LOONA will postpone her upcoming comeback.
The group was originally scheduled to return on January 3, 2023, but the release of their album was postponed indefinitely.
BlockBerryCreative released the following detailed statement on December 22nd via fancafe LOONA:
Hello. This is BlockBerryCreative.
First of all, we would like to apologize for causing concern to Orbit due to various issues related to our agency. We also sincerely apologize for causing fatigue to the public watching [this situation].
After taking into consideration the opinions of many people including Orbit, we have decided that [LOONA’s] comeback activities would not make sense when the various concerns about the members’ situation are not yet resolved. Therefore, it has been decided that LOONA’s ‘The Origin Album [0]’, which was being diligently prepared by 11 members and was scheduled to be released on January 3rd, 2023, will be postponed indefinitely.
Additionally, we would like to provide an explanation for a series of issues with Orbit and many others that support LOONA.
LOONA is a project that has required a lot of effort over a long period of time.
Since this was a big long-term project that required a lot of investment and money compared to typical idol groups, the results that appeared on the surface often did not match our efforts.
After LOONA was planned and formed, [the group] needed endless expenses, which was not easy for a small/medium company to handle, but we endured because of course we believed it was up to the agency to handle the expenses upfront. investment.In addition, there is much misunderstanding and speculation about issues related to wage equalization. Finally, the agency has always held apologetic feelings towards LOONA members for not being able to generate profit for a long time. From the beginning, the success of LOONA was an almost impossible task that had to be done by the investment and effort of the agency without the promise of reaching a tipping point and the trust and sacrifice of the members while believing in [the company] .
It was a reckless challenge of a small company that was missing, but this year, after six years since the launch of our first debut project, the efforts and waiting of members who trusted such a company finally turned into the discovery of a ray of hope.Although it would be great for LOONA as a whole to impress the public as a whole, the hallmark of a big girl group is that there must be a member who becomes famous first, and it was an inevitable decision for the agency to support and cheer for a member who became famous at the public. Although we wanted all members to move forward together as one, unfortunately, against our expectations, the former member’s behavior began to change. Because of this, the agency took the risk of the initial investment and we agreed to change the contract details for the sake of the future ahead and tried to protect LOONA in any way possible, but as everyone knows, we came to an unfortunate conclusion.
As a small/medium agency, we are proud to have marked a milestone in K-pop history by accepting the challenge of producing LOONA, regardless of success or failure or series of attempts. Of course, all those events resulted from the shortcomings of our agency and we should take the proper responsibility, but we cannot stop our efforts to protect LOONA no matter what and our efforts to achieve our dream together. Moreover, we are very aware that we can only achieve this dream if Orbits and many others do it together with us.
We will definitely create an environment where all LOONA fans can cheer happily. Sincerely once again to all and we ask that you support the continued dream and future of LOONA.
Thank you.
Earlier on November 25, BlockBerryCreative announced Chuo’s removal from LOONA, citing “violent language and abuse of power” against the employee. The agency followed up with an additional statement on November 28, explaining that their original announcement was not meant to be a revelation, and that it was “the rights of Chua herself and the employees who were harmed to provide the truth or evidence about it.” Chuu then spoke briefly about the case on her Instagram. On December 19th, Dispatch further shared the details of the conflict between Chuu and BlockBerryCreative and delved into the details of the terms of the contract.