on october 2, 2016, blockberry creative announced through naver that they would be forming their first girl group through an 18-month long project. between october 2016 and january 2017, four members (heejin, hyunjin, haseul, and yeojin) joined the group; each member released a single album usually having a solo track and another track performed with other members, under the group's korean name "idarui sonyeo" (). in march 2017, the group's first sub-unit, loona 1/3, was introduced, made up of previous members heejin, hyunjin, haseul and a new member, vivi. loona 1/3 released the extended play "love &amp; live" with a single of the same name on march 13, 2017, with a television promotion on sbs's "inkigayo", on april 27, they released a repackaged version of the extended play, titled "love &amp; evil", with the single "sonatine". "love &amp; live" and its reissued version reached number 10 and 24 respectively on south korea's gaon album chart.