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STAN LOONA:
HOW THE K-POP ROOKIES ARE STRIVING TO BECOME THE 'ULTIMATE GIRL GROUP'
THE KOREAN GROUP OPEN UP ABOUT THEIR LATEST SINGLE 'BUTTERFLY,'
STAN TWITTER, AND WHY THEY'RE 'THANKFUL' FOR THEIR LGBTQ+ FANS

MTV NEWS STAFF By Taylor Glasby

You’ve probably seen or heard of the film Jaws. It was the first-ever summer
blockbuster, an early example of high concept — or, a film able to be
summarized in as few words as possible to appeal to the widest audience. In
this case: “shark attack.” Jaws changed how films were made and marketed
for decades. Like Hollywood, K-pop is its own multi-billion dollar industry,
and although 44 years and six thousand miles away from a mechanical shark
named Bruce, their use of high concept has become remarkably robust. Girl
groups, in particular, bear its hallmark; one-word concepts — Sexy! Cute!
Fierce! — turned corporeal.

For this reason, at surface level, it’s easier to categorize K-pop’s girls
than its boys; the former designed to deliver a cut and dry, low-risk
experience to the masses, and whose preordained fundamentals — from beauty
ideals to personality traits — have become ever more rigid over time.

Meanwhile, boy groups have been given far more leeway to experiment, to
participate, and to fail. It must be said that not every K-pop group needs an
album trilogy, an epic narrative, or an alternative universe, but when it
comes to such flexing of conceptual muscle, and the rewards it brings,
whether trophies, critical acclaim or sales, you’ll find a male-dominated
playing field.

Making atypical strides into that space are LOONA, who officially debuted as
a 12-member group last August after a never-before-done, two-year process of
introducing each member with a solo song, plus three subunits (1/3, ODD EYE
CIRCLE, yyxy), and a defined backstory. The debuting of Heejin, Hyunjin,
Haseul, Yeojin, ViVi, Kim Lip, Jinsoul, Choerry, Yves, Chuu, Go Won, and
Olivia Hye created a noisy split of opinion — innovative or overkill? — a
divide that may well have been less fractious had it been a boy group.

Despite the dissenters, the advantages of their debut have always been clear.
From Heejin’s swing-infused “ViVid,” to the ataractic R&B of Kim Lip’s “
Eclipse,” and the space-age electronica on Olivia’s “Egoist,” LOONA have
not only presented a diverse back catalogue, but they've also circumvented
the struggle of familiarizing oneself with a large group and, most
importantly, says Heejin, “allowed every member to show their own
personality and identity, which I think is great.”


Their story, referred to as the LOONAverse, couldn’t have resonated with
fans so successfully without this extended creative process. Centered around
the concept of the Möbius strip — or,  LOONA’s existence across three
dimensions — it’s now a substantial otherworld. Much of it has been created
through their videos and teasers but a recent album cut, “Colors,” breaks
ground by using Choerry, Kim Lip, and Jinsoul’s designated colors in its
lyrics to highlight LOONA’s internal relationship. “ODD EYE CIRCLE [of
which she is a part] is the only concept that has our official personal
colors in it,” Choerry points out. “The story of the song is that each
color mixes with other members and affects one another.”

Like all good stories, the LOONAverse is fascinating but also challenging,
something Jinsoul and Haseul understand all too well. "Honestly, I really
like the LOONA world," says Jinsoul. “To see our world building in not just
our album concepts but our music is something really enjoyable for me.”

"We stay up late every night studying the LOONAverse,” Haseul laughs. “Fans
who have recently entered the universe will think it’s even more complicated
but we believe this huge, systemized world is what sets LOONA apart and we’
re very proud of that.” She knows their fans — called Orbits — are always
eager for fresh clues. “There’s one hint I can give you,” she teases,
"something will happen between 1/3, who is responsible for Earth, and ODD EYE
CIRCLE, who is between [Earth and cosmos]. and Eden’s yyxy. This is all I
can say.” As hints go, it’s vague, but the epic possibilities that
immediately come to mind is testament to the large-scale development of their
concept so far.

Orbits have developed their own omnipresent online signature, the phrase
"Stan Loona", which has earned itself an entry on Urban Dictionary — "A
popular phrase used by twitter gays under every popular tweet encouraging
readers to stan Korean girl group LOONA" — cementing the group in modern pop
culture. LOONA themselves regularly check the tag. “We are very much aware
of it,” says Olivia. “We look up all the videos, covers, and memes on
Twitter and Instagram. They’re so interesting and fun!" smiles ViVi. Adds
Olivia, “When we see international fans write ‘Stan Loona,' it gives us a
lot of strength. If our fans keep promoting us like that we’ll return that
kindness by working harder and getting stronger.”

As Urban Dictionary so bluntly points out, a large number of Orbits identify
as LGBTQ+. But for all the same-sex fan service (usually intimate body
contact) and shipping by fandoms, K-pop, and South Korea, have never been
positive, safe places for LGBTQ+ people. In a quiet countermove, some artists
appear wearing charity or supportive merch, such as ribbons or pins. Still,
queerness in K-pop is very much a case of don’t ask, don’t tell.

So it’s hard to adequately describe the shock as Yves immediately says, "I
think I should answer this," when asked why LOONA are so beloved by those
identifying as LGBTQ+. "I heard the LGBTQ+ community was really interested in
the continued worlds of 'New' [her solo single] and Chuu’s solo, 'Heart
Attack,'" she says, referencing the videos’ story lines, which have been
interpreted by fans to portray same-sex attraction. “When the song was being
written and the video filmed, we didn’t see it like that. For us, it was a
story about yearning, but we were also thankful when it was translated that
way. You may have realized it during 'Butterfly', but we want to go beyond
gender, race, and nationality," Yves adds.

Released in late February, the widely celebrated “Butterfly” (from x x, the
repackaged version of their debut EP + +), with its driving punch of a chorus
and dream-pop vocals, is multifarious. It’s a show of female strength and
determination. "Butterfly means so much," exclaims Chuu. "Especially the part
where the caterpillar becomes a butterfly, I thought it really overlapped
with us. It’s not just our members but that the fans that listen to LOONA as
well — we can all identify as one. You know how there are obstacles for
everyone’s hopes and dreams? I hope we can all picture overcoming it and
flying upwards."

"Butterfly" is also the embracing of their fandom and the merging of the
LOONAverse with the real world. Directors Digipedi took items (Converse
shoes), set pieces, and locations (Hong Kong, Paris, Iceland) from previous
LOONA videos and reshot them using a diverse range of young women. "Although
LOONA was born in Korea," explains Hyunjin, "we’re aware there’s a lot of
fans from countries we haven’t been to. When they are encouraged and get
strength from our music, that’s an aspect of the 'butterfly effect.'" Yet
for LOONA to be in the position to instill assurance in others hasn’t been
so much a linear journey as a circular one. "I’ve been preparing for a long
time to become an idol singer," confides Yves. "In that time, there were
plenty of hardships, even times where I would lose confidence, but I didn’t
give up and trusted in myself. I realized after I became part of LOONA that
those hardships made me who I am right now."

Kim Lip agrees with her bandmate. "Like Yves, during my trainee days I
questioned whether I would even be able to perform on stage. But after I
became a part of LOONA, whenever fans would say, 'I got strength by watching
LOONA,' all those memories of hardships would just dissipate. Just like how
our fans receive positive influences from us, now we receive positive energy
by reading our fans’ messages. It’s a relationship where we rely on one
another."

The K-pop rule of thumb has been female idols attract male fans and vice
versa, and while it’s becoming less set in stone, LOONA’s fandom bucked
from the outset. “When we were in subunits [pre-debut] we wondered if we had
a lot of female fans,” recalls Yeojin, “then there were more females when we
’d meet our fans in person. But during promotions, I think the ratio of
female and male really evened out.” The opportunity for LOONA to see their
impact further abroad, according to Go Won, isn’t far off. “We’re
preparing for our Japanese debut as well as our international tour,” she
says, eagerly. “Even if we become a little more popular, it’d be great if
we could meet more of our fans!”

The longer you spend with LOONA, the more you realize how much their work
refuses to be ingenuous and confined. It’s not just the overarching concept
that supports this; in “Butterfly” their wardrobe is both masculine and
feminine, their vocals sweet above lyrics and music that impress power, while
all three previous singles ("Butterfly," "favOriTe," "Hi High") demonstrate
intricate choreography closer to that of a boy group. “Before we debuted,”
 admits Heejin, “we practiced a lot with male idol choreographies and our
company continuously told us that we’d be performing dances like that.
Learning them [for their songs] was hard, but we were also really eager to
show it to our fans.”

There’s no defiance in LOONA’s purposeful inability to be a one-word pitch.
It’s just a fact. They aren’t merely cute. They aren’t only sexy. They aren
’t purely fierce. They’re not even girl crush. Instead, they’re all of
those and more, unconditionally in their own way. As Jinsoul says, LOONA is “
a hybrid. For this reason, rather than be loved for a single concept, we want
to be the ultimate girl group.”