Greatest Hits:: LUNA: Love Paranoia

 Happy fourteenth anniversary, NU'EST! Happy discharge, JR! One of those has already happened, and the other will be happening in a few days! I cannot even tell you how much I am vibrating with excitement over JR's discharge. But as much as I love both NU'EST and JR, not everyone does, so I elected to do a post between the two events, rather than do one for both. I could have. I had a JR solo song selected for his discharge, although I might hold onto it for his birthday now that he'll be out. (Here's your friendly reminder right up here at the front that will be repeated further down at the end that I love doing posts for anniversaries and special events and I also love it when y'all give me songs to do for them). But this is a first for a couple of reasons: this is a fictional band, and it's also an OST. What does this have to do with JR? He was the bassist in the drama! So funny story about this drama. I watched it because of JR. I loved it. A couple of months later when I decided I wanted to rewatch it again, I couldn't remember any of the characters names, but I could remember the band (LUNA), the fandom (Moonlight), and the names of the songs. 

LUNA is the fictional band from the drama Let Me Be Your Knight, released in 2021 (which is pre-disbandment for NU'EST). Interestingly, three of the five members of the band (JR, Donghyun, and Yoon Jisung) were on Produce 101 Season 2, and four of the five members of the band are debuted idols (U-Kiss, NU'EST, AB6IX, and Wanna One). So there are some serious vocal chops in this fake band. Also, while this isn't the main song for the drama, I tend to treat OSTs as title tracks in my regular reviews, so I'll carry that through to these.

This one is my favorite of LUNA's songs, and there is A List of songwriters for this song, so buckle up, everyone. The relevant names will be bolded because this is a long list with a lot of credentials. Especially from one of them, but that just goes to show that this is a proper K-Pop song with a solid musical lineage. There are some big hits in this mix. Okay, so, all of the composers are also credited as lyricists, so we'll start with them. We have Ryan S Jhun (he's been very active the last little bit and has been working for a while) (LOONA, Kangta, KiiiKiii, EXO, Victon, NCT, I.O.I, ITZY, VAV, IVE, aespa, SuperM, NMIXX, Loossemble, GOT the beat, SHINee, Enhypen, Weeekly, Taeyeon, KARD, UNIS, Oh My Girl, YooA, Monsta X, TWICE, Pentagon, Jamie, P1Harmony, fromis_9, GFRIEND, VIVIZ, Sistar19, Purple Kiss, TVXQ!, VVUP, WJSN the Black, Kim Woojin, Red Velvet, CLASS:y, IZ*ONEH1-KEY, DXMON, WANNA ONE, Girl's Day, HITGS, UHSNLee Hyori, f(x), EL7Z UP, Super Junior, E'LAST, bugAboo, ZEROBASEONE, INFINITE, 82MAJOR, BTOB, cignature,1THE9, Yeeun, TWS, Minhyun, The Boyz, GWSN, MIRAE, BAE173, Fantasy Boys, Cravity, Sevenus, Kang Daniel, iii, Baby DONT Cry, CIX, JUSTB, LUN8, Cross Gene, Fiestar, VANNER, POW, Moon Jong UP, UNB, Boys Republic, Ren, 15&, Luminous, AOA, WHIB, and Verivery), Cimo Fränkel (UNIS, NewKids, Key, 82Major, Enhypen, Monsta X, &TEAM, TOMORROW X TOGETHER, The Boyz, BamBam, NCT, fromis_9, Cravity, ZEROBASEONE, TWICE, ASTRO, VIXX, EXO, TWS, X1, TEMPEST, A.C.E, Kim Woojin, Alpha Drive One, Big Ocean, Fantasy Boys, 8TURN, SHINee, Verivery, JUSTB, n.SSign, Moon Jong Up, Ciipher, 2PM, Verivery, ITZY, Yena, NEXZ, Solar, EPEX, MIRAE, Super Junior, Polarix, Zoonizini, Minhyun, TIOT, aoen, The KingDom, SKYE, SF9, CIX, DRIPPIN, ATBO, IDID, GHOST9, MCND, Luminous, UNIQ, TVXQ!, VICTON, Teen Top, UP10TION, BXB, and Fantasy Boys), and Rik Annema (UNIS, NCT, BamBam, NewKids, Key, and IDID). The additional lyricists are Luvsong (Purple Kiss, Chung Ha, Taemin, Apink, and Luminous) and Kim Jonghyeon AKA my boy JR and the reason you just read the writing credentials of Ryan S Jhun, who has written songs performed by so many groups it's not even funny (NU'EST). JR wrote his rap. I'm very proud of him. 

Also the song was in the top 100 K-Pop charts in December of 2021.

• Group: LUNA
• Debut Date: 2021 November 29
• Status: Disbanded (2022)
• Album: Love Paranoia
• Song: Love Paranoia
• Release Date: 2021 November 29

The music video is a performance clip, technically, but you know what? That's what actual band music videos look like a lot of the time. This is a legit music video that if you didn't know the band was from a drama called Let Me Be Your Knight, you'd be forgiven for mistaking them for an actual band.

Wild stuff, you guys. 

So the only one of the group who is only an actor and is not also an idol is blondie, Jang Dongjoo. The guitarist. Lead vocalist is Lee Junyoung from U-Kiss. Bassist is my boy JR from NU'EST. Drummer is Yoon Jisung from Wanna One. Maknae and keyboardist is Kim Donghyun from AB6IX. 

I think my favorite part of the music video is that they're doing what groups do when they really enjoy the song. You see multiple instances of them singing along when their mouths are nowhere near their mics and it is not their part (JR: 0:45) (Lee Junyoung: 2:12) (Jang Dongjoo: 2:14). It really sells the illusion that this is a real band, as does the very clear shot at 2:31 of Junyoung's very tensed neck, which tells me that even if we're hearing the studio recording, they were singing live when the video was recorded. I also really like the smile that Jisung gives to Donghyun when it's the keyboard solo part. Donghyun played the maknae on the drama, but in that group of five, he was also the maknae. It's very cute. 

So funny thing, I really love the line "I just need some therapy" for a couple of reasons. It hits my brain the same way the therapy line from VIXX's "On and On" does, and it even has the same, wonderful pronunciation. Second, even though it's not Junyoung who sings that line, it's so wonderfully appropriate to his character's storyline that it makes me smile. Actually, it's pretty accurate to all of them.

But also, are you hearing this song? It's loud! It's fun! This song never fails to make me happy wiggle when it comes on one of the eight playlists I've got it in! Part of me wishes that this was an actual band because I'd be so enthused and strongly consider joining that fandom. We've got the big energy! We've got the softer more introspective lyrics that again tie directly back into the plot and themes of the drama. We've a fiercer sounding (though his body language is surprisingly relaxed) rap.

And, because it is an OST, you get to hear it ever time you watch the drama. So, bonus!

Before I drop the practice video, which goes at the end, as we know, I need to share this. With fictional bands, it's really easy to say "Oh, they're just pretending to play the instruments." And that's fair. It happens a lot. But there is video proof that they did in fact play those instruments because Pledis uploaded one of JR's bass practices with his teacher.

There's another video somewhere on the internet that includes like a twenty second clip where Ren talks about the calluses that JR has gotten. I know it exists. I've seen it. Its lack of inclusion here is because I do not remember what video it was. I have watched two V lives where I thought it might have happened (I've still got another one that Ren did that I think it might have been but that one is very long). It wasn't in the two episodes of LOVE Story that I originally thought it might have been in, nor was it in the other five that I watched because I thought it might have been there. So, if anyone knows where that was so I can include it, please help a girl out. I'd like to get this post finished and that will not happen if I continue to dig.

But know that as soon as I find it, it's getting added to this post. 

Oh, no. I might have to watch the entire season of LOVE Story to double check everything. Oh, no. Whatever will I do?

That's sarcasm. There are so many funny episodes in the Inside Out season (including flying yoga and an escape room) that I'd be happy to have a good reason to rewatch it other than "I feel like it."

I have no idea what this is from originally. Not a clue. But there are a couple of really impressive things about this. This feels a bit like a fancam sort of, or a practice video for monitoring later.

But those are very clearly live instruments. 

Also, you get some fantastic harmonies here even in just the minute of the song that this contains that you don't hear nearly this clearly in the studio recording. 

I also found, in my hunt for things, a beautiful piano cover. Wow. Kudos to you, pianist, because this is arranged well and you play very well. It's gorgeous. This is something you could go to sleep to and I mean this in the best way possible. And it's kind of a travesty that this only has 149 views. 

Flashing lights warning. You know, I kind of love that this "practice" was filmed the way it was. It's got some spots where the shot is extended quite well, and there's a lot of camera movements rather than cuts. I also can tell you that this was filmed when there was a practice in the show, because I recognize the outfits that they're wearing, which I appreciate a lot. Again, this is like the band is an actual band, and it's being treated as such, which is great. 

That keyboard solo of Donghyun's is so cool. Seriously. And I have to recommend that you watch the drama because then you get the full effect of Jisung, because the man is adorable and it's just impressive how solid he is with the drums. Solid, reliable sunshine.

For JR's discharge, and because of the connection that he and NU'EST have with two of the other members of the band, I wanted to share an OST from this drama to cover the anniversary and his discharge. This is also a really cool OST that turned him from singer-songwriter idol, to an instrument-playing singer-songwriter idol. Which makes him cooler. 

I can't tell you how happy I am that he's soon to be back, and I can't wait to meet the new version of him that he's become. But he can take his time with coming back. I'd rather him settle and become a civilian again slowly than rush things so that he can know who he's become first.

If you've got a song you'd like me to cover, even if it's something weird like an OST or a one-shot project group of some sort, feel free to drop a comment or fill out The Form. I'd love to hear what you've got and that you love. Especially if you've got an anniversary or birthday or special event that you'd like me to post for. 

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