Review Summary: LOONA’s little sisters go hard on their debut full length.
LOONA’s former creative director and producer, Jaden Jeong left Blockberry Creative in order to follow his own vision under his own label, Modhaus. His ambitions and interest in creating encompassing lore and aesthetics around the respective girl group most likely was too much for the executives in that company to sustain. No wonder after he departed, they pretty much became a different act that ultimately imploded due to mistreatment and continuous clashes with BBC’s management. A shame really, especially since their concepts started to quietly influence newer groups in the Kpop genre and were at their commercial peak. Nevertheless, the man undertook this opportunity to start over with a new group, tripleS. A similar strategy was used, as members debuted gradually in various sub-units since late 2022. Each represented a concept and sonic variation, while Jaden was focusing on the overall cohesiveness. Settling on 24 members, probably the most for a girl group in Kpop so far, a full length was revealed to celebrate this milestone. Echoing the first release under the main name,
ASSEMBLE24 is a successful blend of what we have heard so far from them.
Musically, the LP takes some cues from early LOONA trademarks, containing bubbly, retro futuristic synth pop with occasional RnB type vocals, which frankly, suit tripleS very well too. Jeong carved a niche of his own that only felt right to further expand. “Heart Raider” and “Non Scale” are excellent examples of exciting, uplifting numbers with busy yet fun instrumentals, as well as cute, catchy singing. Also, “Midnight Flower” shares lovely, youthful singalongs over smooth ‘80s style beats and guitars, whereas “White Soul Sneakers” goes all in with the acid funk sound, reminiscing Jamiroquai’s heyday output. Moreover, main single, “Girls Never Die” does a strong job conveying early 2000s dance grooves, using warm synths and accurate bass lines. “Chiyu” is the only mellower track here, a lush mid-tempo ditty with a touch of Red Velvet on top. The most unfortunate thing about the record is its short length, a recurring issue of this genre. In Kpop, you can usually find filler material even on brief EPs, however,
ASSEMBLE24 takes off right from the start and keeps its momentum until the final note. This is a suitable example of not following current trends, despite the financial attractiveness, opting instead to create what fits your vision and the members’ capabilities best.
