After a long pre-debut period of almost two years, LOONA have finally made their official debut with Hi High. Yes, this is not a pre-release but their actual debut track which they will be formally promoting on stage. The song features on the group’s first mini-album, which is called ++. The group previously made a pre-release with favoRiTe, which is also featured on the said mini-album.

Hi High is an extremely energetic and bright song that felt very unexpected. I saw that because LOONA’s predebut consisted of a wide variety of genres and styles. Yet they went with something a little cliche for a debut. Not that is a problem as the song does a really good job of presenting that youthful side of the group to the listener. There is a sense of familiarity, however, as it does remind me of their predebut style. I really like the ‘Woo-Woo-Ah’ lines within the verses, which were really catchy. The chorus itself was really addictive with the repetition of the English and the chant vibes that come from it. Even though it just came out, it has already been replayed an unhealthy amount of times. Vocally, the song was amazing and the rapping was quite good. The high note during the bridge was spectacular, kicking us with some impact just before the song ends. Overall, it was a fun song that definitely shows their potential.

These are just my observations from the music video but there were a fair bit of reunions. Furthermore, a number of scenes reminded me of some of the predebut music videos, such as the dark room and the athletic track running scenes. Based on this (and the fact that LOONAverse flashes across the screen at the start), I think the context of the video is that they are rejoining as a group after being apart in their own worlds for quite some time. For those who don’t know, I will be posting my LOONA music video theory in a number of weeks (there will be scheduling changes for that) and this video will find its way onto that theory. Storyline aside, it is a good video on its own.

The performance of this song consists of a lot of members. There are other groups who consist of more members but their choreography has been very tight. LOONA’s performance, on the other hand, is a lot looser. The members had to do a fair amount of running to get from one side to the other. I like the cuteness in this choreography, especially during the chorus, which made the performance very inviting.

Song – 9/10
Music Video – 9/10
Performance – 8.5/10
Overall Rating – 8.9/10