So Loona is the new hot commodity. Thanks to an extensive investment in the group, they're milking as much about of this debut process as possible. Think EXO's predebut but on steroids. Loona started teasing in October 2016 and the group won't debut (as a whole) until 2018. As long as it works, their management will look like geniuses rather than idiots. Anyway they've already had a plethora of releases for individual members as well as subunits, and today I'll tackle the newest member to take the stage. I'm hesitant to create a new tag for her since who knows if they'll have solo material once they've debuted. But Yves (how the fuck do you pronounce that) is here with "New," let's take a look.
First off I apologize for the lazy banners, cropping the images proved difficult without having any text or logos. Anyway the song is a light dance number that makes use of Yves' lively voice. Her singing is somewhat betrayed by the heavy instrumental, but the mixture does make for an enticing listen, I'll give it that. There's two instances where the depth makes the song better: the first is when there's no singing after the chorus. The instrumental takes over and it's not an abrupt change since it remains constant from the beginning. Second, the "bridge" (I dunno if I would classify it as a bridge since the lyrics are the same from an earlier part) sounds good with all other sounds removed, then suddenly climbing right back into the active chorus.
Outside of those instances, there isn't much else going on with "New." It's relatively straightforward in the music, structure, etc. and is consistent despite being uninspiring. While there isn't anything to lose by going for something a little crazier, it also doesn't hurt to tread carefully considering all the hype across the roster. Personally, I quite enjoy the simplistic nature of this song. I've voiced my gripes about sloppy songs in the past (the ones that sound like multiple different songs mashed together) so something like this is welcoming. Besides, at the end of the day this is predebut material so that'd be like complaining about free shit. And that's disrespectful.
I imagine that there will never be a dance version of the MV or a live performance - since you know, they haven't even debuted yet - but from what we can glean in the video, Yves treats us to a refreshing and lively choreography. With Loona currently having revealed at least nine members, chances are there's a dance line hidden in there and while I can't tell if Yves will be in it, she shows us a decent dance in "New." Honestly all these individual tracks are way more intriguing to me vocals-wise than dance-wise so I'm not really concerned if the choreography isn't anything special, or if we don't see much of it at all. The time for them to show their dance talent is when they debut as a group, not during these individual showings.
So Loona is under a Blockberry Creative, which in turn is a subsidiary of Polaris Entertainment (home to Ladies' Code). Apparently they're absolutely loaded because there's no way in hell that all this effort for teasing and predebut shenanigans is sustainable without some sort of voodoo black magic going on behind the scenes. Their music videos have been high quality after high quality and Yves' is no different. Between all the different sets, Yves is looking pretty while showing off some of the choreography. I am uncomfortable typing that previous statement because I don't know how old she is... Visually, she reminds me of Dasom. And once I made that connection I started to hear their singing as similar, too.
With so much in the predebut catalogue, I've yet to peruse all of the Loona songs and videos. However, as a standalone release "New" does a fantastic job at introducing us to Yves. The song is pedestrian in almost all aspects but is extremely consistent and that's what counts. Coupled with a high quality MV in terms of production, and Loona are really pushing the strong aesthetics early in their careers. I won't give a high score because the song really is uneventful but I also won't give a low score for that same reason. There have been too many song milkshakes from too many good groups, so I'll take my small victories where I can.
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