Introducing ODD EYE CIRCLE from LOONA 이달의 소녀
Growing up a comicbook reader and fanatic, the concept of "super powers" appealed to me, as much as "Kpop" had been a genre of music had captured my soundscape attention in recent years, so the depth in which ODD EYE CIRCLE resonated within me, stood out, and stood strong. Not least the music itself, which had me dancing in slow-motion while floating above in mid-air, suspended by a longing sense of nostalgia - specifically of my own memories of the 90s - had kept me strictly enthralled with OEC. Their MAX&MATCH album was the first album from LOONA I had tracked down for, and it remains my favouritest from their sub-units and full OT12-eras.
OEC is the second sub-unit to be formed and revealed, after LOONA 1/3. A foil to the previous "girl-girl" vibe and spring dresses, OEC had a very distinct summer vibe, colored with a slice of "wholesomeness", designed to tintilate and tease, but not overselling the sexiness. Fueled by street fashion (non-too dated too, well done), "girl crush" but not "bad attitude", OEC shone in their era, as far as I am concerned.
ODD EYE CIRCLE is made up of three girls: Kim Lip, JinSoul and Choerry, who were aged 18, 20 and 16 (respectively) at time of the sub-unit public reveal. Both sonically and visually, their individual solos had veered down a different path than their LOONA 1/3 predecessors.
I've not addressed much of the the LOONAVERSE lore thus far in my "Introducing LOONA" series, intentionally so, and that alone deserves a standalone post LOL
That said, story-wise: the LOONAVERSE lore was evidentially stronger with symbolism oozing thru the corners, cracks and in your MV-face. As mentioned in my previous features, the trio of girls from OEC possesses "super powers", and are marked by a glow in a single eye per person;
KIM-LIP: Time Travel / Superspeed (Left-Eye).
JINSOUL: Space Travel / Teleportation (Left-Eye).
CHOERRY: Dimensional Travel / Mirrors as portals (Right-Eye).
Adding to that, the girls each have dedicated colors (Main and Sub) - Kim Lip is RED, JinSoul is BLUE and Choerry is PURPLE, and if I have any skill, that would be the colors of their "superhero-suits" lol
The three girls started out separate from each other, crossing each other's path, but unknown to each other. Eventually they'd gotten together, and set out with a single mission: To unite all the girls of LOONA.
And while you have VISUALS, CONCEPT/STORY, ultimately what you'll need is the MUSIC! And that's where ODD EYE CIRLCE holds a special place in my heart...
The sound is a delicious concoction of DreamPop, SynthPop, different from the "Kpop" I have heard, similar to Indie musical groups, in particular Bottlesmoker from Indonesia ("Slow Mo Smile"-era, before they went more electronic-experimental :p). The brightness of the pop and cheeriness synths triumphantly bursts thru, and sends you floating, with generous bobs you don't necessarily dance to, but groove to in your heart ... that to me is the success of OEC's discography.
If LOONA 1/3 was "what girl groups had been in the past", OEC would more likely to be a veer off the tangent with an eye to the "alternative future" (as much as XXYX is an "ideal girl group in perception"), IMHO.
And while the three girls had their own solo debuts before, we see them together in episodes of LOONA TV, and prior to the MV launch for OEC, a video of them reacting to said MV/Teaser was uploaded on "26 Aug 2017" (Video above), and was followed by the Teaser on "29 Aug 2017" (Video below).
Three colors.
Three eyes.
'ODD EYE CIRCLE' is the second unit of LOOΠΔ, composed of Kim Lip, JinSoul and Choerry.
While the first unit LOOΠΔ 1/3 released ‘Love&Live’ and ‘Love&Evil’ to talk about the co-existence of sweetness and cruelty in first love, the three girls of ODD EYE CIRCLE (from. LOOΠΔ) talk about how you shouldn’t wait for love to happen passively, but should take the initiative to make it happen yourself."
The first single off their MIX&MATCH album was "Girl Front", teased on "17 Sept 2017y" (video above), followed by the full MV release on "21 Sept 2017" (video below), with the MV itself steeped in story, symbolism and lore!
The girls' stories get deeper and deeper.
The story that began with HeeJin's 'ViViD' created a group named '3', composed of HeeJin, HyunJin, and HaSeul. Yeojin added '/' while ViVi added '1' to complete LOOΠΔ 1/3. Kim Lip with 'Eclipse', JinSoul with Singing in the Rain', and Choerry with 'Love Cherry Motion' gathered to create a new group, 'ODD EYE CIRCLE' to start a new story.
Plenty of imageries and metaphors are in LOOΠΔ's music, lyrics, albums, and music videos for fans search for like puzzle pieces to complete. For instance, the word 'ODD' in ODD EYE CIRCLE is used as its original definition, but is also an image of three moons together.
ODD EYE CIRCLE's musical story told by three odd girls have just started.
Having started with the idea of solos gathering to make a unit, and units gathering to create a whole world, LOOΠΔ can finally show its big picture via the introduction of ODD EYE CIRCLE. The girls will continue working as solos, units, and as a whole. LOOΠΔ concert, which is being prepared, will be the stage for twelve solo artists, three teams, and one whole complete group in a splendid set-up for everyone to be amused."
(Above: "Girl Front" Choreography Ver. / Uploaded "1 Nov 2017")
Featured above is the Preview for Mini Album "Mix&Match" (Uploaded "18 Sept 2017"). Listed below are descriptions for the individual tracks, which were listed under the MV for "Girl Front" actually...
[Mix&Match]
01 ODD
The intro track to express ODD EYE CIRCLE’s identity. Girls who have released solo singles each have gathered to sing under the name ‘ODD EYE CIRCLE’. They say that we’re all ODD as people.
02 Girl Front
The title track of ODD EYE CIRCLE.
While LOOΠΔ 1/3 has drawn the picture of girls in a crush, ODD EYE CIRCLE sings, "Love is not to be waited for, it is something I look for.”
This song depicts new standards of girls saying that they would ask the boys out first, and expressing their love with dignity. The track is structured in the way that Kim Lip’s ‘Eclipse’, JinSoul’s ‘Singing in the Rain’, and Choerry’s ‘Love Cherry Motion’ mix & match to show how three moons (ODD) gathered to form a new team. The music video was shot in Los Angeles, and the group's links to LOOΠΔ 1/3 are hidden in the video like puzzle pieces for the fans to find. Another girl yet to be introduced revolves around ODD EYE CIRCLE.
03 LOONATIC
The international title track which will be released in English for the fans outside of Korea. The track is in the styles of dream pop which has almost never been done in Korea to satisfy both international and local fans. Listeners would feel as if they are in a roller-coaster ride for a lot of work has been put into making the sound.
04 Chaotic
A track that emphasizes ODD EYE CIRCLE's vocalist techniques. The song was initially chosen to be the title track for BlockBerryCreative's 8x8x8, but it was changed to showcase ODD EYE CIRCLE's technical vocal skills. Thus, you can feel ODD EYE CIRCLE's unique charm as they can express their music to be 'manish'.
05 Starlight
Fans who like LOOΠΔ 1/3 might be surprised with ODD EYE CIRCLE as their music is in the complete opposite style. While LOOΠΔ 1/3 has focused to create sounds of cliche images of young girls, ODD EYE CIRCLE is creating their music in the original shapes of a girl-crush in the form of a pop-tune. They’ve put stories among girls, more important than stories about boys, into this track, Starlight. Story told under the starlight endlessly until the morning comes.
A day after the preview was uploaded, folks were treated to a 38-seconder promo titled "LA" (Uploaded "19 Sept 2017"), which featured behind-the-scenes of the girls filming their MVs and photo albums, which herald the LOONA TV episodes, and as well have footage be used for the "Lyric Video" for their track "LOONATIC" (Uploaded "23 Oct 2017") = One of my utter favs, but constantly doubting if it was actually the girls who performed them lol
A teaser for "Sweet Crazy Love" was first uploaded "25 Oct 2017" (video above), with the actual MV uploaded "31 Oct 2017" (video below), which was essentially a "flashback" to how the girls of OEC found each other, and linked to all their individual solo songs, with Kim-Lip's ECLIPSE, JinSoul's SINGING IN THE RAIN, and Choerry's LOVE CHERRY MOTION - from visuals to specific scenes, which set the stage for a much more overt LOONAVERSE reference for viewers, IMHO (*Check out my earlier blog-feature for a fantastic fanmade video atttempted to link the MVs chronologically). The song itself however, remains one of the TOP LOONA SONGS in my playlists - past and present, thanks!
LOOΠΔ started with the system where each member of the group has an own character as a solo artist, who will gather up to form a unit, which will also bond to become one whole team. The story of the development is built within the organic relationship among any members or units.
LOOΠΔ / ODD EYE CIRCLE consists of three extraordinary girls to complete three moons (ODD). [Max&Match], a repackage album following the release of [Mix&Match], is an expression of the will to surpass the limits of ODD EYE CIRCLE once again.
The intro track of [Max&Match], "ADD", is a new take on the music from the teaser video clip for ODD EYE CIRCLE, "Reveal". It starts with a dreary ambience, which beats were then added. The title track "Sweet Crazy Love" is a prequel to the birth of ODD EYE CIRCLE, depicting the identity of ODD EYE CIRCLE. With the spell cast by the sweet but zealous girls at the beginning of the song by saying 'Hey Boy', the music is already complete. "Sweet Crazy Love" is a track which exquisitely incorporates the chord work of an R&B song with the danceability of a pop tune to add charisma to sweetness.
Another dream pop track following "LOONATIC" is a newly released "Uncover", showing off the confidence in the music production aspect of LOOΠΔ. Dream pop, a genre known to be extremely difficult to be expressed in the context of k-pop, has once again been flawlessly produced in the color of ODD EYE CIRCLE to add to the masterfulness of the album.
"ODD Front" is a remix track of "Girl Front", with interesting ideas added to give the fans a different and fun way to enjoy the track. The English version of "LOONATIC", which was recently released via streaming sites, is exclusively included in the limited edition version of the album as the hidden track.
Expanding its universe with the units from LOOΠΔ 1/3 to LOOΠΔ / ODD EYE CIRCLE, LOOΠΔ only has four more members to go to complete the zodiac signs."
"Sweet Crazy Love" led to the Repackage Album "Max&Match" (which I managed to purchase / my unboxing video below, cheers), for which the above video is a Preview for.
Featured below are a couple of Fan Sign Events for OEC, as recorded and curated by @loonatheworld, and I am thankful they've kept a robust archive for LOONA, for I had been able to follow their discography, and as well see the growth and evolution of the girls.
Above: 1st Fan Event (Uploaded "14 Oct 2017")
Below: 8th Fan Event (Uploaded "12 Dec 2017")
Even after the full reveal and formation of LOONA OT12 (AKA "Original 12 members"), folks still remember the sub-units, and the girls constantly showcase that too - be it in photo-ops or even performance. The history of LOONA is evident now, as it had been when they first started and sub-units formed.
(Information Source: loonatheworld.fandom.com)
UPDATED: The following Concept Photos were revealed (From June 3-June 6, 2021) in anticipation of LOONA's 4th mini album [&] comeback, scheduled for 2021.6.28 pm6 (KST) Release.
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