On May 25, Segye Ilbo reported on what happened on a website that specializes in selling used and second hand goods. Accordingly, the item for sale is a signed album of Oh My Girl gifted to senior Lovelyz.
Accordingly, Oh My Girl album being put up for sale was discovered by Segye Ilbo on an online resale site with the title: Selling ‘Closer’ signed album by Oh My Girl.” Attached to the photo of the album, the seller also wrote the description:
“It also has JinE’s autograph. The message is written in Jiho’s handwriting, so it has value. The photocard is Binnie. Quote your price. Since ‘Closer’ isn’t in print anymore, the going price is 70,000 won (approximately $56) for opened albums and 130,000 won (approximately $105) for sealed albums, so take that into consideration when placing your bid”
However, it would not be worth mentioning if not for the special message on the album. Accordingly, this is the message from Oh My Girl to Lovelyz – their senior group.
“To senior Lovelyz. Hello! This is Oh My Girl. ‘Ah-Chu’ is so fresh and bubbly! We hope you will show a lot of support for our new song ‘Closer’ as well! We’ll become a group that always works hard.”
Although there are many doubts about whether this album is real or fake (because the title of the song should be written as ‘Ah-Choo’), netizens still believe this is the album that Oh My Girl personally sent to Lovelyz. They rely on the message being detailed, clear, and the details in the message coincide with the time when Lovelyz and Oh My Girl were promoting on music shows.
Traditionally, junior groups often come to greet seniors and give their autographed albums. These gifted albums are meaningful and are often carefully kept to show the friendliness between the artists. That is why netizens were shocked to see that the album Oh My Girl gifted to the Woollim group was put up for sale on an online resale site.
Segye Ilbo also contacted WM Entertainment – Oh My Girl’s agency to verify the information. WM responded: ‘We have never heard of this. It’s hard for us to confirm anything.’
Meanwhile at the time the news was published, Segye Ilbo could not contact Woollim.
Immediately many questions were raised about whether Woollim did not value other artists’ albums and their management was loose that’s why the album got out. Some even criticized Lovelyz because the group used to face controversies regarding their personalities in the past. Meanwhile, Lovelyz fans said that the girls are not at fault because no one would sell their colleague’s albums in such an explicit way. They think that there was an outsider or a staff that stole the album to make money.
In the latest update, Woollim Entertainment – Lovelyz’s agency – gave an explanation and announced that they were investigating the incident.
“Hello, this is Woollim Entertainment.
We are writing to inform everyone about the illegal sale of our artist’s personal property.
Recently, we became aware that a CD that Lovelyz had received as a gift in the past was being sold on a mobile application, and we have checked with both staff and subcontractors to confirm how the item was leaked. We are currently taking care to store all items, including CDs that are gifted to our artists, and we would like to inform you that we have never handed off any items to others.
The item in question has been determined to be a case of theft. We have requested a police investigation and will do our best to confirm the exact details of the leak and retrieve the item.
We extend our sincerest apologies to those affected by this unexpected situation. We promise to take extra precautions to make sure such an incident never happens again.
Thank you.”