#heejin burn era

[themoongirls12]

[Teaser] ARTMS “X1”

[loonavrsl]

250124 [Interview] Modhaus CEO Jaden Jeong on the Importance of K-Pop Storytelling & Continuing LOONA’s Legacy

As documented from BTS‘ industry-shifting trilogy albums to the multidimensional universes created by the likes of ATEEZ and aespa, storytelling has become a crucial point to help power K-pop acts to top the charts and connect closely with their ever-growing global fanbases. With 20 years in the industry, Jaden Jeong remains so committed to his musical lores that he refuses to abandon them — even years after its original group has effectively dissolved. Speaking openly about the behind-the-scenes dealings from the past as well as his future creative directions for the first time with Billboard, Jeong says that he and ARTMS will continue LOONA’s legacy through future music releases and touring beginning with the upcoming digital release of ARTMS’ “BURN.”

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[outsidereveries]

newer but a bit older requests from curiouscat (25th september 2024—27th september 2024)

25th September 2024

there are rumors saying actor jung haein and jung somin are dating, their drama ‘love next door’ is currently airing, do u think the rumors are true?

the world, the magician, page of cups • 3 of cups

it looks like it's true (and not a rumor).

will Ningning be forced to interact with idols especially a particular male idol this year? because i have heard from rumours that it is connected to awards show or variety show? i hope she will go to the one without getting hate. i have seen some RIIZE stans and NCT stans hating girls for tiktok challenges and calling them boy obsessed..i hope this rumour is not true

the hermit, 6 of cups rx, 8 of cups rx, knight of wands rx, the empress

she doesn't want to communicate with idols of the opposite gender😭😭😭 it looks like it's a no

how does itzy’s cb look… successful hopefully!

ace of cups, the moon, 7 of pentacles rx, the sun, queen of wands rx

i can see they'll do better in korea compared to elsewhere. if i also compare how itzy did in the born to be era in korea to gold era, i see that itzy will do way better.

when it comes to the foreign lands, jype might fabricate the sales in the albums. the company will try to promote itzy in the western market (like usual, i believe), but it might not work out, therefore the fabrications (whether they'll be about the album sales or not) might be more seen.

will tyla do well career-wise?

2 of swords rx, 9 of penacles, the empress

oh yes, she'll still do really well. might rest for a bit but it won't be fatal at all.

what will be worse than the Burning Sun scandal? (for YGE)

4 of pentacles, 3 of cups, the magician, 5 of pentacles rx, 7 of cups rx

it's money-related, so money laundring, debuting a group because of trying to win more money illegally, unfair salaries for some of the employees... it's money related and it's not done by 1 person but idk how it'll be revealed tbh

the boyz, brief career check (2025-2027)

10 of swords rx, 8 of wands rx, 4 of wands

currently it'll be postponed how tbz gains their fanbase, so no. the b's will be stable and won't change that much.

will nwjns change companies/subsidiaries or not?

5 of pentacles, wheel of fortune, 8 of cups, 8 of pentacles rx, 7 of swords rx

currently will stay in hybe. it looks like the girls have separately talked with the new ceo of the corporation and he has explained the current circumstances.

from what i see, he didn't give hope to newjeans but he hasn't said that min heejin is gone either. it's complex, i don't see the full situation here.

what does nct jaehyun think of sung hanbin?

5 of wands, ace of pentacles, king of cups

jaehyun wants you to know that how he sees him as a person differs from what he thinks about hanbin in career-related .. stuff a lot.

the difference is very visible as in the industry, jaehyun sees hanbin as competition. it looks like there were offers in the past that were made to jaehyun where sme denied them. jaehyun wanted to accept all of them but sme didn't. the offers in question were made to hanbin instead and wakeone accepted them. therefore jaehyun feels very jelaous and envious that hanbin has (to him) great relationship with his group company while jaehyun hasn't. jaehyun's relationship with sme interferes a lot in how he sees sung hanbin simply because of his insecurities.

however he knows how hanbin is as a person and jaehyun likes how emotionally balnced hanbin is (and mature). they might've talked about jaehyun's worries in that matter and are fine with each other.

will there be some sort of bts and txt collab in the future? maybe musical production or solo release features?

the world, the sun, 6 of wands

i can see a collaboration between members of both groups - possibly they're in the rapper positions? i'm betting on yeonjun and j-hope.

for txt i also see soobin but my pendulum denied that's possible in the future as of now so it's a question mark

what's txt's soobin energy towards the creative field? he recently seemed to expressed interest in writing more lyrics and getting into reading, will he find some sort of success in that prospect? is it possible for him to release more music besides covers in the future?

songwriting path | 10 of pentacles, 4 of pentacles rx, 3 of cups

i can see him also taking this path and will do very good in this field

more music? | 4 of pentacles rx, 7 of pentacles rx, page of wands

as i've seen he is also interested in acting in the past, he has to be more organised than he is currently and only then trying to make time and release more music on his own. he is focused on 2 fields as of now (for himself) - acting and songwriting (again, he practices this fields on his own). apart from them and txt, he does not have that much time to work on creating the songs fully on his own, so in the future yes but currently it is a no.

nct mark, jay enhypen (bond)

the lovers, the hanged man, knight of pentacles

i don't think they know each other but have the potential to be closer (friends). if they actually know eo, they aren't close.

zhang hao, career reading (2024)

2 of cups, death, strength

hao thinks that the acting industry involved teamwork, something he's good at and also impacts a lot in many ways possible. however he doesn't want to try it currently mainly because he's solely focusing on being member of zb1. hao doesn't think he'd like to try it in the near future but isn't closing the door for that. he knows he'll be good and nail it, just.. not now

26th September 2024

if there's something odd regarding babymonster's image, is there a facade or yge is hiding something?

3 of pentacles, knight of wands, the magician rx, strength rx, knight of cups

when it comes to babymonster's group image, it seems to be related to the "yg vibe". honestly, the concept babymonster suits the best doesn't suit that much the usual concept yge is providing to all of their groups. although the company aims somehow to the younger audience with babymonster, babymonster actually suit the most the original "yg vibe" they started to provide with their 2nd generation groups: bigbang and 2ne1, even with the 1st generation ones with .. 1tym (teddy was there) and swi.t. yge should learn that they can make their "yg" aura age-appropiate if there's an actual will.

how successful will be i'll-it's comeback?

(2nd spread) 3 of pentacles, the world, temperance, queen of cups, the empress

honestly, i don't sense much with the spread (it's very indifferent energy here, to be honest), but the world hints a bit that they'll do way better outside of korea.

in case where zb1 disbands, will hao redebut in a group?

the hierophant, 7 of pentacles, the hanged man

in a case where zb1 disbands, as i see hao being extremely attached to the group, he might redebut in a duo with ricky (cards with similar meanings and vibe as the hanged man is frequent with ricky in the near future) in china. he doesn't want to think about a future without zb1, so he'll be fine with this option if zb1 disbands in the end as it'll remind him of zb1 the most in that way

will yeonjun's other songs sound different?

7 of pentacles, queen of cups rx, temperance

yes, they'll sound different. they might be more emotional, sensual and etc. synonyms so the genre and lyrics will differ a lot from ggum.

27th September 2024

is there any chance for enhypen and i'll-it to collaborate?

7 of swords rx, 4 of swords, 3 of swords rx

currently there isn't.

how i'll-it and aespa's comebacks will do?

aespa, 2nd spread | the fool, 7 of cups, king of cups, the world, ace of swords

they'll do like usual, it'll do well in the internet.. similar to the supernova/armageddon era.

i'll-it, 4th spread | the high priestess, the moon, 10 of wands rx, 6 of swords, 8 of cups, 2 of pentacles

eeeh it's complex, like i saw they'll do way better in foreign lands, in korea it seem to be similar to how le sserafim's crazy did but kinda worse, in foreign lands though they really won't do that well (compared to their 1st ep), the hate spread i'm seeing on x recently seems to help making the things worse...

[rumor or truth?] yuna (itzy) and jay (enha)'s dating rumors

yuna's side to this | 3 of pentacles, 10 of cups, 10 of swords rx

jay's side to this | strength, 5 of cups rx, the star

was there something | 3 of cups, the chariot rx, 9 of cups

yuna | she really was with her friend

jay | uh that's very funny, he might've spied on yuna 😭😭😭 on purpose 😭😭😭😭

rumor or truth | as simply as possible.. they're allegedly fwb. they aren't dating, however i sense onesided feelings (possibly from jay's side). they might call it an open relationship between each other, though.

what will sabrina carpenter's career look like in the next two years?

king of cups, 2 of swords rx, 3 of pentacles, the devil rx, 8 of pentacles

like usual it seems?? i see 1-2 upcoming albums or eps, maybe tour/s for them until september 2026, she'll work like she usually does tbh

will anyone (famous) gets their karma for.. their involment with that rapper?

the moon, 4 of cups rx, 9 of swords rx, the empress, temperance

what kamala harris did with p.diddy? americans seem to search something that will make trump guilty or something but they'll find kamala's wrong actions instead? these americans who want to vote for her will try to hide something she did but idk

like i know she was doing some inapporpiate stuff to get known in the politics industry but what else she actually did?

sorry for seeing only kamala but her name was on my head when i learned about it and since i also see her here.. it might be very significant

is there chance for rosé to try something in the fashion industry?

justice rx, the lovers, 9 of pentacles

well, no, she doesn't think she'll be good at.. anything, related to the fashion industry. whether if it's modelling or being a fashion designer, she knows her limits and is aware of her talents being better somewhere else (ahem, music). she might've received an offer for modeling but has personally refused.

how billie eilish currently views her relevance status and her fandom?

5 of cups rx, death, 10 of pentacles, strength, ace of cups

she's very thankful for what her, her family and her fans have achieved so far. very thankful for her achievements, very grateful for what they've done so far. she's more motivated to continue forward doing whatever she wants in the industry, basically positive thoughts

and done! i believe that's all of them

[beautifulpersonpeach]

I have really truly loved all of NewJeans releases, downloaded Phoning but am too old to be bothered with it (sorry gals) and even would suggest I’m a “Bunny” to a degree, though I don’t have the time to really invest in their content beyond the music. But I was disappointed with this latest release, I find the songs pretty forgettable - with the exception of “bubble, BUBBLE, Bubble, bubble” part — I’ve been in Korea for the last couple weeks and am staying till mid June for work and I do hear the songs being played by stores and heard on the streets but then I kinda immediately forget them 😬. I had to wonder if *some* of MHJ’s ‘whistleblowing’ was knowing she was about to put out a less-than-stellar record of b-sides and that she was angry that Illit got Magnetic? Tbf, if IVE or like, idk, Kep1er (that 1 in the name cracks me up) had gotten Magnetic it would have done super well because it’s just that catchy. Not to knock the Illit girls themselves and the rest of their EP is enjoyable to be sure but not the pop-gold of Magnetic. But again, music is subjective - maybe it’s just me who isn’t catching on with How Sweet. It could be the backbeat makes me think I’m at the roller rink in 1993 at summer camp but still not as catchy as the actual songs from back then.

*

Ask 2:

Same anon who sent the ask about How Sweet & Bubble not being quite catchy enough — honestly maybe the other thing is that I have LOST! (And really all of RPWP) stuck in my head and my poor brain only has the bandwidth for one earworm at a time! 😅

***

It's unfair to compare anything to RPWP.

The NewJeans girls are sweet. They make good music. But nothing they've released so far holds a candle to the magic that is RPWP. There are some people who think the hype around Namjoon’s intelligence is overdone, and like I've said before, there was a time I was skeptical about if he actually knew what he was talking about. But that was years ago and he continues to vindicate the belief I have in his abilities as an artist. Acid jazz, psychedelic rock, Fuji music, new school funk, Korean hiphop - all of that seamlessly combined in a contemporary fusion jazz album, all of it his own creation, made with artists he personally selected and respects. Namjoon is very much worth the hype. He makes music that makes my blood burn.

And yeah Lost is stuck in my head too, the bass sequence on Lost reminds me of the sequence on Pharrell's Happy.

That said, I think How Sweet is my favourite track from NewJeans since New Jeans (the song). And funnily enough, I like it for kinda similar reasons to why I love RPWP: the song is avant garde for k-pop and takes interesting risks. And I frankly just like what I hear.

For example, the genre and bassline. How Sweet is in the Miami Bass genre, one of the more niche sub-genres to break out from 90s hiphop. It never really took on, which might be why it makes you "think I’m at the roller rink in 1993 at summer camp but still not as catchy as the actual songs from back then." G-funk, East-West Coast, and Gangta Rap genres got more popular while only a handful of Miami Bass tracks were hits. In fact the only Miami Bass song I (vaguely) remember from back then was Tootsie Roll (I didn't even fully remember the title of the song, I had to google it lol). ADOR could've made another song in the trap genre since that's a more popular Y2K hip hop creation, and their last song in that genre (OMG) was a hit anyway.

But no. They went with a fairly obscure expression of 90s hip hop, which I think shows the depth of knowledge and appreciation for the that era that either ADOR, Min Heejin, or their producer 250, has. NewJeans don't seem to be doing Y2K-type sounds for the fun of it or just because it's on trend, else they could've easily gone for something more mainstream or more modern/popular takes on that era, like Magnetic. To me, How Sweet shows ADOR is very deliberate in their exploration of nostalgia, and in that way they are the antithesis to what is typical in modern k-pop. [Ironically, Min Heejin's whistleblower report (linked here) explicitly called out the sub-par quality of HYBE's operations teams which I believe includes their A&R team (and I agree btw). And Min appears to be mostly responsible for A&R at ADOR, so in reality, it's unlikely Magnetic would've been a song she'd release, but it's still identical enough to NewJeans' sound to support her concerns about Belift and HYBE].

Also, to my ears it sounds like 250 tweaked the bassline in How Sweet to keep it centered in the mix with the synths, something I feel is innovative given the MB songs I've listened to have the bass more forward in the mix. The topline melody is also soothing over the high-energy instrumental, making it feel nostalgic, but fresh. Like, I'd rather listen to How Sweet than Tootsie Roll to that point, but just like RM's RPWP, it's a song that's strange for k-pop. It shouldn't sell, it's risky, but it works because the artists have already established an identity.

In my opinion lol.

I totally sympathize with you finding How Sweet to be underwhelming though. I've had similar conversations with some friends for both Namjoon and NewJeans' latest releases. If my guess is right about NewJeans, they'll continue their intentional/methodic exploration of nostalgic sounds and concepts, meaning for some people it will quickly become a snoozefest. And of course that's totally fine. Personally, I enjoy it.

[heejinedit]

like or reblog if you save. 

[kimjwoo]

👓breaking news

do not repost without credits

[vyvesvi]

favorite teaser photos for each member (011820) ♡♡♡

runners-up:

[huhjxn]

N E W J I N S : A Small World

huh yunjin musician & vlogger smau

every person have a different path destined for them depending on their passions and aspirations. huh yunjin is a courageous kid who chased her dreams of becoming a musician, but she realized that a certain girl starts to become part of that dream. just like any other journey in life, she is faced with different obstacles as she tries to pursue y/n. can she actually succeed or will she just be another 'jin' that you meet?

main cast: huh yunjin, kim chaewon, kim minju, jeon heejin (and more...)

genre: fluff, slight angst(?), wlw, their-besties-are-exes trope, defo slow burn

updates: 2-3 times a week

warnings: swearing, red flag chaewon, they r rude & gay

a/n: i just opened a taglist for this! comment or send an ask to be a part of it

[0] profiles

[1] studios & coffee shops

[2] new song out now!

[3] broken hearts

[4] chaewon's new girl

[-] extra: minju day

[5] looking for u

[6] i saw that

[7] green is the color of jealousy

[8] stunning

[9] case study with hyunjin

[10] i might kill my ex

[11] y/n as a uni student

[12] yunjin's vlog

[13] shutdown

[14] finally??!?!

[15] the date

[16] uni over cuties era

[17] she's so dense

[18] it's out

[19] best girl

[20] everyone is down bad

[21] back in the game (?)

[22] do you get déjà vu?

[23] and you'll be losing me

[24] low blow (wtf)

[25] huhyunny fuck you

[26] front row seats

[27] other jins

[28] makeover with hyunjin

[29] new hair

[30] blonde slytherins

[31] airdropped pic

[32] love it when pretty girls

[33] past and present

[34] the favor

[35] jennifer huh: a bad bitch

[36] take me out

[37] minyn are down horrendous

[38] minyn are still down horrendous

[39] motivation

[40] bad intentions?

[41]

[42]

[43]

[44]

[45]

[46]

[47]

[48]

[49]

[50]

[yvisoul]

LOONAVERSE THEORIES I DISAGREE WITH...

1. Heejin is the God of the Loonaverse.

At the beginning of ViViD, Heejin's eye can be seen opening and everything is black and white, for me this represents that Heejin, as the first girl, is the one who awakens the Loonaverse. The world is already created, Heejin only starts the story for us, she didn't create the Loonaverse.

I don't think she created the colors either. In a scene from ViViD, Heejin can be seen entering a room full of bottles with colors inside, several shots of this same scene appear in black and white meaning that Heejin discovers the bottles when the world is still colorless, after that, there are scenes of Heejin full of vivid colors and a filter that makes it look like the colors are expanding.

So, she discovered the colors and I believe she helped to expand them around the world, but she didn't created them. If colors had been created by Heejin in ViViD, so there'd be no way for Odd Eye Cirlce to have their Odd Eyes in Sweet Crazy Love since Sweet Crazy Love is like a prequel about what happened before the world had colors (before ViViD).

I do think Heejin has powers. In a # teaser (I don't remember which one) there is a quick shot of Heejin with an Odd Eye of her color and a scene in PTT where she seems to be controlling planets, so I'm sure she got powers after Hi High (probably Odd Eye Circle gave her an Odd Eye just like they did with Choerry), but in the Love & Live and ViViD era Heejin is just a normal girl like the rest of her classmates, not a God. After all 1/3's concept is about just normal girls living on Earth and Heejin doesn't meet Odd Eye Circle until Hi High.

2. Jinsoul, Yves and Olivia Hye are villains.

Honestly I really like those theories, they are very interesting and Jinsoul looks like a villain lol, but I don't think these are real lore and I feel like that isn't something BBC would include in the Loonaverse because Loona's lore is about 12 girls trying to come together to create a New Moon, there's no need to add a villain (at least not one of the girls being the villain).

The main reason Jinsoul, Yves, or Olivia Hye are considered villains is because of the theory that one of them killed Vivi.

First, Vivi was not killed. I think the reason why she became an cyborg it's because once she was from Eden, she tried to escape without biting her fruit and suffered the consequences of that, become a fallen angel who was about to die until she was saved by OEC and they turned her into an cyborg because it was the only way for her to keep living.

Olivia Hye.

Olivia Hye may seem evil because in Egoist she is full of anger, anguish and hate towards Yves, she looks like she's about to kill someone but I'm sure Olivia Hye would never do that. Again, Loona's lore isn't about the girls betraying or killing each other, and if Olivia Hye killed Vivi then why Yves apologizes to her in Hi High? (Considering that Yves is Vivi's closest friend) if Olivia Hye was an evil character she wouldn't accept Yves's apology and wouldn't join the group.

Her burning the moon in So What isn't a proof that she is a villain, Loona needed to burn the moon to be free and Olivia Hye just helped them.

Jinsoul.

People say that in Egoist when Jinsoul is whispering in Olivia Hye's ear it's to manipulate her into killing Vivi, but I think she's trying to convince and help Olivia Hye to leave Eden (like Choerry did with Gowon and Yves) because at first, Olivia Hye was very hesitant about leaving.

Jinsoul and Vivi's meeting in Everyday I Need You doesn't have a lot of lore for me, I think Jinsoul's appearance in EINY was just a spoiler for when she is revealed as an official member (she was supposed to be the 6th girl before Kim Lip), Jinsoul and Vivi don't even interact in EINY, they just met while visiting Hong Kong (like that letter video) and that's all.

About what happens with Choerry in Love Cherry Motion, Kim Lip and Jinsoul needed Choerry's help so they teleported her to Middle Earth to be a part of OEC after Hyunjin left.

Yves.

The reason why Yves left Olivia Hye in Eden it's because Olivia Hye needed to love herself before leave, she needed to be brave to bite her fruit, if she try to leave without biting her fruit she would probably end up like Vivi.

In Egoist, Yves went back to Eden to take her with her but Olivia Hye couldn't leave so Yves asked for Jinsoul's help and waited for Olivia Hye to bite her fruit, so then they meet in Hi High.

About Yves and Vivi's meeting in New, Yves didn't kill Vivi there, they were just hanging out together and Yves was happy to see Vivi after she left Eden so why she would do that?

Seeing that Earth is a better world than Eden made Yves want to leave and take the rest of yyxy with her, helped Chuu to escape and helped Gowon to love herself, then apologized to Olivia Hye for abandoning her and let her join the group. I haven't seen any sign that she is a villain.

[junicai]

infinite.

| summary | When Aria's with her boys, it feels like the sky's the limit.

| word count | 2.3k

| warnings | none

| era | circa. June 2021, filming for Hello, Future music video

The grass in the empty stadium had been liberally covered in fake flower petals - the healthy green of regularly watered grass slowly becoming overshadowed by the light pink and yellow that settled lightly atop it. 

The white corduroy overalls that Aria donned were splashed with colour in fake paint splotches to compliment the petals - yellows and greens and pinks mixed with blues and oranges in a jumble of streaks that were stark against the otherwise plain material. The Doc Martens that all eight of the members had been fitted for were all padded at the toe and the heel - lest the hard rubber break away skin and cause them to bleed during filming.

Aria crunched several petals underfoot in the heavy boots as she wandered over to the other boys who had been released from hair and makeup a handful of minutes before her. 

The sun was just reaching it’s highest point in the sky, the heat bearing down onto her exposed midriff and almost entirely cancelling out the cool breeze that threatened to rise goosebumps on her stomach. The floaty, bell-sleeved crop top was, in Aria’s opinion, absolutely gorgeous. She had already planned out the best way to corner Heejin unnie - one of the stylists that had an especially soft spot for Aria and her pout, when used effectively. 

Shaking her freshly dyed blue hair out of her eyes, Aria broke out into a light jog to catch up to Renjun, swinging an arm around the boy’s shoulders. 

“Hi!” She smiled brightly. 

Renjun wrinkled his nose at her playfully. “Hey. You done in makeup?”

Nodding, Aria replied, “Yeah. They wanted to touch up the colour in my hair and stick a couple more tattoos around.” She pointed to the new daisy sitting underneath her eye, and the Make Peace, Not War written in differing fonts along her left forearm. 

He aah’d exaggeratedly, patting his own upside-down HELLO on his arm absent-mindedly, before frowning lightly. “Is your colour coming out already? I thought they only dyed it a couple days ago.” Lifting up a hand, Renjun brushed away the strands in Aria’s fringe that were falling into her eyes, cringing lightly when they came away covered in blue residue. 

Aria pulled away from his fingers, shaking her fringe back into place. “They didn’t have any dye left, so it’s hair chalk.” She explained. 

Renjun made another noise of understanding, looking at his smurf coloured fingertips thoughtfully. When his eyes flickered up to meet Aria’s, they had a mischievous glint in them, and she barely had the chance to turn on her heel and break out into a run before Renjun was giving chase hot on her heels. 

“No!” 

“Yes!” 

Her boots were beginning to rub the skin around her ankle raw, still not broken in enough to stand the test of a sprint through a football field, but Renjun was behind her - holding up his hand threateningly - and that was enough to keep her powering through the burn.

“Stop it!” Aria panted, laughter beginning to soil her already failing lung capacity. Her pace was lagging, but much to her relief; so was Renjun’s. With a final burst of energy at seeing the ground she’d gained on him, Aria made her escape attempt-

Only to be captured by Jeno, strong arms wrapping around her waist and swinging her around in a circle to be plopped right back down in front of a now jogging Renjun, an evil smile on his face. 

“Lee Jeno!” Aria protested, wriggling against the arms that had yet to release her. “Let me goo!” 

He deigned not to respond, but Aria could see the matching glint in his eye, and she resigned herself to her fate. He shared a nod of understanding with Renjun who was advancing slowly now that his victim was immobile. 

“Renjun.”

A small smirk tugged at the corner of his lips. 

“Renjun, I’m sorry.”

His smurf-hand raised threateningly again. 

“I’ll do your dishes for a week.” 

With a final step, Renjun was now within a half-arms distance from Aria. 

“Jenooo-” Aria cut herself off with a squeak, as Renjun dragged his fingers over the bridge of her nose, leaving behind a trail of the blue hair chalk. Aria flailed in Jeno’s grip, but he held her fast, even going so far as to tug her down into his lap on the ground to hold her steady. 

Now entirely stuck, Aria resorted to flailing her limbs as much as she could, which really wasn’t a lot when Jeno tucked her legs beneath his knees, trapping her with all four of his limbs as Renjun rubbed the rest of the hair chalk off of his fingertips and onto Aria’s nose and cheeks. 

Revenge enacted, her attacker eventually settled back onto his heels, fingers now chalk free - having spread most of it over Aria’s face as a replacement for blush. 

Aria let out a small sneeze when the loose dust tickled her nose, blinking harshly in surprise. 

With her eyes closed, she couldn’t see the hand Renjun held to his heart, or the pout that Jeno’s lips formed at the cute sound. The two men peered up at each other, silently agreeing that: Yes, it was unfair that she looked so tiny and cute with blue blush. Sometimes, life wasn’t fair, and it was coming for Renjun and Jeno’s heart in the form of a very tiny girl with a blueberry nose. 

With a pat on the arm from Renjun, Jeno released Aria from his grip who promptly turned around and rained a series of light smacks onto his chest, only stopping when her rings snagged in the necklace he wore. He made no effort to help her, asides from holding her up when he accidentally leaned back and nearly took her down with him. 

“Traitor!” She declared once she had untangled the jewelry. For her own revenge, she ran a finger through her hair to collect the chalk and smudged the colour onto Jeno’s cheek in a bright smear. 

The shocked look in his wide eyes was enough to have Renjun coughing out a laugh, the other two soon following. The patch of grass they had settled onto was far enough away from the filming location that there were no petals to hinder Aria’s plans of laying down onto her back, hands splayed over her stomach as she laughed along with the boys. 

“Guys!” It was Mark’s call that drew their attention away from the coloured chalk - although Renjun did let out another snicker at the light blue cloud that Aria’s hair left on the grass where she had been laying - and together the trio made their way back over to the other five members. 

When Jeno and Renjun got distracted in comparing the temporary tattoos they had both been decorated with, Aria slowed her pace enough to let the two wander ahead without her. 

She slid her focus away from the duo and towards the group that had settled in between the flower-covered goalposts, some standing, some sitting.

The bright colours of this concept was a nice change, Aria thought. She loved doing sexier concepts - don’t get her wrong, she loved the empowerment that came with it, and the twitter reactions were always fun to scroll through - but she’d missed this kind of bubble pop. Songs that made something uncurl up in your chest, complemented and encouraged by all the bright colours and messages. 

When Aria had read through the lyrics the first time, she’d never felt like she’d loved a song more without hearing it. They meant something, especially to her. 

Hello, Future; and all that.

And the costuming was always so fun. Short skirts were never the most ideal things to dance in, and the heeled shoes were the bane of her existence (no matter how good she looked in them) so the sturdy boots and durable overalls was a welcome switch-out. 

Her boys looked happy with it as well.

With Hot Sauce, there was an infinite amount pressure to get it right. It was the first full album that NCT Dream was going to release, and it was 8DREAM. They had Mark back. They were all adults at that point. There were expectations to meet. They couldn’t pass things off as being children anymore; they had millions of eyes watching them, and it was like having someone breathing down your neck. 

The pressure just kept mounting and mounting until it loomed over them all like dark clouds that you could just know held heavy rain. It was like they were debuting all over again. Re-debuting as eight again. Aria doesn’t think she remembers a single thing from the set at all. The whole thing is just a blur in her memory. 

Hello, Future, this time around, is different. The members had gathered in the living room around Donghyuck’s laptop when the Hot Sauce music video aired, watching as the views racked up and positive comment after positive comment poured in. They’d read through each and every one, Mark and Aria translating the English ones that the others couldn’t read. 

If Aria cried, one arm wrapped tightly around Jaemin, with the other held Mark’s right hand in his lap, then no one commented on it. It could be, because they had tears of their own in their eyes - but no one can say for sure.

They ended up sleeping on the floor that night, laptop discarded on the couch that was stripped bare of pillows and throw blankets. Curled around each other - this time with her head on Renjun’s chest and her stomach monopolized by both Chenle and Jisung lying horizontal from each other, Aria felt the tension and the fear that had been teeming underneath her shoulders for the last two months abate. 

The terror that if the album had flopped, then they’d be facing disbandment like so many kneitzens wanted. 

Or worse: Dream would keep going, but they’d lose Mark again. 

Even the thought made something horrible curl up in the pit of Aria’s stomach. 

No. 

Never again. 

The odd sleeping arrangements were not something that were uncommon in the Dreamies dorm (Honestly, Aria can’t remember the last time she had slept alone in a room, let alone a bed. They had a system worked out for when someone genuinely needed time alone, but otherwise, most bedroom doors remained open all night.)

This time, Mark was forcibly settled into the middle, everyone clamoring that he’d missed out on nearly three years of them - and he wasn’t getting ride of them that easily again. 

To his credit, Mark went without much argument, although that probably falls down due to the fact that god, he had missed them too. 

Over the weeks of practicing together, re-working the choreography for the songs that had been released when Dream was seven members only, they found their rhythm again. The one that they had lost in 2019, the one that Mark had taken with him when he’d graduated from the group.

Finding it again felt easier than breathing. 

Aria thought she’d never get to see her boys smile so brightly as they did together again, giving the colourful flowers lining the grass a run for their money. 

From her position a ways away from the group, she watched as Chenle immediately launched himself at Jeno as soon as he was close enough, tackling the older boy onto the ground where they both landed with a thud, Chenle’s head whipping backwards with the force.

She watched as Jeno - ever careful - had tucked a hand behind Chenle’s head to catch him even before they started to fall, his hand taking all the impact as they came into contact with the ground.

Jisung was quick to clamber up, eager to pull Renjun over to Jaemin and show him what they had been doing. She watched as Jaemin held up a small crown made of the fake petals, held together loosely by the short strands of confetti that were scattered around the goalposts. 

Mark was leaning his back against the post, head tilted down onto Donghyuck’s shoulder. Donghyuck was watching Jeno and Chenle wrestle with each other - cheering for one or the other, depending on who was winning at that exact moment. 

Aria watched as Donghyuck slowly slipped into silence, tilting his head down to look at Mark’s peaceful expression as the eldest seemed to almost doze off on his shoulder. 

And, she watched as Donghyuck lifted his eyes, flickering from each of the members. His eyebrows furrowed, scanning the group again before he craned his neck towards the rest of the field.

When his eyes locked onto Aria’s, he raised an eyebrow, but deigned to stay quiet - choosing against startling Mark with a yell. His expression was enough, though. 

Donghyuck understood Aria on a certain level that she thought not a lot of people could. She had a unique bond with each member of Dream, but Donghyuck sometimes knew what was going on in her head before she even did. 

Which is why, instead of teasing her for being an introvert, or running away; when Aria strolled up to join the group he just extended the arm that wasn’t wrapped around Mark’s waist, beckoning to her.

After being firmly tucked into his other side, Aria curled into his chest with a sigh, shivering lightly when the sun slid behind a cloud for a brief second and the air felt cooler than it had all day.

Feeling her shudder, Donghyuck tilted his head down to look at her the same way he’d looked at Mark a moment ago, before pressing a kiss to the top of her head. 

“You okay?” 

Aria nodded. “M’okay.” 

(Donghyuck didn’t realize that his lips were blue from the chalk until Jisung pointed it out, some thirty minutes later.)

[rukakikuchi]

LOONA “So What” analysis and theories

It’s finally time! After rewatching and analyzing the music video for nth amount of times (lol), I’m here to bring you guys my personal analysis and theories for LOONA’s latest comeback “So What”!

So, without further ado... Let’s begin.

(Remember that these are only my interpretation and are not straight up facts. These are just theories that coincide with my personal view on the story of LOONA and the LOONAverse.)

Now that “So What” has finally been released, we have been shown the next chapter of the story of the LOONAverse, as well as a new side to LOONA we’ve never seen before.

So now that the next chapter of LOONA’s story has been released, it’s time to go through the music video and see what is going on.

Hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil

An interesting observation that was made after the release of the “#1” teaser was the focus on certain facial features of the 1/3 girls; Hyunjin’s mouth, Haseul’s ear, and ViVi’s eye. 

It’s been theorized this is connected to the saying “hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil.”

Well, this may very well be the case for the LOONA girls now that the Moebius time loop has reset again.

Because Heejin was able to break out of the loop, the Moebius strengthened itself in order to keep the girls apart and prevent them from trying to break out again.

Yves, Chuu, and Gowon appear to be in Eden, but I don’t think that’s the case. They merged their worlds together in “Hi High”; they met to become one universe. 

Perhaps this is an Earth equivalent to Eden, a paradise that was made to keep them unaware of the truth of their world. (Think of the phrase “ignorance is bliss.”) Chuu and Gowon are happy and oblivious, but Yves is a “black swan” who is treated like an outcast.

They’ve essentially reverted back to before they ate the Forbidden Fruit and realized their true selves. Again, notice how Chuu is dressed in red (a color representing love) and Gowon in yellow (a color that can represent hope).

Without the knowledge they received upon rejecting Eden, they cannot become who they were truly meant to be. 

However, Yves being shown acting outside the norm (not dressed the same as the other ballerinas) might be a hint to that she’s still vaguely aware of that side to herself.

Odd Eye Circle are separated from each other, and have lost their powers, although Kim Lip’s situation might be different from Jinsoul and Choerry’s.

One thing that was extremely prominent to me in “So What” were Kim Lip’s eyes. Specifically, the color of her eyes. 

She is wearing pale blue eye contacts. And it’s not just in the music video; she is also wearing them in live performances of “So What”.

Now sure, K-pop idols are no stranger to this. In fact, Kim Lip isn’t the only one doing this. Yves has also been shown wearing light colored eye contacts for this comeback.

I also noticed Heejin and Choerry both looked like they had contacts in a couple performances, and I’m sure other members have done this too. But Kim Lip’s eyes have stood out the most.

This must’ve been intentional. This isn’t the first time something like this has been done for LOONA.

Remember the Halloween special stage where five of the members covered Sumni’s “Full Moon”? They had little references to the LOONAverse lore in there, too; notably, in Kim Lip, Choerry, and Olivia.

The concept seemed to be vampires, so everyone had dark red color contacts. Except for Olivia, who had pale blue/silver color contacts.

She doesn’t possess an Odd Eye, but perhaps this is a nod to her “wolf eyes”, aka the red glowing eyes we see in “Egoist”.

Choerry’s right eye, where her Odd Eye is, was a different color from her left eye; a grey blue.

As for Kim Lip, they used special makeup and placed a scar over her left eye, where her Odd Eye is.

Again, this must have been intentional.

But what does this mean for Kim Lip’s eye color in “So What”?

Well, I think that Kim Lip may still have her Odd Eye, but it has been sealed and she’s being prevented from reawakening it. 

It’s unknown whether this can be said for Jinsoul and Choerry as well, since we aren’t given any hints of them possessing their Odd Eyes. It’s possible they might have lost them completely, or if they still do have them, they just haven’t awakened them.

Regardless, the loss of their Odd Eyes means that the three have lost the special connection they shared which defined them as the “Odd Eye Circle”.

Then, we have ViVi, who is seen throughout almost the entirety of the music video with a bandana over her mouth. She’s also shown to be by herself, separated from the rest of the group.

This coupled with her lack of lines when compared to other members’ distribution of lines in “So What”, has to be more than just coincidence. 

Everything in the LOONAverse has a deeper meaning; everything has a reason for being there.

I previously mentioned that ViVi might be going through another kind of identity crisis. She’s not an android anymore; she became a human in “Love & Live”. Yet her expressions in “So What” seem almost robotic.

I believe ViVi has lost something that is vital to her identity; her voice. Because she has lost the ability to speak, she does not have a way of expressing herself and her feelings. 

That’s why she seems so robotic in the music video; she’s been placed in a similar situation to when she was an android and struggled to connect with the others when she first met them. Thus she turns to graffiti as an act of self expression as well as rebellion.

All of these instances show that some of the girls have lost an important part of themselves.

Hear no evil = Blissful ignorance of the world.

See no evil = Loss of connection.

Speak no evil = Restriction of self expression.

Without these vital parts of their identities, they are unable to find each other and realize their true purpose. So Heejin has to break them free, but she can’t do it alone.

Follow me

For this section, I’m going to try and set up the order in which I believe Heejin found the other members after falling back into the loop. This is just pure speculation on my part in order to get a better grasp of the story.

The first girl who I believe Heejin finds is Olivia. The two have always been connected with each other deeply; they were like day and night.

In fact, I think it was Olivia who found Heejin after she fell back to Earth. Think of it as a potential parallel to when Heejin met Olivia at the end of “Egoist” after Olivia had her fall to Earth.

Next, I think Heejin finds Kim Lip. Again, this could potentially parallel to how Kim Lip met Heejin in “Hi High”.

Hyunjin and Choerry have already found each other. They are constantly shown together, mirroring each other.

We see the tuk tuks circling around them, symbolizing them being stuck in the loop, but we also see them get on one of the tuk tuks.

They are taking control of their fate to break out of the loop.

Heejin, Kim Lip, and Olivia find Yeojin (hence we see them together above with the dancers in this scene), but realize Haseul is now missing. They tell Yeojin what has happened, so she starts rebelling at her school to break out of the loop.

(And yes, I’ve seen it been pointed out, Yeojin literally looks like pre-debut era Jinsoul.)

Her actions end up influencing the other students of the school. So yes, Yeojin did indeed start a school uprising. 😆

Next are Gowon, Chuu, and Yves.

We get this scene where Gowon and Chuu are running down the hall together, when Gowon suddenly stops and looks behind her. As if she heard something, felt something, that told her she needed to get out of the loop.

I think this was the moment she received a message, possibly from Olivia, to tell her what was going on and help Gowon regain her memories. She relays the message to Chuu, and later both tell Yves what’s happening. 

Yet again, another potential parallel, like when Yves and Chuu approached Gowon with the offer of escaping Eden.

So Yves starts rebelling as well, dancing freely how she wants to.

Gowon sends out the butterflies again, in order to reach the other members.

Yves joins Heejin and Olivia, along with Hyunjin and Choerry, and find Jinsoul in the subway train.

(Here’s a “blink and you miss it” moment: Olivia rips off the choker around her neck. Just like when she did it in the “XIIIX” teaser. She’s freeing herself of any restrictions.)

The last girl they have to find is ViVi, but they aren’t able to find her as easily. Like I previously mentioned, she’s constantly shown being cut off from the rest of the group, all by herself. Wherever she is, her location is somewhere that the others can’t get to, or possibly even know about.

So, how do they reach her?

A message to ViVi

Throughout the music video, we are given several shots that have a VHS static overlay effect over them. I previously mentioned how the static effect is always associated with ViVi’s memories/dreams, so this gives us a better idea of what exactly these shots we see are supposed to be.

No joke, I went through the whole music video and counted every single time we saw the VHS static overlay effect. Guess how many times we see it in the MV?

1. The chains breaking

2. Shot of ViVi’s face

3, 4, & 5. Hyunjin and Choerry with the tuk tuks

6. The members on the subway train

7. Shot of Yeojin’s face

8. Shot of Heejin’s face

9. Brief cut to static after ViVi drops the spray can

10. The sign reading “Make it burn”

11 & 12. The members on the subway train again

That’s right. We got 12 total instances of VHS static overlay in the music video!

I believe what we are seeing is Heejin and the other members sending a message to ViVi, possibly using something like the cassette tapes, in order to reach out to ViVi and let her know what they’re doing since she’s separated from the group.

Shots #9 and #10, however, I think are ViVi sending a message back, the sign reading “Make it burn” signalling to them that she got their message.

And also serving as a sign to Olivia of what she needs to do.

Burn yourself

In the beginning of the video, we see Olivia standing with a torch on what we can presume is the surface of the moon (the real location is likely the black sand beach of Iceland).

And we are given some very interesting narration.

“Do not accept the fate of the moon. Get off the track. Reveal to the world the hidden side. Burn yourself.”

Let’s break this down line by line.

“Do not accept the fate of the moon.”

The fate of the girls have always been tied to the moon, aka the heart of the Goddess. It was their destiny to meet each other and complete the moon of their world.

Their goal as LOONA has always been to find each other and break out of the loop, but what if that alone wasn’t enough?

“Get off the track.”

The “+ +” and “X X” timelines showed us the unification of the girls with themselves and their shadows, but it’s always ended the same for them. They find each other, and they try to break the loop, but the loop resets and they’re back to square one.

They kept taking the obvious choices they believed would allow them to break free. They need to do something different and cause chaos to break the loop.

“Reveal to the world the hidden side.”

Obviously referring to the back of the moon; the hidden side of themselves that they’ve never shown before. Their shadows, their truest selves that existed deep inside of them.

If they bring that side out, they can find new potential.

“Burn yourself.”

The word “burn” has been used constantly throughout this comeback since we got the first # teaser last year. Fans kept asking the question, what would they be burning?

And now, we finally got the answer.

From the description of “So What”: “It is possible to make different waves more than you can imagine if you challenge yourself with your passion(BURN), and go forward.”

From the lyrics: “Burn your intense heart.”

Deep within themselves, was a fire that was waiting to be ignited by passion. By the desire to break free of everything that held them back. To take control of their destiny; to choose their own fate. To be who they truly are.

And finally, they were ready to burn.

The beginning of the end

Olivia realized what she needed to do in order to break the loop. She was the only one capable of doing it. It was her mission, and hers alone.

“You, who was sent by God. Destroy all things without hesitation.”

Olivia has always been connected to fire, a symbol of destruction as well as purification. And now that we’ve coupled the term “burn” with fiery passion in “So What”, we are shown a second and more literal meaning through Olivia.

What if the only way to break the Moebius loop was to destroy it before it was completed? If they destroy the loop before it can complete itself, then the time loop won’t be reset.

So Olivia does what she has to, in order to free herself, to free everyone, from this curse. She burns the moon, to destroy everything.

The moon, which we associated as the heart of the Goddess, as something the girls were deeply connected to by fate, is set ablaze.

The moon that could not shine on its own without reflecting the light of the sun; the back of the moon which no one knows about.

Now it’s been lit up in flames, burning to shine its own light.

Meanwhile, down on Earth, we see all the members watching as the sky is set ablaze, with balls of fire raining down.

(Even the dance shots, we start to see them!)

We see all the members lit up in red light, representing the fire.

Heejin’s expression in particular really stood out. Her expression is sad, even heartbroken, watching the place she had once flew high to reach, now on fire and being destroyed. But she knows deep down, this will free her and her friends.

And with destruction, there will come rebirth.

The phoenix and Haseul

Like I mentioned in the breakdown for the teasers, what we see in # and “So What” is the destruction and rebirth of the LOONAverse. In order to free themselves from the loop, they had to destroy their old world to create a new one. They had to burn their hearts with passion to ignite that fire in order to be reborn.

In the final shot of the music video, as Olivia watches the flames die down on the moon, she looks down…

And there are two white bird feathers on the ground, burning, and being revived.

It’s clear who and what this represents; Haseul. The reconstruction and revival of the bird feathers after being burned shows that Haseul has been reborn.

Just like the phoenix, who rises from the ashes and is born again stronger than before, this tells us, the audience (and all LOONAs around the world), and Olivia herself, that Haseul will be reunited with the others, and she will be stronger than she was before.

And the same can be said for all of LOONA. Now that they’ve “burned themselves”, they can rise from the ashes, in a new world where they are free to take control of their fate. To reach their highest goals.

Like the phoenix, LOONA has been reborn, stronger. And now, free.

...

And that concludes my analysis of “So What”!

I was so happy with this comeback and now I’m excited to see what’s next for LOONA and the story of the LOONAverse going forward. There are so many possibilities of where they can take this story, and I am all in for the ride!

I hope you guys enjoyed my analysis, so until next time...

Stan LOONA! 🌙💖

[gotinterest]

I think you're onto something and going off of that I think that it's also a reference back to # era where Hyeju burned down the moon which then allowed for the Loonaverse to be scrambled and then reborn and flipped. So the ash could represent the darker side of the Loonaverse being flipped back to its earlier, more colorful roots. Especially since we saw Hyeju's lighter side in Flip That where she is shown kindness by Heejin. But that darkness still remains.

In order for things to change there needs to be some destruction of the old. I also think it's no coincidence that Yves' hair is red this era because what is the color of fire? Yes, that's right. Red. And she is also an agent of chaos and change within the Loonaverse. It's yet another reminder of the potential darkness on the flip side of the current lightness. Because fire is bright, but it's also destructive and leaves behind nothing but ash (which represents Hyeju after Yves allows for her to fall). Yves represents the rejection of societal norms (the flames), Hyeju represents the destruction of societal norms (the ash).

So nice of tumblr to promote Loona's Flip That with this new upside down desktop theming! What's up with the floating ash tho is that lore?

[rukakikuchi]

LOONA # era teasers analysis and theories

Alright, so quick disclaimer. I am actually working on some analysis and theories regarding the music video for “So What” and how is affects the story of the LOONAverse, but first, I wanted to share the analysis I made for the teasers.

The reason why is because I had already written most of these points before the release of the “So What” MV; some were added on after the MV released, but for the most part, it was all speculation before the comeback.

I also wanted to correct a few details made from my original timeline analysis that I had got wrong. They don’t change my analysis too drastically, but I would still like to bring them up before talking about “So What”.

So, let’s start with addressing those corrections before analyzing the teasers.

…

Firstly, there is the scene at the end of “Love & Live”, where we see ViVi stop in the middle of the road, apparently out of breath, just after the timer on her battery runs out.

It was confirmed in an interview by ViVi herself, as well as the director of the video, that in that scene, she became human.

So, we can now say that the ending to “Love & Live” was the moment where ViVi became human again. She regained the ability to feel emotion, feel tired, to dream, and to eat food again, but her memories were still a little messed up. It’s through her interactions with Heejin, Hyunjin, and Haseul, that she eventually remembers what happened that led to her becoming an android.

Next, is regarding Chuu and Gowon’s representative emotions.

Originally, it was shown through the “one” short movie that Chuu represents love and Gowon represents hope. However, this was switched in the description for the “Butterfly” music video; Chuu is now hope and Gowon is now love.

At first, I was baffled by this change. Chuu representing love and Gowon as hope just made more sense to me. However, I decided to keep an open mind. So let’s see how these two fit into their newly designated emotions.

The description for “Butterfly” reads: “Chuu keeps her ‘hopes’ up with her yearning towards Yves. Gowon ‘loves’ her unique self.” These are both proven to be true, as we see in their respective solo MVs. 

Chuu is relentlessly stubborn in her efforts to gain Yves’ attention and affection in “Heart Attack”. 

And Gowon sings about how she learns to love herself, her “One & Only”. 

(There’s even a double meaning to that, as Gowon is referring to her “one and only” self as her “one and only” love.)

Lyrics in other LOONA songs also reaffirm this. In yyxy’s “one way”, Gowon ends the song with the spoken line, “But I still love you.” And in “Butterfly”, Chuu sings the line “Dreams, dreams may come true.”

So yeah, now that that’s cleared up, it’s time to talk about the # era teasers!

Keep in mind that most of the observations were made before the release of “So What”. I will use my analysis of what we see in “So What” to correct or alter some of these previous observations.

…

The end of the beginning

So, from watching and re-watching the teasers for “#”, I’ve begun forming a new theory of where the story of the LOONAverse could be heading.

Starting with the first teaser released last year, simply titled “#”, we see several shots that appear to parallel or reference scenes we saw in the “X X” teasers (namely XIIX, XIIIX, and XIVX) and the “Butterfly” music video.

We see Gowon in Iceland, removing her black coat just like she did in “XIIX” when she went back in time to save Haseul and initiate the butterfly effect. In my timeline analysis, I said that this was Gowon’s shadow, since the real Gowon was asleep. 

We see her awake later on, with her coat still on. She looks up at the sky, but what does she see?

Then we see Olivia, when she woke up after the world had changed due to Gowon’s butterfly effect. We see a shot of her going up the stairs, possibly hearing Gowon calling to her. 

We also see her pass by the girl with the afro we saw dancing in “Butterfly”. Olivia looks back at her as she continues looking for presumably the other yyxy girls.

We later see Chuu, looking for Yves to reunite with her after the butterfly effect. She turns around, as if something caught her attention.

There are also a couple of scenes showing some of the other girls who appeared in “Butterfly”; the other LOONAs. 

We see the girl who was standing on the rooftop look back confused, as if she doesn’t remember how she got there. 

We even briefly see the “X X” and “+ +” in the black box over her eyes.

Then we see the eye of a girl looking up at the sky, the eye belonging to the girl with the crutches. Did she see something?

Then we see the short haired “Odd Eye” girl (this one was meant to represent Choerry) standing in front of goldfish tanks while holding a plastic bag with a fish. But what is she doing here?

Knowing that the fish tanks are meant to represent alternate timelines, I’m going to propose two possibilities:

1.) Choerry was trying to travel to the past like Gowon did, either to contact herself from the past, or another member, to tell them what was going to happen.

Or…

2.) She was trying to save one of the other members from the time loop resetting by placing them in another timeline. But the question is who?

Probably the most noteworthy are the girls in the red tracksuits, who we see running up the stairs, trying to reach something, but are then seen collapsed on the ground, as if they all fell asleep.

We see imagery of things being burned, such as tags with “+ +” and “X X” on them, and a butterfly's wings, as well as a swarm of butterflies flying up from what appear to be flames. 

And throughout the video, many of these clips and images were shown with a VHS static overlay. (See images above.) 

And which member do we frequently connect this effect with? ViVi. So why are we seeing this static overlay here?

Well, something I have gone back and forth about including in the LOONA timeline is 1/3’s “Rain 51db”. But it might actually have more significance than I originally thought. 

Alongside the VHS tape recording aesthetic, similar to ViVi’s “Everyday I Love You”, this video feels like it came straight from the 90’s. There’s also something quite peculiar about the beginning of the video, but that’s something we’ll discuss later.

The main reason I didn’t include “Rain 51db” in my timeline was because I had no idea where to place it. I didn’t know if this was some alternate timeline, or another dream or warped memory from ViVi. I even thought it could’ve been a sort of message 1/3 was trying to send to someone. (Odd Eye Circle maybe?) 

But the more I think about it, it makes sense for this to be a memory or dream from ViVi.

Or rather… It’s both. It’s a memory of a dream.

If we consider the cassette tapes in ViVi’s possession as a way to access memories through dreaming, then that means we can link the VHS static effect with someone dreaming, whether that be ViVi herself, or another member.

So, this means what we see in the # teaser are memories, and maybe even memories of dreams.

And the dreamlike vision of the butterflies flying is abruptly cut by static, before immediately taking us back to a bird’s eye view of the black sand beach in Iceland.

(And just a quick aside, I won’t be trying to decode what the blurred message we see in the static could be. Because, I don’t think that’s a detail we should be focused on; rather, the fact that the cut to static is present at all to begin with.)

This exact same shot is where we open “#1″ with, before another flash of static, some quick black and white images of the 1/3 girls, cutting to Heejin waking up floating above the clouds.

I think what we are seeing in the “#” teaser is another instance similar to the first “X X” teaser, when we saw everything in “Hi High” being rewound; the time loop is being reset again. 

The previous timelines of “+ +” and “X X” are being erased, and so are the girls’ memories. They become like memories of dreams. Memories that start to fade after you wake up, and eventually disappear.

And the tracksuit wearing girls we see collapsed on the ground could represent the other members of LOONA. Only one of them managed to break out of the Moebius time loop, and the others tried to catch up to her, but failed as the time loop began to catch up to them. 

And who was the one girl who made it out? Heejin.

In “#1”, Heejin awakens alone in the sky above the Moebius. She was the only one who managed to fly high enough to break out of the Moebius loop. Only she managed to reach the moon, where the Goddess was waiting for her. We see she reached the moon in “#2”.

[[**Flash warning for gif**]]

But her friends are still stuck in the time loop, and now that she’s out of the Moebius loop, the world is rewriting itself completely. The eclipse we see in “#2” signifies this; it is the sign of the end and beginning of the world.

“+ +” was about three worlds (Earth, middle Earth/the Cosmos, Eden) becoming one; “X X” was about the girls uniting with their shadow selves on the mirror side of the LOONAverse. And as we’ll talk about later, “#” in my opinion is about the destruction and rebirth of the LOONAverse.

So what does Heejin do seeing that her friends are still trapped by the Moebius loop? She willingly falls back to Earth to save her friends. 

Similar to the “fall of Icarus”, whose wings burned due to hubris, Heejin made the conscious choice to go back so she and her friends could break out of the loop together; because they were meant to be together, as twelve.

So how has the world and the other girls changed?

The back of the moon

The “#3” teaser shows us the “back of the moon”, meaning we are in an alternate, darker timeline than what we’ve previously been following. Certain things about the girls, their relationships, and other aspects from LOONA’s story have been reversed, or slightly altered.

Firstly, we see ViVi, now a graffiti artist, most likely using graffiti as an act of self expression and maybe even rebellion against something. 

In the teaser for “So What”, she tosses a can of spray paint while looking down towards the camera.

I think in this new timeline, ViVi is a human. But perhaps she is having a different sort of identity crisis, using graffiti as a way to express herself.

Then we see Kim Lip in what appears to be a museum or palace. Kim Lip is one of the few members who does not turn around in the whole video.

We see a similar looking setting later in “To all LOONAs around the world”, but Gowon is there, in a different place in possibly the same location.

We then see Hyunjin and Choerry are together, facing a line of tuk tuks. Some of them have different colored headlights, but the most notable are the orange and green headlights seen side by side, most likely meant to represent Haseul and Yeojin.

Next, we see Jinsoul walking on a train with a group of unknown girls (Update: it’s been revealed these are members of LOONA, but we’ll talk about that later on). 

She looks behind her, but turns her head back to facing forward as she continues on. Perhaps in this new timeline, Jinsoul is indulging more in her inner darkness, acting more aloof and rebellious.

Then, we see three of the yyxy girls, Chuu, Gowon, and Yves. 

Chuu and Gowon are together, holding their hands behind each other’s backs as they turn their heads backwards, while Yves is by herself, in a dance practice room, looking at the sky from a window. Do Chuu and Gowon know something that Yves doesn’t? Are the three of them even in the same place?

Also, an interesting thing we can point out here are the colors of the dresses Chuu and Gowon are wearing. Chuu is in a red dress, and Gowon is in a yellow dress.

What’s so noteworthy about this? Because of the meanings both colors have. Red is a color that often represents love, and yellow, alongside cheerfulness and joy, can also represent hope.

But we just said that Chuu is now representing hope and Gowon is love, so why has it switched back? Could it be that in “+ +”, the two of them didn’t realize what their true representative emotions were until “X X”?

Either way, it’s an interesting point to note. So moving on...

What’s notable is that Yves is wearing all black, a direct contrast from when we first saw her in “new” wearing all white. 

We see this dance room again in “To all LOONAs around the world”, and the latest teaser for “So What”, with several other ballerina girls. 

At one point, we see them circling someone. Maybe Yves? Perhaps in this timeline, Yves is an outcast because she’s different from everyone; a “black swan”.

Next, from a distance, we see Yeojin standing in the middle of a schoolground as a group of students run in her direction. Why this could be the case, there are several possibilities. Are these students meant to represent the members of LOONA finding Yeojin, or is Yeojin about to start a school uprising?

(My money is on the latter. lol)

However, here is where I would like to propose another theory; Yeojin and Haseul have switched places. In the previous timelines, Yeojin was lost in the forest before being found by Haseul and the other girls. 

But now, I think the roles have reversed in this timeline, and now Haseul is the one who is missing. (This could serve as a good in-universe reason as to explain how she won’t be present in this comeback. The 11 members of LOONA need to unite to find her.)

Lastly, we see Heejin and Olivia Hye, on two different sides of the same billboard. Heejin is there in the day, likely her arrival after she fell back into the loop, and Olivia is there at night, the screen turning red as she turns her head back.

Heejin and Olivia have always been mirror opposites of one another; they are literally shown to be “day and night” here. So what will happen when they confront each other in this new timeline?

...

Thus concludes the observations I made for the teasers! Again, since I am still working on my analysis for the “So What” MV, some of these previous observations may be revised when I actually do the analysis proper.

Nonetheless, I hope you look forward to my theories! Until then, keep streaming “So What” and support LOONA however you can! 🙌🏻🙌🏻