On September 26, 2016, a newly-formed subsidiary of the South Korean entertainment company Polaris Entertainment named BlockBerry Creative introduced the general public to their first Girl of the Month.
Girl of the Month, or LOOΠΔ (from the Hangul spelling: 이달의 소녀), was to be an ambitious project. The 12-membered girl group would undergo an 18-month-long debut schedule that would culminate in a full group debut. Such a debut conceptualization had never been heard of and is perhaps the reason why many have flocked to LOOΠΔ.
Starting with HeeJin, BlockBerry would individually debut each of the 12 members with their own single and their own music video monthly. Starting with HyunJin, they would release teasers leading up to the song release, such as Who’s Next Girl teasers (pictured below). These individual debuts would be punctuated with subunit debuts, something fairly common in K-Pop.
[Pictured: LOOΠΔ’s Who’s Next Girl teasers. HeeJin, being the first, didn’t have a Who’s Next Girl teaser. Source]
Of course, it would be easy for such a marketing strategy to come off as unorganized and incohesive. BlockBerry Creative avoids this by ensuring from early on that it is clear these girls are meant to function as a group. As soon as the second girl of the month HyunJin debuted with her single Around You, a duet was released of HeeJin and HyunJin. The following releases of the girls’ singles would include b-sides that feature other members.
Another aspect that helped emphasize that LOOΠΔ was a group and not just a collection of solo artists was the introduction of the aforementioned subunits. The solo singles allowed each member to shine and show off her strengths (ballad, rapping, dance), as well as solidify her own merit as a performer in their own right. The subunits show that they can work just as well in a group, possessing good teamwork and stage presence (only the sub-units have had televised performances).
LOOΠΔ ⅓, the first sub-unit consisting of HeeJin, HyunJin, HaSeul, and ViVi, showed off an innocent and feminine conceptualization that is popular in South Korea. YeoJin, representing the “/” in ⅓ is also supposed to be part of this subunit but was not featured in the mini album.
[From left to right: ViVi, HyunJin, HeeJin, HaSeul.]
[YeoJin]
The second sub-unit, ODD EYE CIRCLE, consists of members Kim Lip, JinSoul, and Choerry. Showing a more forward and confident image, ODD EYE CIRCLE’s songs are geared to appeal to a more Western audience.
[From left: JinSoul, Choerry, Kim Lip.
The final subunit, yyxy, was announced just recently and consists of the last four members: Yves, Chuu, Go Won and Olivia Hye. Described as the girls who denied Eden, their sound and conceptualization aren’t entirely clear as of yet. Their debut single, love4eva, is set to be released on May 30th and will feature Grimes.
[from left: Yves, Chuu, Olivia Hye, Go Won]
This leads to the next point that keeps this group cohesive: the LOOΠΔverse. Strictly speaking, the LOOΠΔverse is the binding thread that weaves all the narratives of these seemingly separate songs and music videos together. BlockBerry Creative and music video directors Digipedi have employed the use of clever easter eggs, special appearances, motifs, fairy tale and literature references and more to weave a tangled web that fans band together to detangle. Theories about yyxy’s conceptualization and how they tie into the other subunits have been abounding since Yves’s solo release and aren’t slowing down.
It’s the mixing of members in duets and subunits and the overarching LOOΠΔverse that help lend cohesiveness to the group as a whole, so the solos do not seem disjointed. It also reinforces the concept of a whole 12-membered group that is slowly coming together, thus building anticipation for the next girl, the next subunit and the final debut.
In addition to all of this, you can also appreciate seeing the girls behind the scenes on LOOΠΔTV or flex their acting muscles on the web drama Do you remember the first time we met? (우리처음만났을때기억나) also known by the name Woomanna. With all this content, BlockBerry Creative has made sure that you can see just how talented these girls are and build plenty of anticipation for the full group debut which some have speculated could take place in October 2018, coinciding with the 2-year anniversary of the first girl of the month HeeJin’s debut.
With all this richness in content, it’s no wonder they’ve been garnering attention from K-Pop fans and people like Billboard, who named them one of the top new K-Pop acts to watch in 2018.
So what do you think? Curious to see more? Check out their playlist featuring all their music videos and see for yourself just how absorbingly interesting LOOΠΔ can be!