GRAYA

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**GRAYA** (Hangul: 크래야) is a 4-member multinational all-female K-rock band under EXP Entertainment. It consists of members Eden (vocals, guitarist), Li Qiu (background vocals, drummer), Moonsun (secondary vocalist, bass), and Mayumi (secondary vocalist, rhythm guitarist). They debuted November 13, 2021 with the single "말리지 마 (Don't Stop Me)".

## History

### Pre-debut: Formation

The four original members - Eden, Li Qiu, Moonsun, and Mayumi - had all met each other, became friends, and formed GRAYA before they had joined EXP Entertainment. Eden and Moonsun had met each other while at a musical instrument store and bonded over their love for music. Li Qiu came into the picture when the three of them met due to Eden having a Jihyo from TWICE photocard on the back of her phone and Li Qiu recognizing it. Shortly after Li Qiu was added into the friend group, she met Mayumi when Li Qiu was waiting for a session of her singing lessons.

Once the four of them met and became good friends, Moonsun brought up the idea of forming a band together. The four of them agreed and began brainstorming songs. Before coming up with the name GRAYA, they went by ELMM, an acronym of the first letters of each of their names, for a short while.

### Mid-2020 to 2021: Mayumi's departure and joining under EXP Entertainment

A few months after GRAYA's formation, after they released a demo of their first song but before they joined EXPE, Mayumi left the band. The exact details aren't well known, but what is known is that she wanted to focus more on her singing, as well as focus on her mental health. Mayumi is still good friends with the current members, helping with the song writing process and even occasionally appearing on the band's SNS or YouTube vlog series.

Once the band had finished their first song's demo, they started pitching it to music companies, hoping they'd be accepted in and given promotion to the general public, as well as funding for future projects. EXP Entertainment was one of the first companies they sent it to, and they accepted them.

In November 2021, the band finally debuted with the single 말리지 마 (Don't Stop Me). The band gained a small fanbase when they debuted, however promotions were few and far between as the song was banned from broadcast.

### First half of 2022: First comeback with REPROBATE ACADEMY PART 1 - Welcome

GRAYA made their first comeback with the mini album REPROBATE ACADEMY PART 1 - Welcome, the first part in the Reprobate Academy trilogy. This release was a step up from the first one, since it seemed that the Reprobate Academy trilogy would be story based, and these next few releases would include a lot of help from EXP Entertainment.

### Latter half of 2022: Mayumi signing under EXP Entertainment, REPROBATE ACADEMY PART 2 - Classtime

In late July and early August, photos began to spread around of what appears to be Mayumi with the rest of the band at the EXP Entertainment building. Fans began to speculate that Mayumi could be rejoining the band, and on August 2nd, those speculations would be made correct through EXP Entertainment releasing a statement that she had signed under the company and would be rejoining.

On October 1, 2022, GRAYA released the second part of the Reprobate Academy trilogy Classtime.

### First half of 2023: REPROBATE ACADEMY PART 3, REPROBATE ACADEMY Recruitment Program Concert, Relationship Announcement, and TAKE ME OUT (to the ball game)

On January 17, 2023, GRAYA released the third and final part of REPROBATE ACADEMY, After School. On January 27th, they held their first concert, REPROBATE ACADEMY Recruitment Program. In the concert, they performed select songs from each RA album, a few with special arrangements for the concert, a cover of the recently debuted Leaders of the South Korean Youth's debut track LET'S MOVE, and two special performances of songs not yet released: a cover of In The Feedback by The Garages and an original song titled Plan A.

In Star News' Valentine's Day special for 2023, GRAYA revealed that all four members were dating.

On March 22, GRAYA released TAKE ME OUT (to the ball game), a special studio album consisting entirely of covers of The Garages songs. They had teased a cover of In The Feedback during their concert.

## Musical Style

Although GRAYA's music draws heavily from a variety of various rock subgenres, punk rock, pop punk, and riot grrrl are the most obvious influences, as shown by their inspirations.

## Controversies

As a band that seeks to be everything that Korean society hates about women out of spite, GRAYA and its members have gotten into plenty of controversies. GRAYA has been banned from performing on numerous music shows such as Inkigayo, The Show, M Countdown, Music Bank, and Show! Music Core due to them kissing on a live broadcast on Music Bank once. A popular target for haters to come for is the fact that all four members are dating each other.

**CW: Mentions of recreational drug use**

During a visit to the United States, the girls found themselves in hot water after Moonsun had posted a photo of her and the rest of GRAYA to her Instagram story consuming marijuana edibles. While South Korea's stigma around recreational drug use is still heavy, the members did so while they were all of age and in a state where it was legal.

One more contentious topic following GRAYA around is their denial of their award for Best Rock Album for REPROBATE ACADEMY PART 1 at the Korean Music Awards of 2023. While they had taken the stage to accept their reward, Mayumi said the speech that announced their refusal of the reward, stating that "the band's morals and beliefs are more important than a hunk of metal and some bragging rights". Their refusal garnered them lots of criticism, with netizens, both domestic and global, calling them ungrateful and pretentious. When asked about why exactly they refused the award, Eden responded by saying the KMA dubbing NewJeans with numerous important awards such as Rookie of the Year and Best K-pop Album will "only continue to get pedophiles in the industry off the hook with just a slap on the wrist if the fruits of their labor prove to be popular". GRAYA have also garnered flack for their dislike of NewJeans, not disliking the members themselves but rather the CEO of ADOR and the group's creative director, Min Heejin.

While the group has found themselves in bad press, the members have as well. During middle and high school, member Eden was notorious for yelling and even sometimes beating up people in her classes who bullied others. She also garnered hate for being seen in a video at a pride event in Seoul punching a cop, and responding to a hater on a livestream who had been coming after her and the members for being gay and in a polycule with "You're just mad we get b\*tches and you don't".

Moonsun has consistently found herself being met with criticism from members of the LDS Church, both in Korea and globally, for her adamant and vocal disapproval of the church. Similarly to Eden, she was also seen in, not one, but two videos punching a cop in one and punching a Nazi in the other. She had also garnered flack from non-Graybs for saying the derogatory lesbian term "d\*ke" despite herself being a lesbian.

Li Qiu and Mayumi have not seen themselves in as many controversies as Eden and Moonsun, but they are not free from contention either. Li Qiu has stated that her political belief is anarcho-communist. She had also responded to people insulting her hairstyle by saying if they continue to insult it, she'll get balder every comeback, which confusingly garnered her hate. Mayumi received hate from being the member to refuse the KMA award, as well as haters taking her talking about her struggle with depression as her being attention seeking.

## Members

 Li Qiu | Hao Li Qiu
 Moonsun | Moon Chae-sun
 Mayumi | Kaneshiro Mayumi
Mid 2022-present

## Discography

### Singles

* 말리지 마 (Don't Stop Me) (2021)
* Aurora Borealis (Cover) (2022)

### Mini Albums

* Reprobate Academy Trilogy
	+ REPROBATE ACADEMY PART 1 - Welcome (2022)
	+ REPROBATE ACADEMY PART 2 - Classtime (2022)
	+ REPROBATE ACADEMY PART 3 - After School (2023)
* HAY FEVER (2023)

## Filmography

### Reality Shows

* Garden of Eden and Friends (Eden as host, occasionally stars the other members)

## Concerts

### Solo Concerts

* REPROBATE ACADEMY Recruitment Program (January 27, 2023)

## Trivia

* The girls state that their biggest inspirations are Rolling Quartz and The Garages.
* They live in a different dorm building than their labelmates, however they don't live too far from it. There isn't really any specific reason as to why they aren't in the same dorm building other than they moved in with each other before joining EXP Entertainment and simply didn't want to bother moving.
* All four members are dating each other.

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