The K-pop industry has shown the west again and again how astonishing the genre’s growth is plus how much Western fans want more of these groups. Groups like BTS, Twice, NewJeans, or even the song ‘Gangnam Style’ by Psy may come to mind though many groups may go unnoticed if they aren’t from huge companies such as HYBE, the company BTS and NewJeans are under.
LOONA is a group formerly under Blockberry Creative, is an example of creative visionaries who haven’t received enough recognition when they were all together as twelve members. The group consists of Heejin, Hyunjin, Haseul, Yeojin, Vivi, Kim Lip, Jinsoul, Choerry, Yves, Chuu, Gowon, and Hyeju; these girls all together were all part of the art LOONA had to offer. Their pre-debut process was deeply unique as they were revealed in chronological order with a solo EP to showcase their singing and dancing abilities as well as to cement them as a member before debuting as twelve.
Additionally, they were also in subunits in this process, LOONA ⅓ had the first 3 members plus Vivi (Yeojin represents the / despite not being in the unit itself), the next 3 are in Odd Eye Circle, and the last four in yyxy.
Their popularity was already high by the time yyxy fully debuted as they had Grimes on ‘Love4Eva’ (their main track) and when their widely anticipated debut ‘[+ +]’ album was released with title track ‘Hi High’. What skyrocketed them to western recognition was their first comeback with ‘Butterfly’ on their ‘[x x]’ album, most notably seen in Kcon 2019 in Los Angeles, California. They had more comebacks after that with their albums [#], 12:00, &, and Flip That amidst building up the LOONAVERSE which is built off of their songs, music videos, and more.
When things were looking great for LOONA after ‘Flip That’, it came crumbling down when the most popular and recognizable member Chuu was kicked out on November 25th, 2022, leaving fans and outsiders alike wondering “How could this happen?”.
Blockberry Creative had alleged Chuu of “violent language” and “misuse of power” but these allegations were quickly diminished as several entertainment workers had come out in support of her. Her members supported her as well, one by one they had put in requests to suspend their contracts which showed that the company were the ones who were in the wrong.
Alongside falsely accusing Chuu of horrible things, they had been mistreating them ever since they joined the company with poor management, debt bondage of the members, and even not letting them be outside for more than 20 minutes a day. As damage control, BlockBerry Creative had tried to release a new album without Chuu and it caused plenty of outrage.
LOONA’s fans (known as ‘Orbits’) had taken steps to boycott the company to stop them from gaining profit or recognition online, they had stopped listening to songs on music platforms, interacting with official LOONA accounts on social media, and purchasing albums. Orbits had unionized together to speak out against the exploitation of their idols, spreading the word online through hashtags such as #FreeLOONA and infographics on how to properly boycott.
It was silence from the members themselves until they had all properly terminated their contracts and celebrated on their Instagram stories to which Orbits had them relieved to know they were free from the company. Though the boycott didn’t end there, even today fans are still not officially listening to their music or interacting with official LOONA accounts.
The events had led up to the members debuting once more but not as 12. Heejin, Haseul, Kim Lip, Jinsoul, and Choerry are now in ARTMS, Yves and Chuu are pursuing solo careers, and Hyunjin, Yeojin, Vivi, Gowon, and Hyeju were formerly together as Loossemble before not deciding to sign under their new company leaving fans wondering what’s next for them.
Wherever these girls decide to go with their careers, Orbits are here to support them for as long as possible, not wasting their immense dedication to them.
