Happy HyunA Day: Looking back at the dazzling and successful career of the enigmatic soloist

Let’s take a look at some defining moments of the popular soloist HyunA. Read ahead to know more.

By Anoushka Mathew

Updated on Jun 06, 2022 | 05:49 PM IST | 609K

HyunA; Picture Courtesy: PNATION

HyunA was born on June 6, 1992 in Seoul, South Korea. In 2006, she was revealed as a member of the JYP Entertainment managed girl group Wonder Girls as the group's main rapper. HyunA participated in the group's debut mini album ‘The Wonder Begins’, released in February 2007. HyunA left Wonder Girls in July of 2007, when she was removed by her parents due to their concern over her health, particularly chronic gastroenteritis and fainting spells. In 2008, she joined Cube Entertainment. In May 2009, it was announced that HyunA would debut as part of the girl group 4Minute. The group debuted with the single ‘Hot Issue’ on June 15.

In 2011, she released her first mini album, ‘Bubble Pop’, featuring five new songs including the title track of the same name. The single was a global success, and featured on top of YouTube's ‘most watched today’ chart after gaining one million views in two days. It eventually became the first music video by a K-pop artist to surpass 100 million views. HyunA was ranked 17th on Billboard's '21 Under 21′, a staff-compiled list of notable young acts. ‘Bubble Pop’ is the title track and is an upgraded version of HyunA’s usual style. The track has a heavy beat that emphasizes HyunA’s powerful performance style.

On November 24, 2011, Cube revealed that she would be in a co-ed unit called Trouble Maker with BEAST's Hyunseung. Trouble Maker's first mini album, ‘Trouble Maker’, consisted of a dance track and an emotional ballad, as well as solo songs for both HyunA and Hyunseung. In 2012, she appeared in PSY's viral music video for ‘Gangnam Style’, having been selected personally by PSY during the initial production stage. ‘Gangnam Style’ became the most viewed K-pop music video, and drew worldwide global recognition for HyunA. PSY released the female version of ‘Gangnam Style’, known as ‘Oppa Is Just My Style’ in August 2012, featuring additional vocals by HyunA herself.

On June 13, 2016, it was announced that 4Minute had made the decision to disband. HyunA was the only member of the group to renew her contract with Cube Entertainment. Following the group's disbandment, she resumed her activities as a solo artist, with the release of her fifth mini album ‘A'wesome’ and its title track ‘How's This?’ On April 3, 2017, Cube Entertainment confirmed that she and Pentagon members Hui and E'Dawn were set to debut in May as new sub-unit, Triple H. As a group they released two extended plays, ‘199X’ (2017) and ‘Retro Futurism’ (2018).

In 2018, HyunA revealed that she had been dating E'Dawn since May 2016. Later, Cube Entertainment revealed that both of them have left the agency. On January 27, 2019, she signed with P Nation, a new agency founded by PSY since he left YG Entertainment in May 2018. On November 5, 2019, she released a single titled ‘Flower Shower’, her first release under P Nation. In January 2021, P Nation announced HyunA's first comeback since ‘Flower Shower’, with the release of her seventh EP ‘I'm Not Cool’ and its title track of the same name, which was released on January 28. On September 9, 2021, HyunA and Dawn collaborated to release their duet EP ‘1+1=1’.