PSY Is Enlisting Hwa Sa for a Cover of an ’80s Classic by Jermaine Jackson

Ethan Miller/GI

PSY is teaming up with Hwa Sa for a new cover of Jermaine Jackson and Pia Zadora‘s 1984 single “When the Rain Begins to Fall.”

The “Gangnam Style” singer announced the collaboration on social media on Tuesday (April 19), saying, “In 1987, a group called Seoul Family made a remake of the song…As Hwa Sa was born in 1995, it’s unlikely that she would be familiar with it. There was no better fit than Hwa Sa for this. From the start, knew it from the beginning. I promise I’m not exaggerating when I say if I couldn’t get Hwa Sa on this track, I wasn’t going to release it.”

For her part, the MAMAMOO member admitted in the video that she “thought it was a brand new song” that PSY was releasing, adding that she was “shocked” when she first heard the track, thinking it would lean more toward hip-hop than ’80s nostalgia.

Explore

See latest videos, charts and news

Hwa Sa

PSY

See latest videos, charts and news

“‘Can I really pull this off?’ I was quite worried,” she confessed upon listening to the song, though her opinion has since turned around, as she now states, “This song was meant for me.”

“When the Rain Begins to Fall” was originally released as the third and final single off Jackson’s self-titled 1984 album — which also contained Top 20 hits “Dynamite” and “Do What I Do” and peaked at No. 19 on the Billboard 200 a month after its release. The duet was also featured prominently on the soundtrack to the musical movie Voyage of the Rock Aliens starring Zadora and Craig Sheffer, with the future One Tree Hill actor lip syncing Jackson’s lyrics.

The two K-pop stars’ version of the track will be released April 29 at 6 p.m. KT/5 a.m. ET ahead of PSY’s upcoming ninth full-length studio set. Watch PSY and Hwa Sa’s full announcement and get a look at the single’s cover art below.

See more