MOMOLAND was a South Korean Girl Group formed by Dublekick Company (later renamed MLD Entertainment). The members were chosen through the talent competition show Finding Momoland and debuted in 2016 as a group of seven — Hyebin, Yeonwoo, Jane, Nayun, JooE, Ahin, and Nancy — with the extended play Welcome to MOMOLAND. In 2017, Daisy (another contestant of Finding Momoland) and Taeha (a contestant of Produce 101) were added to the group. Momoland's music was mostly in the teen- and dance-pop styles, with lots of Electronic Music influence and mixed vocals.
The group gained prominence in 2018 with the single "Bboom Bboom" off their third EP Great!. The song was certified platinum and ranked fourth on the Gaon Digital Chart'snote year-end best-charting list. However, in February 2019, Daisy and Taeha went on hiatus for "health and personal reasons"
. In November, Yeonwoo and Taeha left the group, Yeonwoo to become an actress (signing with 9ato Entertainment) and Taeha to become a solo singer (signing with Inter B.D Entertainment).
Around the same time, Daisy released several statements claiming that MLD Entertainment had been blocking her from returning to activities and insinuating that Finding Momoland was rigged. Daisy's mother also made ambiguous Instagram posts insinuating that Daisy had been bullied by the other members, although she later deleted her account. MLD refuted all claims, and after various back-and-forths and rumors, it was confirmed in May 2020 that Daisy was no longer a member of the group.
In July 2020, Yeonwoo wrote a post that seemed to hint she had been forced to leave the group, but shortly after issued a clarification post denying that she had meant anything by it and apologized for "unnecessarily causing concern". In March 2021, rumors spread again that she had been bullied or forced out of the group, following her sharing a photo on Instagram of a page of a book that read "[subject] hated me and also held such a grudge against me".
In October 2021, MLD Entertainment got into another issue over unpaid earnings to Daisy, and was ordered by a court to pay her the equivalent of roughly $77,000 USD. The company filed an appeal, but in June of 2023 Daisy announced via her Twitter that the appeal had been dismissed in May of that year due to the company not filing any additional evidence, and that MLD had also tried unsuccessfully to sue her for defamation.
Despite these controversies, Momoland chugged along on the musical front, releasing one studio album, one compilation album, six EPs and three single albums in seven years, and also winning several awards. However, in January 2023 the remaining members' contracts with MLD expired, and they all chose not to renew them. Momoland officially disbanded on February 14 2023.
- Hyebin (Lee Hye Bin, born January 12, 1996) - Leader, Main Rapper, Vocalist
- Jane (Sung Ji Yeon, born December 20, 1997) - Main Dancer, Vocalist, Sub Rapper
- Nayun (Kim Na Yun, born July 31, 1998) - Vocalist, Rapper
- JooE (Lee Joo Won, born August 18, 1999) - Lead Rapper, Lead Dancer, Lead Vocalist, Center, Face of the Group
- Ahin (Lee Ah In, born September 27, 1999) - Main Vocalist
- Nancy (Nancy Jewel McDonienote , born April 13, 2000) - Lead Vocalist, Lead Dancer, Visual, Center, Maknae
- Yeonwoo (Lee Da Bin, born August 1, 1996) - Main Rapper, Vocalist, Visual, Face of the Groupnote
- Taeha (Kim Tae Ha, born June 3, 1998) - Main Vocalistnote
- Daisy (Yoo Jung Ahn, born January 22, 1999) - Lead Rapper, Main Dancer, Vocalistnote
- Chiri Chiri - September 4, 2019note
- Momoland The Best ~Korean Ver.~ - February 28, 2018note
Single Albums:
- Wonderful Love - April 26, 2017
- Thumbs Up - December 30, 2019
- Ready Or Not - November 17, 2020
Extended Plays:
- Welcome to MOMOLAND - November 10, 2016note
- Freeze! - August 22, 2017
- Great! - January 3, 2018
- Fun to the World - June 26, 2018
- Show Me - March 20, 2019note
- Starry Night - June 11, 2020
Singles:
- JJan! Koong! Kwang! - November 9, 2016
- Wonderful Love - April 25, 2017
- Freeze - August 22, 2017
- BBoom BBoom - January 3, 2018
- BAAM - June 26, 2018
- ''I'm So Hot - March 20, 2019
- ''Thumbs Up'' - December 30, 2019note
- ''Starry Night'' - June 11, 2020
- Ready Or Not - November 17, 2020
- Wrap Me In Plastic - February 5, 2021note
- Yummy Yummy Love - January 13, 2022note
Tropes related to MOMOLAND:
- Aerith and Bob: There's the Korean names you'd expect — Hyebin, Yeonwoo, Nayun, Ahin, Taeha — then very European sounding names like Daisy, Jane, and Nancy. The true oddball is JooE.
- Anti-Smother Love Talk: Yeonwoo gave one to an overly protective brother in one of the group's variety show appearances (6:31 for the start of the segment, 29:01 for the quote).Your sense of duty to protect her shouldn't become your right to control her.
- Boyish Short Hair: Averted with Hyebin. She did have boyishly short hair for a time, but she wasn't designated as the tomboy because of it. Even with short hair, she has always dressed and acted very femininely, in contrast to some other short-haired idols such as f(x)'s Amber or TWICE's Jeongyeon.
- But Not Too Foreign:
- Nancy (type 1) was born in Daegu to a Korean mother and an American father.
- Daisy (type 3) was born in Seoul but raised in Canada for 11 years.
- Ahin (type 3) was born in Wonju but was raised in China since she was 6.
- Caps Lock: How the group's name is usually stylised.
- Catchphrase: "Get your ticket! Hello, we're MOMOLAND!"
- Concept Video: The "Thumbs Up" music video depicts the girls running a shipping company and delivering packages around the world. Also counts as Lyrics/Video Mismatch as the song itself is a love song.
- Cool Bike: The rappers of the group often pose with motorbikes in music videos, such as in the videos for "I'm So Hot" and "Yummy Yummy Love".
- "Double, Double" Title: "BBoom BBoom", "Same Same", "VeryVery".
- Dress Rehearsal Video: "I'm So Hot", interspersed with the group also performing in their dressing room.
- Fan Community Nickname: "Merry-Go-Rounds", usually shortened to "Merries".
- Girl Group: A Korean Pop Music Idol Singer example.
- Instrumentals: "JJan! Koong! Kwang!", "Uh-Gi-Yeo-Cha", "Wonderful Love', "Freeze", "BBoom BBoom", and "Baam" all have instrumental versions.
- "Wonderful love (EDM ver.)" also has an instrumental version.
- "I Am Great!" Song: "I'm So Hot", which is about... pretty much what the name suggests.
- The Leader: Hyebin is the designated leader and, as is usual for k-pop, does most of the talking at award shows.
- Living Toys: In the "Freeze" music video, the girls are puppets who have fallen in love with their puppetmaster. Or maybe it's a metaphor for how love can control you? Eh, who knows.
- Meaningful Name: 'Momo' is a character from the German novel Momo, who makes others happy, and 'Land' as in the name of an amusement park. It means that they want to make people happy with their music and to make them feel like they are at an amusement park having fun.
- Meaningful Rename: The change of Nancy's legal name. As Nancy herself explained, her new name of Geuroo (그루) reflects her intention to become a "big tree".note
- Meaningful Rename: The change of Nancy's legal name. As Nancy herself explained
- Ode to Food: "Banana Chacha" is about how great bananas are. (Get your mind out of the gutter, it's actually about that.)
- One-Word Title: "Curious", "Freeze", "Fly", GREAT!.
- Other Common Music Video Concepts: Dancing in the Street in the "Wonderful Love" video, In the Studio in "Merry Go Round", Monochrome Background in "Pinky Love", Travelogue Montage in "Baam".
- Saying Sound Effects Out Loud: "Jjan! Koong! Kwang!" — these words are sung/spoken 'sound effects' in the scenario the song describes.
- Singer Name Drop: The first words of "Jjan! Joong! Kwang!", their first single: "헤이! Du-dam-da-di-di-dum, you like it MOMOLAND!"
- Sixth Ranger: Daisy was added to the group on March 28, 2017. Taeha joined on April 10, 2017.
- Stage Names: Yeonwoo for Da Bin, Jane for Ji Yeon, Daisy for Jung Ahn, and JooE for Joo Won.
- Averted for Hyebin who had a pre-debut stage name of "Cherry" but stuck with Hyebin for the group's debut.
- Stargazing Scene: A romantic one of these is described in "Starry Night": "I have something to say to you / Before the stars go home..."
- Translated Cover Version: The Chiri Chiri album features multiple songs in Japanese that the group originally recorded in Korean.
- Some of their songs have also been rerecorded in (fully) English.
