The Adorable Mascots of Girl Groups
From logos to official colors to lightsticks, K-Pop companies use different methods to market their groups—a cute mascot also goes a long way. These highly marketable creatures grab both the attention spans and wallets of audiences. For this week’s Ladies Corner, let’s look at the many mascots associated with girl groups.
TWICE’s LOVELYS
Many JYP Entertainment artists get their own mascots—such as 2PM’s ZooPM and DAY6’s DENIMALZ—and TWICE’s is one of the most well-known. Not to be confused with the girl group Lovelyz, TWICE’s LOVELYS are the group’s representative mascots. Revealed in February 2018, the LOVELYS are little creatures with heart-shaped ears. Each LOVELY is named after a TWICE member and shares that member’s representative color:
Nayeon: Navely, the sky blue LOVELY
Jeongyeon: Jeongvely, the light green LOVELY
Momo: Movely, the pink LOVELY
Sana: Savely, the purple LOVELY
Jihyo: Jively, the yellow LOVELY
Mina: Mively, the turquoise LOVELY
Dahyun: Davely, the white LOVELY
Chaeyoung: Chaengvely, the red LOVELY
Tzuyu: Tzuvely, the navy LOVELY
On August 16, 2018, the LOVELYS made their music video debut in TWICE’s “BDZ.” The video’s plotline centers around TWICE teaming up to save the LOVELYS, whose capture turned the world into disorderly chaos. TWICE go to great lengths to free the LOVELYS, who also help defeat the villains with their calming powers.
ITZY’s WDZY and TWINZY
ITZY’s history of mascots is a unique one. ITZY received their first set of mascots, WDZY, through a LINE FRIENDS collaboration in 2020. LINE FRIENDS has previously launched other K-Pop mascot collaborations, such as BTS’s BT21 and TREASURE’s TRUZ. Until 2023, these friends joined ITZY on their career:
Yeji: Hatt, a cat that looks like a sweet potato
Lia: Lya, a tree sloth with infectious, bright energy
Ryujin: Tuk, a hoodie-wearing monkey with a large coolness factor
Chaeryeong: Chung-ee, a wise 900-year-old Kumiho, a nine-tailed fox from Korean folklore
Yuna: Cabbit, a rabbit dressed as a pink cat, and its sidekick, a cloud named Moong-gae
Unfortunately, WDZY’s page on the LINE FRIENDS store has since been taken down. In December 2023, ITZY received a new set of mascots in TWINZY. This time, they were joined by a team of cat representatives:
Yeji: KKengEE, a gray cat
Lia: Li-Li, a turquoise cat
Ryujin: RyuJJi, a blue cat
Chaeryeong: RyeoWoo, a yellow cat
Yuna: NAong, a pink cat
NiziU’s NIZOO
JYP Entertainment and Sony Music Japan Entertainment’s Japanese girl group NiziU also received their own mascots. Sharing a similar naming convention as Stray Kids’s SKZOO, NIZOO joined the JYP Entertainment mascot family in October 2021. Their reveal trailer shows them dancing to NiziU’s pre-debut song, “Make You Happy.”
Mako: Lako, a lion
Rio: Riyo, a chick
Maya: Mayan, a swan
Riku: Richu, a squirrel
Ayaka: Ano, sloth
Mayuka: Lucat, a cat
Rima: Llanu, a llama
Miihi: Pyonpyon, a rabbit
Nina: Kina, a poodle
IVE’s MINIVE
IVE introduced their representative mascots in May 2023. MINIVE came with a video mirroring IVE’s concept video “HAVE WHAT WE WANT.” It circled back to the intial reveal trailer for the group’s lineup. In 2024, IVE collaborated with LINE FRIENDS to create smaller versions of MIVIVEs as “mininis.” The MINIVE minini sport altered designs and even got new names to differentiate them:
ME:I’s ME:EYE’s
ME:I, the group formed from the third season of PRODUCE 101 JAPAN, is this list’s latest group to receive their own mascots. The group introduced its official mascot ME:EYE, a cat with a purple and pink color scheme, in February 2024. Each member got a designated ME:EYE character in July to match the cat-themed branding.
Cocoro: CORON, a light blue cat whose name combines the words for “grownup” and “cute”
Miu: ME:U, a lavender cat whose name comes from “U,” which people use to refer to Miu.
Momona: MO:NA, a black cat whose color embraces everything, like a leader should to their members
Ran: RA:ME, a red cat whose color exudes the energy that Ran brings to the stage
Shizuku: TSUKI, a white cat whose name in Kanji (月) appears in Shizuku’s name (飯田栞月)
Ayane: ME:YANE, a yellow cat whose name means “this is me” (“me” + “yane,” an affirmative ending in Kansai dialect)
Keiko: K:NYAN, a silver cat whose name sounds like Keiko’s nickname “Keiko-nyan,” given to her by her mom
Kokona: KOKO:NYA, a purple cat whose name sounds like Kokona’s high school nickname “Koko-nyan”
Rinon: RI:NYAN, a vivid pink cat whose name combines “Rinon” and “nyan,” the Japanese onomatopoeia for meowing
Suzu: BE:LLE, a pastel pink cat whose name refers to the bells seen on ME:EYE’s designs
Tsuzumi: TU:ME, an orange cat whose name combines “Tsuzumi” and “YOU:ME,” the group’s fandom name
Gugudan’s Ggu
A blue fox named Ggu (뀨) exclusively provided updates for gugudan on X (formerly known as Twitter). Ggu made its first post on June 28, 2016, Gugudan’s debut date. Designed by Jei Chagh, Ggu sports a pair of glasses and a bow tie.
However, they often changed appearances based on current or upcoming music releases. Ggu’s final appearance comes from Kim Sejeong’s “Whale,” released a few months before Gugudan’s disbandment on December 31, 2020. Ggu served a similar purpose to VIXX’s ROVIX, a robot mascot for VIXX’s X updates.
Edited by Clark Royandoyan