DEAN
권혁- Name
- Kwon Hyuk
Started as a songwriter in Shin Hyuk's Joombas team, with a credit on EXO's "Black Pearl", before singing his own songs.
Their story
Writing for others
Kwon Hyuk grew up in Korea and, in his own words, started out as a composer first. He joined Shin Hyuk's Joombas team and picked up credits on EXO's "Black Pearl" and John Park's "U". His singing career began in English: "I'm Not Sorry", with Eric Bellinger, came out in the US and UK in 2015. That October he made his Korean debut with "I Love It", featuring Dok2.
TRBL
Within months he had a run of features and duets with Zico, Crush and Gaeko, and "Pour Up" won him a Korean Music Award. The EP 130 Mood: TRBL in March 2016 gathered that sound into one record, and the Korean press still calls it a turning point for local R&B. In February 2017 "Come Over" with Baek Ye-rin went to the top of several charts. Then on 26 December, "instagram" reached number one on seven music sites within two days.
Moody and slow
DEAN's songs sit between R&B and hip hop, often slow and a little gloomy. "instagram" is about lying awake at night scrolling through the Instagram feed. He produces his own work and has long kept company with the crew Fanxy Child, alongside Zico and Crush. He also works across borders, with American artists such as Anderson .Paak and Syd.
Where he is now
After the English single "Howlin' 404" in May 2019, he went quiet. The return, "Die 4 You" in November 2023, was his first solo song in four and a half years. By then he had set up his own label, You.Will.Knovv. A two-part single with FKJ followed in November 2024. In May 2026 he and Anderson .Paak released "Aftertaste" for the film K-Pops!, eleven years after their first song together.