Park Ji-hoon (; born March 14, 2000), known

mononymously A mononym is a name composed of only one word. An individual who is known and addressed by a mononym is a mononymous person. A mononym may be the person's only name, given to them at birth. This was routine in most ancient societies, and remains ...

as Jihoon, is a South Korean singer. He debuted in

Treasure Treasure (from from Greek ''thēsauros'', "treasure store") is a concentration of wealth — often originating from ancient history — that is considered lost and/or forgotten until rediscovered. Some jurisdictions legally define what constit ...

on August 7, 2020, and its

single album In music, a single is a type of release of a song recording of fewer tracks than an album ( LP), typically one or two tracks. A single can be released for sale to the public in a variety of physical or digital formats. Singles may be standa ...

entitled '' The First Step: Chapter One''.

Life and career

2000–2016: Early life

Park Ji-hoon was born on March 14, 2000, in

Nam District, Busan Nam District () is a '' gu'', or district, in south-central Busan, South Korea. Much of Nam District sticks out into the Sea of Japan, forming a peninsula which separates Suyeong Bay from Busan Harbor. It has an area of 25.91 km2. Nam Dist ...

, South Korea as the youngest of two sons. Albeit he enjoyed singing from a young age, he did not intend to pursue it until he encountered ''WIN: Who Is Next'' (2013) in seventh grade of middle school at age 14 (

Korean age Traditional East Asian age reckoning covers a group of related methods for reckoning human ages practiced in the East Asian cultural sphere, where age is the number of calendar years in which a person has been alive; it starts at 1 at birth and i ...

). It showcased two teams—currently active as Winner and

iKon iKon (; stylized as iKON) is a South Korean boy band formed in 2015 by YG Entertainment. The lineup consists of six members: Jay, Song, Bobby, DK, Ju-ne, and Chan. Originally a seven-piece band, B.I departed from the group in June 2019. ...

—who competed for their debut under

YG Entertainment YG Entertainment () is a South Korean Multinational corporation, multinational entertainment agency established in 1996 by Yang Hyun-suk. The company operates as a record label, talent agency, music production company, event management and conce ...

. Initiating his dream to join and debut under the label, Jihoon was accepted into its trainee program in 2016, following his audition.

2017–present: Debut with Treasure and solo endeavors

Jihoon first appeared on television in ''

Stray Kids Stray Kids (often abbreviated to SKZ; ) is a South Korean boy band formed by JYP Entertainment. The band consists of eight members: Bang Chan, Lee Know, Changbin, Hyunjin, Han (musician), Han, Felix (rapper), Felix, Seungmin, and I.N. For un ...

'' (2017) as a representative of his agency with

Bang Ye-dam Bang Ye-dam (; born May 7, 2002) is a South Korean singer. He is best known as a for competing in the second installment of ''K-pop Star'' (2012–2013) where he finished as runner-up. He debuted with the digital single titled "Wayo" () on June ...

and Doyoung amidst others. In March 2018, his

trainee A trainee is commonly known as an individual taking part in a trainee program within an organization after having graduated from technical and higher courses. A trainee is an official employee of the firm that is being trained to the job they we ...

status was revoked due to lack of progress, leading to his departure and training elsewhere. He was later invited by YG Entertainment to partake as a contestant on ''YG Treasure Box'' (2018–2019) as part of Team B. Failing to claim a position in the final septet, he was the fifth to be placed in a second line-up called "Magnum". The septet and sextet were subsequently merged and became the eventual 12-piece band, Treasure. He served as an "unofficial leader" with Choi Hyun-suk in their respective teams amidst training due to its size. With four years of training, his debut in Treasure followed on August 7, 2020, with the

entitled '' The First Step: Chapter One''. The band adopted the two-tier leadership with Jihoon and Choi after witnessing positive results from the once temporary system. In the midst of his activities with the band, Jihoon served as a host for ''Inkigayo'' with Ahn Yu-jin of Ive and

Sungchan Jung Sung-chan (; born September 13, 2001), known mononymously as Sungchan, is a South Korean rapper, singer and dancer. He rose to prominence in 2020 when he was introduced as a new member of NCT (group), NCT, a South Korean boy group managed ...

of NCT for a tenure lasting between 2021 and 2022. He was cast by the South Korean director Na Young-seok and Ha Moo-sung to appear on their series ''The Idol Ramyeonators'' (2022) with Choi Hyun-suk following their guesting on their label's special of '' The Game Caterers''.

Public image

Jihoon debuted on the Gaon Social Chart 2.0, which integrates data from SMR,

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

, Mubeat,

V Live V Live (stylized as VLIVE), sometimes referred to as V App, was a South Korean live video streaming service that allowed celebrities based in the country to broadcast live videos such as live chat sessions with fans, performances, reality show ...

and My Celebs to calibrate a ranking among fifty artists, for the month of October in 2020. He also appeared on the Korean Business Research Institute's male celebrity brand reputation list, a chart that records Korean celebrities with the most online searches and engagements, and reached the top 50 for the month of March in 2021.

Artistry

Influences

Jihoon has cited senior label-mate

Big Bang The Big Bang is a physical theory that describes how the universe expanded from an initial state of high density and temperature. Various cosmological models based on the Big Bang concept explain a broad range of phenomena, including th ...

as his musical influence, with member

Taeyang Dong Young-bae (; born May 18, 1988), better known by his stage name Taeyang () or SOL, is a South Korean singer. He made his debut in 2006 as a member of the South Korean boy band BigBang. Following the release of several albums and extended ...

captivating most of his focus.

Filmography

Web series

Television shows

Hosting

References

{{authority control 2000 births Living people Musicians from Busan People from Nam District, Busan K-pop singers Treasure (band) members South Korean male idols South Korean dance musicians YG Entertainment artists 21st-century South Korean male singers Japanese-language singers of South Korea