Loona members stand on stage as subunit Odd Eye Circle

Legal battles may have besieged members of girl group Loona, but its members are still hopeful for a day they will present a united front, Kim Lip said Wednesday. Kim Lip, JinSoul and Choerry stood in front of the local ...

Subunit trio Odd Eye Circle [NEWS1]

Legal battles may have besieged members of girl group Loona, but its members are still hopeful for a day they will present a united front, Kim Lip said Wednesday.

Kim Lip, JinSoul and Choerry stood in front of the local press on Wednesday as members of the subunit Odd Eye Circle, seven years after the trio formed the Loona subunit, seven months after they suspended their exclusive contracts with former agency BlockBerry Creative and four months after they signed with brand new agency Modhaus back in March.

“Loona did not disband, and we are open to the idea of coming together as one with our members,” said Kim Lip.

“But we are still cautious as we are not able to use [group name] Loona of our own will,” she added.

Starting with Chuu, who filed for an injunction against Loona’s agency BlockBerry Creative back in 2022, all 12 members of the girl group gradually filed injunctions against the agency and had its exclusive contract suspended. All 12 members claimed unfair contract terms with unfair profit-splitting clauses.

BlockBerry Creative trademarked the name Loona back in 2016, meaning that the members will not be able to use the band's name without BlockBerry's permission.

Modhaus' project Artms, which Modhaus explained is a group-like project, was able to trademark the subunit’s name, Odd Eye Circle, and the members made it clear that the trio will continue to promote itself under the Odd Eye Circle name. The members are also adamant that although they have found new agencies, it does not mean Loona has disbanded.

“We still have a good relationship with the other members [of Loona],” said JinSoul. “We received a lot of supportive messages from the members as we prepared for the comeback.”

Subunit Odd Eye Circle debuted in September 2017 as a part of Loona’s pre-debut journey, where each of the 12 members released a single and formed different units prior to the whole group’s official debut in 2018. But the subunit remained inactive after October 2017, following the release of “Max & Match,” the repackaged album for their debut EP.

“Seven years ago when we first debuted as Odd Eye Circle, we were only a subunit that would eventually fade away into the full group. But this time, we consider ourselves as a complete subunit,” Kim Lip explained. The three members, alongside HeeJin and HaSeul, are also in Artms.

The trio’s second EP, “Version Up” is an album that aims to prove that the members have since grown further.

“I think a lot has ‘versioned up,’ from our beauty, skills to answering questions like this. This is our first comeback after our dispute and we are glad to be on stage again,” Kim Lip said.

Lead track “Air Force One,” co-written by Kim Lip, demonstrates the trio’s ambition to “Version Up.”

“Lead track ‘Air Force One' refers to the presidential plane of the same name. Just like it, we aim to fly high for a long time!” the members said.

To find out more about Odd Eye Circle, visit Celeb Confirmed!

Subunit trio Odd Eye Circle [YONHAP]

BY CHO YONG-JUN [cho.yongjun1@joongang.co.kr]