Blockberry Creative announces LOONA’s first comeback since Chuu’s removal from group

Blockberry Creative has confirmed a January comeback for LOONA as an 11-member group, their first new music since the expulsion of Chuu in November.

• READ MORE: LOONA – ‘Flip That’ review: an understated but subtly addictive return

On December 7, South Korean media outlet OSEN reported that the K-pop girl group are gearing up for a comeback slated for January 3, 2023, according to unnamed industry sources. Shortly after, Blockberry Creative confirmed the news in a separate statement to XSports News and said it would “announce the comeback schedule later when it is confirmed,” representatives of the agency wrote in its brief statement.

On December 12 at midnight KST, the official LOONA Twitter account unveiled a graphic poster announcing the January 3 release date of the comeback. The image pictures a hand holding on to a colourful ball with the group’s name and text reading “What’s NEXT [ ]?”.

LOOΠΔ
What’s NEXT [ ]?

2023.01.03 TUE 6PM (KST) #이달의소녀 #LOONA pic.twitter.com/lPqCEWZ3X3

— 이달의 소녀(LOOΠΔ) (@loonatheworld) December 11, 2022

This new release will mark the band’s first music since Chuu was removed from LOONA last month, with Blockberry Creative alleging that she was “expelled” due to “violent language and misuse of power” towards its staff. After the announcement prompted backlash and skepticism from fans, the label later published a second statement clarifying that it did not make its initial statement “with the goal of exposing Chuu’s misuse of power to the public and media”. That second statement also responded to calls for Blockberry to substantiate its allegations of Chuu’s “misuse of power”, saying: “It is the rights of Chuu herself and the staff who was harmed to provide the truth or evidence of this.”

Soon after Chuu’s removal from the group, news outlet JTBC reported that nine of LOONA’s members – with the exception of Hyunjin and Vivi – filed injunctions to terminate their contracts with Blockberry Creative. The company later denied these reports, calling them “groundless” in a statement to Sports Dongah. 

The following day, Chuu broke her silence on her expulsion from LOONA via her Instagram Stories, maintaining in a brief message to followers that she “[hasn’t] done anything that would be shameful to [her] fans”. “In the future, as my position is decided, I will share another statement. Thank you so much for your concern and for trusting in me,” Chuu said.

The singer first made her debut in 2017 as a founding member of LOONA, releasing her self-titled single album in December that year. That record featured title track ‘Heart Attack’. She later became a member of the LOONA sub-unit LOONA / yyxy, alongside former bandmates Yves, Go Won and Olivia Hye, with whom she dropped the 2018 EP ‘beauty&thebeat’.

LOONA’s forthcoming music will mark their first since mini-album ‘Flip That’ released in June. One notable B-side in the six-track project is ‘POSE’, a song they released for the finale of reality competition series Queendom 2 in May.

Last week, Chuu released her first post-LOONA single, the duet ‘Dear My Winter’ with K-R&B singer George.

The post Blockberry Creative announces LOONA’s first comeback since Chuu’s removal from group appeared first on NME.