OnlyOneOf: Pushing Forth An Art Pop Dream

How a South Korean rookie septet plan on evolving the storytelling landscape of K-pop

- Riddhi Chakraborty

There are times when I come across certain artists and wonder how I’ve lived my entire life without their music. These artists have discographies that are experimental and unique, which can often be a double-edged sword; there’s a lot of appreciation from music critics, but the complexities are lost on mainstream audiences who aren’t easily ready to dive into the unknown. Last year, I found a South Korean group that embodied this phenomenon perfectly. They are called OnlyOneOf.

Spearheaded by creative director Jaden Jeong (who is also the genius behind K-pop girl group LOONA’s intricate ‘Loonaverse’ series) OnlyOneOf ’s artistry is elegant, symbolic, dark and sexy– not something you often see in a rookie group. Their debut single “Savanna,” a gorgeous R&Bdeep house offering which dropped in May 2019, landed them a spot on Billboard‘s ‘Top 5 New K-pop Acts to Watch in 2020’ list, as well as the attention of several music journalists around the globe–of which I was one. Subsequent releases like the deeply symbolic and spiritual “Sage” (November 2019) and sleek but emotional “Dora Maar” (January 2020) were examples of their fearlessness and thirst for experimentation with heady, mature blends of genres like dark synth pop, lounge, R&B and house. The music production is crisp on every track and often paired with smooth choreography or cinematic visuals that experiment with hidden messages. Considering they’ve only been around for a year and hail from a smaller label (8D Creative), it’s certainly impressive how intricately each and every release is crafted.