I’ll use this tweet to spur some reflections on ARTMS:
Of course this is posted by a non-neutral account dedicated to supporting ARTMS, so it emphasizes that and not the tons of other recognition in the article. You will see my rankings and thoughts with respect to much of what’s covered soon. For now I also want to focus on recognizing ARTMS and Club Icarus / Grand Club Icarus.
Certainly attractive simply as a story of rebirth and triumph (“Reborn like a pheonix wing”), ARTMS as a group and as individuals continued to bring me no end of joy throughout the challenging and personally often painful year pf 2025.
The album at the heart of it, the tour and appearances that accompanied it, and all of the associated visuals and video that made up the complete Club Icarus concept was an absolute triumph and the next evolution of the group as well.
Everything added to the experience, from the initial Burn teasers birthed from LOONA and ARTMS lore to the “hanging out” at clubs and afterparties, let alone transforming the entire concert experience into a giant club, from the DJ starting half an hour before to the allowed dancing in the aisles and entire mood.
I saw the tour twice, in Los Angeles (26 November 2025 at the Wilshire Ebell Theatre) and Monterey (28 November 2025 at the Golden State Theatre), the last two stops on the North American portion of Grand Club Icarus. (I have many photos with the members from the 1:1 VIP photos, which I will get up on this site soon.) In Los Angeles, there was also an afterparty at a club nearby (Catch One) where the members came and danced and drank with everyone.
I have seen ARTMS on Moonshot (Los Angeles at The Orpheum in 2024 August 31) and Lunar Theory (Los Angeles at the Wilshire Ebell Theatre also in 2025, amazingly April 13), and now these two Grand Club Icarus shows. (Somehow between the April and November concerts they found time to be in Los Angeles for a Grand Club Icarus club appearance not even connected to tour dates (!); I somehow missed this due to losing track of it.)
There has been a clear evolution over Moonshot then Lunar Theory then Grand Club Icarus of the group’s performances and bonds with each other. These were all challenging, physical sets pulled off beautifully. It was a master stroke by Modhaus / Jaden Jeong to have ARTMS pull together the threads of LOONA lore and then own them so convincingly by performing the LOONA songs during Lunar Theory as 5. And the of course moving forward with the lore.
This clearly has positioned ARTMS – more than positioned, fully made them – effectively the present day LOONA and yet still an entity on their own. CHUU and Yves are clearly thriving as solo artists but their is no LOONA lore tie, they are doing their own thing, and of course there is the trainwreck ending of LOOSSEMBLE (a topic for another day). ARTMS stands stronger and unscathed.
As an aside, the other smart thing MODHAUS and Jaden Jeoing are doing is allowing them their solo space, including for HaSeul’s solo concerts and HeeJin’s rock band times. BLACKPINK of course is the apex example of this philosophy, but I would argue BLACKPINK was so huge and the contract renewal timing left YG little choice – let them do what they want or lose them. (To both YG and the members’ credit, it’s been managed well so far. YG already heavily emphasized solo stages even before, knowing they have lightning in the bottle with four strong independent personality members, and so incorporating the non-YG solo material into the BLACKPINK concert experience was as smooth as it was obvious.)
MODHAUS is letting the solo stuff blossom within the company, and the members seem to be well on their way to establishing unique public personas. Of course it’s easy to forget HeeJin, Kim Lip, JinSoul, Choerry, and HaSuel had debut dates nearly as long ago as the BLACKPINK members – though their path to now since then obviously has been much harder.
Often when a concept heavy work like Club Icarus is implemented, the charisma and nature of the group involved can be muted as a result; the danger is too much focus on the concept loses some of what made the group special just because of the natural way the members are.
A perfect example is STYX during the Mr. Roboto days. They might has well have been actors performing theater instead of Styx the rock band. Of course this ultimately led to strife within the band as those two forces – the concept emphasis versus the rock band emphasis – pulled the band apart, and the demise of that classic lineup. (Hopefully the present lineup of STYX – several of whom are the same – handle this better with their current concept effort “Circling From Above”.)
On Grand Club Icarus, ARTMS magnificently manifested both themselves as a group and simultaneously realized the concept which transformed the Grand Club Icarus concert into a truly unique experience – and experience is the right word as opposed to show.
As opposed to seeming muted or constrained, the unbridled joy apparent and literally effervescing out of all the members at the Los Angeles Grand Club Icarus afterparty was both uplifting and moving, the members breaking free of all of the past travails and being totally present, free and happy.
Onward.