마치(MRCH)! The stage name signifies something about Yoon Jiyoung-a talented singer, songwriter, and producer based in South Korea. Korean is a phonetic-heavy language, meaning its writing system, known as Hangul, reflects the sounds of the words. An interesting aspect of Hangul is that it also suggests the shape of the mouth and tongue when speaking. 마치 is romanized as “machi”, which sounds similar to “mrch”, a vowel-less version of “March”. This sounds quite reasonable, as Yoon Jiyoung was also born in March. I guess.
Jiyoung had her musical journey as a classical composer in college but found herself unhappy with the focus on music theory. However, this training proved invaluable, greatly helping her passion for singing and performing. She also admitted hating math and science but proved excellent in music.
Jiyoung has written songs for herself and several famous Korean girl groups, including TWICE, NiziU, and woo!ah!. She describes TWICE’s songs as energetic, inspiring her to incorporate ppong/ppongjjak (뻥/뻥짝), a Korean musical style loved by both young and old, when writing “Talk that Talk”. It is easy to go with song written for famous artists. However, when composing her own songs, she feels more pressure and tends to overthink because her music often tells her personal story. She is usually strategic but also love to go with the flow, following where the song leads her emotions.
Jiyoung has a wide range of vocals, the ability to sing notes in a broad spectrum, and can achieve high pitches.