On February 3, the ping pong couple, HyunA and DAWN, shook the K-pop community by announcing their engagement on Instagram. In the posts, both of them show off their unique engagement rings. DAWN captioned the post as “Marry Me”, and HyunA reposted it with the caption, “Of course it’s a yes”.
The two had made their relationship public back in August 2018. Rumors were going around that they have been dating for a while, but their then agency, Cube Entertainment, had denied it. The next day HyunA decided to take matters into her own hands and announced that she and DAWN had already been dating for 2 years.
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HyunA, known for her strong stage presence and fierce charisma, made her debut back in 2007 with Wonder Girls under JYP Entertainment but left the group and the agency the same year due to concerns over her health. She then debuted again as a member of the girl group, 4Minute, in 2009.
She eventually made her solo debut in 2010, with the single, Change, which charted at number-two on South Korea’s Gaon Digital Chart. She went ahead to garner even more success with the release of her first extended play, Bubble Pop! After this release, she became a household name in South Korea. In 2011 Cube Entertainment labelmates Hyun-seung (former of the boy band BEAST) and Hyuna formed a duo namely Trouble Maker, which helped Hyuna get a stronger foothold in the industry.
Kim Hyo-jong, also known by his stage name, Dawn, who happens to be HyunA’s company hoobae (junior), made his debut with the boy band Pentagon under Cube Entertainment in 2016. While in the group he went by the stage name E’Dawn. The group gained recognition in 2018 after the release of their 6th mini-album, Positive, and its title track, Shine. E’DAWN also debuted in a trio along with fellow Pentagon member, Hui, and company sunbae (senior) HyunA, namely Triple H. They were active from 2017 to 2018.
Shortly after HyunA and DAWN’s dating news was revealed to the public, not only did they face criticism from K-netizens but were also kicked out of Cube Entertainment for breaking company rules. In January 2019, P Nation, a newly established record label and entertainment agency by the Gangnam Style singer, Psy, announced that they had welcomed two of them as new artists under their agency.
Hyuna continued her solo career under the label and released her first digital single, Flower Shower, which became her 7th top-ten entry on the US Billboard World Digital Song Sale. DAWN also made his solo debut in 2020 with the mini-album Dawndididawn, with the title track of the same name. Over the course of time, both of them were open about their relationship on social media and did not shy away from showing PDA.
Just when everyone thought they couldn’t get any cuter, HyunA and DAWN released a collaborative EP, 1+1=1. The mini-album comprises 4 tracks, Deep Love, XOXO, I know, and the title track Ping Pong. It is the duo’s chosen title track. It is a pop dance number, written by the singers themselves. The song encourages one to love and unapologetically take risks for it. The song ended up charting in every major South Korean music chart, and even though the song itself might have received mixed reviews, everyone agreed that HyunA and DAWN are definitely relationship goals.
As the couple announces their engagement and future wedding plans, K-pop fans all around the world seem to enjoy it as if it’s their own wedding news. In a strict industry like Korean Entertainment, where idol-fan culture holds the first priority and where dating news is regarded as a scandal, it makes fans overjoyed to see HyunA and DAWN thriving even after so many obstacles on their way. We wish nothing but happiness and hearty congratulations to the couple on this joyous occasion.