LOONA: Kpop girl group was exhausted, members turned away, denounced to their faces

LOONA is a Korean girl group that has made a big splash, especially in the American market, something that few other groups can do. However, not long after they became famous, the members broke up and accused the management company of exploiting their labor.

LOONA is a 12-member girl group formed by Blockberry Creative - a subsidiary of Polaris Entertainment. LOONA received attention even before debut. LOONA is considered one of the promising groups of the Gen 3 K-Pop generation. Accordingly, on October 2, 2016, the management company Blockberry Creative announced that it would launch the first girl group.

This launch project received a "huge" investment and lasted 18 months. Starting from October 2016, each member will be revealed one by one. Each member will release a single containing a solo song and one (or more) collaboration songs with the other members. Through this project, 12 girls will "debut" as a 12-member group. They are HeeJin, HyunJin, HaSeul, YeoJin, ViVi, Kim Lip, Jin Soul, Choerry, Yves, Chuu, GoWon, Olivia Hye. On August 7, 2018, the group released the single "Favorite" with a 12-member lineup to prepare for their debut. And LOONA officially debuted on August 20, 2018 with the second single "Hi High".

In 2022, group LOONA kicks off a world tour called LOONA 2022: [LOONA THE WORLD] on July 31. In one month, LOONA performed 14 shows in 13 cities and even performed at 2022 KCON LA in mid-August. Immediately after the US tour, LOONA departed for Europe and performed in Southeast Asia. in October.

Since the tour has not yet taken place, LOONA's company, BlockBerry Creative, has continuously angered the public. From Chuu's mysterious absence to the members falling ill one after another, fans criticized the company for exploiting and treating LOONA poorly.

Before the tour began, LOONA's management company, BlockBerry Creative, announced that Chuu was absent from all related schedules. At that time, BlockBerry Creative said: "Due to the pre-determined schedule from now until the end of the year, Chuu cannot participate in LOONA 1st WORLD TOUR [LOONA THE WORLD]. We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience."

The absence of Chuu - the most famous member of the group - caused controversy. The public believes that the reason BlockBerry Creative gave to explain Chuu's absence is unsatisfactory. The audience suspected that the female singer was being mistreated by her management company, especially when Korean media reported Chuu suing BlockBerry Creative.

On November 25, 2022, Blockberry Creative suddenly announced that member Chuu was removed from the LOONA group on the grounds that the female idol "abused her power" and "insulted the staff". The group will continue to work with 11 people.

This move of the company is entangled in great controversy. The audience believes that the company lacks transparency and deliberately uses excuses to bring down and tarnish the female idol's image. Some people in the industry also spoke up to defend Chuu, evaluating her as a female idol who always treats everyone well.

On the afternoon of November 28, 2022, jTBC News exclusively reported that 9 LOONA members (except Vivi and Hyunjin) also requested to terminate the contract with management company Blockberry Creative. It is reported that the 9 members made this decision after realizing that the relationship of mutual trust had collapsed and it was difficult to continue supporting each other at work.

When asked, Blockberry Creative company denied this information. However, jTBC said that it seems that Blockberry Creative always shows similar points (denying rumors) in official responses to artists, such as when Chuu established his own company, Blockberry also responded negatively. There were few differences, but in the end this member was "kicked out" from the group.

In January 2023, the court ruled to terminate the exclusive contracts that four members of girl group LOONA - including Heejin, Kim Lip, Jinsoul and Choerry - signed with the management company Blockberry Creative. The court also dismissed the lawsuit of 5 other members - Haseul, Yeojin, Yves, Olivia Hye and Go Won. The remaining two members, Vivi and Hyunjin, did not sue. All of these lawsuits are related to the unfairness of the contract terms that the company signed with LOONA group members.

After this ruling, the LOONA team will only have 7 members under the management of Blockberry Creative, compared to the 12-member lineup at debut. The first member to leave the group last November was Chuu, after this female singer won the lawsuit in March 2022, with the same content as the 4 recent members. It is worth mentioning that Chuu's case is the first time in K-pop history that a company ended its relationship with an artist and accused them of "abuse of power with company employees".

The scandals between the girl group LOONA and the company Blockberry Creative started happening in December 2021, when the fashion staff (stylists) and a choreographer of the LOONA group announced they had not been paid for a year. . These employees were later fired by the company. Blockberry Creative was also accused of financial unfairness, as the revenue between the company and the artist is divided at a ratio of 70:30, while the expenses of both parties are equivalent (50:50).

Kim Lip (LOONA): Dreamed of becoming an idol since childhood, danced to lose weight but unexpectedly became a passion T.P16:57:06 24/09/2024Kim Lip, whose real name is Kim Jung-eun, was born on February 10, 1999 in Cheongju, North Chungcheong Province, South Korea. She is a South Korean singer and dancer.