It is not uncommon for individual or several members of K-pop groups to be seen together or alone on television before their debut and to attract the attention of fans there. The members of the girl group Loona were also active as a group before their debut, but their pre-debut story is unique. From October 2016 to May 2018, over 20 months, a total of 17 albums were released, all of which are part of Loona's discography! And this despite the fact that the girl group only officially made their debut on August 19, 2018!
“Girl of the Month” Project
In March 2016, Polaris Entertainment, an agency that primarily signs actors and solo artists, launched a sublabel with the aim of creating a girl group. The sub-label “Blockberry Creative” started the “Girl of the Month” project in October. As part of the project, all members of the group were introduced individually. In this case, introducing meant that each of the girls released their own single album!
Just like the project, the future girl group is called “이달의 소녀” (“Idarui Sonyeo” = Korean for “girl of the month”). The English name “LOONA” is derived from the first Korean letter of each block of syllables: ㅇㄷㅇㅅㄴ. Arranged differently from ㄴㅇㅇㄷㅅ, the letters resemble “LOONA” in the Latin alphabet.
As the name of the project suggested, an album was released every month. By January 2017, fans got to know HeeJin, HyunJin, HaSeul and YeoJin. Each album is named after the respective member and contains two tracks. However, while the second track on Hee Jin's album is just an acoustic version of the title track, every other album, in addition to the title track, usually contains a collaboration with one or more other members who have already been introduced. Yeo Jin's album is the only one to contain three songs, including two duets!
HeeJin (October 2016)
Title song: ViViD
Collaboration: None
HyunJin (November 2016)
Title song: Around You
Collaboration: I’ll Be There (with Hee Jin)
HaSeul (December 2016)
Title song: Let Me In
Collaboration: The Carol (with Hee Jin and Hyun Jin)
YeoJin (January 2017)
Title song: Kiss Later
Collaborations: My Melody (with Haseul), My Sunday (Hee Jin and Hyun Jin)
In February there was a break and in March, instead of a new single album, the debut of Loona's first subunit “Loona ⅓” followed with an album called “Love & Live”!
The unit members include Hee Jin, Hyun Jin, Ha Seul and Vivi. The latter was still unknown to fans at the time. “Love & Live” was even followed by a repackage with “Love & Evil” in April.
In the same month Vivi also introduced herself with a single album. From May to July, further single albums were released monthly; this time by Kim Lip, JinSoul and Choerry.
Loona ⅓ - Love & Live (March 2017)
Title song: Love & Live
Loona ⅓ - Love & Evil (April 2017)
Title song: Sonatine
Vivi (April 2017)
Title song: Everyday I Love You (with Ha Seul)
Collaboration: Everyday I Need You (with Jin Soul)
Kim Lip (May 2017)
Title song: Eclipse
Collaboration: None
JinSoul (June 2017)
Title song: Singing in the Rain
Collaboration: Love Letter (with Kim Lip)
Choerry (July 2017)
Title song: Love Cherry Motion
Collaboration: Puzzle (with Jin Soul)
After four single albums there is another break. In September, a second subunit called "Loona Odd Eye Circle" will debut, consisting of Kim Lip, Jin Soul and Choerry. This time too, a repackage was released a month later.
Loona Odd Eye Circle - Mix & Match (September 2017)
Title song: Girl Front
Loona Odd Eye Circle - Max & Match (October 2017)
Title song: Sweet Crazy Love
In September, HeeJin, HyunJin and HaSeul also applied for the survival show “Mix Nine”. HeeJin and HyunJin passed the casting; HyunJin was eliminated in 18th place, while HeeJin even reached 4th place! She was actually supposed to make her debut in the project group, but the debut was canceled due to disagreements between the agencies involved.
The next single album was released in November and, as usual, three more followed by March. This time, however, what is out of line is that after three single albums there is another break in February.
Yves (November 2017)
Title song: new
Collaboration: none
Chuu (December 2017)
Title song: Heart Attack
Collaboration: Girl’s Talk (with Yves)
Go Won (January 2018)
Title song: One & Only
Collaboration: See Saw (with Chuu and Kim Lip)
Olivia Hye (March 2018)
Title song: Egoist (with Jin Soul)
Collaboration: Rosy (Go Won & Hee Jin)
In March 2018 the time had finally come. All twelve members of Loona have released their own single album! The “Girl of the Month” project only ended in May with the founding of the third subunit “Loona yyxy”. The unit consists of Yves, Chuu, Go Won and Olivia Hye.
Loona yyxy - Beauty & the Beat (May 2018)
Title song: love4eva
“Beauty & the Beat” reached No. 4 on the Korean Gaon Album Charts, the highest chart position of any subunit album to date. Previously, for example, “Love & Live” reached number 10 and “Max & Match” reached number 7.
After 20 months, 12 single albums, 5 unit albums and fan events in various constellations, the tension among the fans who had gathered up to that point must have been extremely high. Each of the girls had proven their talent, but what will it look like when all 12 members come together and perform as a group?
This question was answered on August 7, 2018, just three months after the end of the “Girl of the Month Project” with the pre-debut single “Favorite”!
The single reached number 4 on the US World Digital Song Sales charts and was later included on the debut album [++] .
The members
| Artist name | Real name | Birthday |
|---|---|---|
| Vivi | Wong Gaahei | 09.12.1996 |
| Yves | Ha Soo Young | 24.05.1997 |
| JinSoul | Jung Jin Soul | 13.06.1997 |
| HaSeul | Jo Ha Seul | 18.08.1997 |
| Kim Lip | Kim Jeung Eun | 10.02.1999 |
| Chuu | Kim Ji Woo | 20.10.1999 |
| HeeJin | Jeon Hee Jin | 19.10.2000 |
| Hyunjin | Kim Hyun Jin | 15.11.2000 |
| Go Won | Park Chae Won | 19.11.2000 |
| Choerry | Choi Ye Rim | 04.06.2001 |
| Olivia Hye | So Hye Joo | 13.11.2001 |
| YeoJin | Im Yeo Jin | 11.11.2002 |
[+ +]
On August 20, Loona finally made their official debut with their first album. [+ +] entered the Gaon Album Chart at number 2 and became the second best-selling debut album by a girl group in 2018! The title song "Hi High" charted on the US World Digital Song Sales Charts like "Favorite", although not quite as high at number 11. The music video for "Hi High" was viewed three million times in three days and over ten million times eight days after its release.
After the successful debut, fans had to wait almost half a year for the girl group's first comeback.
[x x]
On February 19, 2019, Loona finally released her second album [x x], a repackage of [+ +]. Fans were probably expecting two to four new songs at most since it's "just" a repackage, but the girl group presented six brand new songs, including the title track "Butterfly"! So the wait was worth it!
This time it took a whole year until a new album was released in February 2020. In between, fans were at least able to talk about the single “365” which Loona published in December 2019.
[#]
At the beginning of January 2020, Blockberry Creative announced that HaSeul would not be taking part in the promotions for the new album due to mental problems [#] would participate, which was released a month later on February 5th. Although HaSeul, as expected, was not involved in the title track “So What,” she was featured in three other songs on the album, much to the delight of fans! The album debuted at number 2 on the Gaon Album Charts and “So What” earned Loona her first win on a music show!
[12:00]
On October 19, the fourth album [12:00] was released with the title song “ Why Not? ”; again without HaSeul, who wanted to continue to focus on her health.
Loona made it into the Billboard 200 chart for the first time with [12:00] and into the Billboard Mainstream Top 40 with "Star", a song from the album for which a music video was released in November. The latter is a special achievement, because Loona was only the second K-pop girl group to place in the Mainstream Top 40!
[&]
On June 12, 2021, there was a reason for the girl group's fans to rejoice, as the first image teaser for the new album [&] featured twelve eyes. HaSeul is back after over a year! As if to celebrate the reunion, Loona broke a number of personal records with the album. Among other things, [&] sold more copies than any other album the group had before; the girl group also entered the Japanese charts for the first time. In addition, all seven songs from the album made it into the Gaon Download Charts, and the title song “ Paint the Town ” was the group's first song to enter the Gaon Digital Charts!
On the same day that [&] was released, Loona announced their Japanese debut!
Hula Hoop / StarSeed -Kakusei-
The first Japanese single album, which contains the two singles “ Hula Hoop ” and “ StarSeed ” as well as a Japanese version of “Paint the Town”, was released recently on September 15th.
Loona has proven multiple times that the months-long wait for the official debut was worth it! We hope that they will release music again very soon and that we can celebrate further successes together with them! What is your favorite Loona album? Feel free to tell us in the comments! ^-^
Bonus
You've probably noticed that YeoJin is the only member of Loona who doesn't belong to a subunit. At just 14 years old, she was probably too young and wanted to concentrate on school before being active in a unit. Some fans think that otherwise she would have debuted in Loona ⅓ and Vivi in Odd Eye Circle.
Have you ever noticed that the twelve members on the cover of the debut album [+ +] are divided into units? YeoJin is the only one standing alone.
