[Interview] No Cut News Interview with ATRP CEO Kim Jinmi on Chuu [Only cry in the rain] Production (250510)

Reporter Kim Su-jeong

Part 1: What Chuu’s lyrics “Only cry in the rain” and “cuckoo” refer to

In a round interview for the release of her second mini-album “Strawberry Rush”, Chuu mentioned that she wasn’t musically known by as many people, and that she wanted to make known her primary profession as a singer. Her third mini-album “Only cry in the rain” released on the 21st of this month, is her new release after 10 months.

This album, reflecting on forgotten emotions and sharing how they were part of who she is today, consists of five tracks. The title track, “Only cry in the rain”, features a dreamy synth-pop sound based in new wave, with the message that “it’s okay to be honest with your emotions, at least on rainy days.” Within a cheery rhythm it shares a sentiment of melancholy, conveyed through Chuu’s unique vocal tones and emotions.

To dive deeper into Chuu’s third mini-album, CBS No Cut News interviewed ATRP CEO Kim Jinmi, who oversaw the entire process from the conception of the album, to acquiring songs, recordings, and the various promotions. The following interview was conducted in writing on the 5th of this month.

1. The title track, “Only cry in the rain”, is a song with the message, “it's okay to be honest with your emotions, at least on rainy days.” Judging from the album cover with the crying ASCII art, and the highlight medley that showed the motion of tears falling, I initially thought it would be a song with heavy emotions. However, perhaps because it’s in the synth-pop genre, it was more relaxed listening than expected. Is there a reason why preparations were done this way?

CEO Kim Jinmi: “Only cry in the rain” is a song that starts from outward appearance with melancholic and quiet emotions, but I actually wanted to give a bit of a twist on that.

When people first think of the term “emotion”, what often comes to mind is heavy and quiet sadness. But real emotions aren’t singular. Sometimes there’s an odd sense of freedom even in tears, and there are moments within sadness when you feel strangely liberated. I wanted to capture the truth of that contradictory feeling.

So sound-wise I brought in the cheerfulness and dreaminess characteristics that come with synth-pop and layered a much more intimate and quiet emotional line on top. I intentionally made the rhythm active while the emotions stayed calm and subdued. The goal was to make a structure that makes listeners think, “This seems brighter than I thought?”, then reflect on the lyrics and pay closer attention to the underlying emotions. It’s like when you’re walking alone on a cloudy day, and the music playing in your earphones is cheerful but lonely, bright but hazy - I wanted to express that “dual emotion”.

I think of music as a “sequence of emotions”. Like how images flow in order, music also operates as a narrative by placing emotions over time. The first teaser in ASCII art form hinted at “codified emotion” before they’re even recognized, and the tears in the highlight medley were the point at which emotions started taking on a more tangible form.

At the end of that flow, “Only cry in the rain” isn’t simply a sad song, it’s a song about the courage to face sadness, instead of hiding it. Instead of sinking in a heavy way, the sound of the song contains the feeling of being able to walk forward while embracing emotions as well. More than anything, I hope that the song lingers in your heart even more after your second, or third listen - that’s the biggest twist that I wanted to convey through music.

2. Why was “Only cry in the rain” chosen as the title track?

CEO Kim Jinmi: When choosing a title track, the most important thing is sensing what kind of colour the artist should start with in this album. For some songs, rather than the melody, a scene comes to mind first. Sometimes, that image naturally overlaps with the artist. It’s only then that I’m convinced, “It would be good to start the story with this colour this time.” That’s how the title track was decided.

When I first heard the guide version of this song, the tone of the scene I wanted naturally unfolded in my mind. That scene felt analog—far more imperfect, shaky, and light-scattered compared to digital. I firmly believed that kind of texture could actually convey emotions more honestly and vividly. “Only cry in the rain” had exactly that kind of texture. It wasn’t perfect, but it closely resembled the emotions of youth, and the image of the artist Chuu naturally overlapped on top of the song.

Chuu is known for her bright, lovable, vitamin-like image, but inside, she’s an artist with far more complex and delicate emotional layers. I felt that this title track best captures the three-dimensional emotional world within Chuu, and it also connects seamlessly with the narrative we’ve been building since the last album.

That’s why this song had to go beyond just being music, to become a project where music and visuals, sight and sound all form one unified narrative. It felt like the key sentence that seals and then releases the emotional theme of this album, while also being the closing scene of youth. I hope “Only cry in the rain” becomes like a single frame of film that quietly echoes someone’s feelings, like a cuckoo that only chimes at the exact hour, resonating gently somewhere in our hearts.

3. A cuckoo comes out of tears, and the word “cuckoo” is also in the lyrics. There’s even a movement in the choreography that mimics a large clock, which makes everything feel very cohesive. Why is the “cuckoo” such an important motif in “Only cry in the rain”?

CEO Kim Jinmi: I’ve had a long-standing working relationship with lyricist Seo Ji-eum, going all the way back to the Oh My Girl days. As always, it wasn’t just about explaining the concept simply; it was a shared journey to uncover the “hidden texture in the song’s emotion”. If “Howl” was about crying out emotions for the first time, “Only cry in the rain” is an album that quietly embraces those emotions. So it was important to find the smallest signal that releases emotions.

When the lyrics came in and I read the word “cuckoo” for the first time, I had this experience where the entire texture of the album suddenly came into focus. In a single word, it fully captured the idea of a specific moment when it's finally okay to cry, a permitted emotional release, like a cuckoo clock that only cries on the stroke of the hour.

The cuckoo clock became a very powerful visual motif that could encompass themes of time, emotion, waiting, and crying all at once. That’s why the music video, teaser images, album visuals, and even the choreography were organically designed around the themes of “the exact hour”, “tears”, “the flow of time”, and “permitted emotions”.

In particular, the choreography includes the gesture of pointing to a large clock, a movement that symbolises the striking of the hour, and dancers who seem like alternate versions of Chuu, representing “the moment emotion awakens”. Youth is always a time of “holding things in”, and through this album, we wanted to offer them a specific hour in which it’s okay to cry.

4. “Only cry in the rain” is the first storytelling-style music video Chuu has filmed since her solo debut. What kind of story did you want to convey, and why did it have to be a storytelling music video?

CEO Kim Jinmi: Rather than traditional storytelling, the “Only cry in the rain” music video was closer to an emotional record of how memories fade. Instead of clearly presenting a narrative within the 3-minute runtime, we wanted to express the emotions of youth standing at the boundary between friendship and love, as they are forgotten, blurred, and fleeting, using fragmented scenes and emotional shards.

To achieve this, we chose to shoot on 16mm film instead of digital. It’s a medium that captures the tone of natural light, the warmth of grain, and the warmth of imperfection. I believed it could convey something genuine, even if not perfectly clear, just like the emotions of youth.

One of our core principles during this shoot was “don’t act out emotions.” Even in scenes where Chuu cries or her expression breaks down, we tried to capture them not as pre-planned performances but as real traces left behind by passing emotions. It was cold on set due to the use of a sprinkler truck, and because Chuu has such a naturally bright personality, the whole crew worked together to help her access and stay in that emotional space, making those shots even more memorable.

Ultimately, we didn’t want this music video to be a complete narrative. We hoped it would feel more like a slowly developed compilation of emotions like a roll of film, or the final scene of a quiet, intimate coming-of-age film. We wanted to convey that the fragility and beauty of youth might lie in that very “flow”.

5. What did you focus on in composing the choreography and performance of the title track?

CEO Kim Jinmi: The most important thing was to create a choreography that flows like a single story. Rather than just arranging individual movements, we aimed for a performance where emotions connect from beginning to end and a narrative gradually accumulates through the movements, so that by the end, it feels like you’ve watched a short film following the waves of emotion.

I had previously worked with choreographer Choi Young-joon on “Bon voyage”, and we shared a mutual understanding of choreography as storytelling. This project continued in that same spirit. With “Only cry in the rain”, the choreography wasn’t about just designing “cool moves,” but about translating the keywords “emotions that resonate exactly on the hour on a rainy day” into movement and narrative.

The performance is filled with symbolic emotional motifs: a gesture pointing to the hour like a clock, a movement visualising the cuckoo’s call, flowing motions that resemble both raindrops and tears, and dancers who appear like extensions of Chuu’s inner self. These elements visually complete a scene where time, memory, and emotion intersect.

Rather than just a choreography, we created a narrative-driven performance that lets the audience follow the story through body, expression, and gaze, like witnessing the quiet moment when a girl faces her emotions on a rainy day. It was a carefully crafted performance, in which not a single gesture feels wasted, and each moment could remain as a lasting emotional memory.

6. On the “Show! Champion” stage, Chuu wore a school uniform and backpack, which felt a little different from the concept photos. What did you pay particular attention to in the outfits and styling for “Only cry in the rain”?

CEO Kim Jinmi: When planning the styling, the most important thing was visually expressing the texture of the emotion we call “youth”. And by “youth”, I don’t mean a specific age or time period. For some, it might be a story from their teenage years; for others, it could be from their twenties, or even a lingering piece of emotion from their youth that still lives on in a corner of their heart today. So in the concept photos, we intentionally avoided tying things to a specific age. Instead, we tried to capture the moods and colors of various time periods where that emotion might dwell.

On broadcast stages, however, we decided that a more intuitive symbol was needed. The school uniform and backpack Chuu wore on “Show! Champion” weren’t just to depict a student; they were meant to evoke the purity of youth that lives in everyone’s heart. When Chuu sings with a backpack on, we hoped it wouldn’t just feel like a reenactment of the past, but rather act as a trigger for each viewer to recall their own personal memories of youth.

Part 2: Chuu, an artist who modulates the texture of sound with a clear, pure voice

1. Did you first decide to make an album focused on “emotion” and then gather music to match that direction, or were the tracks chosen first and the overarching theme discovered afterward?

CEO Kim Jinmi: We didn’t begin this project with “emotion” as a set theme. It actually started by responding to the sound. We asked ourselves what kind of music would blend most naturally with Chuu’s voice, and what songs could go beyond her “vitamin” image to express the next chapter of her artistry. That’s how we began collecting songs.

The texture of the melody and rhythm was our first clue. Some songs had rhythms that felt like emotional waves, while others had moments where a single chord sent a chill through the heart. The songs we gathered each felt like distinct “scenes”, and we began imagining the emotional narratives those scenes could hold, writing lyrics and building on that idea.

The album title “Only cry in the rain” came from an attempt to capture the shared emotional thread running through the songs in a single phrase. The concept of a “rainy day” became a symbolic device, representing a quiet “permitted moment” to be honest and bring emotions to the surface, when emotions can resonate at the specified hour.

So, rather than heading toward a clear theme from the outset, this album was more about letting the music lead the way, and emotions quietly staying on top of it. That’s why I think it feels more honest and natural. The theme of “emotion” wasn’t a planned answer from the beginning; it was a question that arose as we listened to each track, and the answer came along the way.

2. Compared to her previous work “Strawberry Rush”, the genre and overall vibe of this album feels more refined and mature. Could you share the reasons behind choosing the tracks included, and what you’re most proud of?

CEO Kim Jinmi: With “Back in Town”, images like a scene came to mind immediately upon hearing it. We wanted to capture the dizzying excitement of unexpectedly running into your first love, feeling familiar yet unfamiliar. In fact, we shot the video for this song just three hours after wrapping the music video for the title track because the inspiration was that strong. The rhythmic guitar, funky bassline, and groovy rhythm clearly highlight a new charm of the artist Chuu, which is why I feel especially attached to it.

“Kiss a Kitty” is the song that most boldly showcases Chuu’s new potential. Chuu had never attempted sing-rapping, so it was very challenging and interesting from a producer’s point of view. Her bright, lovely energy blends effortlessly into the playful structure, so I thought it could give listeners the feeling of a joyful rollercoaster ride. I think Chuu’s ability to happily switch between genres will feel refreshing to many listeners.

“Je t’aime” is the song in which Chuu’s tone and emotional sensitivity shine the brightest. On top of the cozy and dreamy texture of the dream-pop genre, the vintage guitar sounds envelopes Chuu’s clear vocals, conveying the tender and cautious emotions of confessing love for the first time. The repeated “Je t’aime” in the chorus was designed to remain not just as words, but as a lingering emotion. So we focused on capturing every breath in detail when recording. I think this track most delicately captures the warmth of love and the subtlety of vocal tone that only Chuu can express.

“No More” was one of the most challenging tracks on the album. Its structure, centred around marching drums and deep bass, deviates from typical pop arrangements, requiring Chuu’s precise emotional control and solid vocal ability to fully bring it to life. It was almost included in the last album, but we put it on hold at the time because there were more emotions we hadn’t captured yet. It was finally reborn in this album after sufficient rearrangement.

“No More” tells the confident story of youth, about no longer apologising to others and acknowledging your own emotions and self-worth. More than anything, it’s the song where the message is most clearly expressed, and I hope listeners will give attention to it.

3. “Back in Town” and “Kiss a Kitty” both include sing-rapping. In particular, “Kiss a Kitty” has a significant proportion of sing-rapping. What was the reason for trying this, and how satisfied are you with it?

CEO Kim Jinmi: When I first heard “Kiss a Kitty,” what immediately came to mind was the rhythm and mood that only Chuu could express. In fact, at first, I was a bit worried. Since Chuu has such a clear and bright vocal tone, I worried that the rhythmic sing-rap sections might sound awkward or disrupt the vibe of the song. But that concern didn’t last long. I’ve always believed in the new sides of Chuu and waited patiently to see them.

“Kiss a Kitty” is a song that thrives on its bright, playful, and lovely energy, and I became convinced that Chuu’s pure and bubbly image was the final missing piece to complete the sing-rap style. Even better than we had expected, she brought out the rhythm and articulation delicately without compromising her vocal tone. In fact, she enhanced the song’s cheerful vibe even more.

Thanks to that, the song gained a lively quality, like a kitten playfully bouncing around. It became a track where her unique emotional expression and character really stood out. Most importantly, because she didn’t intentionally “act out” the emotion, but rather infused the singing-rap naturally with her own colour, this wasn’t just a challenge; I think it became an important hint at the musical potential Chuu can explore in the future.

4. I’ve seen positive reactions to this album, with comments like “beyond expectations” and “great song selection.” What did you consider most important when choosing songs for the album?

CEO Kim Jinmi: It wasn’t just about collecting “good songs”. Instead, far more important were the questions: “How naturally and multidimensionally does this song express the artist ‘Chuu’?” and “Can the person Chuu genuinely convey herself through this music?”

Of course, each song must be independently appealing—that’s a given. But more importantly, when all the tracks come together, there should be a unified emotional arc and a sense of flow, so that listeners would naturally resonate with it like, “Oh, this is the story she wanted to tell here.”

When selecting songs, we focused not only on melody and genre diversity but also on how organically the lyrics and Chuu’s vocal tone would intertwine, and on whether we could vividly picture the person “Chuu” as we listened to the song.

Rather than simply choosing good tracks, we wanted to find songs where Chuu could breathe and come alive. We set that standard and consistently followed it from song selection through to the album’s completion. I’m grateful that this approach seems to have resonated with listeners through the album’s reception.

5. What would you say are Chuu’s strengths and potential as a “singer”? You could also highlight her qualities that stood out in this album.

CEO Kim Jinmi: I think the most impressive strength of Chuu’s vocals is undoubtedly “the emotional spectrum contained within clarity”. A voice that’s typically described as “bright” or “clear” can often be pigeonholed into a fixed character. But with this album, Chuu completely overturned those preconceptions. She maintained her signature clarity while delicately modulating the emotional tone and colour from song to song. That stood out to me.

What was especially impressive was how Chuu subtly adjusted the “wetness” of emotion depending on the song’s mood and message. Sometimes she amplified warmth using vintage, dreamy reverb tones. Other times, she conveyed her signature loveliness in a rhythmic and bubbly emotional line.

Chuu isn’t simply a singer with a “clear voice”; she’s an artist with a delicate ability to layer that clarity with a range of emotional temperatures and textures. In this album, she naturally mastered the very difficult task of “adding dimension to tone”, something many vocalists struggle with. I believe this album brings a fresh spotlight to her musical potential and expressiveness.

6. At the album listening session, Chuu explained that this album is “so filled with the words and sentences I really wanted to share.” Which lyric from the album do you personally want to share most with others?

CEO Kim Jinmi: Personally, while I do love the title track’s message, there’s one particular line from the B-side “Je t’aime” that has lingered with me for a long time:

“Peaceful like a calm breeze / Familiar like the passing of time / Natural like mundane routines”

“You know what I mean right / It’s just word like that”

I really love that part; it feels like being given a certain assurance, like someone simply smiling and saying, “I know,” without needing long explanations or complicated words. Love, after all, is sometimes an emotion that arrives before the words do. That tone, that sense of trust when without complicated explanation, someone says “You know what I mean” with a smile—the assurance that comes from that can resonate deeper than any confession.

To me, these lyrics go beyond just being about romance. They express the essence of emotions that don’t change with time, the kind of connection without words. And sometimes, it’s that familiar and natural kind of love, not the burning or passionate kind, that lingers the longest. I especially love the way Chuu delivers that line “You know what I mean” so nonchalantly in the melody.

I think that one sentence captures the heart of this album’s message: the anxiety of youth, blurry memories, and quiet growth. In the end, what we long for isn’t someone’s grand solution, but a soft voice simply saying, “I understand your feelings.” In that sense, I think this lyric aligns most deeply with the emotions of the album.

Part 3: “Only cry in the rain”, the “singer” Chuu’s prologue

1. Her third mini-album “Only cry in the rain” is often described as an album that focuses on “emotion”. What was the intention behind its concept?

CEO Kim Jinmi: If Chuu’s first solo album “Howl” was about finding the courage to cry out emotions for the first time, “Only cry in the rain” is more about quietly embracing those emotions. In life, we often hide or suppress our feelings. This album began with the metaphor that such emotions are quietly “waiting” somewhere inside us, like the striking of a clock at a precise hour. The “rainy day” setting symbolises one of those rare moments when those feelings are allowed to surface, as if there are specific days when one is permitted to cry. The album is a gentle and metaphorical attempt to approach difficult emotions.

Most importantly, this album tells the story of Chuu’s emotional growth as an artist. For someone who has always been loved for her bright energy, looking inward, facing, and expressing her own emotions is not an easy feat. But this challenge has been integrated naturally and solidly into the album.

Emotions often feel like “personal stories”, but in truth, they originate from “shared moments”. This narrative is woven into Chuu’s album as well. Since her solo debut, Chuu’s albums have always told stories of a girl and her friends, and of the friendships of youth. The two monsters or friends always by her side, and the forgotten seasons and time they experienced together are embedded here. From the outburst of emotions in “Howl”, the energetic spirit of “Strawberry Rush”, to the quiet embrace of feelings in “Only cry in the rain”, it all feels like a continuing series that explores different textures of emotion.

On the surface, it may appear to be an album centred on emotions, but at its heart, it’s still about “us”. Even the scene of crying alone is layered over memories shared with a friend. Whether on stage or off stage, Chuu has always been “with someone”. Emotion can be a lonely thing, but empathy is always something we experience together.

2. The CAPTCHA (security verification box)-style 9-tile teaser for “Only cry in the rain” was quite striking. Could you explain the intention behind its design?

CEO Kim Jinmi: It was our starting point for visually expressing the album’s core theme “emotion” for the first time. We needed a device that could symbolise that concept most effectively, and we hoped the teaser would naturally guide people to intuit the album’s overall concept.

We chose the CAPTCHA (security verification) format because emotions are, by nature, the farthest thing from robots. But ironically, even human emotions are sometimes subject to a demand for “proof”. There are moments when you’re asked to explain why you’re sad, to reveal your heart in order to be understood. So, beyond simply presenting a concept, we wanted this teaser to be a device that quietly asks, “Are you ready to face these emotions now?”

The accompanying nine tile images were layered with a blurry, analog texture reminiscent of ’90s film photography, meant to evoke the album’s emotions and encourage viewers to piece them together like a puzzle. We wanted people to naturally start asking themselves, “What kind of story will this album tell?” A clock representing “on the hour,” as mentioned in the title track’s lyrics; a cat outside the window linking to the B-side “Kiss a kitty”; a bus stop with a hanging umbrella; and Chuu walking across asphalt — all of these are visual metaphors for the album’s theme of “a time to walk into the emotions stored within memories”.

3. The album cover, highlight medley, and the "Only cry in the rain" music video all include animated effects. What was the reason behind this?

CEO Kim Jinmi: We actively used animation techniques in “Only cry in the rain” because we felt there needed to be an emotional medium that could gently bridge the gap between reality and memory. Memory, by nature, is a fragmented and fluid emotional experience. It blurs over time, it gets painted over, and it sometimes even gets distorted. However, there are definite limitations to expressing those delicate emotional waves and uncertainties using only live-action video.

That’s why we chose to layer the analog aesthetic with animation, as a way of adding both a margin of memory and a visual texture to represent imagination. For example, the crying ASCII art girl in the opening teaser, the tear-like movements that flow and spread emotionally in the highlight medley, and the small animated fragments interwoven with real-life footage in the music video — all of these were intentional devices to convey emotions in a more sensory and fluid manner. Like a single vivid fragment of emotion that remains clear in a blurry memory, or the lingering trace of emotion that finally finds form only after it’s gone.

This album explores the emotions and fading memories of youth, and the heart that floats in between. So by juxtaposing realistic scenes with the sensory layer of animation, we believed it could amplify the emotional resonance of both. In the end, animation in this project can be seen as “a way to breathe life back into memory”, a form for those emotions we simply can’t forget.

4. The album features a smaller CD, a black CD holder that gives off an LP vibe, and is packaged with letters, mood cut photos, and stickers. It comes in two versions. Could you share the story behind the album design, components, and packaging?

CEO Kim Jinmi: This album wasn’t designed just as a music album; it began as an exploration of how we might “record” the memories of youth, paying homage to a time when the analog sensibilities of the ’90s intersected with the digital instincts of a new generation.

We wanted it to be more than just listening; we hoped it would become a sensory experience: something you could “own, keep, and revisit”. The entire package was curated as a “collectible archive”, allowing fans to overlay their own emotions and tastes onto the album itself.

The album comes in two versions: the Blue version (cool emotions) and the Grey version (the texture of anxiety and growth). This reflects the idea that even though we all live through youth, the colour of that experience can vary. We hoped each package might resonate warmly with some, and leave a more bittersweet impression on others.

The CD is designed like a mini LP, and we included a variety of stickers so that fans could decorate and own it in their own way. It becomes more than a physical album; it is completed as a personal object, carrying the emotions of its owner.

We also included a cuckoo origami piece, inspired by the album’s central motif: the “cuckoo clock”. It symbolises the act of drawing out one’s emotions. We wanted to offer a simple hands-on experience. Even if it’s folded messily, torn, or casually stuck somewhere, it’s okay. We believe those small traces become your ways of “recording memories”.

Ultimately, this package is a kind of emotional archiving. I hope it’s a small box of emotions, preserving fragments of someone’s youth, or perhaps pieces of a heart that hasn’t yet found closure.

5. The album includes a handwritten letter from Chuu. If we were to describe this project as “a letter on a rainy day,” what would you personally want the final sentence of that letter to say?

CEO Kim Jinmi: If this album really were “a letter on a rainy day,” then I’d want its final sentence to be:

“It’s okay to cry. I understand your heart.”

I didn’t want that line to feel too big or grand. In fact, I thought it would be even better if it felt like someone looking out the window together, saying nothing. This album wasn’t made to offer answers; it was created to open up a space where people could face their emotions.

I felt really proud when after the music video was released, I saw comments like, “This song was comforting,” or “Now I have a song to play when I want to cry.” That’s exactly the kind of feeling we hoped to share. I thought it’d be enough if through this album, we could tell someone very quietly, “I know how you feel.”

To be honest, I don’t think the final sentence of this letter needs to be a literal sentence. Music on its own has the power to become a memory, a recollection, a form of comfort. That lingering resonance after the last note, that quiet solace, that secret echo only you can hear — I believe those can be the closing words. In the end, what we believe is that emotions arrive before words, and that music is the best way to convey them.

So in that sense, I believe the real final sentence of this letter is the one the music has already written.

6. From April 19 to 21, before the album release, a listening party event and exhibition were held at Movieland in Seongsu-dong. What inspired this promotional concept, and to what extent did it meet your expectations?

CEO Kim Jinmi: The main reason we planned this listening party event was because we didn’t want “emotions”, the theme of “Only cry in the rain”, to be experienced through just listening to music. Instead, we wanted to expand it into a multi-dimensional space.

We wanted to design the event so that the emotional arcs and stories of each track could be experienced through both hearing and sight, through music, objects, videos, and exhibits. That’s why we chose a venue that could naturally embody the themes of “memory” and “emotion”. Since the actual music video was shot on 16mm film and carries a strong cinematic quality, we selected “Movieland”, a place that would best reflect that emotional atmosphere.

The second-floor lounge area was especially curated as a space where “echoes of emotion” — that is, the residues of memory — could linger. We displayed film props actually used in the music video, storyboard books arranged like archival pieces, and objects that visualised emotional symbols found in the album. All of this was intended to create an experience where the audience could experience the emotional flow of the album up close, almost like following the flow of a short film.

7. What was the main focus when you first started making the album, and how much of that initial goal do you feel has been achieved now that the album is complete?

CEO Kim Jinmi: Whenever we plan Chuu’s solo albums, the most important thing has always been to authentically establish the voice of “Chuu the singer”, beyond the friendly and lovable image she’s known for through variety shows. Chuu is an artist who brings warmth to many with her bright energy, but I believe there’s a much more delicate and thoughtful inner world beneath that. Through her music, we wanted to highlight those emotions, not through words, but through song.

In particular, “Only cry in the rain” was a project aimed at establishing Chuu’s identity not just as a singer with good vocals, but as an artist who conveys emotion. We didn’t want the act of expressing emotion to feel awkward or burdensome. Instead, we hoped it would be accepted naturally, and that Chuu herself could understand and internalise that flow. From the early planning stages, we had many conversations with her to ensure this.

Now that the album is complete, I wouldn’t say it’s perfect from a director’s perspective. As always, there is some lingering regret like, “We could’ve pushed a bit further here,” or “Maybe we could’ve tried something different there.” But just the fact that Chuu the artist is becoming more confident in how she approaches music and is beginning to find her own texture, makes this album a deeply meaningful project.

What matters most to me isn’t perfection, but continuing to move forward without losing direction. From that starting point, “Only cry in the rain” feels like a prologue, an introduction to the kinds of stories Chuu’s voice is capable of telling.

Sources: (1), (2), (3)