K-pop stars making affairs of the heart public isn’t career-ending any more – look at HyunA and Dawn releasing an album together
- Bobby of iKon, Chen of Exo and Changmin of TVXQ said they were marrying, yet kept straight on in pop, unlike Sunye of Wonder Girls or Super Junior’s Sungmin
- Still, lovers HyunA and Dawn putting out an album together is unusual. Fans get upset about a star’s affair because they take it personally, an expert says
On September 9, K-pop lovers HyunA and Dawn released their first album collaboration, 1+1=1, fronted by the single Ping Pong.
The pair’s romance taking centre stage in their musical output underscores a shift in the South Korean entertainment industry that has seen some performers ignore the taboo that romantic relationships are career-ending.
The couple, who parted ways with their former label Cube Entertainment in 2018 after their romance became public knowledge, are among a handful of K-pop stars to have publicly declared their love and continued to work in the music industry.
The release of 1+1=1 came just a few weeks after Bobby, a member of K-pop boy band iKon, announced in August that he was getting married and would become a father in September. Since then, he’s remained active in the band, and recently appeared during a live-stream celebrating iKon’s sixth anniversary.