Even as their fans are doing everything in their power to bring IZ*ONE back together, the girl group’s 12 members are moving on with their lives. The latest member to move forward with her post-disbandment plans is lead vocalist, leader, and main dancer Kwon Eunbi.
After IZ*ONE disbanded in April, Eunbi returned to her agency Woollim Entertainment. One of the first things she did upon her return was sing IU’s hit single “Eight” for Woollim the Live 3.5.
On May 23, she opened a personal Instagram account with the username “@silver_rain.__.”—a clever play on words, since “Eun” means “silver” and “bi” means “rain.” Less than an hour after she created her account, Eunbi had already racked up over 100,000 followers. Right now, she has almost 850,000 and counting.
Eunbi also joined the global fan community platform UNIVERSE, through which her former group released different types of content, such as the reality show Fantastic IZ: Hidden School and the single “D-D-Dance.” As one of the newest artists there, she plans to use it to stay in touch with her fans. She has said she wants to hold fan meetings and fan sign events with UNIVERSE.
Furthermore, in a recent interview with ESQUIRE Korea, Eunbi opened up about her plans to release new music.
The media outlet compiled questions from some of Eunbi’s fans, and one of them wanted to know whether she had ticked off all the items on her bucket list for the year already. Eunbi said no, but she added that might change very soon. She revealed that the number one item on her bucket list for 2021 is to release a solo album, and to the fan’s delight, she went on to say that she’s already preparing to do so.
Most female Produce 101 contestants went on to debut in new girl groups after their project group disbanded. But Eunbi had already been in two groups—before becoming the leader of IZ*ONE, she had been part of a short-lived girl group called Ye-A—so her fans didn’t think that it would be right for her to join another one.
Eunbi’s solo debut is sure to be successful, since she’s a total performer. She’s a great dancer and singer. During her time on Produce 48, she had the opportunity to show off her footwork during the Position Evaluation. She was the center of her group, which performed Demi Lovato’s “Sorry Not Sorry.”
When the time came for the Concept Evaluation, she became her group’s main vocalist and sang her heart out on “Rumor.”
Meanwhile, even as the IZ*ONE members’ solo careers are heating up, a group of fans are still working hard to make a reunion happen by way of the Parallel Universe Project. However, Dispatch revealed that some of the girls actually don’t want a reunion.
In their report, the members weren’t identified by name. Instead, they were only assigned different letters. One member wasn’t mentioned, but the rest were. Members A and B, as previously mentioned, had no desire to reform the group. The latter is seriously thinking about going solo, as are members C, D, and E. Based on Eunbi’s recent revelation, it’s safe to assume that she’s among those four.
Meanwhile, members F and G are taking a break before deciding on their next activities. Members H and I actually want a reunion, as do members J and K, but they admitted that the chances of one happening are quite slim.
Only time will tell whether the fans’ efforts will bear fruit or not. In the meantime, let’s all keep an eye out for the members’ next steps.