Greatest Hits:: LOONA: PTT (Paint the Town)

Apparently the random wheel generator likes the fourth generation groups at the moment, which I'm fine with because eventually I'll get to do older groups and that's something I'm very excited about. But, in the meantime, we get a group that I initially became interested in because I really enjoyed watching them dance on Queendom 2. Do I actually know much about them? Nope. But I do know that they have a lot of subunits, like tripleS, and are currently promoting under various subunits and/or as soloists.

I do also know that there is currently a boycott going on with them, so I'm going to limit the amount of stuff from the official channel. I don't know the exact details, but I wanted to at least acknowledge it.

So, for this song, because I like the context behind songs, I'm going to give some to y'all as well. I have no idea if you like the context as well, but I enjoy it, so if you like it too, here you go. PTT is the second track of the album, released in 2021. Everyone who worked on the songwriting appears to be on both the composer and lyricist lists, which is fun. First up, we have Youha, who is a soloist in her own right, but has also worked on songs for LE SSERAFIM, Victon, ITZY, and bugAboo, among a lot of others. Next up is Dennis DeKo Kordnejad, who has songs for Red Velvet, Monsta X, EXO, billlie and Cravity under his belt. Hitmanic worked on songs for Monsta X, EXO, Close Your Eyes, VAV, Loosemble, and Secret Number. Last up is Ryan S Jhun, who has IVE, Victon, NCT Dream, NCT 127, SHINee (he did Lucifer!), and Weeekly. Fabulous. And! It got a win on The Show! You know me, I'm very excited to see songs get wins on the music show wins.

• Group: LOONA
• Debut Date: 2018 August 19
• Company: Blockberry Creative
• Status: Inactive (there are no members remaining at the company, but they were not officially disbanded; additionally, the members have expressed a desire to perform together again)
• Album: [&]
• Song: PTT (Paint The Town)
• Release Date: 2021 June 28

This song apparently marks the return of leader Haseul! There's usually an immense sense of relief from the members when one who was on hiatus for whatever reason comes off hiatus, even though this album had difficulties. So some interesting facts about the album. This was their first album to have all the songs on the Gaon Download Chart and also their fifth consecutive top five album to debut on the Gaon Album Chart. This one debuted at number 4. And! It was their first entry on both the Billboard Japan Albums Chart and the Oricon Albums Chart, as well as the Polish Albums Chart. And it seems it was generally well-praised by critics. 

So I did some digging from people who know more than I do and are also Indian, and, apparently, that instrument is likely either an Indian Been (but if it is, it's being played like a Taepyeongso), or a Korean Taepyeongso, and there is also a Tabla being used, though you can tell it's a sample because of how repetitive it is. Personally, I'm happy to finally have a name for the Been, but discovering the existence of the Taepyeongso was also a cool surprise for me.

But everything about this music video is just amazing. It's wonderfully atmospheric and moody while being delightfully intense and celebratory. And the costuming? They are warrior goddesses, even when they're dressed in more modern clothing. The white ones look like hunters of Artemis (which is doubly cool because Artemis is linked up with the moon and thus "luna", and they're white like the moon). The black ones feel a lot more Amazon, or your standard science fiction warrior woman. And the drumming with the fur? That's very attractive.

The transition in the music video at 1:09 is so perfectly executed and I love it to absolute bits. The instrumentals and the vocals and the choreography are just all working in perfect unison. This is power at its peak. It's incredible. 

And I'm genuinely half in love with their vocals. That bridge is amazing, the way the instrumentals quiet for really the only time in the entire song so there's nothing to distract from the beautiful singing they're doing. 

And Odd Eye Circle is at full power. 

The lore. The strength. The scientifically accurately depicted black hole.

Magnificent.

Let's grab some stages, shall we? Show off this song.

Those are some intense knee bruises some of them have. 

I'm starting with Music Bank because we get both lyrics and who is singing, both of which are important if you're looking to get into a group and like a song.

The costuming. There's so much flowy fabric on display here, and it transforms the already incredible choreography into something not just intense and powerful, but into something that's beautiful and graceful as well.

There are a lot of members and I'm not familiar with most of them. But. I will say. Olivia Hye is gorgeous and even when she's smiling, like at the end, there's a leashed feralness to her in this performance that is just arresting.

This actually wasn't uploaded until a few months ago, which was quite a bit after I posted this originally, but I'm going back through and adding to some of my older posts because I hadn't figured out my little template yet. And while part of me likes having the shorter posts as evidence of my growth with these, the much louder, angrier part wants to give songs more equal treatment because it's not fair if the older posts don't get the same treatment as the newer ones. 

Good news, that means that you get to know about this stage being uploaded/made available for us to just generally enjoy!

I will say that the camera work on this one is great. I'm not sure that it gives Gowon and Vivi the screentime that they deserve considering they don't have a lot of lines and I'm not entirely sure which ones they are by sight, but it does a really good job of showing off the whole group choreography as well as the individual details. Their facial expressions are on point. 

Also, I love the kind of confetti that got used for this performance. 

They got to do the Dream Stage at KCon LA in 2022!

I really do love this choreography. It's just about everything I want, and I know I've already sort of talked about the instrumentals, but frankly that's worth another mention. They're awesome. 

Kim Lip did a great job of covering Chuu's high note on the word "twice". But there's was a very cute little mistake done at 2:41. Look down at the middle bottom, well, a little to the left. Jinsou's smile there when she realizes what she did is so cute and it's one of those things that humanizes a performance that I love. 

When the Orbits were included in the chorography is such an incredibly powerful moment. Well done to everyone involved in that and congrats on all of your hard work! With the group missing two members, it's kind of like the fans stepped up to support them and fill in those gaps.

This was my first introduction to the group, back on Queendom 2. I like to use the survival shows to get to know groups and collect the different and cool stages as a mental catalogue.

And I absolutely fell in love. I mean, I kind of fell in love with them from their introduction. But this one?

And they were recovering from Covid to do this. 

With this set of costumes, all that's missing is a sword dance. We do get some fanwork though and knife dancing, which works so well. The instrumental got more traditional Korean layers to it, making such a fantastic blend of culture and sound that intensifies and enhances the existing song.

Oh, and they're all gorgeous. Like, stunningly gorgeous. It's giving warrior maiden and I'm here for it.

The camerawork really is good. If you notice, there are tiny shakes to the camera specifically when they stomp and punch. The transitions are so mystical, which definitely helps hold the song as a mythological waypoint.

Such a good performance. 

Now with their dance practice video because their dancing is what drew me to them in the first place, even though I haven't seen much of it in general. And oh, my gosh. Holy moly. The synchronization is simply incredible, and that's hard enough in a smaller group, but when you have twelve of them, that's even more impressive. And even though I don't know which member she is, Yves apparently stands out a lot and steals the show, her and Choerry, with Vivi getting a very proud moment from the fans for improving a lot. And this is actually a really good example of gorgeous and powerful dancing. I mean, just look at that! My legs hurt just watching them.

Thank you for the time, everyone! This is going to be a fun time for all of us! Now, if you have a song you'd like me to cover, feel free to ask! I will take the suggestions in the form of comments or you can use The Form that I set up to take the submissions. 

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