Hwasa

Ahn Hye-jin (born July 23, 1995), known professionally by her stage name Hwasa (stylized as Hwa Sa), is a South Korean singer-songwriter, rapper and television personality.

Ahn Hye-jin was born on July 23, 1995, in Jeonju, Jeollabuk-do, South Korea, where she lived with her parents and two elder sisters.

She graduated from Wonkwang Information Arts High School.

Hwasa often cites Beyoncé as her music inspiration, stating that after hearing someone say that she was unique and good at singing but was fat and not pretty, she went home and watched videos of Beyoncé performing all night to comfort herself.

Even before her K-pop debut, a number of South Korean artists – including artist Solbi and the band Standing Egg – recognized her talent and featured her on their tracks when she was 18.

She rose to prominence as a member of the girl group Mamamoo in 2014.

Hwasa debuted as a member of the girl group Mamamoo on June 19, 2014, being one of the leading voices with the release of the lead single "Mr. Ambiguous" from their first extended play (EP) Hello.

She wrote and composed her first solo song, "My Heart/I Do Me", from Hello.

In March 2018, Hwasa released her second solo song, "Be Calm", as part of Mamamoo's sixth EP, Yellow Flower.

The music video for the song was uploaded on March 25, 2018, and gained 7.9 million views as of August 2022.

"Be Calm" charted at number 35 on the Gaon Download Chart.

In April 2018, Hwasa joined the cast of KBS reality television show Hyena on the Keyboard; the appearance spawned a collaboration with rapper Loco titled "Don't".

Hwasa took part in writing and composing the song, and it topped the South Korean's Gaon Digital Chart.

In February 2019, she made her solo debut with the song "Twit" which topped the Circle Digital Chart and won song of the year at the Gaon Chart Music Awards.

"Don't" was later certified Platinum for 100 million streams in January 2019 and again for 2.5 million downloads in August 2019.

In February 2019, Hwasa made her debut as a solo artist with the digital single, "Twit," which she participated in writing and composing.

The song was a commercial success, peaking atop the Gaon Digital Chart and scored a "Triple Crown," topping the Gaon Digital, Gaon Download and Gaon Streaming charts.

"Twit" also peaked at number three on Billboard World Digital Song Sales chart for the week of March 2, 2019.

Hwasa released the single "In The Fall," a collaboration with South Korean hip-hop producer Woogie, in October.

In December, "Twit" was featured in Billboard "The 25 Best K-pop Songs of 2019: Critics' Pick" list at number 8 and in Refinery29's list of "The Best K-Pop Songs of 2019" at number 13.

Its music video was also included in Rolling Stone India's article of the "10 Best K-pop Music Videos of 2019".

In 2020, Hwasa debuted as part of the Refund Sisters with the single "Don't Touch Me," which reached number one in South Korea.

In 2021, she released her EP, María, which charted at number five in her home country, while its lead single "María" peaked at number two on the Gaon Charts, earning her a Golden Disc and Mnet Asian Music Award.

In 2023, Hwasa left RBW and signed with P Nation, releasing her second digital single, "I Love My Body," which reached the top-ten of the Circle Digital Chart and Billboard World Digital Song Sales chart in the United States.

In March 2020, Hwasa collaborated with the English singer Dua Lipa for a remix of Lipa's "Physical," which features Korean lyrics.

In April, it was reported that Hwasa had joined the original soundtrack lineup of the Korean drama The King: Eternal Monarch and would be releasing her first solo soundtrack song, titled "Orbit."

The song debuted at number 16 on Billboard World Digital Song Sales Chart on May 2, 2020.

On June 29, Hwasa released her debut EP, titled María, and the lead single of the same name.

The EP debuted at number seven on the Billboard World Albums chart and peaked at number eighty-one on the Billboard Top Current Albums Sales charts on July 11, 2020.

Lead single "María" was composed by Hwasa and producer Park Woo-sang with the goal of showing her growth as a singer-songwriter.

Hwasa also wrote the lyrics for "LMM" and composed "Why."

For the week of September 26, 2020, "María" peaked at number two on Billboard K-pop Hot 100 and on the week of October 3, 2020, it peaked at number 79 on Billboard Japan Hot 100.

"María" also debuted at number six on the Billboard World Digital Song Sales chart.

On season six of JTBC's entertainment show Hidden Singer, Hwasa was one of the contestants for the episode airing on September 11, 2020.

In the final round, Hwasa won by an overwhelming 79 votes, which ended the four consecutive losing streaks from previous contestants and earned the singer her second win as an original singer of the season.

Hwasa joined the cast of MBC reality-variety show How Do You Play? On October 10, she debuted with Refund Sisters, the project supergroup created through Hangout with Yoo.

The group released their debut single, "Don't Touch Me."

"Don't Touch Me" peaked atop the Gaon Digital Chart for two consecutive weeks.

At the end of 2020, Billboard named "María" the song with the second-most weeks inside the K-pop Hot 100 top 10 during the course of the year—charting for 19 consecutive weeks, while Spotify ranked Hwasa number 4 in their "2020 Most Played Female Korean K-pop Artist" list.

"María" was ranked 2nd in Rolling Stone Indias list of 20 Best K-pop Music Videos of the year and 27th in Papers list of best K-pop song list of 40 Best K-pop Songs of 2020.