Aya (song)

In October 2020, Mamamoo's record label RBW announced that the group would be making a comeback in November with their tenth mini-album Travel. On October 6, the EP, its title, the cover, and a release date were announced through Mamamoo's official social media accounts.[1] The promotional roll-out was announced on October 11, consisting of two singles as well as several picture and video teasers.[2] The EP's first and only pre-release single, "Dingga", was released on October 20.[3] On October 27, a music video teaser was released via the group's official YouTube channel.[4] "Aya" was released in tandem with its parent EP on November 3, 2020.[5]

The Japanese-language version of the song was released by Victor Entertainment on January 26, 2021, as the second single from the Japan edition of Travel.[6]

Musically, "Aya" is a pop and K-pop song with influences of Arabic music. The song is composed at an average tempo of 90 beats per minute in the key of A minor. "Aya" follows a chord progression of Am-E-F-C for most of the song followed by Am-E during the outro section.[7]

In order to promote "Aya" and its parent EP Travel, Mamamoo performed in their own hour-long comeback show, titled "Monologue," which aired on South Korean music television channel Mnet on November 3, 2020. The broadcast featured several Mamamoo performances, interspersed with monologues from the members. The "Monologue" show served as one of the prizes the group has received from winning the competition show Queendom the year prior.[8] The group first performed it on a music show on November 5, performing the song on Mnet's M Countdown.[9]

Upon release, "Aya" peaked at number one on the iTunes charts in 12 regions.[15] In South Korea, the song debuted at number 42 on the weekly Gaon Digital Chart,[16] while also placing at number four and 76 on the component download and streaming charts, respectively.[17][18] The next week, it peaked at number 37 on the Digital Chart.[19] The song also peaked at number 21 on the Billboard K-pop Hot 100, remaining on the chart for 15 total weeks.[20] Outside of South Korea, "Aya" peaked at number 27 in Singapore[21] and number 17 on the Billboard World Digital Song Sales chart.[22]