Kwon Eunbi's New Single, New Label, and a Quiet Push to Reunite IZ*ONE by 2028

Kwon Eunbi has one quote that cuts through everything else she said in her pre-release interview: "My name is known, but the only song the public knows is 'Underwater.' Now I want to be recognized through my albums."

That's a candid admission from someone with genuine public visibility. The 'Summer Queen' label she picked up after a string of provocative outdoor festival performances brought her advertising deals and event bookings. It didn't, in her telling, bring the artistic credibility she actually wants.

DEJAVU and the pivot to disco-pop

The new single DEJAVU, released through her new label RBW on September 3, is a calculated step away from her previous sound. Where her earlier work leaned on intense, high-gloss dance tracks, DEJAVU sits on a rhythmic bassline and a bright guitar groove, with her vocals riding the top of it for a deliberately hazy, low-key feel. It's her first time working in disco-pop, and the contrast with something like Underwater is real.

"On stage I'm intense, but off it I'm bright and easy-going," she said. "I thought, what if I expressed that side of Kwon Eunbi through music?"

She's not stopping at disco-pop. She mentioned UK garage and band-oriented sounds as genres she wants to get to, and framed the whole project in terms of unpredictability: she wants people to hear a new direction and think that's unexpected for her. "Rather than being rooted in one genre, I want to be like flower petals of different shapes, varied."

The label switch to RBW was part of the reset. She said the company's vision for what kind of artist she should be and what kind of albums she should make matched her own closely enough that she felt comfortable being direct about what she wants, without musical compromise.

A long road to this point

Kwon Eunbi has been in the industry long enough that the reset carries some weight. She debuted in 2014 with girl group YEAA without making much of a dent, then came back in 2018 through Mnet's Produce 48, which placed her in IZ*ONE as the group's leader. That group ran until 2021, building a genuine fanbase and releasing hits across their contract period. Solo work followed, starting with the mini-album OPEN in 2021, and Underwater eventually broke through via word of mouth and landed on Melon's Top 100 in 2022.

Her family opposed the career from the start. She brought it up herself when asked what keeps her going. "I kept falling, so I wanted to get back up like a tumbler toy. I kept asking myself why I needed to succeed, and just held on."

The moment her parents cried watching her name get called during IZ*ONE activities was the other thing she mentioned. "I thought, one step at a time, there's nowhere to go but up."

The IZ*ONE reunion she's already planning

Here's where the interview got interesting. I-O-I, the senior Produce 101 group, reunited earlier this year for their 10th anniversary and swept charts. IZ*ONE's own 10th anniversary lands in 2028. Fans have been watching that number get closer. Now there's something more concrete to point to.

Kwon Eunbi confirmed that a group of IZ*ONE members, herself, Cho Yuri, Choi Yena, Kim Chaewon, Kim Minju, Honda Hitomi, and Yabuki Nako, met up recently. The I-O-I reunion was fresh in everyone's minds.

"We were talking about how we'd love to release an album and promote together for our 10th anniversary," she said. "Watching the seniors perform happily on stage, we thought, if the timing works, let's get together. We could do it so well. While we're all at our best and have the opportunity, wouldn't it be great to reunite even once?"

She didn't stop at wanting it. "I felt a sense of responsibility, that I'd need to be the one to make it happen."

That's not a vague hope floated for press. That's the leader of a disbanded group saying she's ready to organize it. Whether the logistics across members on different labels in two countries actually line up by 2028 is a separate question, but the intent is clearly there.