LOONA’s Yves scores an (80s) hit with “New”, which is perfectly tailored to fit her

LOONA are still rolling out new members, and Yves is the latest to emerge with “New“. Despite any individual limitations, Yves delivers one of the best LOONA-related tracks thanks to a throwback song that’s tailored perfectly for her.

Yves is obviously attractive, but more than that, she seems comfortable with the concept she was given and it leads to her owning it. That bears fruit in her performance, especially in the verses, as she conveys a sense of quiet confidence. The lack of vocal theatrics (likely because she can’t do them) weren’t a problem at all, mainly because “New” was constructed to hide any deficiencies behind its exquisite production.

The instrumental is almost hypnotic, and it stars heavy synths that hail back to the 80s and Eurythmics-esque synthpop. “New” almost sounds like something that could’ve been included ‘Stranger Things‘ soundtrack, but it does possess a sense of refinement that lets the listener know its contemporary.

“New” has a chorus that’s rather simple, which fits with the rest of the song, but the smoothness of it allows Yves to stay within herself and take you to the atmosphere the instrumental created. The repetition of the hook centering around “life” is a nice touch that makes things sneakily catchy as well, which solidified it as a pop hit that one can easily listen to over and over.

“New” ends up sounding smooth and effortless but manages to not cross over into boring the listener to death by becoming monotonous, just like a lot of 80s hits did. Admittedly I’m not sure if others will feel the same, but the execution of this concept and sound was extremely well done for me and it’s hard not to be impressed with the end result.

——