Crush

A South Korean rapper and R&B singer with nearly a dozen Top 10 hits on the GAON Digital Chart, Crush was born as "Shin Hyo-seob" in Seoul on May 3, 1992. Inspired by albums like Dynamic Duo's landmark 2004 release Taxi Driver, he began rapping and performing at a young age. The 2012 single "Red Dress" marked his debut as a solo artist, followed one year later by "Where Do You Wanna Go," his first song to crack the Top 20 in South Korea. Now affiliated with the indie record label Amoeba Culture, he became one of his country's biggest names in hip-hop with his 2014 debut album, Crush on You, which won "Best R&B & Soul Album" at the 12th Korean Music Awards. The record peaked at Number 8 in South Korean and produced the singles "Sometimes" and "Hug Me," both of which were Top 10 hits. A handful of non-album singles followed, including the Number 1 hit "Just" (from 2015) and the number 2 hit "Don't Forget" (a Taeyeon duet from 2016). "Beautiful," his contribution to the soundtrack of the television show Guardian: The Lonely and Great God, also peaked at Number 2 in 2016, as did his single "Fall." After maintaining his place in the mainstream with EPs like Interlude (2016), Wonderlust (2016), and Wonderlost (2018), Crush returned in 2019 with another full-length effort, From Midnight to Sunrise, which was named "R&B Album of the Year" at the following year's Korean Hip-Hop Awards. Although the album failed to chart any significant hits, standalone singles like "Nappa" and "Bittersweet" cemented Crush's place in the Top 10, with another Taeyeon collaboration, "Let Me Go," charting at number 8 in 2020. Two years later, the non-album single "Rush Hour" reached number 2. Crush released his third album, Wondergo, that same year, led by the single "Hmm-cheat."