When BABYMONSTER debuted in 2024, the seven-member group followed in the “girl crush” footsteps of YG Entertainment sunbaenims 2NE1 and BLACKPINK. But as a fifth-generation squad, Ruka, Pharita, Asa, Ahyeon, Rami, Rora and Chiquita have had to find their own path to K-pop success. By their third mini album CHOOM, a four-track effort themed around the Korean word for “dance”, the young artists had learned how to lean into the raw power of their vocals. Because of this, CHOOM’s most expressive moments come not in the title track’s percussive chants, but in the album’s other songs. On the chorus of the high-energy pop track “I LIKE IT”, the members’ vocals soar into the stratosphere as they ask a crush to take a chance on them. On the melodic R&B album ender “LOCKED IN”, BABYMONSTER slow things down to croon about commitment to a relationship. While member Rami was on a long-term health-related hiatus for CHOOM, the 18-year-old vocalist wasn’t forgotten on the album. “Yeah, I know we’re seven, but we ate,” Asa and Ahyeon both rap on the title track’s opening verse, reasserting the group’s debut roster and their girl-crush messaging with one line.