Although the group had decided to disband, that didn’t mean that the members were retiring. Most of them are still active in the entertainment industry until now and many fans can’t also seem to forget the group, especially when you have a multi-talented member like Hyun-young! From singing, dancing, acting, to managing her YouTube channel, she’s got it all! So, are you curious to get personal with her? If so, find all the details about her in the article below!
Full Profile of Hyunyoung
Stage Name: Hyunyoung (현영) Birth Name: Cho Hyun-houng (조현영) Position: Main Vocalist, Maknae Date of Birth: August 11th, 1991 Zodiac Sign: Leo Nationality: Korean Height: 160 cm (5’3″) Weight: 44 kg (97 lbs) Blood Type: B Color: Yellow Subunit: Rainbow Pixie, Rainbow BLAXX Twitter: @Hyunyoung_c Instagram: @cho_hyunyoung
Facts about Hyunyoung
She was the maknae of the group She was born in Seoul, South Korea She studied at Shingwang Female High School She was a member of the subunits Rainbow Pixie and Rainbow Blaxx She is also a former SM Entertainment trainee just like Woori She has a flexible body She has an older brother She can speak Chinese She is good at voice imitations She can get ready in the morning in 3 minutes She has a fear of heights Other members said that she woke up at the latest She has a bit of a resemblance to T-ara’s Soyeon Her nicknames are Dizzy Maknae, Super Natural, and The Dizzying Youngest She appeared in AJAX’s MV “Insane” She used to date Clazziquai’s Alex, who is 12 years older than her, back in 2017 She and the singer DinDin are childhood friends, as the two stars (both 1991-liners) lived in the same neighborhood from their elementary school days to high school, they even dated each other for two-weeks back in middle school
Debut as a RAINBOW member
The news of Rainbow’s debut first appeared during late October and early November 2009 when DSP Media released daily teasers in the form of pictures of Rainbow that meant to represent each member. It was revealed that the group would be a 7-member (like the rainbow colors) girl group consisting of members Jae-kyung, Woo-ri, Hyun-young, Ji-sook, No-eul, Seun-gah, and Yoon-hye. They debuted on November 12th, 2009, with their first mini-album Gossip Girl that consisted of five songs. The lead track also had the same name as the album title. As she has a very beautiful vocal, Hyunyoung easily filled the spot as the main vocal of the group.
They performed their debut song for the first time on MBC’s Music Core two days after the release of their first mini-album.
Sadly, their debut didn’t attract much public attention at that time, despite the catchy song that kinda resembled 4minute’s hit song “Hot Issue.” But even so, the MV has been watched more than 1.2 million times per 2020 and many people came back to the video to say that they missed the group and how the group was so underrated.
Active in RAINBOW’s Subunits
During their promotion year, DSP Media announced that the group would be divided into subunits, each of which would consist of 3–4 members. The news was announced on January 3rd, 2012, revealing Rainbow’s Pixie as the first subunit. Then came Rainbow Blaxx as the second subunit. Hyunyoung was quite a popular member of Rainbow as she was involved in both subunits. She joined the Rainbow’s Pixie subunit with two other members, namely Seung-ah and Ji-sook. This subunit debuted in early 2012 with their debut song “Hoi Hoi,” released on January 12th, 2012. They held their first performance as a subunit on Show! Music Core. The group took on more ‘fun’ and ‘glamour’ images through this subunit. The MV itself has been watched more than 2.5 million times and many people commented that they kept coming back to the MV even in 2020. Sadly, “Hoi Hoi” was the only release from Rainbow’s Pixie.
Rainbow Blaxx was the second subunit of Rainbow. This subunit consisted of four members, namely Hyun-young, SeungAh, Jaekyung, and Woo-ri. They debuted on January 20th, 2014, with the mini-album RB BLAXX. For the album, the group released a title track titled “Cha Cha,” which was directed by Digipedi. The MV was perhaps one of the most controversial K-pop music videos to date, as it was often commented as being ‘too sexual’ at that time. It was even the fourth-most viewed K-pop music video globally in January 2014.
The MV now has a total of 11 million views, with 43.000 likes and 6.8K dislikes. At that time, the MV received many critiques from the Korean netizens, saying that the outfits were too revealing. “Now they’re only wearing underwear~,” said one netizen as quoted from Netizenbuzz. “So crazy… kids grow up looking up to celebrities, what are they supposed to think now ㅋㅋㅋ They’re night dancers, not singers,” added another. “Go promote in a strip bar… So sad that we live in a world where they have to resort to this to get some money in their bank accounts… A world where music videos are shot like pornos tsk tsk tsk,” one netizen commented harshly. Although many people commented on this MV as ‘too sexual,’ many also came to the group’s defenses. Many people are returning to the MV and saying that the critiques and harsh comments that the group received back then were too much. “I bet if this was released this year, this would have way fewer dislikes. This was one of those ‘controversial’ sexy concepts back when people had issues with it. It’s 2016, I think people are more accepting nowadays. I want a Blaxx comeback!” commented a user. “While being cute is annoying, being sexy is slutty. while being popular is overrated, being new is annoying. while doing a similar concept is being a wannabe, doing a different one is ridiculous. when you go through a scandal, they tell you that you should disband and when you have no scandals, they ask ‘who are these nobodies?’ female idols deal with hate on a powerful level because part of the K-pop fandom won’t be satisfied with them. as comebacks keep happening, the dislike towards girl groups spreads like a fire set by misogynists,” another user also added. “Don’t know why so many people are saying it’s too slutty and everything since people, it’s hard enough to do a split, try putting your leg in the air while sitting down like them. It’s hard. And it’s supposed to be sexy, that’s why they received a 19+ rating. If anything this isn’t even as sexy or seductive as some other videos I’ve seen,” said another.
Disbandment and Future Activity
After seven years as a group, Rainbow is now confirmed to have disbanded as of mid-November 2016. On October 28th, 2016, DSP Media announced that Rainbow would be disbanding after seven years of activities after all of the members decided not to renew their contracts with the agency. It was reported that the members have decided not to renew their contracts with DSP Media. Thus, all of their contracts ended on November 12th, 2016. DSP Media confirmed the disbandment news and stated: “Although we discussed with Rainbow members Kim Jaekyung, Go Woori, Kim Jisook, Noel, Oh Seungah, Jung Yoonhye, and Jo Hyunyoung about their future, they have decided to go their separate ways.” They went on, “We hope that like a rainbow that shines bright anywhere, the members will be remembered for their bright, positive image and that people will continue to send their wholehearted support and encouragement for their future activities.” It also thanked the fans for their support of the group for the past seven years. Although the group was officially declared disbanded in November 2016, it turns out that all the former members of the group are still communicating with each other and are on good terms. Hyun-young revealed that all the members still have a good relationship when she sat down in an interview back in 2017. She commented on Rainbow’s disbandment, “It’s not disbandment. I look at it as a temporary suspension. The word disbandment is so sad. Although our contract expired, the members still contact each other often. Though we can’t meet as often as before, our chat room is still very energetic. Not much has changed between us after our contract expired, because we’re like family. If any of the members are doing well, we all congratulate them. We still have a good relationship.” She went on, “There are a lot of regrets. I was thinking over these regrets one day and I watched our old performances online. When I saw those, I remembered how happy I was then and I started to miss it already. I was a little sad thinking, ‘When will I be able to stand on the same stage as members like these again?’ ” After Rainbow’s disbandment, Hyunyoung signed with the agency Mama Creative on January 23rd, 2017, where she would begin focusing on acting from then on. On December 23rd, 2019, she signed to a new agency called STX Lionheart and would be joining Jung Jun-ho, Ji Hyun-woo, and more actors and actresses from the label. She also created her own YouTube channel on November 24th, 2018, where she gained a large base of 46.6K subscribers.
