Watch LOONA’s Compelling Video for their First Lead Single “favOriTe”

After almost two years of world-building, South Korean girl group LOONA’s 12 members come together for the first time on the lead single “favOriTe,” released earlier today.

LOONA have been building anticipation since 2016 by revealing each member one by one through a series of highly-cinematic, symbolic and interlinked music videos. The revolutionary pre-debut project gave each member a chance to showcase their individual skill set while building a fictional universe titled the LOONAVERSE. The group has also debuted several sub-units over the past two years including LOONA 1/3, LOONA/ODD EYE CIRCLE, LOONA/yyxy, and YeoJin. The group’s label BlockBerry Creative stated earlier this year, “With the largest scale and the longest period of debut promotion in the K-pop history, LOONA has been building its own universe carefully to build credibility in the quality of music and the trust in the team among fans.”

Primarily a performance video, “favOriTe” features the 12 members of LOONA (Heejin, Hyunjin, Haseul, ViVi, Yeojin, Kim Lip, JinSoul, Choerry, Yves, Chuu, Go Won, and Olivia Hye) dancing in an abandoned warehouse. They are dressed identically in school uniforms and seem cheerful on the surface, but their consistent eye-contact with the camera adds the signature eeriness that seems to be present in most of LOONA’s artistry.

There are visual parallels to the final solo video LOONA released in March (member Olivia Hye’s introductory track “Egoist”) in terms of the black and white alternating color palette and subtle throwbacks to other solo videos. The clip ends with blue dust surrounding the members as they stand still and stare into the camera.

The crunchy, jazz-infused pop track is about being in love and wanting to be with that person, but walks a thin line between adoration and obsession; the pairing of the lyrics, “From the top of your head to the tip of your toes/I’ll have it all, even your heart” with the members’ unflinching gazes make for a slightly unsettling image. LOONA’s vocalists shine in particular with wavy harmonies, so perhaps we’ll see more from the rappers in later releases.

According to the group’s label BlockBerry Creative, “[favOriTE] declares the signature sound of LOONA at its complete form.” The duodecuple will reportedly have their official debut later this month as well as a debut showcase on August 19th titled  ‘LOONAbirth.’ Fans are predicting another symbolism-heavy music video to coincide with the official debut; a fair guess since LOONA have cemented a reputation for delivering the extraordinary by featuring multiple realities, possible same-sex relationships and Biblical doom in their work.