LOONA's comeback postponed "indefinitely" by Blockberry Creative

Last week LOONA unveiled the tracklist for their forthcoming five-track record The Origin Album [0], which was due to arrive in January 2023.

Earlier today (22 December) LOONA's agency Blockberry Creative shared a statement through the group's fan cafe, announcing that the upcoming project has been postponed.

Soompi reports that Blockberry Creative wrote, "First of all, we would like to express our apologies for causing concerns to Orbit due to various issues concerned with our agency. We also sincerely apologize for causing fatigue to the public who is watching [this situation].

"After taking the opinions of many people including Orbit into consideration, we have decided that [LOONA’s] comeback activities would be meaningless when various concerns about the members’ circumstances are not yet sorted out. Therefore, it has been decided that LOONA’s “The Origin Album [0],” which was diligently prepared by 11 members and scheduled to be released on January 3, 2023, will be postponed indefinitely.

"In addition, we would like to give explanations for the series of issues to Orbit and many others who support LOONA.

"LOONA is a project that took a lot of effort over a long period of time. As it was a major 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 with our efforts. After LOONA was planned and formed, [the group] needed endless costs that were not easy for a small/mid-sized company to handle, but we endured this because we of course believed it was up to the agency to handle the costs of upfront investment.

"Furthermore, there are a lot of misunderstandings and speculations on issues involving pay settlement. Ultimately, the agency has always harbored apologetic feelings to the LOONA members for not being able to generate profit over a long period of time. From the beginning, LOONA’s success was a near-impossible task that needed to be made by the investment and efforts of the agency without a promise to reach a break-even point and the trust and sacrifices of the members while believing in [the company]. This was a reckless challenge by a small company that was lacking, but this year, after six years since starting our first debut project, the efforts and waiting of the members who trusted such a company had finally gone on to discover a ray of hope."

The agency concluded, "We will definitely make an environment in which fans can all happily cheer on LOONA. We sincerely once again to everyone, and we ask that you support LOONA’s continuing dream and future."

Blockberry Creative's statement comes after Chuu was removed from group last month due to alleged "violent language and misuse of power" towards staff last month.