Here’s what you need to know about Wheein’s life so far.

Her early life

She was born Jung Whee-in in the city of Jeonju, popular with tourists for its food, architectures and festivals. In 2018, she opened up about having grown up without support from her biological father, who her mother divorced in 2012 after he incurred debts that became a burden on her and Wheein.

She was forced to speak of her childhood after a media report that the father of a Mamamoo member had defrauded a family of millions of Korean won. She said she hadn’t spoken to her father for several years.

Together, Wheein and Hwasa followed their dream of becoming singers by moving from Jeonju to Seoul. The two K-pop hopefuls auditioned for different agencies, with Wheein at one point training under MBK Entertainment, the home of girl groups such as T-ara and DIA. Eventually, Wheein and Hwasa began training with entertainment agency RBW and debuted in a group together – something that happens rarely for friends in the K-pop world.

Her role in Mamamoo

The members of Mamamoo pride themselves on being able to sing, rap and dance, with Wheein’s strengths considered to be singing and her live performances. Wheein’s fluttery vocals fit comfortably any of the group’s songs.

The singer stands out for her goofy personality. On variety shows or during interviews, Wheein’s hearty laugh often makes viewers laugh just as hard. Meanwhile, fans are known to get a kick out of screenshotting the star when she pulls “derp” faces for the camera – a blank, slack-jawed look used to characterise people as stupid.

Her solo work

A healthy solo career was nearly guaranteed for someone with Wheein’s vocal abilities, and the singer stepped out on her own on the silky, electro-R&B single Easy, which featured rapper Sik-K.

Wheein, though, broke new ground as a solo artist with her “Soar” EP that included the chart-topping single Good Bye. Not only did Wheein land her biggest solo hit with the gorgeous piano ballad, but its accompanying music video of an unexpected love story between two women was seen as a statement of support for the LGBT community.

Her image

As she approaches her sixth year in the industry, Wheein’s image has remained mostly spotless. Fans have focused on her warm, hard-working personality instead of issues such as the minor controversy surrounding her estranged father or a social media post that appeared to make light of the damage caused by Typhoon Prapiroon in 2018.

One of the best examples of Wheein’s compassionate side came when a deaf fan visited Mamamoo at a private event. Wheein used her knowledge of sign language to speak with the fan and even taught her fellow member, Solar, some words too.

In her own words

In the K-pop world, dating is considered a major taboo, but the ever-confident Wheein has spoken about her past relationships and even revealed how she would like to see the industry’s stance change on dating publicly.

“I view it in a positive light,” she said during an appearance on the show Life Bar on Korean channel tvN. “Times have changed. People meeting and breaking up is the same for everyone, so I don’t think too much about it. I think about it in a good way.”

In addition to being open about her mental health struggles, Wheein has also spoken of the difficulties she has faced while pursuing her dream.

“I feel sorry to my fans for saying this, but there were a lot of times when it wasn’t fun,” Wheein shared on Secret Sister, a Korean show that aired in 2018.

“When I had fallen into a deep slump – it wasn’t recently, but maybe one or two years ago – the slump hit me in full force and I had a really hard time. It wasn’t all happy but because singing and performing is something I like to do, from a certain point on, I realised that I was having fun. It was confusing … these days, I try to think more deeply about things.”