is a lot more obvious. The other songs on the album are quite average in distribution.
One song I did find quite iffy was ‘Rumor’, as the majority of Yejoon’s lines ended up just being ‘geuroke malhaebwa’ but like, Yejoon slayed so who cares am I right. I also did feel a bit strange giving Yejoon the intense rap sound in Where You Are since she is only a sub-rapper. I feel like it’s a situation where she could do the rap if she really tried but it’s not something she would do often. I also found the distribution of Where You Are in general shocking, because I was convinced it was so unfair on Hyunjoo as Yejoon had a rap and belting at the end, but somehow Hyunjoo ended up on top and I had my mind blown.
WHERE ARE CALLA NOW? AND WHAT’S NEXT?
Currently, CALLA is having their breakthrough in the industry, with Lily suddenly appearing left right and centre. The group has also acquired 3 music show wins from MAGO, meaning they now have 4 total. However, the timing of this is quite a shame, as they’re about to disappear for 4 months
. CALLA have a scheduled hiatus for March, though I do have some stuff planned for this month, and I also have a few promotions here and there prepared for April and May. I’ll try and fill the second half of 2023 with loads of CALLA to make up for any lost time.
Thank you for tuning into CALLA until now
![☆ ITZY - LOCO [Ver. C] ☆](/forums/data/dbtechShop/itemIcons/2/2002.jpg?1632758575)
Photo from training. What do you think 
