Abandoning his initial dream of becoming a soccer player, Cho Seungyoun decided to follow his path as an idol and joined groups UNIQ and X1.
Nine years after debut, whatever happened to the singer?
Cho Seungyoun in 2014 to 2022: UNIQ, 'Show Me the Money 5,' 'Produce X 101,' X1
Initially, Cho Seungyoun aspired to become a soccer player on top of being an idol. Due to this, he lived in Brazil after graduating from elementary to study sports for two years. He also studied English in an international school in the Philippines for a year, in preparation for becoming an idol.
But having two dreams, he can only pick one as a career, and Seungyoun chose the music path. He returned to Korea and started participating in auditions specifically held by the OG "BIG 3" companies - SM, JYP, and YG.
Although he met failure from the first two companies, he successfully entered YG and started his life as a trainee which lasted for a year and six months.
In 2014, he finally debuted as an idol through UNIQ, a multinational boy group created by YG Entertainment with China's Yuehua's Entertainment. In the process, the group's management was later transferred to the latter company.
The group was initially doing well in both countries until the political discord between China and Korea happened in 2016 and they had to halt their group activities completely in 2017.
Amid UNIQ's hiatus, Seungyoun joined "Show Me the Money 5" in 2016 and gained solo fame. He debuted as a soloist under the stage name Luizy, which changed into WOODZ shortly after to point out the shift in his music direction — from hip-hop to alternative R&B.
In 2019 then, he appeared in Mnet's "Produce X 101" as Cho Seungyoun and gained the modifier, "all-rounder" due to his impressive skills in singing, dancing, rapping and songwriting/composing songs.
As a result, he ranked 5th at the end of the show and was selected to join the debuting lineup for X1. When they were launched, the group was expected to conquer the fourth-gen K-pop era but, unfortunately, the team which was supposed to be active for five years briefly disbanded after five months due to a voting manipulation issue.
Where Is Cho Seungyoun in 2023 Now? Idol Continues to Promote as Soloist WOODZ
After disbandment, Cho Seungyoun decided to focus on his solo endeavors and proceed on promoting WOODZ.
His first release was made in 2020, with his first EP, "Equal" comprised of the title track, "Love Me Harder." It was briefly followed by a second EP, "Woops!"
In 2021, WOODZ continues to showcase his "all-rounder" position in addition to his "self-produced" idol title by dropping the single album, "Feel Like" and his third EP, "Only Lovers Left."
In 2022, the male singer continued to establish his solo career by unveiling his fourth EP, "Colorful Trauma." This will be his last release in Yuehua Entertainment before his contract with the company expires. He then announced that he would be starting anew under EDAM Entertainment, home to IU and actress Shin Se Kyung.
In April, WOODZ made his first release under his new agency with his fifth EP, "OO-LI." In October then, he announced his 2023 "OO-LI And" world tour, just three months after wrapping his original "OO-LI" tour.
This time, the tour will start with a two-night concert in Seoul, South Korea on October 28 and 29, followed by a three-day concert in Japan (Osaka, Nagoya and Yokohama) on November 6, 8 and 10, respectively.
On Nov. 18, he will also visit Taiwan, London (Nov. 26), Paris (Nov. 28) and LA, California (Nov. 30).
The tour will continue in December, visiting San Francisco, California (2nd), Chicago (4th), Houston, Texas (6th), Atlanta, Georgia (8th), New York (11th) and Bangkok, Thailand (Dec. 17th).
For more K-Pop news and updates, keep your tabs open here at KpopStarz.
KpopStarz owns this article.
Written by Eunice Dawson.
