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K-drama Artists & celebrities

Former IZ*ONE leader Kwon Eun Bi on her debut solo single Door and album Open, and how they mark a new era for her after K-pop girl group disbanded

  • Kwon is the first ex-member of IZ*ONE to go solo, and says she feels ready to show off ‘Kwon Eun Bi, myself’ by making her own music
  • Speaking ahead of the release of her first solo songs, some of which she co-wrote, she admits to some anxiety but says ‘I’ve grown stronger’

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Kwon Eun Bi feels like she has grown stronger as she embarks on a solo K-pop career after 12-member girl group IZ*ONE, of which she was the leader, disbanded earlier this year. Her debut solo single Door and mini-album Open were released this week. Photo: Woollim Entertainment.
Tamar Herman

As one of 12 members of K-pop girl group IZ*ONE, Kwon Eun Bi was launched to fame in 2018, and served as the band’s leader. Now she’s the first one to begin a solo career after the group’s break-up earlier this year.

“I feel good overall, but I have a lot of weight on my shoulders about needing to show my own colours. It’s my first time, so I’m trying to show myself as best as I can to everyone,” she says over a video call from Seoul ahead of the release of her first EP, Open, on August 24, which is fronted by the single Door.

As a member of IZ*ONE, Kwon was associated with the colour purple, but that’s not one of the three colours she thinks describes her style as a soloist. “First is red!” she declares. “White and black too. Because I have a lot of passion, so red, while white is for purity and prettiness, but also there’s a sense of chicness, so that’s the black.”

IZ*ONE was formed as a multi-year, but temporary, K-pop girl group through the competition television programme Produce 48. Although the show, and IZ*ONE’s final lineup, was ultimately determined to have been rigged, the band saw a lot of love from the very start of their career until the end of it, and each of the dozen Korean and Japanese women who were part of it have become celebrity darlings.

While Kwon is the first one to release a solo album, anticipation is high about what others will do, especially as there is talk of several members joining subsidiaries of Hybe Corp., the label of superstar K-pop boy band BTS.

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