2nd Trailer "&2" for LOONA [&] Released ... And I Take A Delve Into Kim Lip's ECLIPSE

BlockBerry Creative released their second trailer for [&] on Tuesday night at 10pm KST (11pm Singapore time), via their socials. Featured below is the 15-seconder trailer, before I delve a little bit deeper into said-trailer and it's comparisons to Kim Lip's 2017 debut MV "ECLIPSE"...

Above header image is a screen-grab off LOONA's Instagram.



FYI/WARNING: The following is my attempt to take a deeper delve into the LOONA-lore and LOONAVERSE, and focuses on the story/lore, moreso than the music, so if you are interested only in the music - Be Warned... and if you are already deep into the lore, my humble apologies if the following is too surface level understanding for Orbits :p

That said, please indulge me, and thank you for your patience :)

With the gathering of all LOONA Members, the "time loop" that had bound the LOONAVERSE captive had been broken, or has it? We are given a glimpse of perhaps an evolution of the lore, for when Kim Lip revisits her set for ECLIPSE, which now feels much different from her 2017 music video, but at the same time haunting similar in the dead silent space.



I've always adored the ECLIPSE MV, not just for Kim Lip's performance, but of the multitude of dancers that populated the space with her, who manifest themselves when she is dancing on the stage, but not necessarily appear WITH her (in "real live"), as she dances in her red-white outfit, on the scarlet stage, essentially alone in an abandoned space, as she is surrounded by spirits in dance ... Look, I know this is "Kpop", and that there are "backup dancers", but bare with me, thanks :p...



In the latest trailer for [&] - titled "&2" - a visibly grown up Kim Lip is shown entering a familiar space, clad in her callback red-and-white (but without her backpack), she approaches a ornate carved white raised stage, in place of the red circular stage seen in ECLIPSE, as we glimpse - what I assume to be a "Buk", which Wikipedia describes as;

"Korean drums play an important part in traditional Korean music, ranging from folk music to royal court music. There are a wide variety of shapes and sizes, for use both in accompanying other instruments and in special drumming performances."



...and I'll try not to focus on the three red-reflected-light-dots that remind me of the three light orbs orbiting Kim Lip in "WHY NOT?"... :p



The stage design gives of a vibe familiar to this group photo reveal series, which are apart of Album B Version in the [&] release, but looks more "Art Deco"-influenced, or perhaps it is a "interpretation" of a design, original to the LOONAVERSE.

Music is heard that may or may not be apart of [&] and their title track "PAINT THE TOWN", and with 5 Days more to go before the album is released on June 28, I am certain, with both this trailer and the the first trailer "&1", we are being introduced to a very heavily flavoured LOONAVERSE, in addition to their songs.

It remains to be seen if the hand of Lee Soo-Man of SM Entertainment will be involved in the production of this upcoming album (callback to [#] and [12:00]), and if any of this is a concentrated (re)focusing on their lore and story, which has become a huge part of what SM's "SM Culture Universe" is about = All of which is totally speculatory on my end, of course...!



During pre-LOONA, in their debut music videos, we constantly see a half-turned look at the lower mouth region of the girls' face(s), while subsequently we see them partially (half) turn their heads, starting from the "SO WHAT" and "WHY NOT"-era, where we begin to see the girls in the MV being able to turn and face the camera.

In their waking dreams and imaginary personas, they are able to face the world, but in their real lives, they would have had to grow out of their shells, and embrace themselves, love themselves, and have the confidence to face the world, head on (?) ... in the [&]-era, it looks to be the girls are introducing who LOONA is to the world, and the universal-message of "And all LOOΠΔs are one".



In WHY NOT? We see Kim Lip- isolated in the field of tall grass, and was seen ascending, ever so slightly floating above the grass, a continuation of her ascension in this "&2" trailer, leading to the MV?

"Ascension" is a vsual symbolism we see in LOONA videos, but none too often... HeeJin ascended in "Hi High [+ +]-era" and , and was seen walking the skies in “#1” Teaser for [#]-era.

Go Won has by WHY NOT?, and in the NEW MOON Teaser literally entered the stratosphere, and hovering above the eye of a storm in the clouds (Was she "observing"? Or was she "creating" tho?). And while we do not see Kim Lip literally "ascend" in THIS "&2" trailer, maybe this is what she sees when she DOES?

I have no "answers", but as usual per "LOONAVERSE" - tons of questions and theories, which makes it more FUN to participate in, and admittedly "infuriating" in search of "answers", which quite frankly I also realise we might not necessarily (ever) get answers outright (as much as we are spoon-fed in our daily devouring of media), hence the allure of the LOONAVERSE, IMHO.

Here's a relook at the "ECLIPSE" music video (previously featured HERE in my Introduction of KIM LIP), and one of the main reasons which made me decide to follow LOONA, way back when :)



이달의 소녀 LOOПΔ 4th Mini Album [&]
Releases 2021.6.28 pm6 (KST)
loonatheworld.com
YouTube Channel
twitter.com/loonatheworld
facebook.com/loonatheworld
instagram.com/loonatheworld
weibo.com
blockberrycreativeshop.com
INTRODUCING LOONA
LOONA & on TUNESTALKSG
LOONA on TUNESTALKSG

If for any reason you do not want to purchase their album via regular source(s), or for when availability is scarce (if you happen to find this blog-feature later :p), the following are listings on Amazon (with a noticeable price difference, FYI), for your considerations, cheers.