Holland (singer)

Holland released his debut single, "Neverland", on January 22, 2018. Its music video accumulated over 1 million views in 20 hours.[3] In the video, it shows him and his male counterpart kissing. The video received a 19+ rating in South Korea.[2]

He returned on June 6 with his next single, "I'm Not Afraid". The music video also received a 19+ rating, but it was soon after removed.[4] His third single, "I'm So Afraid", was released on July 17. On September 6, Holland launched a crowdfunding campaign to help fund his first mini-album. He raised $40,000 in the first 24 hours.[5]

On March 19, 2019, Holland announced his self-titled mini album, Holland, and the tracks "Nar_C" and "Up" on his Twitter and Instagram pages.[6] The album was released on March 31, 2019 at 6PM KST.

Holland is known as "the first openly gay K-pop idol". Holland's family consists of him, his mother, and his father. He is an only child.[7] His parents found out about his sexuality after an article of an interview had been released. Holland, who was not home at the time, had written a letter to his family after they found out and explained everything to them. His family tearfully accepted him, unaware of the hardships he had gone through because of his sexuality.[8] He is currently a student of Seoul Institute of Arts.[9]

He decided to make his debut as a singer to speak out based on his experiences with violent assailants and victims inflicted on sexual minorities.[10] While preparing the album, he tried to sign several agencies for his debut, but the deal was broken when he told the story of the sexual minority through music and expressed his wish to develop a discourse on discrimination against the sex minority on his own. In the end, he produced his first single with the money he saved from his part-time job for about two years without his agency.[11]

• Holland on YouTube