Jihyo, the leader of girl group Twice and Kang Daniel, former boy band member have called it quits. Twice’s management agency JYP Entertainment confirmed the news.
On Tuesday (November 10), South Korean tabloid Dispatch reported that the reason for the breakup was because they do not have time for each other due to hectic schedules. JYP Entertainment confirmed the news and said: “It is true that they broke up recently.”
Kang is now managed by his own label. He was formerly a member of the now-disbanded boy band Wanna One. Last August, the former couple, both 23, made public their romance after photos of Jihyo, whose real name is Park Ji-hyo, arriving at Kang’s residence in Seoul were published by Dispatch.
Their romance made the news as it is rare for artistes to date openly in the K-pop industry where romantic relationships are often forbidden.
The two are also major K-pop stars in their own right. The nine-member Twice is one of the most popular South Korean girl groups in recent years while Kang sailed to first place in the second season of reality competition series Produce 101 in 2017, debuting shortly after as a member of Wanna One.
His solo career since the group disbanded in 2019 has also blossomed.
He surpassed an impressive one million copies in cumulative album sales in August, just over a year since his solo debut.
Twice, commonly stylized as TWICE, is a South Korean girl group formed by JYP Entertainment. The group is composed of nine members: Nayeon, Jeongyeon, Momo, Sana, Jihyo, Mina, Dahyun, Chaeyoung, and Tzuyu. Twice was formed under the television programme Sixteen (2015) and debuted on October 20, 2015, with the extended play (EP) The Story Begins.
Twice rose to domestic fame in 2016 with their single “Cheer Up”, which charted at number one on the Gaon Digital Chart, becoming the best-performing single of the year, and won “Song of the Year” at the Melon Music Awards and Mnet Asian Music Awards. Their next single, “TT”, from their third EP Twicecoaster: Lane 1, topped the Gaon charts for four consecutive weeks.
The EP was the highest selling K-pop girl group album of 2016. Within 19 months after debut, Twice had already sold over 1.2 million units of their four EPs and special album; in 2019, they became the best-selling Korean girl group of all-time. The group has sold over nine million albums in South Korea and Japan as of July 2020. In 2020, Twice signed with Republic Records for American promotions as part of a partnership with JYP Entertainment./TISG