Chungha

Chungha (청하), born Kim Chan-mi on February 9, 1996, in Seoul, spent eight formative years in Dallas, Texas before returning to South Korea to chase a music career. She placed fourth on Produce 101 in 2016 and debuted as a member of the project group I.O.I. When I.O.I disbanded in January 2017, most of its members folded back into their agencies. Chungha went solo. The bet paid off fast. Her 2018 single "Gotta Go" became a nationwide hit, the kind of track that soundtracked every variety show clip and dance challenge for months. "Snapping" followed in 2019 with similar impact. Her debut studio album Querencia (2021) was an ambitious genre-blending project drawing comparisons to Western pop auteurs, spanning Latin pop, EDM, R&B, and hip-hop across 21 tracks. Bare&Rare (2022) and its sequel leaned harder into the club, cementing her reputation as K-pop’s most reliable solo performer on a stage. Her choreography sets her apart. In a genre where dance is standard, Chungha’s movement vocabulary pulls from contemporary, hip-hop, and Latin styles with a fluidity that most group choreographies cannot match. She signed with 88rising for international promotions and later joined Jay Park’s More Vision for management, positioning herself at the intersection of K-pop and the broader Asian diaspora music scene. 2024 brought a sharper, more layered creative phase. The digital single "Eenie Meenie" featured Hongjoong of ATEEZ, followed by the Y2K-inflected "Algorithm" in August. On February 12, 2025, Chungha returned with the single "Stress" alongside her fifth mini album Alivio -- an eight-track project that included a duet with Sunmi, another I.O.I alumna. The album showed her stretching into a more personal, self-directed sound while keeping the floor-filling energy that made her a live performance benchmark in K-pop.