“But the truth is, I started as a K-pop idol, and that beginning is still a foundation for me. I don’t want to reject that. What I want instead is to keep pushing into new, different genres and widen what people think of as the K-pop spectrum. I want to use what I learned there, plus everything I’ve picked up working with artists from other countries, to expand that space through my own work,” she says, referring to her past collaborations with PinkPantheress and underscores.
When asked about her relationship with her former members, Yves answered with far less reluctance, vividly recalling a moment between her and Chuu. “I was in a cab recently and Chuu called me, and we ended up talking about the smallest, most random things,” she says. “We started as one group, and now we’ve grown into really different kinds of artists, but we still talk seriously about our own music and careers and comfort each other. We met when we were 19 and 20, a lot of time has passed, but we’re like family now, and I’m really grateful for that.”
Yves never felt pressure to carry on the LOONA universe in her own work. Instead, she’s prioritizing what comes naturally to her as an artist, and she’s found that fans of the group resonate with her growth. “I made the choice to just focus on what I want to say right now, and to make that feel new. A lot of fans have told me, more than once, that they’re happy to see me grow, and hearing that so often made me feel comfortable growing on my own terms, which honestly gave me the confidence to debut solo in the first place.”
