Here’s are my credentials (again): 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 a fan 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. 

(If any of you are wondering, don’t worry, I watched the boycott MV, no way am I giving BBC a goddamn dime.)

(Part One)

Single #6: Eclipse (Kim Lip)

Kim Lip’s Eclipse begins the solos of the second sub-unit, Odd Eye Circle, and has quite a reputation, going from being declared over-hyped to being treated like the second coming of Christ, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. Admittedly, it wasn’t my favorite the first time around, but its sleek minimalism and driving synths soon made it become an earworm for me in a similar way to iKon’s Love Scenario: neither are in-your-face with their catchiness, but are all the stronger for it. I think I like it more every time I hear it.

Single #7: Singing In The Rain (Jinsoul)

JinSoul’s Singing In The Rain has a sing talk base mixed with electronic music and makes good use of her unique voice, which is slightly deeper than the others. The pre-choruses are good and percussive 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, meanwhile, is great and has a good flow to it.

Single #8: Love Cherry Motion (Choerry)

Choerry’s Love Cherry Motion is a bit difficult to explain. It’s basically two different songs, with the majority of the track being a bubbly, youthful song that would feel right at home in ⅓ with the first five solos, and just a short part of the post-choruses jumping ship with some very disconcerting sighs and a much darker spin. I’m aware that this sort-of-whiplash is the entire point, but while both of these parts are good separately, they just don’t quite gel for me.

Puzzle, the single’s b-side, feels like it would be a better title track to match the synthier, more mature style of the other members of Odd Eye Circle, Kim Lip and Jinsoul, and so I’m not sure why the choice was made to go with Love Cherry Motion when this era of LOONA was so reliant on lore and very distinct sounds for the subunits.

EP #2: Max & Match

Girl Front is the first single from Odd Eye Circle, and made a huge splash in k-pop with its distorted electronic beat and extremely bubbly, fast-paced chorus. Though I’d heard snippets before, I hadn’t actually sat down and watched the song in full, and I’m glad I did. It’s a strong track, though I admit that its never-stopping beat makes me a bit tired. It’s also not as unique in k-pop as it once was, and so the initial surprise a lot of people felt towards it isn’t something I’m experiencing.

Sweet Crazy Love is Odd Eye Circle’s second title track, and from the start, with its piano and quick strings intro all in black and white, it feels like a snapshot of a moment in time. It carries the sleek confidence of Eclipse and uses it to great effect, creating a song that perfectly captures the feeling of walking through a city in the dead of night. I especially like the bridge and final chorus, as the colors explode and so do the vocals.

From Odd Eye Circle’s EP, Max & Match, I enjoyed the spacey minimalism of Uncover and the pulsing beat of Chaotic, but my hidden gem was absolutely the disco perfection that is the ethereal, synthy LOONATIC. It went right on the roller skating playlist.

Single #9: New (Yves)

And now, we reach the final subunit, Yyxy, with Yves’ New. Also embracing a minimalist sound, it’s a bit similar to Eclipse, but it’s day to night, more upbeat, and hopeful, which makes sense, given that it’s all about beginning a new phase of life. I can completely see why so many queer people (myself included) love this song. It’s one of my favorite solos, but I think it needs some kind of a cathartic moment or climax to the rising bridge 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.

Single #10: Heart Attack (Chuu)

Chuu’s Heart Attack was my introduction to LOONA, even before Paint The Town, and I couldn’t have asked for a better one. It’s bubbly and bright and such an excellent match for Chuu herself that it feels more genuine than in other songs, not coming across as cloying or fake. It’s probably my favorite solo, purely because of the sheer amount of endorphins it gives me, and of course, the incredibly lesbian just…everything, really, about the music video. It’s never failed to make me smile, and I don’t see it failing anytime soon.

Single #11: One & Only (Gowon)

Gowon’s One And Only is a track I hadn’t even heard before this deep dive, so I was intrigued to see what it would be like. It also falls into the not-happy, not-sad minimalist electro pop genre, and while it’s not a bad song, it’s also the same as so many of the others, and doesn’t utilize her vocals the way the b-side See Saw does. Overall, it’s not a song I’d ever go out of my way to listen to.

Single #12: Egoist (Olivia Hye)

The last of the twelve solos, Hyeju’s Egoist, is another electropop song, but distinguishes itself in a few ways. Firstly, it is a love song, but, like New, it’s directed at the singer, not a third party, epitomized by its “love myself today, let you go today” refrain. It also utilizes a unique whistling hook, and, together with Hyeju’s charisma, it makes for quite a strong track.

EP #3: Beauty & The Beat

Love4Eva is the final unit yyxy’s title track, and goes for a genre I wasn’t expecting at all, an extremely aegyo-filled, bubbly bit-pop that is more similar to the style of ⅓ than the more self-focused, minimalist solos of the rest of the group. It is similar to Chuu’s solo, though, and this very bright tone’s dissonance with the slowly more horrifying music video makes it pretty engaging.

From yyxy’s EP, Beauty & The Beat, I enjoyed the great harmonizing in Frozen and the small vocal flourishes in One Way. I’m sad that this mini-album is the shortest because I thought that it was overall the strongest.

Next time, we’ll be doing Part 3 of this re-deep dive! Tchüss!

(Part One)