This week, Elon Musk enthusiastically tweeted about a band his girlfriend, musician Grimes, had collaborated with, Loona.
@Grimezsz @loonatheworld ⚡️Loona⚡️
Musk replied to that tweet a whole month after it was posted, for some reason.
The tweet tapped into an ever-growing fandom around the K-pop group.
“Loona are skinny” - Elon Musk, 2018.
Elon Musk, Grimes, Kim Chi.... now we need Ariana Grande to mention LOONA and we're all set
elon musk stans loona. let’s ride 💨
Loona stans were excited, and kind of worried, that Musk had tweeted about the up-and-coming group.
there’s really a tweet where elon musk @‘s LOONA we really do f*cking live in a SOCIETY...
Elon musk is brainwashing all of humanity into stanning loona just wait for it
Elon musk is a LOONA STAN
So who are Loona? The group — sometimes stylized LOOΠΔ — started being announced in October 2016, with four members and four single albums released in the following four months. With the addition of a new member, Loona 1/3 released their first album in April 2017.
Then three more members were announced, and dubbed Loona Odd Eye Circle.
Then in May this year, the final group, Loona yyxy, released their album after all their individual singles.
The hype has been increased by the narrative applied to the band.
View this video on YouTube
Each member has been assigned symbolism and a backstory that becomes evident through watching the group's music videos and following social posts. For example, HeeJin's symbol is a pink rabbit, and her location is Paris, France. ViVi's is a pastel pink/rose roe deer, and her location is Busan, Korea. And Chuu's is a peach penguin, and she is assigned a strawberry.
You can get more information on lore and the group's members here.
View this video on YouTube
Supporting the group has become a meme in itself. Fans of the group have been promoting their faves by suggesting they stan the group.
stan loona https://t.co/lq9u9SicNe
Y’all put Loona on my TL so much to the point of me waking up from like drugged sleep and having my first thought be “Stan Loona” I’ve never heard a Loona song in my damn life
As has Loona and Pride.
STAN LOONA #IstanbulPride #Pride2018 #OnurYürüyüşü
Throughout Pride Month, Loona appearing at marches has become more and more common. The group's songs were also popular choices for Seoul Pride.
[LOOΠΔVERSE Chile en #MarchaDelOrgullo 🏳🌈🌙] ¡Estamos aquí! Si nos han tomado fotos, etiquétennos💕 #Pride #이달의소녀탐구 [LOOΠΔVERSE Chile 🌙✨] https://t.co/y4PlSH6nQt
IM AT PRIDE IN PARIS AND I SAW SOMEONE WITH STAN TWICE ON THEIR ARMS SO I YELLED STAN LOONA BUT THEN THEY TURNED AROUND ANDFHFJDJEJDJS https://t.co/2fRkylJEiM
And the exposure has worked.
i want to thank the people who commented "stan loona" everywhere bc it made me stan loona
"stan loona" is still good bc it worked on my best friend who doesn't like kpop, so
Despite all the hype, the group still hasn't debuted live together yet. That's set to happen in August.
