After a tumultuous few years – with lawsuits, label changes and re-debuts galore – things are finally starting to settle down for the members of ARTMS. Just a few days before speaking with NME, the girl group triumphantly held their first solo concert as a quintet in Seoul, South Korea, ahead of a sprawling world tour. From the very beginning of our conversation, the group make it a point to highlight their personal involvement in the tour, from its setlist to stage direction to choreography.
This dedication to honing their craft and feeling empowered in their output was reflected in last year’s releases too – in past interviews with NME, both Odd Eye Circle and HeeJin were eager to share how much they have evolved after taking charge of their respective mini-albums. “The songs would not be considered complete until we gave the final ‘yes’. We really wanted to perfect everything, and show that we were fully immersed in the music,” Kim Lip says.
Their attention to detail isn’t just a heartening reflection of how well they understand their fans; it also stems from years of frustration from being held back from making creative decisions. “Before joining Modhaus, whenever we were given a song or album it felt like we were just put on stage to do as we were told,” Kim Lip continues. “But now, we get to really think about how to express ourselves on stage, how a song should be made to best convey its meaning.”
“That’s really how and why we started to participate more in our releases, so that we could gain control over how we wanted to show ourselves to fans and to the general public,” she adds. Even then, for Kim Lip and her bandmates – HeeJin, JinSoul, Choerry and HaSeul – their former lives as members of beloved K-pop act LOONA continue to stay close to their hearts and minds.
During the two Seoul dates of their ‘Moonshot’ world tour, ARTMS surprised fans with reworked versions of hits from their LOONA days, alongside songs from their debut album ‘Dall’. “We were actually quite touched while preparing to perform our LOONA songs, and it felt kind of new to us as well,” says HaSeul. “We imagined how fans would feel watching the performances, and how it would make them emotional.”
But beyond acknowledging their past, the five stars are also taking the tour as an opportunity to showcase new facets of themselves. For HeeJin, that meant taking to the stage with an electric guitar for an emotional cover of ‘난춘’, by her favourite band SE SO NEON. “It was actually on my bucket list,” she says, adding that she had really enjoyed showing fans the guitar skills she had been practising. “That performance was quite an achievement for me.”
“We’ve brought those stories together, and those references [to our past] kind of showcase how all these different beginnings have brought ARTMS together” – JinSoul
Elsewhere during the show, ARTMS also wowed audiences with an energetic cover of TWS’ hit song ‘Plot Twist’. “We wanted to try something new, yet at the same time perform a song that is popular among the general public for our fans to enjoy. Since LOONA was quite well-known for covering male idols’ songs, we thought, why not continue that?” says Kim Lip, who reveals that the group have many more covers and special performances in store for the rest of the tour.
ARTMS are determined to deliver a one-of-a-kind experience at each stop, with Choerry teasing that they paid special attention to “small details” for each show. “[Look forward to] the different variations we’ll be making for each choreography and performance,” she says with a knowing smile. While the group “don’t have concrete plans” for concerts beyond Europe and the Americas, HaSeul says they would “love to visit and perform” wherever the group has fans. When one of them jokingly suggests performing in the Amazon rainforest, they unanimously agree between laughs that they absolutely would if the opportunity arose.
While the quartet (nor Modhaus) did not originally plan for ARTMS to become a permanent group, it soon became the obvious next step. Their creative endeavours under the project made it clear that debuting as ARTMS would not mean shedding their identity as LOONA; it was simply a way for them to broaden their unique worldview. “It was actually a very big decision that took a lot of determination, for us to join back together and create ARTMS,” reflects HaSeul. “The affection we have for one another is immense, and we’re really glad to be together, which shows in our teamwork.”
Their efforts culminated with the release of ‘Dall’ in May, which not only marked ARTMS’ debut album, but also the first time any of them have worked on a full-length record. “We were able to participate a lot in its creation, from directing the vocals, writing lyrics and having our input on the overall concept and album design,” Kim Lip proudly shares. “We got really, really involved in this album which was so different from our previous group releases.”
“The songs would not be considered complete until we gave the final ‘Yes’. We really wanted to perfect everything, and show that we were fully immersed in the music” – Kim Lip
“We really cherish and love this release,” says HeeJin, confessing that they often felt “confused” about their concepts under their previous agency. “We had a hard time portraying [the ideas] that were actually behind them. But in participating in the writing and everything, we feel like we have a much clearer grip on how to express ourselves and what we are portraying. I think we’ve become a lot more expressive, and have grown to be able to show 200 per cent of the concepts.”
The girl group also light up when discussing their growth as songwriters over the years. Touching on their contributions on ‘Dall’, HeeJin, Kim Lip and JinSoul answer a burning question fans have had about fan-favourite track ‘Sparkle’. “Many fans have been asking about the phrase ‘fireboy’ that I used in the lyrics of ‘Sparkle’,” says HeeJin, sharing that she borrowed it from the song ‘Fireboy’ by Thai singer PP Krit. “I felt that it tied into the overall message of the song, which likens fireworks to the sparks of love, so my lyrics were very inspired by it.”
Meanwhile, JinSoul reveals that she began writing the lyrics to the acclaimed pre-release track ‘Birth’ after waking up from a nightmare during the Odd Eye Circle tour. “While I couldn’t quite remember what happened in it, I tried to express what I felt in it into song lyrics,” she says of the moody, unsettling track, which was inspired by elements of horror. Kim Lip, one of the few members to have written for LOONA in the past, opens up about ‘Distress’, which was inspired by the turbulent emotional journey that led to the creation of ARTMS.
Although ‘Dall’ signifies the birth of ARTMS as a new group, it also draws significantly from their past. The breezy ‘Air’ borrows lyrics from LOONA’s ‘Butterfly’ and its melody from Odd Eye Circle’s ‘Air Force One’, while ‘Candy Crush’ and ‘Flower Rhythm’ respectively contain interpolations of HaSeul and HeeJin’s solo singles. That’s on top of the countless references to LOONA throughout the album. For longtime fans, while these easter eggs can be fun nods, they are also heartfelt reminders that the members haven’t lost any love for their roots, despite what has transpired.
“We’ve had debuts and releases as individuals and sub-units, but this is a fresh new start. We’ve brought those stories together, and those references kind of showcase how all these different beginnings have brought ARTMS together,” says JinSoul. While unsure if this trend will carry on to their future releases, she does think that “it would be quite fun to continue bringing those references back once in a while”.
Even as ARTMS open a new chapter in their ever-evolving story, it’s clear that they aren’t closing the door on LOONA – instead, that experience has emphasised their need to perform and express themselves even more. With their hard-fought freedom, they’ve created an identity that is unique and distinct, yet intrinsically tied to their past. And as they are just about to set off to meet the world as a quintet for the first time, this burning desire to forge a path of their own choosing foreshadows a blossoming future for ARTMS to come.
ARTMS’ debut album ‘Dall’ is out now via Modhaus
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