Future Asian & Pacific History Month: Dean's Convention-Smashing Rise
Fuse is celebrating Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month by looking at a variety of rising forces who are creating Future Asian and Pacific History before our eyes. Today, we're honoring Dean, Korea's alternative-R&B singer-producer to watch that isn't just gaining a huge following thanks to his smooth croons and insane productions, but for refusing to be a singer who follows conventions.
Born and raised in Seoul, South Korea, Dean (neé Kwon Hyuk) never had a limited viewpoint for how far his music could go. Despite not being totally fluent in English—and a listen to any of his songs would trick into thinking otherwise—Dean began his career by releasing music in English, starting with the impressive Eric Bellinger collaboration "I'm Not Sorry" in mid 2015 that was catered to the U.S. market.
Since then, the now-24-year-old has continued to operate on both sides of the world, releasing more and more impressive music (he landed two songs on the 2016 Billboard critics list of best K-pop songs including the No. 1 pick, "Bermuda Triangle") with more and more impressive collaborators (acts that range from R&B to K-pop to hip-hop including Anderson .Paak, Zico, Taeyeon, Gaeko, Syd) to continue his exciting rise in the music industry.
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