What will Miyawaki Sakura’s second challenge in Korea be like?
On March 14th, Source Music, now under HYBE, announced that Sakura Miyawaki had signed an exclusive contract with the label after graduating from HKT48.
Sakura began her career as an idol in July 2011, when she passed the HKT48 1st gen audition and was in 6th grade. After 8 months, Sakura was officially promoted to full member status of HKT48 Team H on March 4, 2012, along with 15 other trainees. Since then, Sakura has been active as a center in HKT48 and AKB48 and received tremendous love from fans. She also appeared in dramas and commercials and strengthened her position as an actress and advertising model.
Then in June 2018, Sakura decided to participate in the girl group survival program Produce 48 hosted by Mnet. She was already the most popular idol in Japan, so her sudden trip to Korea and appearance in survival programs were enough to become a big issue in both Korea and Japan. Although Sakura had her ups and downs, she proudly took a place as a member of IZ*ONE, ranking second in the final.
Sakura, who made her re-debut in Korea, was able to go on a roll with IZ*ONE‘s high popularity. IZ*ONE topped the music show for the first time with “La Vie en Rose” 11 days after their debut, and upon their debut, IZ*ONE rose to the top girl group in Korea, receiving Rookie Of The Year awards at AAA and MAMA in 2018. Thus, Sakura finished her two-and-a-half-year career with a lot of love from her fans in both Korea and Japan.
Then, Sakura returned to her original group, HKT48, but soon announced her graduation and wrapped up her HKT48 activities with a graduation concert on June 19th.
The next news the public heard from Sakura was “HYBE contract rumors’. And in August, Sakura came back to Korea, and the rumor grew that the contract with HYBE might become visible, but until then, HYBE said, “Nothing has been decided,” and no further moves were known. Then, on March 14th of this year, HYBE’s label Source Music announced that they had signed an exclusive contract with Miyawaki Sakura along with Kim Chae Won and officially announced that she would make a re-debut with a new girl group in May.
Starting with the Japanese girl group HKT48, Miyawaki Sakura is preparing for another challenge after IZ*ONE. What new side of Sakura will she show in the new girl group? Although she was Japan’s top idol, she dreams of becoming a world-class idol and is preparing for another challenge in Korea, so let’s support her future.
