Album Review: LOONA (이달의 소녀) - [X X]
A/N: This review is written from a decidedly Canadian (a.k.a. Western) perspective, and as such some of the background regarding the group and their releases may be inaccurate due to a lack of readily available information.
For the vast majority of music listeners, not to mention the general public outside of Asia, the cultural divide separating one from genres like K-pop and J-pop has remained largely uncrossed despite the growing sense of an international community developing due to globalization and the Internet. Even ignoring the language barrier (less of an issue than one might think due to pop music's ability to forego lyrical complexity), differences in trends, styles, and society in general keeps the West alienated from what the rest of the world has to offer.
But in recent years, certain K-pop groups have begun to garner dedicated fanbases outside their home country, LOONA perhaps being one of the most successful at doing so. Initially notable for being comprised of a staggering twelve members, the group's journey towards releasing material as a group was prefaced by the lengthy release of successive songs from each individual member. Their first full-length release after the normal K-pop acclimatization period of endless singles and the occasional EP, [X X] is less an debut album than a repackaged version of last year's project [+ +] with additional material, but the attention given to singles like Hi High and Butterfly suggests that the group's push towards mainstream recognition is underway.
Even despite the fanatic aspects of K-pop fandom, the genre's habit of focusing on visuals and choreography over musicality, and the manufactured nature of much of its music, there is reason to applaud what LOONA have accomplished here. Hits such as Hi High and favOriTe are immensely catchy, with the latter in particular sporting an eccentric synth opening that leads into vocals striking the perfect balance between teasing and compelling, all supported by a bass-heavy beat and bombastic percussion.
Stylish, a similarly electronic-heavy cut, sounds marginally more impressive than other less intense moments on here, at least until the chorus pulls almost everything away to leave room for expressive vocals singing in harmony, underscored by a barely present synth line. It's honestly quite beautiful, and when the transcendent melody returns underneath a different member crooning what translates to "You're so stylish, the rising mileage/I have the courage to make you mine", the song becomes nothing less than innovative pop perfection.
Where LOONA falter on [X X] is in their adherence to K-pop's all-too-common tendency to sound dramatically behind the times, at least from a Western perspective. The production on songs like Butterfly and Curiosity could have been ripped from any number of forgettable club anthems from the first half of this decade; despite the former cut actually possessing some impressive songwriting, the overdubbed chorus is far from inventive. In addition, despite their considerable size, the group often fails to properly utilize all twelve of its members, to the point where something like Colors actually sounds sparse and muted compared to what other, smaller groups have to offer.
For the most part, this album falls in the awkward middle between surprisingly brilliant and noticeably mediocre. The sound of [X X] is largely a forgettable one, save for occasional moments of greatness so divergent that it begs the question why a group that is so clearly on the cusp of redefining the genre would even bother to record songs as tedious as much of what is here. This record might not be the crossover hit to finally put K-pop on the map for a larger Western audience, but LOONA and the genre are still young; it's hard not to feel optimistic given what they've already accomplished.
7/10
Favourite Tracks: favOriTe, Hi High, Stylish