K-POP IN REVIEW 2025: PART FIVE – Post-LOONA
Two years after the members of LOONA won their freedom from BlockBerry Creative, their phoenix rise has been spectacular if uneven. The five who were operating collectively as Loossemble, HyunJin, YeoJin, ViVi, Go Won, and HyeJu, have been pretty quiet this year, since CTDENM chose not to renew their contracts.
The other five-member group, ARTMS, have had a very different trajectory. The first unexpected gift was the lost LOONA single, BURN, finally being released by ARTMS. This was a very good thing. After this we had the CLUB Icarus mini album, and notably the 15 minute cinematic version of the video by Digipedi, who were responsible for most of the classic LOONA videos. It was a return to the huge ambition that the group has always been known for.
Their label Modhaus followed this with solo singles from each of the members of ARTMS. These tracks were good, but the production budget from the Icarus cinematic apparently left little in the kitty, and the production on the videos wasn’t maybe everything it could have been. Having said that HaSeul’s City Pop inflected Love Poison, which was released before the other four, was an exceptional track.
From here to the two members who set off for solo careers we have good news from both of them. Chuu’s Only Cry in the Rain mini album was a total return to form, with fun videos released to accompany all tracks. Everything was good on this, and far more joyful than the title might imply. We’re a little torn on choosing the best track: Kiss a Kitty is huge fun, as is Je t’aime, in which Chuu invents the French language and Frenchness in general, but Back in Town is the funkiness we always needed.
Finally Yves. It’s been a huge year for Yves. Even before her incredible Soft Error EP was launched, DIM from her previous EP went viral on TikTok, leading to a remix EP. When it landed Soft Error proved itself to be as much of a no-skip EP as Chuu’s Only Cry in the Rain, featuring collaborations with Bratty and PinkPantheress (who returned the compliment with her track Stars). Anyway, of course White Cat is our favourite track, because obvi, but the Sapphic as all hell video for Ex Machina blew everyone’s minds.
And with both Chuu and Yves lining up new material in early 2026, it’s a very exciting time to stan LOONA.