They are meeting a separation that is not pretty.
According to the investigation of JTBC’s Entertainment News team on the 28th, with the exception of LOONA’s Vivi and Hyunjin, nine members (Heejin, Haseul, Yeojin, Kim Lip, Jinsoul, Choerry, Yves, Go Won, Olivia Hye) have filed for an injunction to suspend their exclusive contract with their agency, Blockberry Creative.
It was confirmed that the nine members have made this decision because they have determined that mutual trust, which forms the basis of the contract, has been breached to the point that management and entertainment activities based on cooperation have become difficult to expect.
Blockberry Creative denied this in communication with the JTBC Entertainment News team, but, as it has provided that same position each time it gave an official response to artist issues such as the establishment of Chuu’s personal company, it appears to be keeping quiet about this issue as well.
Chuu, who was removed from the group recently, also filed an injunction to suspend her exclusive contract against Blockberry Creative last December. After winning a partial injunction, she continued her group activities, and engaged in individual schedules freely without agency restrictions.
The contract length between LOONA and Blockberry Creative is somewhat peculiar. LOONA revealed one member each month starting in October 2016, and once a certain number of members was reached, it debuted subunits. In the end, Heejin, Hyunjin, Haseul, Yeojin, Vivi, Kim Lip, Jinsoul, Choerry, Yves, Chuu, Go Won, and Olivia Hye were selected in order, and all of the members with their different debut dates signed a seven-year contract starting from the first full-group album on August 20, 2018, the first mini album “[+ +]”.
If Heejin, Haseul, Yeojin, Kim Lip, Jinsoul, Choerry, Yves, Go Won, and Olivia Hye win the exclusive-contract lawsuit with their agency, it is expected that it would be difficult for LOONA to carry out full-group activities as a Blockberry Creative group. In other words, they will be entering the disbandment process.
There is a high possibility that this is due to the financial difficulties of Blockberry Creative. Last year, an issue was raised that it was unable to pay outsourced companies and external staff whom they worked with. In addition, Chuu, who had the most individual activities among the LOONA members, was revealed to have not received an earnings distribution, sparking controversy. At that time, the agency did not express any position.
Blockberry Creative announced on the 25th that it had decided to expel and remove Chuu from the membership of LOONA. It seemed that they were starting anew with 11 members, but it does not seem easy to bridge the fracture between the members and the agency, which had not been apparent from the outside.
(Source)