Chuu Lights Up Los Angeles With Her Solo Concert “HOWL”
No light shines brighter than the one Chuu exudes every time she performs on stage. The singer made her long-awaited solo debut with the EP Howl in October and quickly announced a tour in the United States of the same name in support of the release. On December 3, the U.S. tour held its inaugural show at The Orpheum Theatre in Los Angeles and the city warmly embraced Chuu with affection during their short yet delightful time together.
Fans showed up and out for the concerts in costumes, including yellow gingham outfits as a nod to the singer’s look from LOONA yyxy’s “love4eva (feat. Grimes)” and in onesies of her representative animal, the penguin. Throughout the concert, she delightfully pointed them out in excitement. The energy of the crowd, when Chuu graced the stage to start off the concert, was palpable. She kicked off the night with a performance of “My Palace” in a mesh black dress and adorable low pigtail braids. Afterward, Chuu wasted no time acknowledging the crowd that was screaming and chanting her name passionately. Among the crowd, both LOONA and Chuu’s official lightsticks were spotted waving and cheering for the singer on stage.
Chuu’s playful and wholesome energy made for many cute moments that captured the hearts of KKOTIs, the official name for her fandom. Although a translator was present to help the singer convey her sincere words to fans inside the venue, she made an effort by directly speaking English to express her appreciation. While the staff translated Chuu's words from Korean, she playfully imitated them by loosely mouthing the phrases back in English.
As she introduced the next two songs, "Underwater" and "comethru," Chuu noted that these songs helped her heart to feel connected with KKOTIs. "comethru" is a song by Jeremy Zucker from his 2018 EP Summer. Chuu collaborated with Zucker to perform the song on the JTBC program Music Universe K-909 last year. She encouraged the audience to join in and sing along with the lyrics displayed on the LED screen throughout.
In the next portion of the show, Chuu changed into a Y2K-inspired outfit with hot pink pants and an adorable cat ear beanie. After the performance of “Hitchhiker” featuring pixel art game graphics, Chuu sat down for an interactive drawing session with fans.
Calling herself “Chuu Ross,” she drew a variety of scenes using the keywords provided on screen, including a drawing of herself meeting KKOTI at the theater that night. Continuing the heartwarming feeling, Chuu sang a cover of “White Christmas” and brought season-appropriate props she bought herself before the show. As another early Christmas present for KKOTIs and ORBITs, Chuu teased that she hopes to do a special stage with the LOONA members if given the opportunity in the near future.
Toward the end of the night, Chuu kept up the energy with a cover of Taylor Swift’s “Shake It Off” and a rock version of “Heart Attack.” Undoubtedly, the “Heart Attack” performance made the crowd most excited. “You attack my heart! You attack my heart,” Chuu sang and initiated a call-and-response with the audience who were already singing the song word-for-word. Despite a minor hiccup at the beginning that prompted a restart, Chuu flawlessly executed the remainder of the stage, delivering impressive vocal moments. “Whatever I do in the future, I’ll be able to do it confidently with your support,” Chuu said as she got emotional on stage during the final ment.
Finding the light to overcome dark days can be hard but Chuu was able to become that bright light for herself and bravely endured a difficult period to come out flourishing, with her precious by her side. The inaugural show of the tour in Los Angeles marks a new chapter for Chuu as she continues to pursue her passion for performing and spreading her infectious energy with the world.
On behalf of The Kraze, we thank Chuu, Wonderwall Entertainment Group, and the teams for allowing us the opportunity to attend and cover the show.