IU, Taeyeon, Zico or Hwasa – which solo K-pop star will have the greatest chart success in 2020?
Zico’s Any Song has become a TikTok craze, IU’s Blueming is still in the top 10, Hwasa remains a powerful force – which K-pop soloists will make it big this year?
Former girl group and boy band members, long-time soloists and newbies dominate our list of K-pop soloists with a promising year ahead. Some have already even earned the K-pop honour of “perfect all kill” – PAK – which is when a song lands first in all weekly chart categories, not just daily or real-time charts. Read on to hear our top picks for the year ahead.
Hwasa
Mamamoo rapper and vocalist Hwasa only made her debut as a soloist in February 2019, with the song Twit. So far, she’s won three major music awards, been named singer of the year in the digital music category for February 2019 at the recent 2020 Gaon Music Awards, and won the social artist award at the 2019 Soribada Best K-Music Awards and the best solo artist award at the 34th Golden Disc Awards in January.
Hwasa is popularly known for her daring sense of style, her body-positive outlook, and for becoming “Gopchang goddess” – a nickname she earned after an episode of I Live Alone revealed her savouring a dish of gopchang (beef intestines), which caused the delicacy to sell out.
IU
There’s no slowing down for IU and 2020 seems promising for the star. In November last year, her single Love Poem earned a perfect all kill, and soon after, her comeback track Blueming garnered another all kill, making IU the first artist of 2019 to achieve that two-time feat. Blueming remained on the top spot of Soompi’s singles music chart for four consecutive weeks, up until the second week of January.
Beyond music, IU remains active in the K-drama scene, with television hits Persona and Hotel Del Luna making waves last year. She was also named as one of Asia’s 2019 heroes of philanthropy by Forbes and is the youngest one on the list.
Taeyeon