EXCLUSIVE
[INTERVIEW] cignature dishes on new album 'Sweetie but Saltie,' expresses love for fans: "We’re going to complete our incomplete lives together"

AKP STAFF

Nearly one year after the release of their fourth mini-album 'Us in the Summer,' cignature is back with another fresh, captivating album perfect to listen to during summer getaways. 'Sweetie but Saltie' is their fifth mini-album and it contains their very first English single, making this album even more special.

The album boasts the title track "Poongddung ("Splash" in Korean)," "I like I like" and its English version, and "Melody." "This album is unique and special to us because we are discussing a more mature love story of cignature," said CHAESOL during the group's interview with allkpop.

Debuting in 2020, cignature will be commemorating its fifth anniversary next year. When asked how they feel about this, JEEWON shared that it still feels like they're still in their first years. On a positive note, she believes that this milestone proves how hard they've worked for the past years. "Sometimes it feels unbelievable that we are going towards our fifth anniversary," she said.

allkpop once again caught up with JEEWON, SEMI, CHAESOL, SELINE, CHLOE, and DOHEE following our interview with them last year for 'My Little Aurora.' Read our full exclusive interview with the talented group below!

Shout-out from cignature to allkpop readers!

allkpop: Congratulations on your new album! To start, how has your 2024 been so far? What are you up to these days?

Seline: Starting in 2024, we really wanted to focus on developing ourselves and improving our personal skills, that’s why we’ve been taking many lessons to build our needs individually. On top of that, we started preparing for this album starting this March, around springtime. This album took a lot of re-recordings in the studio. Also, we worked directly with the choreographer to work with changes and updates on the choreography to really make it our best work yet. We've been really busy and are keeping ourselves busy so far this year. And now we are promoting the new album.

allkpop: Could you please introduce ‘Sweetie but Saltie’ to us? What’s something unique about it compared to your previous mini-albums?

Chaesol: This album is unique and special to us because we are discussing a more mature love story of cignature. Our title track, “Poongddung,” is a perfect song for summer. It's splashy, very bubbly, and refreshing and is perfect for the season. And then we have “I like I like” where we are talking more about girlish love and the emotion of very pure love. Lastly, we have “Melody”' that delivers our genuine feelings, our hearts, and our sincerity about music and ourselves. I think, in combination, they really complete a very special album for us. This album also features “I like I like”’s English version. It is actually our first official English track so I think that also adds another uniqueness as well as that specialty for all the international listeners who don't speak Korean, so they can all just enjoy it in a universal language.

allkpop: Since the album title is "Sweetie but Saltie," I was wondering which one you prefer: sweet or salty foods?

Semi: For me, I will choose sweet foods because they really bring up our energy, get you going, and hype you up. It also elevates your mood in general. To really motivate myself and my feelings, I prefer sweet foods!

Jeewon: These days, I think I'm more inclined to eat salty foods. We tend to not really get proper meals because we are so busy during our promotions, so we have to quickly grab something, like snacks, whenever we are moving to the next schedule. These days, I’m craving Kimchi Jjiggae (Kimchi Stew) or Budae Jjiggae (Army Stew). They really are spicy and salty.

allkpop: And because you came back with a summer album. I wanted to ask what you usually like to do during the summer season.

Dohee: There are particular activities and sports you can enjoy only in summer. Whenever we have vacation time, I would like to go out and try those exciting water sports and summer activities to really enjoy the full season.

Semi: For me, I like to go to the pool and ride on the water slides. That's my favorite activity. I also love to eat the Watermelon Hwachae and Shaved Ice or Bingsu.

allkpop: What was your experience like recording the songs? There’s also an English version of “I like I like”! Your first one. How was it and did you have difficulties recording that version?

Seline: Whenever we are recording a song or album, we have a really good atmosphere. We like to share feedback, cheer each other on, and just share a lot of ideas and talk amongst ourselves. Especially for this album because we had the English version of “I like I like.” The pronunciation was the biggest challenge for us. We wanted to really focus on the pronunciation and making it sound as correct as possible. And that’s where our fluent English speaker Chloe came in. She actually took on the direction of that recording. Even the director shared something with her, saying, "Hey Chloe, you should just take care of this, you should be in charge.” She had a great responsibility for the whole team. It was a very enjoyable and exciting moment.

allkpop: The song “Melody” has a really great message as I’ve read the English translation of the lyrics. I also like the lines “Though I’m small and insignificant On the stage called life I’ll sing my own song.” What does that song mean to you personally? In what way does it resonate with you?

Chaesol: signfan, our fandom, is really our all. They are our true loves. We always give our all and everything to them. There’s a line in “Melody” that goes, "Incomplete life, we’re filling it together." That references our message for our signfans, saying we are in this together and we are going to complete our incomplete lives together. We are going to step forward together. We really wanted to send this message across to our fans with those emotional lyrics. The whole intention was to really deliver our genuine and sincere hearts to our fans and listeners.

allkpop: Next year, you’ll be celebrating your fifth anniversary! How does it feel that you’re almost halfway through a decade? Your 10th year is still kind of far but celebrating your fifth anniversary next year also means you’ve come so far now! Does it feel like four years for you already?

Jeewon: Thinking back, I really feel like I’m still a newbie like we are still in our first couple of years. But now we're looking at our fifth year. That’s when I really feel like, “Wow, time is really like water. It flows quickly.” Sometimes it feels unbelievable that we are going towards our fifth anniversary, but looking back, I think it really proves that we have been working hard and we have been super busy for the past four years now. It makes us really proud but also feels a little sentimental looking ahead to the fifth anniversary. As for our fourth debut anniversary, we would love to host our solo concert in front of our signfans, so we can have a special party with our fans. I think that would be really fun.

allkpop: You’ve come so far already, you should be proud of yourselves! Looking back, what's one thing you achieved that you will always be proud of?

Chloe: For me, personally, I would like to say that when we got our first “Rising Star Award” and “Blooming Star Award.” We got three awards for the “Rising Star Award.” I would like to thank all the signfans who supported us. I think that's our proudest moment!

[all members nod]

allkpop: I was wondering if you have any words or pieces of advice that you have heard from maybe your colleagues, fans, or your seniors, that mean a lot to you?

Jeewon: Personally, I’m the type of person who worries a lot I have a lot of concerns and thoughts in my head before doing anything. This advice came from a lot of different seniors in the industry, including our company senior Younha, they were all saying like, “Don’t worry, just give your best whenever you can.” That’s the piece of advice I got from a lot of seniors. It really motivated me and because of that, I’ve been reminding myself that I don't need to be nervous about everything. I just need to give my all and my best for every opportunity that I am given, so that's something that's really engraved into my heart. I try to follow it every moment.

Semi: One thing I heard from our fans that really stuck out to me was them saying, "You’re doing great” and “I'm really proud of you.” Those words really gave me a lot of courage and motivation to move forward. Whenever I’m feeling down, I can look back and be encouraged by those words. That's the memorable piece of words I heard from my fans.

allkpop: Lastly, to wrap this interview up, please share some final words for allkpop readers and your fans!

Chloe: Hello to allkpop readers and our signfans, thank you for waiting for our 5th mini-album ‘Sweetie but Saltie.’ We worked really hard so please look forward to our activities and check our comeback out. We are going to do our best for the promotions. We love you!