#rain 51db | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

married-2-the-music · 1 year ago

Text

K-pop Discography Deep Dives: LOONA

A Disclaimer: I was planning, when I first started Tumblr, to be a lurker, but then I began an office job and needed something to listen to to keep myself occupied. And then, I started going through entire K-pop groups’ repertoires, album by album, and jotting down my thoughts. And then, I stumbled into K-pop tumblr and decided, you know what, there’s at least four people on this hell site who would read in depth rants about these discographies and at least five who wouldn’t read it and then get mad because it’s kind of our job as K-pop fans. My lukewarm takes should be taken with an entire silo of salt and the knowledge that this is completely for fun and occupying my very bored, very neurodivergent brain. With that being said, enjoy!

So, here are my credentials: LOONA first appeared on my radar thanks to my Orbit friend, who showed me Paint The Town a few years ago, and while I didn’t know what to think of it the first time, it grew on me, and it’s joined my regular workout playlist. I became an Orbit myself only a few months before they disbanded, due to their great performances on Queendom, and I joined the boycott from when Chuu was kicked out to the present (and may or may not have cried when they were all freed but that’s a story for another time). So, the women of LOONA have a special place in my heart, and obviously, I’m being more harsh than usual because this is a review, after all.

So, as you may (or may not) know, LOONA’s Korean name means Girl Of The Month, since each of the twelve members debuted with a solo in a different month throughout 2016 and 2017, then in sub-groups, and then finally as a full, 12-person group composed of Heejin, Hyunjin, Yeojin, Haseul, Vivi, Kim Lip, Choerry, Jinsoul, Chuu, Yves, Gowon, and Hyeju (formerly known as Olivia Hye). So, I’m going to go in chronological order. Settle in, folks, this’ll be a long one.

Subgroup #1: ⅓ (HeeJin, Hyunjin, Haseul, Yeojin, and Vivi)’s Love & Evil is on the whole a very cinematic and elegant album with highlights being Sonatine and Rain 51Db, that take the best of Haseul’s solo and add a touch of flamenco and a great mix of voices. It also has small spots of brightness like Love & Live thrown in, again giving the early Gfriend energy.

Heejin’s solo, ViViD, is jazzy and upbeat, feeling like a great start; the acoustic version is a bit more interesting: it has a slightly Latin Pop feel with a melancholy guitar. I do like this one, especially the brass, but I don’t like the chorus’ enunciation (which is definitely not the right word). Specifically, the way she says, “I’m like, oh my goodness,” which gets under my skin for no good reason. But otherwise, it’s in the top half of the solos for me.

Hyunjin’s solo, Around You, is more melancholy, but not in as interesting a way as ViVid’s acoustic version, and although her voice is pretty nice, it sounds like a lot of singers. I far prefer the b-side, I’ll Be There, which reminds me of Red Velvet’s Russian Roulette in the choppy, video-game-esque production. Heejin and Hyunjin’s tones work great together, and the song sounds very like the sort of “golden age” of third gen k-pop, and specifically early Gfriend (who’s going to be the next gg I cover, actually).

Haseul’s solo, Let Me In, also follows the trend of melancholy, but unlike Around You, I actually quite like this one. Like my favorite ballads, it distinguishes itself, with the orchestra reminiscent of a ballroom waltz, and Haseul’s powerful but delicate voice, and it feels like the first of LOONA’s songs to be totally unique.

Yeojin’s Kiss Later is peppy and childish, as befits the subject matter and her age. It also has a 50’s / 60’s vibe to it, with the surf rock guitar break and bighearted instrumental bringing some great energy. This one isn’t my favorite, but it definitely has me bopping my head.

Vivi’s Everyday I Love You is good and I do like it, but it’s so similar to a few of the others that I admit I forget about it until it comes up on my playlist. The chorus is great for roller skating though, and I do always sing along.

Subgroup #2, Odd Eye Circle (Kim Lip, Choerry, and Jinsoul)’s Max & Match boasts the excellent track that LOONATIC is (talk about roller skating songs, damn) with its bizarre reverb, a clear departure from ⅓’s ballads and peppiness. Max & Match’s title track, Girl Front, is also odd, with its warped electronic production; other good tracks are Sweet Crazy Love and Chaotic.

Kim Lip’s Eclipse, admittedly, wasn’t my favorite the first time around, which I blame on it being treated like the second coming of Christ, but it is honestly great, and its sleek minimalism soon made it become an earworm for me.

JinSoul’s Singing In The Rain has a sing talk base mixed with electronic music and a slightly deeper voice than the others. The pre-choruses are good but the chorus is a slight let-down with the way it veers into anti-drop territory (which I might not be so annoyed about if it didn’t continue into so much of LOONA’s later work). The b-side Love Letter is great and has a good flow to it.

Choerry’s Love Cherry Motion is basically two different songs, which is the point, but while both are good separately, they just don’t quite gel. Puzzle feels like a better title track to match with the other members of Odd Eye Circle (Kim Lip and Jinsoul), but Love Cherry Motion’s peppier part would feel right at home in ⅓ with the first five solos.

Subgroup #3, Yyxy (Yves, Chuu, Gowon, and Hyeju)’s Beauty & The Beat is the best of the sub group albums, combining the bubbliness of ⅓ and the electro drive of OEC, with a few ballads thrown in there for good measure. Love4eva, the title track, remains stuck in my head on a loop.

Yves’ New is a bit similar to Eclipse, but more upbeat and hopeful. It’s day to night and I like it a lot, but I think it needs a cathartic moment or climax when it just doesn’t have one, although the “always…all my life” comes close. The b-side is fine, but blends in with the rest.

Chuu’s Heart Attack is bubbly and bright and that brightness and youth feel more genuine than in other songs, not coming across as cloying. It’s probably my favorite solo, purely because of the great match between Chuu and the song itself, the inclusivity, and of course, the sheer amount of endorphins.

Gowon’s One And Only also falls into the not-happy, not-sad minimalist electro pop genre, and while it’s not bad, it’s also the same as so many of the others, and doesn’t utilize her vocals the way See Saw does. Overall, it’s…eh

Hyeju’s Egoist is another electropop song, but distinguishes itself with an interesting performance, a whistling hook, and a unique production; Rosy is good, but not great.

And now we reach the full group, almost two years after Heejin’s solo dropped, with the mini album (++) and its title tracks Favorite and Hi High and the repackage album (xx) and its title track Butterfly. Favorite has a good build up, but ends up feeling like what it is: more like a b-side than a title track to me; as with a lot of the b-sides, their vocals aren’t really showcased and the synths are doing the heavy lifting.

Hi High, meanwhile, isn’t representative of the minimalist synth, but is of the other, bubblier, poppier side of their discography, and is best described as a serotonin boost with a gut punch of a high note; overall, not a fixture on my playlist but a welcome listen when it shows up once in a while.

Butterfly is…well, indescribable, but like the top tier of LOONA’s work, its uplifting synth pop will take its time but eventually become an earworm you can’t help but return to; it’s ethereal and balanced in the best way and quite possibly LOONA’s most magical song. It feels almost heavenly, and I don’t say that lightly. As for the b-sides of these albums, the ones that stay in this ethereal category like “Satellite”, “Curiosity” and “Where You At” are almost all good, albeit a bit forgettable.

But now comes (#), and one of the biggest tonal shifts I’ve seen in a discography, with So What arriving like a battering ram. So What has such excellent parts, but just doesn’t quite achieve its goals; it’s just such a drastic change in sound with a great pre-chorus and an especially excellent bridge, but the chorus is a let down of what would be so much more powerful if it lived up to it. I can’t lie though, So What gets my pumped, and I do like it. It lets the singers be angry, which K-pop should lean into more, and in the light of LOONA’s court battle (which they won!), the “Free” at the end never fails to make me emotional.

The shift continues into Why Not? and it’s album 12:00. Why Not? itself is fine but far from their best; it has some of their worst habits (empty choruses, lalala’s, great build-ups with let downs, wasting their best voices, etc). It’s also catchy and I don’t hate it, but I know full well LOONA can do so much better. Voice is great, however; a return to the minimalist synth from the beginning that I admit I complained about, but LOONA does it so well. Unlike many earlier b-sides, it feels like it has drive and ambition, and it uses their voices well.

Paint The Town was actually the first song I heard of LOONA’s, and as I mentioned before, it did grow on me, despite not being my favorite. I far prefer the wuxia inspired Queendom stage of it that made it more interesting and used their voices better. The b-sides of (&) the album, are pretty good, especially WOW (which finally has a full chorus), Dance On My Own (which I wish was longer), and Be Honest (love the clapping).

But after their dynamic performances on Queendom, the next comeback Flip That is just so…nothing, and with it being their last title track, it’s a sad way to end things. The Journey is a good intro and I wish more of it came into the song, because the way it is, it’s so forgettable that I almost forgot to include it. The b-sides aren’t bad (although Pose and its anti drop annoy me, definitely) and Pale Blue Dot is probably my favorite, because I do love a good high note.

After revisiting LOONA’s performances on Queendom for this deep dive, I noticed something: LOONA feels more like SNH48, a dance troupe that sings, than a K-pop group of singers who dance. With the exceptions of a few (Chuu, Kim Lip, Haseul, and Heejin), a lot of their voices don’t feel distinct. That’s not to say that they’re bad, obviously, but they’re fairly standard in the realm of K-pop. Chuu especially has a great voice but it’s very underutilized, which does makes sense given that it’s a group of twelve.

Writing about LOONA is odd because it feels like writing about two totally different groups: the gentler, younger pre-debut years, and the louder, brasher girl-crush post-debut years, after Butterfly. I don’t quite know how to do a ranking, so I split it in two: my top 5 solos and my top 5 after debut. My top 5 solos are Heart Attack, New, Eclipse, Egoist, and Let Me In. My top 5 after debut are Butterfly, Star, Dance On My Own, Pale Blue Dot, and So What. Overall, LOONA gets an 8.25/10 from me, similar to (G)I-DLE. But where (G)I-DLE takes risks that either really pay off or really don’t, much of LOONA’s music takes the safe, expected route, and it all ends up in the middle—good but not fantastic. A lot of this, I think, can be attributed to the fact that, when under Blockberry, LOONA didn’t get to have much input in the creative process. I hope that wherever the girls’ careers take them, they’ll get a chance to be more involved, and I’ll be watching Loosemble’s debut on Friday.

So, see you next time, for a (hopefully less long) boy group!

2 notes · View notes