Adora (singer)

Adora began singing and writing songs at an early age.[3] One of her first compositions was a fan song she wrote for the band Highlight in 2011, when she was 13 years old.[4]

She joined Stardom Entertainment as a 14-year-old in 2012.[5] She trained with the South Korean band Topp Dogg, co-composing the song "Playground" from their debut EP Dogg's Out, released in 2013.[6] She left the company for unknown reasons and subsequently joined Music K Entertainment in 2014, where she trained with members of the South Korean group The Ark, but did not make it into the final lineup.[7]

In 2016, she auditioned for Big Hit Music's "Next New Creator", where she made it past the second round, but turned down the offer because she was still a trainee with another company at the time. Nevertheless, Big Hit sent her some tracks for BTS' sophomore album Wings, including "Interlude: Wings", which became her first professional songwriting credit under the name Adora. Among her other earliest works were the singles "Spring Day" and "Not Today" on BTS' repackage album You Never Walk Alone (2017).[8] After leaving her previous company, she joined Big Hit when they invited her to become an in-house producer.[9]

As a producer for Big Hit, she co-wrote songs for TXT and GFriend.[10][11] Although she had a good relationship with the company, she left the company in 2020 because she felt she wasn't contributing enough creatively.[12][13]

On October 25, 2021, media outlets announced that Adora had signed an exclusive contract with Aura Entertainment.[14][15] She officially debuted as a singer on November 5 with the release of the single "Make U Dance", in collaboration with Dingo Music.[16] Adora made a spontaneous decision to feature Eunha of Viviz on the single, in order to include a different voice in the song.[17] In December, the Recording Academy spotlighted Adora as one of five K-pop songwriters and producers who "defined 2021" by making a mark worldwide.[18] She was also named by NME,[19] Tone Deaf,[20] and Bandwagon[21] as one of several new artists to watch in 2022.

On March 7, 2022, Adora released the single "The Little Name," inspired by some of her childhood memories, including certain people whom she missed from that time.[22] An animated music video loosely based on Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's The Little Prince accompanied the song.[23][24] On June 1, she released the single "Trouble? Travel!"[25][26] Adora appeared on KBS2's Music Bank to promote the single, marking her first performance on a weekly domestic music show.[27] In July, the U+Idol Live music variety show Sing in the Green confirmed that she would be a cast member, which premiered on July 27.[28] She released three songs during her time on the show: "Together Forever" featuring Kim Dong-hyun on August 24;[29] a solo track, "The End of Eternity," on September 14;[30] and "Sing in the Green" featuring the entire cast on September 28.[31][32]

On September 26, Adora released her debut extended play (EP) Adorable Rebirth. The nine-track EP included her three previously released singles and six new songs, including an instrumental version of the lead single "Magical Symphony."[33] She held a showcase for this release at the Ilji Art Hall in Gangnam, Seoul.[34] In early October, Adora participated in the Mnet survival show Artistock Game,[35] but was eliminated in the eighth episode, right before the semi-final round.[36]

On August 21, 2023, Aura Entertainment confirmed that Adora will join SBS's survival competition show Universe Ticket, which will be premiered on November, as a mentor.[37] On September 13, she sang "Nth Universe", the original soundtrack for Naver Webtoon's digital comic series My Reason to Die.[38]