Full Profile and Facts
Lee Hae-in was born on July 4th, 1994, in Masan, South Korea. She is 165 cm (5’5″) tall and has a weight of 49 kg (108 lbs). She debuted in the project girl group I.B.I before continuing her solo career. She has hobbies like singing and eating. She also has a specialty, like imitating otaku‘s speech. She was known to be a former trainee of several agencies, like Jellyfish Entertainment, HYWY Entertainment (left due to her panic disorder), SS Entertainment, and lastly LOEN Entertainment. She is currently under Elephant Media. She has taken part in two Mnet survival programs but didn’t make it through the final in either of them.
Appearance On Mnet’s Produce 101
Lee Hae-in appeared on Mnet’s Produce 101 Season 1 as a representative of SS Entertainment, from January 22nd to April 1st, 2016. In the first episode, she made a performance which was graded C (out of F) by the judges. In the second episode, all of the contestants made a video performance of “Pick Me” and had the chance to be moved to a higher or a lower grade. Lee Hae-in managed to perform well and moved to grade A class.
During the third and fourth episode, the contestants made a live performance from various girl groups in front of a live audience. Lee Hae-in, together with four other contestants, made a performance of Wonder Girl’s song “Irony.” She became the main vocalist but her group lost to the other group.
For the sixth and seventh episode, the contestants made performances based on which role they wanted to debut in. There were three categories: vocal, dance, and rap, and each category had several representative songs. Lee Hae-in chose a vocal category and got to perform GFriend’s “Me Gustas Tu” with four other contestants. She was ranked 11th out of 29 contestants who chose the same category.
For the eighth and ninth episode, the contestants had to choose between five types of original songs. Lee Hae-in chose a hip-hop song “Don’t Matter” from San E and became the sub-vocalist.
For the final episode, the remaining contestants were divided into two groups and performed the debut song “CRUSH” which was produced by Ryan S. Jhun. Lee Hae-in was included in team black as the 5th sub-vocalist. Unfortunately, the group didn’t get to beat the other group. Lee Hae-in was ranked 17th at the end so she didn’t get to debut with the project group I.O.I which only selected contestants ranked 1st to 11th.
Here is Lee Hae-in’s ranking progress!
Contract Termination
The final episode of Produce 101 was followed by Lee Hae-in’s contract termination with the agency SS Entertainment along with her fellow trainee who joined the same program, Lee Soo-hyun. On May 19th, 2016, according to Allkpop, the legal representative revealed that they filed a lawsuit against the company. It was due to the unfair length of the contract which was too long and the scope of the contract was too broad that it would affect their freedom with economic activity. Furthermore, it was revealed that the girls hadn’t been shown the contract and didn’t receive proper dance and vocal training that they failed to debut in a year as had been agreed by the agency. On May 25th, 2016, it was revealed that the contract of the two girls had been terminated by May 24th, without any terms or obligations. The lawsuit was canceled and both parties decided to part ways in friendly relations.
Debut as I.B.I
While the final top eleven contestants made their debut in a project group I.O.I, LOEN Entertainment decided to choose five runner-up contestants and form the group, I.B.I. The members are Lee Hae-in (17th place), Kim So-hee (15th place), Yoon Chae-kyung (16th place), Lee Soo-hyun (13th place), and Han Hye-ri (12th place). They (without Yoon Chae-kyung) appeared in I.O.I’s TV show Lan Cable Friend in June 2016. LOEN Entertainment also released some videos of the members either individually or in the group via their official YouTube account. A webtoon series titled I.B.I’s Debut Story by popular webtoon artist, Omyo, was released in five parts representing each member’s debut story.
I.B.I officially debuted on August 18th, 2016, by releasing their digital single album Mollae Mollae. On the same day, they held their debut showcase and made their debut stage on Mnet’s M! Countdown with their title track “Mollae Mollae.”
The next day, they held a guerrilla concert at Dongdaemun Design Plaza and brought their title song “Mollae Mollae” as well as Produce 101 songs like “When the Cherry Blossom Fade” and “Pick Me.” They also filmed their own reality show in six episodes called Hello I.B.I, which was aired from October 8th to November 12th, 2016. The group met the end of their promotion and was later disbanded in 2017.
Appearance On Mnet’s Idol School
Idol School is a survival program aiming to form a 9-member girl group in the end out of 41 participants. Even though it does sound like Produce 101, the difference is the voting system, the number of winners, and how they will treat the eliminated participants. If they don’t make it to the final, they are given a chance to continue learning and may debut in normal class if they choose to take the offer. The participants who are allowed to join are trainees at the age of 13 or above who are currently not part of any entertainment company, former trainees, or former singers. Lee Hae-in happened to join the program from July 13th to September 29th, 2017. In the first episode, the girls began their vocal lesson and sang “Into The New World” by SNSD. Unfortunately, Lee Hae-in did not make a good performance since she lost her voice and did it poorly. She continued with dancing and physical endurance lesson. At the end of the episode, the top 9 students were revealed and Lee Hae-in got to be ranked first. In the second episode, Lee Hae-in still struggled with her voice as it was not fully recovered but managed to follow the class until the end.
In the third and fourth episode, the girls were preparing to perform a girl group song in a video for their first Debut Diagnostic Exam. The roles like leader and killing part were determined based on the evaluation by the mentors. Lee Hae-in along with other 7 girls performed “Whistle” by BLACKPINK and she was the third sub-vocalist in the team Yukhoe Rice. The group was ranked first.
For the fifth and sixth episode, they were divided into two classes based on their advanced level in singing and dancing into Beginner’s, Intermediate, and Advanced. In the end, they were put into groups and performed a song. Lee Hae-in was in Advanced Performance A and was put with other 4 girls in “Mr. Mr.” team. The group performed “Mr. Mr.” by SNSD where Lee Hae-in was given a chance to be the leader of the group. She also became the first rank of the group. However, Lee Hae-in’s rank dropped to 10th place in episode six.
For the seventh episode, the girls had to do a live broadcast through Kakao TV. Lee Hae-in, along with Bin Ha-neul (Sky) and Tasha broadcasted on channel 2 with their topic DJ Na-Sha-In. Out of 11 channels, their channel became the third highest in terms of views with 10.3% viewership.
For the eighth and ninth episode, the girls were in an internship with a former or a current idol group member. They also got to pick the song for their third and final Debut Diagnostic Exam. Lee Hae-in with other two girls managed to perform “I’m Your Girl” by S.E.S after receiving mentoring from S.E.S’ Bada and Shoo via video call. Lee Hae-in was again chosen as the leader and ranked first among the group members. She received a score of 77.9 for the performance.
For the tenth and final episode, the girls were divided into three groups and made a performance. Lee Hae-in (Main Vocalist A) with other five girls performed “MAGICAL” and was directed by Bae Yoon-jung. However, the final result showed that she didn’t make it through the top 9 and failed to debut as fromis9. She was placed 11th in the final episode.
Here’s her ranking progress!
Lee Hae-in’s Letter
Following the announcement of the final results, Lee Hae-in posted a letter that she wrote to her future self in 10 weeks along with a letter to her fans. As cited by Soompi, she began her letter with, “Thank you for waiting and sorry to make you wait once again.” She said that she has met many friends, teachers, and staff through the program. She thanked the production staff and mentioned the people who had been working with her. She said she felt grateful she could perform the last song “MAGICAL” in front of her family, close friends, and fans and also thanked the composer of the song. She mentioned her fellow team members and said it was okay their path was not filled with flowers and engaged them to walk together. She showed her determination in pursuing her dream and had tried her best with no regrets. She also mentioned about the winners, her fellow friends who managed to debut soon in fromis9. “It was a happy dream, just like what I had written in the letter before I enrolled in the school,” she ended her letter. She added P.S. and thanked her friends who came to watch her final stage.
Controversy
After the program ended, netizens, including Lee Hae-in’s fans, accused Mnet of rigging her votes. According to Soompi, on October 2nd, there was a petition “We demand the truth about Mnet’s Idol School text votes” which gained 4,000 votes in two days. Fans accused that the votes that were revealed by Mnet were a lot lower than they had sent. They also stated, “According to Mnet’s count, Lee Hae In received a total of 2,700 individual vote messages. But we have confirmed online that there is a total of 5,000 people who sent Lee Hae In individual vote messages.” In other words, they suspected there was other involvement other than votes. The fans demanded Mnet to explain about it but there was no report about Mnet responding to the petition.
Discography
With I.B.I
Singles
As Featured Artist
Filmography
Television Series
Television Dramas
Lee Hae-in has an official Instagram account (@s2onlyone1) and started to post from June 3rd, 2019.
A post shared by 이해인 (Lee Hae In) (@s2onlyone1) on Jun 2, 2019 at 4:34pm PDT Her first post was a selfie in a room, showing her with a white cap and grey jacket. Her caption was a hashtag #꿈 or translated as #dream. Looks like she was practicing to pursue her dream.
A post shared by 이해인 (Lee Hae In) (@s2onlyone1) on Jun 6, 2019 at 7:27am PDT Days later, she posted a selfie video with a dog with a caption, “With Morae.” How cute is her dog!
A post shared by 이해인 (Lee Hae In) (@s2onlyone1) on Jun 10, 2019 at 3:35pm PDT She also uploaded a photo with her fellow Idol School contestant, Lee Si-an, who performed “MAGICAL” with her and was eliminated together at the final episode. It’s good to see them still keep in touch with each other!
투빈땡큐우우♥️🥰 A post shared by 이해인 (Lee Hae In) (@s2onlyone1) on Jul 3, 2019 at 8:55am PDT On July 4th, she celebrated her birthday with a unique cake that was with Buzz Lightyear on it! Looks like she loved it very much!
A post shared by 이해인 (Lee Hae In) (@s2onlyone1) on Jul 7, 2019 at 10:52pm PDT Not only that, but she also posted a pic of her and a billboard behind her with a long caption. She was thankful and would not forget this year because she thought everyone had forgotten about it. After Idol School, she has practiced a lot. “Let’s be happy,” she ended.
Latest News
There is no further information about her coming back to the stage nor releasing a piece of music. However, she keeps on updating her Instagram to make sure she is doing fine and working hard to pursue her dream. https://www.instagram.com/p/BzxLAugAqWC/ Her latest update was a picture of her dipping in a swimming pool while smiling at the camera. It’s good to see her happy! She has been through a lot after not succeeding with two survival programs. Not to mention that she actually had the chance to win because she is full of potentials. Yet, it may not be her time yet to shine now so she keeps on practicing to prepare for her better self. Let’s show her lots of love and support and look forward to her future endeavors!
