Author: Abby Webster
Date published: April 13th, 2023
Please read the article on the original website, it helps for metrics for the journalists (and DAWN if they see people read articles about him). The article is saved here below as back-up in case of paywall or deleted article.
Dawn Remembers Relationship With HyunA “Fondly,” Explores Sacrifice on New Song “Dear My Light”
“There are some situations where letting go also helps people shine, though,” he tells Teen Vogue.
Kim Hyojong, known by his stage name Dawn, is done with the spectacle. In the music video for his confessional new single “Dear My Light,” wisps of smoke efface the K-pop star, and a media circus confronts his anonymous silhouette. It’s a powerful statement from an artist whose private life has been broadcast everywhere online for the past year.
That’s not to say his songwriting isn’t personal. He’s just being intentional with how it’s packaged. “Even if there’s something I want to hide in my life,” Dawn says over a video call, “whether I share it or not is up to the music.” Form is everything to him, and the acoustic “Dear My Light” is first and foremost a letter. The subject remains nameless, though its addressee would be immediately obvious to even a casual K-pop listener.
In 2018, soloist HyunA revealed that she and Dawn had been secretly dating, contradicting a statement from their company. At the time, he was just beginning to break through with his group Pentagon, while she had been making a name for herself in the industry for nearly a decade. The move got them kicked from Cube Entertainment, though they were signed by P Nation, Psy’s label, shortly after. In the following years, fans honed in on the underdog romance. For better or for worse, HyunA and Dawn became inextricably tied in the public’s mind.
Last year, when the couple quietly let their P Nation contracts expire, few predicted what would happen next. “We broke up,” a post to HyunA’s Instagram read. “We decided to remain good friends and co-workers from now on. Thank you always for your support and care.”
Now, at his new creative home AT AREA, Dawn is ready to start fresh — but “Dear My Light,” his reentry into the K-pop scene, isn’t tinged with regret as you might expect. It’s defined by its gratitude and grace. Ahead of its release on April 13, Dawn spoke to Teen Vogue about stepping into the spotlight alone and being understood by the ones who matter most.
Teen Vogue: “Dear My Light” is your most personal, raw single to date. What made it feel like this was the right next step for you?
Dawn: Well, it is what I’m experiencing right now. I just so happened to also meet and find a new family in AT AREA. In our conversations, the idea of wanting to put sincerity in music came up often, which is how this single came to be.
Teen Vogue: How would you describe the message of the song, in your own words? Dawn: I think every person, no matter how bright they are, has a dark side. I am like this, too. There are times when the darkness becomes darker. This happened to me, but then, during that time, I met someone who was a great light in my life. This person was able to make my darkness become light again. It’s these sorts of experiences and feelings that allowed me to make this song. As I was writing it, I felt as if I was writing a letter to this person.
Obviously, what I experienced was a breakup. But this person was such a light to me that even now I remember them and our moments together fondly. These memories could become faint and disappear altogether later on, but I believe the traces of the person will always remain.
Teen Vogue: Writing a letter to someone can be very cathartic, even if there’s the possibility they might not read it. Dawn: I think of it like this: This person was a light for me, but I was also a light for them. If this person is the person that I know them to be, then they will definitely read this letter and correctly understand what I tried to say.
Teen Vogue: There’s a lyric: “Even if I have to let go a lot of me for you to shine / I’m fine.” Have you felt that way in your career as an idol, that you’ve had to let go of a part of yourself? Dawn: In Korea, there is a negative perception towards idols dating. This does influence the situation. But both me and the person I dated, in my mind, were people who shined more if we were honest [with the public about our relationship]. There are some situations where letting go also helps people shine, though.
Love is between two individual people. There always has to be a certain amount of consideration and sacrifice from one person to the other. But rather than sacrifice, I like to think of it as care and consideration. In any relationship, care for the other is necessary.
Teen Vogue: It’s fitting that you bring up your life as an artist and your life as a part of this relationship, because those are two things that became very publicly entangled. How have you been unraveling those threads? Dawn: The events overlapped with each other. I left my old company on good terms, but I left because I wanted to do something new. At the time, I wasn’t sure what that was. I wasn’t prepared. At the same time, the person that I loved most said they needed some time alone, so we were apart from each other. It was a hard time in my life, but now I see that hardship was what helped me clearly determine what path I needed to follow. I’m going to continue to think back on that time and follow this path as I move forward.
Now, in my new company, I’ve figured out what type of music I want to do, the things that I have to do, and the stories I have to tell. I also figured out what I want to tell my fans who love me. As difficult as that time was, it was also eye-opening. I plan to continue to work through it with my company in order to find a variety of things that I can offer beyond just music.
Teen Vogue: With you moving to AT AREA, are we going to be seeing more hip-hop and R&B influence in your music?
Dawn: Not necessarily. Rather than dividing it into genres like hip-hop, R&B, dance, or EDM, I think K-pop has its own specific appeal. As it continues to influence and be influenced by music across the world, K-pop continues to develop. Rather than saying I’ll do R&B or hip-hop, I think it’s better to say that I will continue to do K-pop.
Teen Vogue: In the past, you’ve described “Dawndididawn” as an introduction to who you were as a soloist, at that time. Given your life and label changes in the past year, would you say this is a *re*introduction?
Dawn: I don’t really consider it a redo. No matter how much I would want to redo something, the Internet already has all the things I have done. [Laughs] They’re not going away.
But also, I don’t want to redo anything. It’s a path I’ve already walked and I don’t see it as bad. I like what I have done. And there were fans who liked that me but have stayed with me, so I want to build upon that rather than redo. The only difference is that the person I was then is different than who I am now. But I love both.
Teen Vogue: How do you hope fans will view this new chapter?
Dawn: It’s nice that people know Dawn the artist, the entity that is Dawn, but my real name is Hyojong. I was afraid to let people know me because Dawn the artist is spectacular and strong, but Hyojong is, in my mind, a very plain, sometimes cowardly, and not necessarily impressive person.
I tried to hide Hyojong, but now I want Dawn to be Hyojong and Hyojong to be Dawn. Hyojong is stronger and continues to become stronger. And I personally find that impressive.
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