Into orbit: an introduction to the LOONAVERSE
By Charmaine Lai
K-Pop groups have always had a clearly defined ‘concept’ (a style of sound and look) for their debut and comebacks, from sci-fi to summer to retro, even to the ‘girl crush’ badass female-empowerment concept that has taken control over every girl group’s comeback in the past year. However, no group has ever taken a concept further than anyone has ever done before by creating a speculative, complex storyline to accompany each of their comebacks- except for LOONA.
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LOONA, stylised as LOOΠΔ and otherwise known as Girl of the Month, is a well-known Korean girl group signed under Blockberry Creative. Those who are unfamiliar with LOONA may know it as the group from the #StanLoona, which was a movement caused by netizens who are fans of LOONA (known as Orbits). They may also know of it from the fact that LOONA all started as a project to depict a complex storyline through songs and music videos.
The twelve members of LOONA listed in their debut order are: Jeon Heejin, Kim Hyunjin, Cho Haseul, Im Yeojin, Wong Kahei, Kim Jungeun, Jeong Jinsol, Choi Yerim, Ha Sooyoung, Kim Jiwoo, Park Chaewon and Son Hyeju. Their stage names in the same order are: Heejin, Hyunjin, Haseul, Yeojin, Vivi, Kim Lip, Jinsoul, Choerry, Yves, Chuu, Gowon and Olivia Hye.
However, what usually pulls innocent and naive people (like myself) down a deep rabbithole into somewhere known as LOONA hell is not the members or music, but rather the ‘lore’ behind it.
The plans for LOONA and its ‘LOONAVERSE’, the alternate reality where all of their music videos and stories take place, had already been created long ago by Jaden Jeong, LOONA’s former A&R, creative director and music producer in 2014. However, LOONA’s pre-debut project first began in 2016, with the first teaser for Heejin being released on September 26th, 2016.
Starting from September 2016 with Heejin as the first girl, each member was revealed each month, accompanied by their own solo album and title track music video. Hence, the members of LOONA are usually listed by their debut order. Each girl also has their own representative animal and colour, which is a part of their LOONAVERSE character.
At this point, LOONA had already begun its project officially known as LOONAVERSE. However, before debuting as a full group, each member was divided into three subunits: LOONA 1/3, Odd Eye Circle, and yyxy. Each of these subunits added depth to each LOONAVERSE version of the members and to the LOONAVERSE itself.
As 1/3 is read as 3/1 in Korean, the members of LOONA 1/3 consists of the first girls Heejin, Hyunjin, Haseul and Vivi, who debuted after Yeojin. The subunit released two albums, “Love&Live” on March 13th 2017 and its repackage “Love&Evil” on April 27th, 2017. Their title tracks are “Love&Live” and “Sonatine” respectively. LOONA 1/3 is mainly centered around the concept of purity, its music presenting itself with a soft aura around the theme of love. Yeojin is often referred to as the slash in 1/3 as she debuted before Vivi and after Haseul, though she is not officially considered to be a part of 1/3.
In LOONAVERSE, LOONA 1/3 resides on Earth, with each of the members in a different location. Heejin is in Paris, Hyunjin is in Tokyo, Haseul is in Iceland and Vivi is in Hong Kong. While Yeojin is an unofficial member of 1/3, her location is in Taipei. Their concept in LOONAVERSE is innocence and light.
LOONA’s next subunit, Odd Eye Circle, consists of the following three members: Kim Lip, Jinsoul and Choerry. They released “Mix&Match” on September 21st, 2017 and later its repackage “Max&Match”, featuring “Girl Front” and “Sweet Crazy Love” as their respective title tracks. The central theme of the subunit is ‘girl crush’ and the leader of Odd Eye Circle is Kim Lip.
In LOONAVERSE, Odd Eye Circle is made of three members and a potential former member. Their location is the “Middle Earth”, which has been officially confirmed by Blockberry Creative to be “between Earth and the Cosmos”, otherwise the middle of the LOONAVERSE. Their concept in LOONAVERSE is superpowers and the unknown.
Like the name of the subunit suggests, each member of Odd Eye Circle has an “odd eye”, as well as powers related to travel. Kim Lip has the ability to time travel, Jinsoul has space travel, and Choerry has dimensional travel.
LOONA’s last subunit is named yyxy, which stands for “youth youth by young”. The four members of yyxy are Yves, Chuu, Gowon and Olivia Hye. They released the album “beauty&thebeat” on May 30th, 2018 with the title track love4eva (feat. Grimes). The central themes of the subunit are “four girls who denied Eden”, forbidden fruit and youth. The leader of yyxy is Yves.
In LOONAVERSE, they are known as the mirror image of LOONA 1/3. They represent darkness, the story of Adam and Eve, youth, and the naivety and boldness of youth. They reside in Eden, and each girl has their own representative fruit.
Yves’ fruit is red apple, Chuu’s fruit is strawberry, Gowon’s fruit is pineapple and Olivia Hye’s fruit is blood plum. These fruits represent how the members eventually leave the garden of Eden. By eating the fruit, they become enlightened, indulging in themselves and giving into their temptations. However, these fruits are not only limited to members of yyxy, as Choerry is the only member outside of yyxy who has a representative fruit (cherry).
Each member also represents a certain emotion, which can be seen in the music videos for each of the title tracks of their solo albums. Yves’ emotion is faith, Chuu’s emotion is love, Gowon’s emotion is hope and Olivia Hye’s emotion is anger.
Earth is the first introduced dimension or plane of the LOONAVERSE and is similar to the real planet Earth, though it follows the laws of the LOONAVERSE, hence why things like cyborgs, angels and giant frogs exist on Earth and are considered to be a normal part of life. It is considered to be the “light” side of the Möbius Strip that the LOONAVERSE exists on. The members of LOONA 1/3 represent realism; they wear school uniforms and most of their subunit music videos take place at schools or cities.
The Middle Earth is the second dimension or plane of the LOONAVERSE and is the space “between the Earth and the Cosmos”. Because it follows its own abstract rules, the Middle Earth looks the least like the real world. Like its name suggests, the Middle Earth is in the middle of good and evil. It is considered to be the “fold” of the Möbius Strip; neither dark nor light, but in-between. The members of Odd Eye Circle represent ever-changing characteristics and how love should be taken control of rather than being passive.
Eden is the third and final dimension or plane of the LOONAVERSE. Similarly to Earth, it is an imitation or mirrored version of the real planet but with a dark twist. It often represents a foreboding atmosphere, seeming perfect to the point where it feels odd by using locations such as industrial warehouses, factories, and dense forests as it is the “dark” side of the Möbius Strip. The members of yyxy represent self-discovery and self love through escaping Eden.
All of that information: each member’s representative animal, representative colour, solo album, subunit, location, and the fact that the LOONAVERSE exists on a Möbius Strip is needed in order to understand the LOONAVERSE. As most of LOONA’s music videos have been confirmed to be a part of LOONAVERSE, fans are able to create theories using the official information, as well as visual clues hidden in their MVs (music videos).
From the structure of a Möbius Strip to the phases of the moon when each girl debuted, and even the borders of LOONA’s music videos, every aspect of LOONA is taken into consideration for superfans who enjoy spending their time getting into every nook and cranny of the LOONAVERSE and typing up their theories on Reddit (such as this fanmade timeline). Many common fan theories that are almost considered to be ‘canon’ include Heejin being the god of LOONAVERSE, someone killing Vivi which led to her becoming an android, and all of LOONAVERSE being a continuously looped day.
As someone who is still considered to be a ‘baby Orbit’, only having known LOONA for roughly half a year, I don’t engage in theorising on the LOONAVERSE much, though I personally enjoy how appealing the concept of LOONA can be, even outside of the LOONAVERSE. For example, the music videos for Butterfly, So What and Why Not? include people of different ethnic backgrounds from all around the world. It shows that everyone can enjoy LOONA no matter where they are from or who they are, defeating the idea that ‘you shouldn’t listen to K-Pop because you aren’t Korean’.
Other groups may explicitly express parts of their lore through lyrics or videos, such as æspa, a group that features a sci-fi storyline. While the two may sound similar, æspa mainly communicates their story through their lyrics, however LOONA’s storyline is a project that can only exist with both the idols and their fans involved, which is why I personally find LOONA to be so special and interesting.
All in all, while the lore of the LOONAVERSE may be confusing to understand or their music may not always suit one’s personal tastes, I think that just the idea of LOONA is extremely interesting, even to those who know barely anything about the group, who I encourage to learn more about and get into.
Please continue streaming their latest and first Japanese comeback HULA HOOP, and #StanLoona!