[MV & Album Review] LOONA/Yves � 'Yves'

AKP STAFF

LOONA/YVES � YVES

Track List:

1. new
2. D-1

The ninth member of LOONA has been revealed as Yves (pronounced�EVE). She just dropped her first ever single album, self-titled like all the others. It's got two shiny new tracks on it: "D-1" and the somewhat prosaically titled "new."

The first track "new" has an interesting buried melody, masked and indistinct. It hits a bass line not too long after the intro. She has some odd techno backing vocals as well. It's a compelling listen: it's got a catchy beat, yet it's unique enough to stand out. She has a deeper, stronger voice than most LOONA members. The song is about being yourself no matter what.

"D-1" is a slower R&B offering. Yves' voice is very inviting and seductive here, and as smooth as a song like this demands. This is really where she's allowed to shine, and she has a pretty impressive vocal range. At times it reminds me of a "Red Velvet" tune. She handles the distinct parts -- chorus, bridge, and main verses -- quite well, and they're all sung differently from each other.� I like the break near the end, too, where the music pauses and it's just echoes of her voice.

As I said, she seems to have real chops here. The other LOONA members are cute and harmonize well, but we haven't had a good singer yet. Until now. She's not amazing, but she's a cut above the others vocally. I wasn't sure what I expected, but color me pleasantly surprised.

MV REVIEW

Like her biblical namesake ("Eve"), she has an apple. Nice.

And the apple plays a major part in this MV, appearing more often than even the other members in the MV. She eats it, she holds it, she strikes it with a golf club, as the stuffed animals it was resting on fly everywhere. There are even multiple apples in one scene, and a big full-screen shot of the apple as well.

Interspersed with scenes where she dances in a low-rent area and in a bowling alley, the MV doesn't have much in the way of a coherent narrative (other than the apple -- guess who catches it in the end!).

But the dancing is pretty well done. The choreo looks interesting and she definitely handles it with confidence. There's a boldness to the moves that instantly drew my eye. While the dance moves may not be all that, it's that fierce quality that makes them as good as they can be.

Other then that, it's alright. The locations aren't all that, but she has a charisma with her dance moves. The real highlight is the hypnotic music to the MV and the fact that we have something fun to watch while listening.