Yves' long-awaited debut has finally arrived! let me start by saying that LOONA is very easily my favorite k-pop group of all time. Yves is 1/3 (loona reference not intended) of my bias line within the group so, obviously, when she announced she was going solo, i was incredibly ecstatic and excited since, it seems like, after leaving her former company/hellhole, she has either found her true colors or felt more comfortable publicly sharing them. after the announcement of her joining PAIX PER MIL, a company home to small, indie, hip-hop, and r&b artists, i was even more looking forward to her future solo career. now that it's here, i can't say i'm disappointed with what we got. the EP opens with DIORAMA, a sweet r&b song that reminds me of something The Internet could release within their albums Ego Death or Hive Mind. it's kinda funky and dreamy, almost downtempo. then comes the title track, LOOP, which features Lil Cherry. Previous to the release of the EP, many people worried about the feature possibly ruining the song, but, in my opinion, Lil Cherry executes her part very well. her harsh (and i don't mean that in a bad way) voice serves as a contrast to Yves' sleek and smooth singing and cuts through the sparkling song to bring listeners into the anti-drop. i'm a big fan of anti-drops and the one in LOOP is very nice, shifting from robotic 2-step to upbeat house-pop which symbolizes Yves breaking out of her LOONA shell in her debut. Afterglow is the average pop-rock attempt in k-pop and definitely the weakest track on this project in my opinion. the chorus feels empty for some reason but Yves' vocals are absolutely incredible keep me liking the song. if there's one thing i don't enjoy about when rock is attempted in k-pop, it's that groups/idols usually don't commit to it and they usually play it safe; i hope to see Yves go all out on this rock style in the future because i think it could suit her well (and i love rock music so Yves doing it would be a dream). the ending track, Goldfish, is a meaningful and simple ballad, and the only track on this EP longer than 3 minutes. it's stripped down and simple, but works very well for Yves' lovely vocals. in the future, i hope to see Yves have production or writing credits on her work since she unfortunately didn't have any on her very own debut and i know she is more than capable of both of those tasks, as seen by her previous work.

favorite track: LOOP

least favorite track: Afterglow