This is it. Really.
The ladies of LOOΠΔ have officially departed the LOOΠΔverse, burst through the LOOΠΔsphere, and crash-landed onto Earth to save K-Pop, and the world at large, once and for all.
Two years after the introduction of HeeJin, eleven more solo efforts, three sub-units, one Grimes collaboration, and a “lead single-but-not-the-official-debut” later, the long-awaited, highly anticipated, endlessly hyped girl group made its official, real, true, actual debut with “Hi High” on Monday (August 20). (Catch up here if you have no idea what’s going on.)
So, how is it? F-A-S-T.
But don’t ask me – allow their agency Blockberry Creative to handle the description: “‘Hi High’ is a song in the genre of Hi Energy, emitting positive energy that the gathering of the twelve members create. The desire to play hard-to-get is portrayed in the lyrics through the characters of each member. HeeJin says, ‘I don’t want to pass my love on to you so easily,’ while HyunJin says, ‘because I’m that pretty girl,’ and Choerry says, ‘I’m not playing hard-to-get but boys will be boys, watch out, watch out,’ telling what is on their minds candidly. The high BPM like a high-speed sprint along with melodies pouring down, and splendid track arrangements forces the listeners to hold their breath and focus on the music.”
If the introduction of the 12-member LOOΠΔ unit alone isn’t enough to send wigs flying off, the song’s breakneck pace surely is: it’s basically the sonic equivalent of pounding down a box of Pixy Stix, washing it down with Red Bull, then playing the Rainbow Road level of Mario Kart. The colors! The sugar rush! My face…is…melting! HI! HIGH! HI! HIGH!
As opposed to the minimal “favOriTe” video, the accompanying music video for “Hi High” is way more LOOΠΔ-like in style, adding to the two year-long narrative of their individual origins and eventual meeting as a 12-member group. There are “hidden visual symbolisms” scattered throughout, and you know what that means: it’s LOOΠΔ fan theory time, ladies!
“The official music video of ‘Hi High’, directed by the visual director Digipedi, narrates how LOOΠΔ 1/3 meets ODD EYE CIRCLE, and how these girls unite with yyxy to soar to the sky, with countless visual symbolisms hidden in the scenes,” Blockberry explains.
But wait, there’s more!
“Hi High” is only just one part of ++, which is not the name of a new Ed Sheeran album (mercifully!), but rather the group’s first mini-album, which represents “the ‘plus plus’ effect LOOΠΔ 1/3, ODD EYE CIRCLE, yyxy, and YeoJin gather to create.” Okay, yes, work!
Along with “favOriTe” and “Hi High,” the stellar collection also includes an intro that mashes up their previous sub-unit intros, “열기” (or “Heat”), a surprisingly sexy, summery serving of seductive vocals and #OnTrend trop-pop beat breaks, the delightfully freestyle-ish “Perfect Love,” which Ciara would definitely love, and the future bass-y “Stylish.” It’s bops on bops on bops, for real.
We, the LOOΠΔtics, have waited years for this moment. It’s now time to bask in the glory of their arrival – a LOOΠΔbration, if you will – because it’s all actually very, very good and fresh and exciting and fun.
In closing, enjoy this succinct explanation of the LOOΠΔ dynamic, courtesy of Blockberry: “LOOΠΔ was born in its own universe with three uniquely structured teams. In other words, it was not designed as a group diving up into three units, but three teams were built to create one universe. LOOΠΔ 1/3 is a combination of girls present on planet earth. These girls portray the most realistic and practical sceneries that can easily be found on the streets or in school. HeeJin, HyunJin, HaSeul and ViVi start their stories in France, Japan, Iceland, and Hong Kong to become unified as one. LOOΠΔ / ODD EYE CIRCLE places itself in between the earth and the cosmos. The beginning of ODD EYE CIRCLE was by looking at three moons (ODD). Mutative, or varietal, girls gather to form the ODD EYE CIRCLE, and show themselves by taking control in love relationships instead of waiting passively. LOOΠΔ / yyxy was also known as ‘Edenism’ as it was placed beyond the earth of 1/3 and the middle earth of ODD EYE CIRCLE, in the place where we call ‘utopia’. But, the girls of Eden decide to deny the rules of Eden to venture off on a forbidden quest to find their identities. The emotions of each girls, faith, hope, love, and anger gather to form a being named yyxy…LOOΠΔ, building LOONAverse with belief and certainty, finally gathers all twelve members and stands on their first stepping stone.”
And there you have it. HI! HIGH! HI! HIGH!
++ was released on August 20. (iTunes)
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Photo credit: Blockberry Creative
