ARTMS Courtesy of MODHAUS
Who is ARTMS?
ARTMS is a five-member girl group with members from Loona making their re-debut. After successfully leaving their previous company, where they had not received any payments, the girls signed with MODHAUS. MODHAUS is home to fourth generation group TripleS and the CEO of the company was their previous creative director during Loona. Jaden Jeong has been working with the members for years and them ending up in his company was fate. ARTMS consists of Kim Lip, HeeJin, HaSeul, JinSoul and Choerry. Together, they just made their official debut with <DALL>, a full-length album with four pre-release singles and an official title track, “Virtual Angel.”
Firstly, as a fan of the girls in Loona, seeing them re-debut is so amazing to see. After ARTMS, every single Loona member is officially back to being active in the K-pop scene again. The 12-member girl group has split into two separate groups of five members. Additionally, the other two members went solo with Yves, debuting a few days before ARTMS.
ARTMS has been working hard to come up with 11 total songs, four music videos and multiple versions of performance videos. The album dropped on May 31st. <DALL> stands for “divine all love and live.”
“Virtual Angel” Review
“Virtual Angel” serves as ARTMS’ first title track with a bright, city-pop feel. According to Genius, the lyrics are, “I’ll be there for you when your wings break. Letting go of you, that’s a heartbreak.” ARTMS is healing from this relationship being over and moving on to bigger things. This could be interpreted as a breakup story. It could also be about restarting all over again as a group. Previously, when CHUU was kicked out, every Loona member filed to break their contract. They were in constant legal battles, with that company still trying to sue all the members presently. This song may also be about that heartbroken feeling where they felt like they weren’t going to be a group or make music again.
The bright production on “Virtual Angel” incorporates many different sounds used in the instrumental. It has an ’80s pop feel with synths throughout the chorus. The members have angelic vocals that sound amazing against this production. This an amazing title track with many interpretations. Jaden Jeong, the CEO, did a great job of creating lore with the music video.
The music video feels like a story, which was my favorite part of Loona. They all had superpowers and told a very intricate story within the videos. Jeong continuing this tradition felt like a treat. The video for “Virtual Angel” is very trippy with many flashing lights. It was well shot, but felt a bit chaotic as the lights kept strobing.
<DALL> Review
The 11-song project had zero skips. Every song fit in place and showcased the talented vocals along with very small raps of ARTMS. There wasn’t one track that fell short or didn’t leave me wanting more. The first song, “url,” is an intro into the world of <DALL> with a spoken word monologue. The production is funky, serving as an amazing opener to the album.
Jeong and MODHAUS produce high-quality music, this album included. The company understood the pressure of re-debuting very popular girls in the K-pop scene. This music sounds perfect for ARTMS. From tracks one to eleven, you get so many different vibes. They went for brighter concepts, besides the closer, “Birth,” a unique, dark concept song.
The best song from this project is “Distress.” It has a funky production that’s smooth against the members’ perfectly sung soprano voices. This song stood out to me because it just has an amazing feel to it and showcases their vocal ranges. The chorus is perfect with funky bass against bright synths. According to Genius, it translates to, “Through the time we waited always with the same light no matter in the darkness. My heart speeds up right now.” It talks about always being by each other’s side and falling in love.
“Butterfly Effect” is a close second on <DALL>. The chorus has high energy and the production is phenomenal. It reminds me a little bit of Loona’s song “Butterfly.” Jeong actually worked on this track back then and I think that’s why he made this song. He did it as an ode to the fans who have been by Loona’s side and love that song. I appreciate Jeong giving that nod to the fans and for making an amazing 2.0 version. The girls sound amazing on this song. It truly was a gift as a fan of them when they were in Loona. The track has an R&B-inspired feel, which is one of my favorite genres. There are a lot of different genres included within the album, proving ARTMS can do any concept you throw at them.
