Kang Hajoon (Hangul: 강하준), also known by his stage name JOON, is a singer, rapper, model and actor under PHX Entertainment and NEXT SPACE Entertainment. He is a member of the project boy group SOLUNEX, and a former member of pre-debut trainee team PHX Rookies.
Background[]
Early life[]
Ha-joon was born in Gyeonggi-do, South Korea, from busy parents that work as scientists in Chicago, United States. For this reason, he moved to Chicago with them when he was only 4 years old. During its primary school years, he started attending drama classes in his school and he joined the drama club of its school. His passion for performing arts, especially acting and singing, had him to audition for and guest in many musicals, and after discovering the boy group and SHINee in 2011, he started loving k-pop. Since then, he started practicing his vocal and dancing skills, improving them more and more year after year, to successfully achive his dream after entering an entertainment agency.
New York, YG Entertainment (2014-2019)[]
At the end of 2014, he and his family moved to Manhattan, New York. He started freestyle rapping in the streets of Manhattan with a group of friends in 2015, and during one of his performances he was street scouted by a YG Entertainment employee, that reccomended him to audition. Hajoon's father was very happy finding out that he wanted to audition, unlike his mother, that was a bit hesitant. Hajoon auditioned for the agency later on the same year, and he was accepted. He trained in YG Entertainment for 4 years, until 2019.
Entering PHX Entertainment (2019)[]
Right after his contract with YG expired, he auditioned for many entertainment agencies. He was accepted in PHX Entertainment, so he became a trainee.
Transfer to NEXT SPACE Ent. (2020-2021)[]
He was later transferred to NEXT SPACE Entertainment when PHX announced their collaboration project with the company, that consisted in recruiting trainees for a boy group. There, he was promoted both as a trainee and as an actor. After his entrance in NEXT SPACE he became a model under the former's parent company PUDDING Creative, and its modeling subsidiary PUDDING+.
As of 2021, he had accumulated over 200.000 followers in the span of 3 years because of him being an ex-YG trainee, and because of him starring as a teacher in the drama The Youth's Genesis in the same year.
On April 19, 2022 PHX Entertainment confirmed in a press article that they would debut Hajoon as a soloist in collaboration with NEXT SPACE Entertainment in the summer. The two companies later cancelled solo debut plans for Hajoon following his debut in the boy group SOLUNEX.
Star Maker X 101, SOLUNEX (2022-present)[]
On June 10, he was announced as a contestant on Star Maker X 1O1, alongside his groupmate Choi Yujun. On September 10, the Star Maker X 101 finale premiered, and he made it to the final lineup of the project boy group SOLUNEX, placing 4th among the 101 trainees.
Song credits[]
| Year | Artist | Album | Song | Writing | Composer | Arranger |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | Dongmin | Good Night | Starry Night | ✔️ | ❌ | ❌ |
| Go Ahead |
Trivia[]
- Hajoon often goes live on Instagram
- He likes teasing his dormmates and making jokes
- Other PHX Rookies trainees define him as "moodmaker" and "night owl"
- He followed Chaewon of SWAN on Instagram even before entering PHX Entertainment
- His favorite boy groups are 6topia, SHINee and EXO
- His favorite girl groups are Red Velvet, BLACKPINK and Dreamcatcher