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MAMAMOO fans chastise 2PM for using girl band's 'Never Letting Go' slogan in 'Hold You'

2PM's newest track contains lyrics similar to MAMAMOO's slogan causing confusion and uproar among fans

After years of hiatus due to mandatory military enlistment and with one of the members changing companies, 2PM finally got back together. The second-gen boy group dominated the charts with their 7th studio album 'MUST.' It has been their first comeback after six years and their fans, HOTTESTs were over the moon. To show their appreciation, the title track of the same name charted on several Korean charts as well as iTunes all over the world. However, there was one song that irked the fans of another group, MAMAMOO.

Since the first generation, there has been a tradition of releasing fan songs that groups produce personally as a way to return their fans’ love. While 2PM’s fan song is 'Thank You,' MAMAMOO’s fan song is 'I Love Too' whose Korean title and lyrics contain the phrase "Never letting go." In turn, MAMAMOO and their fans, Moomoos, use the phrase “Never letting go” as a promise to always be by each others’ side. While this slogan was MAMAMOO’s unanimously, 2PM’s newest track has caused quite a bit of misunderstanding.

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2PM's 'Never letting go'

While JYPE groups usually have JYP produced tracks, 2PM’s Jun. K was one of the first members who started composing and producing his own music for the group. His soft, soulful tracks were a departure from the dance-pop, EDM tracks heavy with autotune that is signature JYP. This is why HOTTESTs have a special place in their heart for Jun. K’s songs. And in their latest album, Jun. K has contributed to the making of a lot of tracks. However, it is his song 'Hold You' that caused confusion among Moomoos. The upbeat ballad contains the lyrics “Never letting go.” And while having the same lyrics in songs released years apart is no reason for anger, 2PM's lyrics were part of the hook, the most ear-catching part of the song that led to the misunderstanding. 

To hype up Jun K and 'Hold You,' HOTTESTs took to Twitter to talk about it, mentioning the “Never letting go” lyrics as the part that struck a chord in their heart. Some Moomoos misunderstood and assumed that the lyrics were 2PM’s newest slogan that would be used in the fandom and hence caused an uproar. And while 2PM does not have an official slogan, they and the fandom do use the phrase, “What time? 2PM!” This led to HOTTESTs trying to clarify and explain that they weren’t “stealing” MAMAMOO’s slogan and it was just part of a song.

It was HOTTEST tweets like this that led to confusion among Moomoos that were not a fan of 2PM and did not know the inside jokes and messages: “I just realised there is a line [Never letting go] in ‘Hold You’ that is in response to a line ‘Thank You’.. Im crying again.” So some Moomoos took it upon themselves to call out HOTTESTs, “Hello foreign fans, “놓지않을게” has been released as the title of 2pm fan song. For 2PM's song, I won't let go, we used Mamamoo's official fan slogan "놓지않을게", and the lyrics of the song are similar. Our moomoos cannot be deprived of our official slogan.” One HOTTEST tried to clarify by tweeting, “We're tweeting it simply because the member produces the song and we just love it so much. I understand it means a lot for you guys, but 놓지않을게 is also a common words that may used by anyone in the world. It's totally a misunderstanding. Please stop.” A Moomoo tried to provide a solution, “The phrase is a big part of our life. It is a promise between us and mamamoo for years. I know we do not own that words but y'all know how our world works as a fan, we are known for using that. And what makes it worst is the song is also a fan song.” However, there wasn’t a unanimous agreement as one HOTTEST put it as, “Hello! We are not claiming 놓지않을게 as our slogan or anything, but this phrase is literally a song title so we can't help but use it in tweets. Please tell your fellow moomoos to stop hate against 2pm and hottests.” Another Moomoo tried to explain why this wasn’t fair, “Well you can make another tweet or make a hastag other than "idol+song title" right ? Coz if you do that, imagine how your fandom "slogan" being use by another fandom just because "we can't help but use it coz your fandom slogan is our idol song title".”