Quick Thoughts: Chuu – Only cry in the rain

Omggg. I’ve been waiting for ages it feels for me to have a full Chuu album I adore. And I finally got it. Not too long of a wait. I liked “Strawberry Rush”. And I think I’ll go back to the album of the same name with fresh ears. I don’t remember what I thought about Howl, so I probably need to relisten to it as well. But Only cry in the rain is easily my favorite out of her solo releases. I hate to be that girl…but I love Pop Chuu. I missed “Heart Attack” Chuu and this album was for the Orbits. So let’s get into it.

As a fan of LOONA and the post-LOONA groups and soloists, I’ve been keeping a close eye on all 12 girls. It’s had its ups and downs, but overall, it’s been fun. Wonderful music, entertaining and engaging music and visuals to go along with it all. But I kept waiting for Chuu specifically to really wow me personally.

In my Fave LOONA songs article, I kicked that list off with Chuu. And idk what I was expecting from a Chuu solo once we finally got it confirmed, but it wasn’t a continuation of what we saw of her in LOONA like Odd Eye Circle, Heejin, or Yves’s first releases. In hindsight, I love that. It was great seeing a different side of Chuu. Slower paced songs, some poppier tunes sprinkled in there, but nothing that really hooked me in. But we got close.

So when we got to the teaser and start of the promotional cycle for this album and era, I was still watching and waiting. I was excited. But part of me was already ready to hate it, lol. I was pleasantly surprised when the album starter, title track, and album name, “Only cry in the rain” was a banger.

I mean, it’s a sad song, but a bop at the same time. We loooove a sad song we can dance and vibe to. The music video itself is great. The cinematography going on here is gorgeous. I love this slightly retro filter used throughout the video. The animated scene where we see the album art is beautifully done as well.

I can’t stop thinking about how good this hair looks on Chuu. It suits her incredibly well. I’ve also thoroughly enjoyed the styling of this era, too. I think it was during Howl, I was reblogging a lot of Chuu’s concept photos on Tumblr. Because even though I wasn’t crazy about the music, the styling, and concept visuals were on point. I was obsessed. So that’s still here in “Only cry in the rain”.

Chuu’s acting in the music video is great as well. I love the intro scene with her and the other girl sitting on the bench at the train station and Chuu smiling and waving in such a Chuu manner. So cute. So endearing. I was hooked into the plot immediately. Although I’m a bit confused by it. They’re a thruple right? And they worked it out in the end? That was my interpretation of it, at least, lol.

“Back in town” keeps up the midtempo momentum going. Track list wise, I feel like this or “Only cry in the rain” could have been album openers with the other following it, and it would make some much sense.

You know what also makes sense? Ryan Jhun is all over this album. No wonder I love it so much. Full list of everyone who worked on Only cry in the rain, here. I like saving these posts on Reddit, then I look back at it after I’ve listened to the album. Not because of spoilers, mostly because if I don’t like the album, then I don’t really care who worked on it, lmao. I’m not wasting time reading through it.

“Back in town” feels like a Red Velvet song. I saw someone say in the comments of that post “No More” sounds like a RV song. We’ll come back to that, but I totally get RV vibes throughout this album in the best way.

This song is sooooo damn catchy. Heard it once, and it was stuck in my head for hours. Love how fun and potential innuendo going on. The purr part Chuu does in this song, the lyrics, the random man singing, “i wanna, she wanna, he wanna” and Chuu coming in with “kiss a kitty” is S tier.

Had to include this art I saw on Twitter:

Chuu is giving us IU on the beginning of this track. I love the official audio backgrounds on these songs. YouTube is so weird with the search now, I just pull what I find first that ties back to the artist(s).

“Je t’aime” slows things down a bit. Much less high energy than “Kiss a kitty” but still something you can dance to. Love it. On to the last song on the album.

I do hear the RV here in “No More”. When I first read that comment saying it, I couldn’t remember what “No More” sounded like other than that I liked it because I had “Kiss a kitty” stuck in my head, lmao. But in the chorus you can hear it big time.

I’m not sure what my favorite song is from Only cry in the rain at the moment. I’ll be listening to it a ton over the next couple of weeks for sure. I ordered a copy of the album as well. One of the easiest add to my favorite Kpop albums released in 2025 list.

I’m curious what y’all thought of Only cry in the rain. Have you decided on a fave song yet? Tell me all your thoughts below. Next up I think it Kai and Wait On Me. Don’t forget to follow me on Twitter, Bluesky, Instagram, & Threads. See y’all next post!

Take care,

Ash