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LOONA (Hangul: 이달의 소녀, Idalui Sonyeo), stylized as LOOΠΔ, is a South Korean girl group created by BlockBerryCreative. The group is composed of 12 members: HeeJin, HyunJin, HaSeul, YeoJin, ViVi, Kim Lip, JinSoul, Choerry, Yves, Chuu, Go Won, and Olivia Hye; and three sub-units: LOOΠΔ 1/3, ODD EYE CIRCLE, and yyxy.

From October 2016 until June 2018, each member of the group was revealed one by one, along with a single album and a music video for the title track. The complete group debuted on August 19, 2018 at their concert LOONAbirth with the release of [+ +] on August 20, 2018.

Name

The group’s Korean name is 이달의 소녀, romanized as Idalui Sonyeo, from the Sino-Korean root meaning "Girl of the Month". Because their name consists of Chinese roots, the group’s name is similar in Chinese and Japanese: the group’s name in Japanese is pronounced as Kongetsu no Shōjo (Japanese: 今月の少女), and in Mandarin Chinese as Běnyuè Shàonǚ (Chinese: 本月少女). The Korean name 이달의 소녀 is often unofficially shortened to 이달소 (Idal So).

The group is also known as LOONA, often stylized as LOOΠΔ, which is their official English and international name. This name is created from a rearrangement of the first constants of the hangul that spells out their name. In other words, ㅇㄷㅇㅅㄴ is rearranged to ㄴㅇㅇㄷㅅ, which then becomes LOOΠΔ. We also see this arranging in each introductions to LOONA videos.

Unlike K-pop groups such as Girls’ Generation (SNSD) or Cosmic Girls (WJSN), LOONA is never referred to by an acronym created by romanizing their hangul name; this unused acronym would be IDSN.

History

2014–2016: Creation

Before the selection of the members, LOONA’s concept was first devised by their former A&R Director, Jaden Jeong. Prior to being introduced to Polaris Entertainment, BlockBerryCreative’s parent company, Jaden Jeong already had the “Girl of the Month” Project planned. Despite already working with numerous other agencies, he waited for a company that had the will to properly bring the project “into reality”. His goal with LOONA’s project was not just to have a complete group, but also to have an identity and fandom.[1] In 2014, plans were made to establish a new agency consisting of a “dream team” in the industry. This agency would later become BlockBerryCreative in early 2016.[2]

In order to select the members of LOONA, trainees were split into groups based on skill level.[3] When the time came to choose a new member, each group would send a representative to compete for the spot. These representatives would be judged on group evaluations, including singing and a choreography test.[4] Additionally, the trainees’ character and personality were also considered.[2] After each competition, the girls were ranked. The first-ranked girl would become a member while the second- and third-ranked could choose different teams to join.[3]

In an interview with the CEO of Polaris Entertainment, released on August 24, 2018, it was revealed that the entire pre-debut project cost around $10,000,000. Due to interest from large organizations, the project was able to receive a large amount of money through sponsors from Korea, Japan, and the United States.[2]

2016: Pre-debut

On September 26, 2016, the first teaser for member HeeJin was released across multiple social media platforms including YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. Teasers for HeeJin were released until October 5, when the music video for “ViViD” was released.

On October 28, the second member, HyunJin, was revealed in a similar manner. Teasers featuring solely HyunJin were released for her song “Around You”, along with additional images including both HeeJin and HyunJin for their duet titled “I’ll Be There”. The solo album HyunJin, which included both songs, was released on November 17.

On December 8, more than a month later, member HaSeul continued the pattern by having teasers of her and her two fellow members. Her solo album, HaSeul, was released on December 15, including her solo “Let Me In” and a Christmas-themed trio named “The Carol”.

2017: Pre-debut, LOONA 1/3, and ODD EYE CIRCLE

On January 4, YeoJin was revealed as the fourth member. Her solo album, YeoJin, was released on January 16, including her solo song “Kiss Later”, HeeJin and HyunJin’s duet “My Sunday”, and HaSeul and YeoJin’s duet “My Melody”. “YeoJin” was the only solo album released to include more than two songs.

On February 5, it was announced LOONA would have a new project. The project would be a sub-unit called LOONA 1/3 composed of three current members (HeeJin, HyunJin, HaSeul, or YeoJin) and one unrevealed member. On February 12, ViVi was revealed to be the new member joining the unit. On February 14 (Valentine’s Day), a 1:19 Instagram-styled teaser for LOONA 1/3’s “Valentine Girl” was released. It revealed that HeeJin, HyunJin, and HaSeul would be the three other members of the unit. “Valentine Girl”’s Korean name, “3월을 기다려”, means “wait for March” in English, hinting at LOONA 1/3’s upcoming debut in March. On February 28, the first teaser for their debut was released.

On March 10, the album preview for their mini-album Love & Live was released. On March 13, the album was released with a music video for the title track, “Love & Live”. LOONA’s first televised music show promotions, featuring “Love & Live”, were held exclusively on SBS’s Inkigayo.

On April 5, ViVi was confirmed as the “April Girl”. On April 16, it was announced that when the music video for “Everyday I Love You (feat. HaSeul)” reached 300K views on YouTube, the music video for "Everyday I Need You” featuring then-unrevealed member JinSoul would be released. One day later, on April 17, her single, ViVi, was released, including “Everyday I Love You (feat. HaSeul)” and “Everyday I Need You (feat. JinSoul)”. On April 23, LOONA 1/3’s repackaged mini-album, Love & Evil, was revealed with teasers of the members and a teaser for the title track “Sonatine”. Love & Evil was released on April 27, and promoted with two performances of “Sonatine” on Inkigayo.

In the music video description for “Sonatine”, LOONA’s storyline, titled the LOOΠΔVERSE, was introduced. The description also revealed that “The girls of May, June, and July will be of another unit.”

On May 13, the music video for “Everyday I Need You” was finally released featuring a one-second clip of unrevealed member JinSoul.

On May 15, Kim Lip was revealed as the sixth member. Her single Kim Lip was released on May 23, with her solos “Eclipse” and “Twilight”. The music video for “Eclipse” was released the same day.

On June 13, JinSoul was revealed as the seventh member. On June 20, LOONA’s web drama Woomanna was announced. On June 26, JinSoul’s single JinSoul was released, including her solo “Singing in the Rain” and a duet with Kim Lip, “Love Letter”. The music video for “Singing in the Rain” was released the same day.

On July 7, LOONA 1/3’s “Rain 51Db” music video was released. On July 10, a special music video for JinSoul’s “Singing in the Rain” was released featuring member HeeJin exclusively on V Live.

On July 12, Choerry was revealed as the eighth member. On July 28, Choerry was released, featuring Choerry’s solo, “Love Cherry Motion”, and a duet titled “Puzzle” with fellow member JinSoul.

On August 30, BlockBerryCreative revealed a teaser for the second sub-unit of LOONA, ODD EYE CIRCLE, which contains members Kim Lip, JinSoul, and Choerry. On September 19, the preview teaser for the lead single of an album by ODD EYE CIRCLE was released. The day after, September 20, the album title was revealed in a preview as Mix & Match. The album was released on September 21, along with a music video for the title track, “Girl Front”. The music video description for “Girl Front” revealed that LOONA would hold a concert once all three units debuted. During that time, members HeeJin, HyunJin, and HaSeul were announced to participate in the survival show MIXNINE.

On October 18, it was announced that a repackage album titled Max & Match would be released. On October 23, the promised “LOONATIC (English Version)” was released across international platforms. On October 31, “Max & Match” was released, along with a music video for the title track, “Sweet Crazy Love”.

On November 14, Yves was revealed as the ninth member. Different from the previous teasers of other members, Yves’s teaser featured a reversed link, “dlrowehtanool.com” instead of the normal “loonatheworld.com”. The link would lead to a website that played a video of a mobius strip rotating LOONA’s music video logo. The video later changed to a spinning DNA helix titled “Eden” during one of the upcoming member’s reveals. This new video would tease the concept of the third sub-unit. November 28, Yves was released with her solos ”new” and “D-1”.

On December 13, digital single ”The Carol 2.0” was released, featuring ViVi, Choerry, and Yves under the transverse unit ViRryVes (pronounced as “believe”).

On December 14, Chuu was revealed as the tenth member. On December 28, Chuu was released, including her solo ”Heart Attack” and Yves and Chuu’s duet ”Girl's Talk”. Chuu’s ”Heart Attack” quickly gained attention from many news outlets for its inclusion of LGBT themes in its music video. These themes were later stated to have been unintentional.[5]

2018: Pre-debut, yyxy, fan club name, debut

On January 15, Go Won was revealed as the eleventh member. On January 30, Go Won was released, including her solo “One & Only” and Chuu and Go Won’s duet “See Saw”, featuring Kim Lip.

On March 17, Olivia Hye was revealed as the twelfth and final member. On March 30, Olivia Hye was released, including her solo “Egoist”, featuring JinSoul, and Olivia Hye’s duet with Go Won, “Rosy”, featuring HeeJin.

On April 26, BlockBerryCreative revealed a teaser for the third and final sub-unit of LOONA, yyxy, which contains the last four members Yves, Chuu, Go Won, and Olivia Hye.

On May 4, it was announced LOONA would be partnering with Live Nation to help manage their live events.[6] On May 10, and the following days, teasers for beauty&thebeat were released including group and individual photos, and images that revealed each track. The teaser for “love4eva” revealed that the Canadian musician Grimes would be featured in the track. On May 30, the album was released along with a music video for the title track, “love4eva”.

On June 2, yyxy held their debut stage at LOONA Premier Greeting: Line & Up, performing “love4eva” and “frozen”. On June 10, the teaser titled “go into Orbit” was released, announcing LOONA would hold their debut concert on August 19, 2018. On June 15, recruitment for LOONA’s first official fan club opened. It was also announced that the official fan club name would be revealed on July 6. A day later on June 16, it was announced that LOONA Cinema Theory: Up & Line would be held again, but in Busan, South Korea.

On July 6, the day of the fan club name announcement, a contest was held. The winner would be chosen from a pool of people who could correctly guess the fan club name. They would receive all 12 signed solo albums. Due to the contest, the reveal was postponed to July 10. On July 7, Cinema Theory was held in Busan. The attendees were joined by HeeJin, HyunJin, and ViVi. On July 10, the fan club name, “Orbit”, was announced through a video. On July 18, the debut concert was revealed to be named LOONAbirth. On July 28, the teaser video “+ +” was released. On July 30, it was announced that the lead single “favOriTe” would be released on August 7.

On August 1, the teaser for “favOriTe” was released. On August 7, the music video for “favOriTe” was released. From August 8 until August 14, yearbook-like teaser photos titled “+ +” were released every 12 hours for each of the members. On August 14, it was formally announced that [+ +] would be LOONA’s debut mini-album. On August 16, the teaser for the title track “Hi High“ was released. On August 19, they held their debut concert LOONAbirth and performed the songs from [+ +] for the first time. At 4:00 pm (KST), the next day, they held their debut showcase at Blue Square Hall. An hour later, the album was released, along with the music video for “Hi High”. On August 23, LOONA held their debut stage at M Countdown with a shortened version of “favOriTe” followed by “Hi High”.

On September 3, it was announced a “Hi High (Original version)” Choreography MV would be released on September 5 midnight (KST) to celebrate 15 million views for “Hi High”.

On October 13, LOONA concluded promotions for [+ +] with a goodbye stage on SBS Inkigayo. The next day on October 14, a reversed teaser for [X X] was released. That same day, it was announced more copies of [+ +] would be printed due to all 50,000 first-press copies being sold.[7] On October 16, a teaser was released for LOONA Studio, an event that would take place from November 23–25 at Hongdae MUV Hall in Seoul.

2019: First comeback, “365”

On January 1, a teaser titled “X1X” was released, teasing their next comeback. Two days later, it was announced the group would hold a concert, LOONAVERSE Concert, on February 16–17 to coincide with the release of their new album, [X X]. As hinted at the end of the “X1X” teaser with four numbers (1, 11, 21, 31), LOONA released teasers on the 11th, 21st, and 31 January.

On February 16 and 17, LOONA held their concert, LOONAVERSE Concert. On February 19, the music video for “Butterfly” was released, coinciding with the release of [X X]. The [X X] promotional period lasted six weeks.

On February 19, it was revealed that all four versions of the album had sold out entirely and were under additional printing; release for the Normal A versions of the album were postponed to February 21, and the Normal B and Limited A & B versions of the album were postponed to February 26.[8]

On February 25, Orbits broke the previous record for the number of pre-votes for The Show by gathering a total of 3,677,262 votes.[9] It was also revealed that the Normal B and Limited A & B versions would be postponed again to March 6,[10] but a later update after consulting with the new distributor, Kakao M, revealed that Limited A & B would stop production entirely.[11]

Kakao M underestimated album sales, causing the albums to be sold out very quickly. They also uploaded the album to a completely new Spotify account, which made it difficult for fans to find the album. This troubled release process was criticized by fans as “sabotaging” LOONA’s comeback.

A teaser titled “#” was released on LOONA’s official YouTube channel on March 31,[12] following the precedent set by the X X teasers. Unlike the [X X] teaser cycle, however, the second [#] teaser was not released for another eight months.

On November 1, Jaden Jeong, who had since left the LOONA project, confirmed that the release of LOONA the Ballad was cancelled, but a Japanese debut was still possible.[13]

On November 19, it was announced that LOONA would have a fan meeting, LOOΠΔ Premier Greeting: Meet & Up, on December 14 at YES24 Live Hall. On December 9, it was announced that the lead single for [#], “365”, would be released on December 13.

On December 12, the teaser for “365” was released.[14] On December 13, “365” was released on all streaming platforms. It charted at #1 on iTunes’s Top Songs chart and Billboard’s World Digital Song Sales chart. A day later, LOONA held their fan meeting, LOONA Premier Greeting: Meet & Up, and performed “365” for the first time. During Meet & Up, a teaser played as a preview for their next comeback. After the fan-meet, the teaser released for the public on YouTube and titled “#1”.

2020: Second comeback and first win

In January 2020, CJ E&M began reissuing LOONA’s pre-debut albums and older releases, specifically HyunJin version A, YeoJin version A, ViVi version A, Kim Lip version B, and JinSoul version A.

These reissues were cut short, however, when Danal Entertainment took over the rights to the releases, resulting in the albums being pulled from shelves in less than a week after release.

A few weeks later, in mid-February, Danal Entertainment began reissuing the albums as well, re-releasing all versions of pre-debut albums except limited versions of subunit albums. This resulted in an influx of sales, with many of the albums going from over a thousand to over ten thousand albums sold in less than a month.

On January 9, 2020, a teaser titled “#2” was released on LOONA’s YouTube channel,[15] followed by “#3” on January 22.[16] A music video teaser for the upcoming title track was released on February 3.[17]

LOONA released their second mini-album, [#], on February 20, 2020, featuring the title track “So What”. Member and leader HaSeul was unable to participate in promotions or two of the songs featured on the album due to mental health concerns.

LOONA’s official Japanese fan club, Orbit Japan, was introduced on February 24 through LOONA’s fan cafe.[18] A video teaser for Orbit Japan was released on YouTube on March 10.[19] Initial membership registration ran from March 12 to May 23.

On March 12, during the final week of [#] promotions, LOONA earned their first ever music show win on Mnet’s M Countdown.[20] This achievement came 540 days after LOONA’s debut and one day before the three-year anniversary of LOONA 1/3’s debut in 2017.

On June 16, BlockBerryCreative announced preorders for LOONA’s official light stick on their fan cafe.[21]

Awards and Nominations

Artistry

Members

Member Animal Color Month Location Superpower* Fruit Position*
HeeJin (희진) Rabbit Bright Pink October Paris
HyunJin (현진) Cat Yellow November Tokyo
HaSeul (하슬) White Bird Green December Iceland Leader (LOONA) (LOONA 1/3)
YeoJin (여진) Frog Orange January Taiwan Maknae
ViVi (비비) Deer Light Pink[22] April Busan
Kim Lip (김립) Owl Red May Time Travel (Speed) Leader (ODD EYE CIRCLE)
JinSoul (진솔) Blue Betta Blue (main)
Black (sub)
June Space Travel (Teleportation)
Choerry (최리) Fruit Bat Purple (main)
White (sub)
July Dimensional Travel (through mirrors) Cherry
Yves (이브) Swan Burgundy November Apple Leader (yyxy)
Chuu (츄) Penguin Peach December Strawberry
Go Won (고원) Emperor Butterfly Eden Green January Pineapple
Olivia Hye (올리비아 혜) Wolf Silver[23] (main)
Black[24] (sub)
March Blood Plum
*The exact nature of the members’ “superpowers” is unconfirmed.
**Beside the designated leaders, LOONA’s members do not have fixed positions.[25]

Sub-units

Unit Name Concept Members
LOOΠΔ 1/3 (이달의 소녀 1/3) Innocent HeeJin, HyunJin, HaSeul, ViVi
ODD EYE CIRCLE (이달의 소녀 오드아이써클) Girl Crush Kim Lip, JinSoul, Choerry
yyxy (이달의 소녀 yyxy) Youth Yves, Chuu, Go Won, Olivia Hye

YeoJin is the only member not part of a sub-unit, but instead a “solo sub-unit”. It has been stated previously that she represents the slash in LOONA 1/3,[26][27] although this may have changed since.

Discography

Planned albums

  • LOONA the Ballad (cancelled)
  • Japanese Debut Album (planned for Summer 2019, delayed)

Korean

Mini albums

Repackage albums

Single albums

Digital singles

Other

English

Digital Singles

Songs

Events

Tours

World tours

United States tours

Concerts

Other

Event clips/videos on YouTube

2016
2017
2018
2023

Filmography

Endorsements

  • InnisFree (LOONA 1/3 only) (2017)
  • Hanyul (HeeJin only) (2017)
  • Law of Creation (HeeJin through Kim Lip only) (2017)
  • Avajar (HeeJin (model) and HyunJin only) (2018)
  • MY LIVE (YeoJin only) (2018)
  • LG Q7/8 (HeeJin only) (2018)
  • Nature Republic (2018)
  • Lotte Department Store Mobile Application (2018)
  • Snack World Versus (HeeJin, ViVi, Kim Lip, Choerry only) (2018)
  • Lotte Hi-Mart (HeeJin only) (2019)
  • Skoolooks (2019)
  • Vegan Tiger X Innocean 2020fw: Super Animal Fur (Yves only) (2020)
  • Nivea Cleansing Water (HeeJin only) (2020)

Trivia

  • The first five members traveled across the world for their solo and album promotions.
    • The locations included Paris, Tokyo, Iceland, London, Taiwan, Hong Kong, New Zealand, and Prague.
  • Revealed through social media, the last four spots in LOONA were still being chosen from a pool of 50 trainees under the name of “LOOΠΔTIOΠ”.[28] Later disclosed in Kim Lip’s CeCi China interview, the remaining four members were selected and confirmed in December 2017.
  • Part of LOONA’s story is how the group “lives” in a universe titled the LOOΠΔVERSE.
  • On July 10, 2018, LOONA’s fan club name was revealed to be 오빛 (Orbit).[29]
  • Songs from the “Girl of the Month” project were filtered through ~1000 songs per album.[2]

Official links

See also

Check out the gallery of LOONA !

References

  1. 10asia. “TEN Interview: Jaden Jeong” (ENG). 2018.07.06.
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 cΔsker (@caskerbox) “(ENG) Translation Thread: Interview with Lee Jong Myung, CEO of Polaris Ent” Twitter. 2018.08.23
  3. 3.0 3.1 Daebak Jjang. “How LOONA Members Are Selected” (archive of deleted Instagram post). YouTube. 2017.11.28. Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name ":0" defined multiple times with different content
  4. loonatheworld. “LOONA TV #40”. YouTube. 2016.12.16.
  5. MTV News staff. “Stan LOONA: How The K-pop Rookies Are Striving To Become The ‘Ultimate Girl Group’”. MTV News. 2019.04.03.
  6. NAVER. “이달의 소녀, 마돈나 공연기획사와 손잡고 글로벌 그룹 도약”. 2018.05.04.
  7. jennywill. “LOONA sells out all 50,000 first-press copies of debut album”. allkpop. 2018.10.14
  8. cΔsker (@caskerbox). “X X Album Release Delay” Twitter. 2019.02.25.
  9. cΔsker (@caskerbox). “Voting is over!💪💪💪 LOONA finished first with 3,682,054 total votes.” Twitter. 2019.02.25.
  10. @crushonchuu. “IS THIS FR?!” Twitter. 2019.02.24.
  11. cΔsker (@caskerbox). “OP spoke w/ Kakao M / Limited A/B will now no longer be produced, indefinitely. Normal A/B they will re-input order tomorrow.” Twitter. 2019.02.25.
  12. loonatheworld “(Teaser) 이달의 소녀 (LOONA) ‘#’” YouTube. 2019.03.31
  13. Bell, Crystal. “Jaden Jeong made you stan LOONA, and now he’ll do the same with OnlyOneOf.” MTV News. 2019.11.01.
  14. loonatheworld “(Teaser) 이달의 소녀 (LOONA) ‘365’” YouTube. 2019.12.12
  15. loonatheworld “(Teaser) 이달의 소녀 (LOONA) ‘#2’” YouTube. 2020.01.09
  16. loonatheworld “(Teaser) 이달의 소녀 (LOONA) ‘#3’” YouTube. 2020.01.22
  17. loonatheworld “(Teaser) 이달의 소녀 (LOONA) ‘So What’” YouTube. 2020.02.03
  18. loonatheworld “이달의 소녀 JAPAN OFFICIAL FANCLUB 사이트 오픈 안내 (LOONA Japan Official Fan Club Site Opening Notice)” Daum Cafe. 2020.02.24
  19. loonatheworld “(TEASER) LOONA Orbit Japan” YouTube. 2020.03.10
  20. M2 “‘So What’ (LOONA FanCam No.1 Encore)” YouTube. 2020.03.12
  21. loonatheworld “이달의 소녀 (LOONA) OFFICIAL LIGHT STICK 예약 판매 안내 (LOONA Official Light Stick Pre-Order)” Daum Cafe. 2020.06.16
  22. Daebak Jjang. “Show Champion Behind EP.106 Loona Cut” @ 5:02. YouTube. 2018.09.07.
  23. Fact iN Star. “LOONA yyxy” @ 26:04. YouTube. 2018.10.12.
  24. K-Pop Idolchart “Invited seat: LOONA pt1” @3:11. YouTube. 2020.03.18
  25. arirang K-pop. “ASC's Chuseok special with LOONA.” @ 22:18. YouTube. 2018.09.24.
  26. Blockberry Creative. "#오드아이써클 #출격 #D-1 #미공개컷 #단독공개" Naver. 2017.09.20.
  27. loonatheworld. "LOONA TV #200" @ 0:15. YouTube. 2017.10.27.
  28. loonatheworld. "Singing in the Rain" YouTube. 2017.06.26
  29. loonatheworld. "오빛 (Orbit)" Twitter. 2018.07.10

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