An exclusive preview of Mnet's K-pop survival program "Queendom 2" was streamed live on the broadcaster's official YouTube channel on Friday.


The preview episode featured female K-pop acts — Hyolyn, Brave Girls, Viviz, WJSN, Kep1er and Loona — behind-the-scenes footage of the contestants and the casting process for the upcoming survival program, as well as interviews about how the artists feel about competing against each other.

The 43-minute clip is No. 11 on YouTube's list of trending videos in Korea and has some 3.6 million views as of Sunday afternoon.

Of the six competing acts, Hyolyn is the only soloist. She will take on girl groups with as many as 12 members (Loona).

Hyolyn is a veteran K-pop artist with 12 years of experience. The youngest act competing in "Queendom 2" is Kep1er, a nine-member rookie girl group that debuted in January 2022.

Unlike other contestants, who were anxious about the upcoming competition, Hyolyn showed off a cooler and more relaxed attitude in the preview episode.

“The first thing that came to my mind when I heard that the 'Queendom 2' crew wanted to cast me, was ‘Oh it’s a competition again,” Hyolyn said.

“However, I think I do so many competition programs because I enjoy them,” she said. “It is really hard, but I like overcoming that challenge.”

Hyolyn has competed, judged and appeared as a guest on dozens of competition programs before "Queendom 2" such as KBS’s "Immortal Songs" in 2011, Mnet’s “Unpretty Rapstar 2” in 2015, MBC’s "King of Mask Singer" in 2015 and SBS’s "Fantastic Duo 2" in 2017.

Most recently, she appeared as a contestant on streaming platform Watcha’s original music performance competition program, “Double Trouble” (2022) which aired its final episode on March 18. Hyolyn and her duet partner Junsu took home the final trophy and prize money of 100 million won ($81,600).

Hope Bridge Association of the National Disaster Relief on Thursday said that Hyolyn and Junsu had donated the entirety of their prize money to help those displaced by massive wildfires that swept the country’s eastern coast from March 4 to 13.


On "Double Trouble," Hyolyn competed against singers 2AM's Seulong, Hyunseung, Block B's Taeil, SF9's Inseong, WEi's Kim Dong Han, Minzy, ChoA, KARD's Jiwoo, and Weeekly's Monday.

Mnet also released 90-second teaser clips of the contestants' opening performances.

Living up to her nickname “Korea’s Beyoncé,” Hyolyn's performance in the clip showcased her powerful vocals and choreography.

Clad in black, Hyolyn sang her song “9LIVES” (2020) then performed choreography to another one of her songs “Dally” (2020).

While other girl groups used remixes for their opening performances on "Queendom 2," Hyolyn played her original music, emphasizing her confidence in her song and style.

“Queendom 2" sees six high-profile female K-pop acts compete against each other by releasing a new song on the same day. In the first season of “Queendom” (2019), the winner won a solo comeback show on Mnet.

Taeyeon of girl group Girls' Generation will host the show which will air every Thursday at 9:20 p.m. for 10 weeks from March 31.

Hyolyn (Kim Hyo-jung)

Date of birth: Dec. 11, 1990
Zodiac sign: Sagittarius
Birthplace: Michuhol District, Incheon
Debut: June 2010 as a member of girl group Sistar
Agency: Bridge Entertainment

Hyolyn debuted as one of the four-member girl group Sistar in 2010 with the single “Push Push.” The group had hit songs like “So Cool” (2011) and “Touch My Body” (2014). Since 2011, Hyolyn was also part of Sistar’s subunit called Sistar19 with member Bora. In 2013, Hyolyn made her debut as a solo artist with an album titled “Love & Hate” with title tracks, "Lonely" and "One Way Love.” After seven years on the K-pop scene, Sistar disbanded in 2017. Now, Hyolyn is a solo artist, actively dropping EPs and singles every year. Her latest album “Layin' Low” was released in January 2022. She also set up her own entertainment agency Bridge Entertainment in 2017. The agency represents Hyolyn, but the artist herself is not the CEO of the company.

This information was confirmed by Bridge Entertainment on March 25, 2022.

BY LEE JIAN [lee.jian@joongang.co.kr]