LOONA

LOONA, officially stylized as LOOΠΔ, debuted in August 2018 as the first girl group from BlockBerry Creative, a subsidiary of Polaris Entertainment.

Before the girl group debuted as a 12-member team in 2018, it was best known for its unique "debut project." The group's name in Korean translates to "girl of the month," so from October 2016, one member was revealed each month with a solo song. The first four revealed members formed a subunit named LOONA 1/3 in 2017, the following three formed LOONA Odd Eye Circle the same year and the next four formed LOONA yyxy in 2018. The three units and a final member united to debut as one through a concert titled "LOONAbirth" in August 2018. LOONA went on to drop hits "Hi High" (2018), "Why Not?" (2020), "PTT (Paint The Town)" (2021) and more.

The group last released a special summer EP, "Flip That," in June 2022 and held two concerts in October 2022 titled "LOONATHEWORLD." Former member Chuu was removed from the group in November 2022, and the group postponed plans to release a new album in early 2023. The remaining members are also in legal battles against the agency.

Why was the album pushed?

BlockBerry Creative in December 2022 released a statement saying that an album would be "meaningless in the current situation where the concerns toward members have not been solved." The statement followed a series of controversies surrounding former member Chuu that started in early 2022.

Chuu filed for an injunction against BlockBerry Creative in December 2021, arguing that she was treated unfairly by the company and partially won the case in March 2022. The agency later claimed that Chuu has been verbally abusive and misused her fame against the staff. Chuu was officially kicked out of the group in November 2022 and has been pursuing her own activities since. She released a duet with Kim Yo-han from the boy band WEi

What about the other members?

The Seoul Northern District Court ruled in January the exclusive contracts that four members of Loona — Heejin, Kim Lip, JinSoul and Choerry — signed with their agency BlockBerry Creative be suspended. They signed with Modhaus, the agency behind rookie girl group tripleS. The court dismissed the case for five other members — Haseul, Yeojin, Yves, Olivia Hye and Go Won. The remaining two members — Vivi and Hyunjin — did not sue.