On the latest episode of “The King of Mask Singer,” the identity of “Shy Smile” was revealed!
During the July 6 broadcast of the MBC singing competition, eight new contestants entered the ring to challenge the reigning champion for the throne.
In the first match-up of Round 1, “Pout” and “Shy Smile” went head-to-head with a duet version of H:CODE’s “Dream of You.”
Spoilers
After watching their performance, several of the celebrity panelists speculated that Shy Smile was an idol, with Yoo Young Seok specifically guessing that he was a rookie idol who had only recently debuted.
Although Shy Smile earned praise for his singing, he ultimately lost the round to his opponent. He then went on to perform a soulful rendition of Kwon Jin Ah’s “Something’s Wrong,” taking off his mask halfway through to reveal his identity.
The masked singer turned out to be Hyeonbin, the leader of Cube Entertainment’s rookie boy group NOWZ (formerly known as NOWADAYS), who first entered the spotlight as a contestant on Mnet’s survival show “Produce X 101” in 2019.
After debuting as NOWADAYS in 2024, NOWZ just changed their group name last month, and host Kim Sung Joo pointed out that their new name continued the Cube Entertainment tradition of group names with three syllables (when pronounced in Korean), which applies to i-dle, BTOB, BEAST, 4Minute, PENTAGON, and LIGHTSUM.
Hyeonbin also shared that he used to be a cyclist during his middle school days and once placed sixth in a national cycling race. However, in high school, he decided to become an idol after seeing BTS perform.
Watch the full episode of “The King of Mask Singer” with English subtitles on Viki below!
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