Kang HyeWon (IZONE) Bio
Kang Hyewon was born in Yangsan, South Gyeongsang, South Korea, on 5 July 1999 – her zodiac sign is Cancer and she holds South Korean nationality. She is a singer, rapper and a dancer, perhaps best known for being a member of the girl group IZONE.
Childhood, brother and education
Hyewon and her three-year junior brother were raised in Yangsan by their father who is working at the city’s main post office, and their mother who works at a hair salon. Hyewon became interested in singing at the age of five when she watched groups and bands perform on TV, but wasn’t encouraged by her parents to become a singer as they believed that she should attend college and obtain her degree.
Hyewon attended Bokwang High School before she decided to finally work on her singing skills and pursue her dreams of becoming a famous singer – her parents eventually decided to support her, and she enrolled at Hanlim Multi Art School’s Broadcasting & Entertainment Department.
She became a trainee at HYWY Entertainment while attending Hanlim, and stayed with them for around three years before competing in the music show “Produce 48” – for her audition, Hyewon had to rap even though she wasn’t a rapper but a singer, however, she tried it and liked it, thus continuing rapping during her career.
Career as a singer and the group IZONE
People on the internet known as ‘netizens’ (‘citizen of the internet’) suggested the name Iz*One for the group – ‘Iz’ stands for the group’s 12 members, while ‘One’ stands for them standing as one.
On 15 August 2018, the show “Produce 48” started airing on South Korean pay TV music channel Mnet, and out of 96 contestants, 12 girls were chosen to join the group Iz*One, together with Hyewon. Seven out of 12 girls had already been active in the music industry, as Hitomi Honda was a member of the Japanese idol group AKB48; Sakura Miyawaki in HKT48, while Nako Yabuki was an actress who starred in the Japanese high school series “Touch”. Kwon Eunbi was a member of the girl group Ye-A for a short period of time, and Lee Chae-yeon had launched her career in the reality girl group survival program “Sixteen” – several other girls had already launched their careers prior to joining Iz*One, including Hyewon who was considered to become a member either of the group The Ark, or DayDay.
The group which was managed by Pledis Entertainment and Stone Music, began being managed by Off the Record just a month before their debut.
On 29 October 2018, the girls released their first extended play (EP) “Color*Iz”, with the song “La Vie en Rose” as the lead single, and to promote it they performed at Seoul’s Olympic Hall in a showcase concert called “Color*Iz Show-Con” – all the tickets were reputedly sold-out in under a minute. On 1 November, Iz*One competed in the music show “M Countdown” and a week later won the same show, breaking the record for the girl group to win their first music show in the shortest time.
The video for the song “La Vie en Rose” became the most watched debut video on YouTube in South Korea, as it was viewed around 4.5 million times in the 24 hours after it was uploaded. “Color*Iz” reached #2 on the Gaon Album Chart, and the girls’ initial success also won them three New Artist of the Year Awards at Seoul Music, Golden Disc and Mnet Asian Music Awards. At the end of the year 2018, Iz*One sang at the 2018 FNS Music Festival held in Japan, and then signed a contract with the Japanese agency EMI Records so that they could start making music in Japanese.
On 20 January 2019, Iz*One performed their debut Japanese song “Suki to Iwasetai” at the show con in Japan’s Tokyo Dome City Hall, and which quickly reached #2 on the Oricon Singles Chart, as well as on the Billboard Japan Hot 100, becoming the group’s first platinum-certified song.
The girls’ second EP – “Heart*Iz” – came out on 1 April, and topped both the Oricon Overseas Albums Chart and the Gaon Album Chart; it took the EP half a year to become certified platinum and peak at #6 on the Billboard World Albums Chart. The single “Violeta” from the EP became very popular, as it reached #18 on the Gaon Digital Chart and #5 on the Billboard K-pop Hot 100, while it also climbed to #8 on the Billboard World Digital Songs.
Iz*One announced opening the date of their first tour, stating they would perform on 8 and 9 June at Seoul’s Jamsil Indoor Stadium, but as all the tickets were sold out in minutes, another concert date was added for 7 June. They sang in eight cities across five countries, and on 6 July the girls made their US debut when they sang at KCON in New York City.
Their second Japanese song came out on 26 June entitled “Buenos Aires”, which topped several charts including the Billboard Japan Hot 100, and was certified platinum after only a month. Their third Japanese song, “Vampire” followed on 25 September, once again topping the charts.
In November 2019, an investigation revealed that there had been voting manipulation in the show “Produce 48”, and its producer Ahn Joon-young admitted that he had selected the 12 members of Iz*One before the final voting was completed. Until 6 January 2020 when both sides came to an agreement, all the girls’ activities were either postponed or cancelled.
On 17 February 2020, Iz*One released its debut full-length studio album, “Bloom*Iz” and it sold more than 350,000 copies in the week after its release. Most recently on 15 June 2020, the girls released their mini-album “Oneiric Diary”.
Love life and son
Hyewon hasn’t talked about any men whom she might have dated since the launch of her singing career, and this is to be expected as her agency has put a dating ban on her and all her colleagues from Iz*One – the girls also aren’t allowed to smoke cigarettes, drink or undergo plastic surgery. However, there are rumors circulating the internet that Hyewon has a son to whom she gave birth a year ago. The rumors didn’t last for long as this was quickly ‘investigated’ by Hyewon’s fans who showed that she sang and performed in South Korea and Japan during that time, and her stomach was as flat as ever. It appears as Hyewon hasn’t so far been in a long-term relationship.
As of August 2020, she is single, hasn’t married and doesn’t have children.
Hobbies and other interests
In her spare time, Hyewon likes to watch animated movies, while her favorites are those created by Studio Ghibli, including “Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind”, “How’s Moving Castle” and “My Neighbor Totoro”.
She is interested in learning how to play instruments, and has so far learned the guitar and the piano.
Hyewon is keen on tasting various cuisines – her favorite is Japanese, while her favorite dish is takoyaki. Her favorite sweets are vanilla ice cream, and cake.
She is a lover of animals and has a pet dog which can be seen featured in many of the pictures she has uploaded onto her Instagram account.
↳ welcome 💎
This is a new account for IZ*ONE's Kang Hyewon! Please support me ❤ pic.twitter.com/U9TrczzEGO
— kang hyewon pics (@hyewonpics) August 12, 2019
Hyewon likes to travel, and has been to Europe and the US on several occasions for both fun and work – two of her dream travel destinations are Barcelona in Spain and Rome in Italy.
Plastic surgery
Unlike some of her colleagues who are believed to have undergone double eyelids surgery (Eunbi), or had a nose job (Sakura), it is widely believed that Hyewon hasn’t undergone any plastic surgery. Some of her fans have even compared her supposed before-and-after pictures, and it appears as Hyewon is as natural as she was before Iz*One debuted.
Age
Hyewon’s age is 21. She has long brown hair and brown eyes, her height is 5ft 4ins (1.63m) and she weighs around 95lbs (43kgs).
As of August 2020, her net worth has been estimated at around $200,000.
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