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By Raja Chinnakotla

The culmination of years led to this moment, where all the 12 girls of LOONA could come together for a performance of a lifetime.

LOONA or 이달의 소녀 (Girl of the Month) is a Kpop girl group that consists of twelve girls that helped break the traditional mold of the Kpop industry. Before their latest comeback, Paint the Town, LOONA appeared to have only 11 members. The member that was missing was Haseul, who dealt with anxiety and had taken a 2-year break, but came back for a powerful return.

Before they came together, LOONA had their members introduced with solos every month for 2 years. Hence, the name, “girl of the month.” LOONA was the brainchild of Jaden Jeong, who, for many Orbits, is considered an overall villain. Though LOONA currently has domestic and international success, they weren't even known before passionate Twitter users helped rush them up into international fame. The term “Stan LOONA” is synonymous with Twitter culture, and has transcended LOONA. Also, Orbits are considered clowns because of how fooled we are with their music and inconsistent upload schedules.

In past comebacks, LOONA dove into various genres including trap, EDM, girl crush, bubblegum pop, and others which helped solidify their unique sound. In the comeback, their title track took more of a girl crush approach, but the b-sides were Day and Night (Lmao, too funny).

From the teaser images, people weren’t certain on how to predict their music. Some thought it was going to be a ballad, and some thought it was going to stray away from their usual tracks, but few thought it would become what it is now. Furthermore, the addition of Haseul confused them more because she is a trained vocalist, so it would be expected for some heavy vocals. Unfortunately, many failed to assume the muse of producers who created a magnificent album, of &.

&: The intro conveyed a strong sense of powerfulness, but also mystery into the album. It starts with heavy bass, but transitions into higher instruments into an Indian instrument (I can’t name it off the top of my head right now, but I know it is Indian). Overall, it helps establish the mood of PTT and the album as a whole.

Paint the Town: The title track has, which is influenced by Bollywood, has blown me away from the first listen. The powerful vocals, in the beginning, are complemented by an instrumental that doesn’t completely cover the vocals. It is clear there was Indian influence with tablas and the beats. One of my favorite parts is when Vivi and Gowon have a speaking part, since they rarely have lines. The music video was also powerful in a sense. Unfortunately, I didn’t like the onomatopeia in the chorus since it is very common in kpop. Nonetheless, it is a powerful track that encompasses the essence of LOONA.

WOW: This song screams 90s and jazz, and I love it. It has good chord progressions and the instrumental is solid with vocals. This reminds me of a song you would dance in the shower with. It gives more carefree vibes encompassed in classiness. I would have preferred this to be a title track, but an amazing b-side like Satellite, Voice, and Universe. Furthermore, it presents Gowon, who in past comebacks, rarely takes the stage. It is a defendant WOW!

Be Honest: To be honest, this song is amazing! I like how funky it is because we rarely see a sound like this in LOONA and kpop in general. I could see people swaying back and forth with this because of the strong presence of the beat. The only thing I don’t like are the transitions, they were kinda messy and they seemed random, but still a great song.

Dance On My Own: Dance On My Own wanted to be Star so bad, but it didn’t really come up. Out of the album, this is my least favorite song. It needed something more, like a bridge, more chorus, or more vocals. Also, it was extremely short at only 2 minutes and 30 seconds. Fortunately, it is still a great song that sticks into people's minds and maybe breaks into the American market and shoots them into Number 1.

Different Night: This was a treat when I heard this. Orbits finally got loonatheballad! Different Night makes me want to tear up about a breakup, even though it doesn’t apply to me. It almost gave me OST vibes because of the violins, guitar, and other instruments used. I definitely would have liked for a section that encompasses more vocals, but LOONA’s vocals are amazing. In all, different Night helps fill in a gap that has been missed recently by many groups.

U R: This is my favorite song in the album because of the lo-fi beats that encompass the soft vocals of LOONA. The light, dreamy beat makes me think of a cafe in Paris. The increase in piano at the end furthers this track because it gives it more meaning for the listener. I have no complaints about this song due to it being incredible! It helped round out an incredible album.

Overall, this album is definitely up in the top 20 K-pop albums. If I were to rate this album, I would give it an 8/10. The amazing range from LOONA and how it seems very complete in different beats, vocals, and instrumentals were definite factors in my decision. My only complaint is that Dance On My Own needs more and different transitions to better the music. This is an amazing album, so please listen to it and give LOONA some love. Also, STAN LOONA!