Loona / Girl of the Month

First row: YeoJin, Olivia Hye, Go Won, ViVi
Second row: Yves, HeeJin, HyunJin, HaSeul
Third row: Kim Lip, JinSoul, Choerry, Chuu

About

Loona, also known as Girl of the Month and stylized as LOOΠΔ, is a South Korean K-pop girl group formed in 2016 by Blockberry Creative. The group garnered notoriety for what Blockberry Creative called an 18-month pre-debut project, where members would be slowly introduced every month until the project would finish. Comprised of 12 members, the group also consists of 3 sub-units: Loona 1/3, Loona Odd Eye Circle, and Loona yyxy. They would eventually make their debut as a full group in August 2018 with their mini-album + +. The band drew attention after their host label BBC ousted Chuu from the band, while being accused of abuse themselves.

History

Pre-Debut

Announced as South Korean entertainment company Blockberry Creative's first girl group, the 18 month pre-debut project was announced on October 2, 2016, with its first member, Jeon "HeeJin" Hee-jin, being introduced 3 days later on October 5, with the release of her first single album. This would be followed up by the introduction of a new member every month, hence their alternative and translated name "Girl of the Month", with single albums from Kim "HyunJin" Hyun-jin (music video shown below, left), Jo "HaSeul" Ha-seul, and Im "YeoJin" Yeo-jin.^[1] On March 13, 2017, Loona's first sub-unit, Loona 1/3, debuted with their first EP Love & Live, with the group comprised of 3 previously revealed members, HeeJin, HyunJin, and HaSeul, and new member Wong "ViVi" Gaahei and the title track (music video shown below, right) being released as the lead single from the EP. Love & Live would later be rereleased as Love & Evil one month later.^[2]

On April 17, 2017, ViVi was officially introduced with the release of her single album (music video shown below, left),^[3] followed by single albums from Kim "Kim Lip"Jung-eun, Jung "JinSoul" Jin-soul, and Choi "Choerry" Ye-rim every month after that. On September 21, the second sub-unit under Loona, Loona Odd Eye Circle, debuted with their EP Mix & Match, with the group comprised of the latter three members previously revealed during this period, Kim Lip, JinSoul and Choerry. The track "Girl Front" (music video shown below, right) would be released as the lead single from the EP, with the EP being rereleased as Max & Match one month later.^[4]

On November 28, 2017, Ha "Yves" Soo-young was introduced as the next member with her single album (music video shown below, left) ^[5] followed by Kim "Chuu" Ji-woo, and Park "Go Won" Chae-won, before finally ending with Son "Olivia Hye" Hye-joo on March 30, 2018. On May 30, Loona's third sub-unit, Loona yyxy, debuted with the EP Beauty & the Beat, with the group comprising of all 4 previously revealed members during this period. The lead single, "love4eva" featuring Canadian experimental pop singer and musician Grimes, was released the same day (music video shown below, right). ^[6]

Debut

On August 7, 2018, the group would release the track "favOriTe" (music video shown below, left) ^[7] as the lead single off of their debut EP + +, released on August 20. The single marks their first as a complete group and their first after the pre-debut project. "favOriTe" would be later be followed up the release of "Hi High" as the next single from the EP, released the same day as the EP. (music video shown below, right) ^[8]

Online Relevance

Loona's official Twitter account has over 900,000 followers as of November 2022. ^[9] Their Instagram page has over 2.6 million followers. ^[10] Their YouTube channel has over 2.2 million followers. ^[11]

Controversies

Chuu's Removal From LOONA

On November 25th, Twitter^[12] account @allkpop posted a tweet announcing the LOONA's label Blockberry Creative has "kicked" singer Chuu from the band, gathering over 20,000 likes in over a week (seen below). The label cites instances of Chuu "abusing" BBC staff as a reason for her being ousted from the group.

Also on November 25th, Twitter^[13] account @sirenyves posted a thread chronicling LOONA's label BBC's history of withholding wages from and mistreating LOONA members. The first post in the thread gathered over 120,000 likes in over a week (seen below).

The thread outlined BBC's past history of corruption and underpaying their staff, as well as Chuu's Lawsuit against the BBC, due to which she received retaliatory mistreatment from the label.

On November 28th, K-Pop news Twitter account @soompi posted a tweet^[14] announcing that nine members of the band LOONA are filing injunctions to have their contracts with their host label suspended. The post gathered over 40,000 likes in a day (seen below)

The news also garnered reactions from fans, with Twitter^{[15] [16]} users @luvihyeju and @TWICEJANITOR posting viral memes commenting on the disbandment, gathering over 2,000 (seen below, left) and 9,000 (seen below, right) likes each.

Related Memes

Stan Loona

Stan Loona is a catchphrase used to by and to describe fans of the all-girl, 12-member K-Pop musical group Loona, using the slang term stan, meaning fan or obsessive.

Trojan Horse Chuu

Trojan Horse Chuu refers to a series of photoshopped images that include a red arrow pointing at a seemingly random area with a circled picture of Chuu from K-pop girl group LOONA in it, mimicking YouTube clickbait thumbnails.

Search Interest

External References