Huang Minghao (Chinese: 黄明昊, born February 19, 2002), known professionally as Justin, is a Chinese singer, dancer, rapper, actor and host. He was a member of project group Nine Percent from April 6, 2018, until the group's disbandment on October 6, 2019.[1] He is currently a member of Yuehua'sNEXT.
Since his debut, he has released two albums and multiple singles. He has won the Best Singer at the Asian Music Festival and has been named in the top 30 music pioneer list Annual Pioneer Singer and Composer Rookie at the Glory Ceremony. Since 2018, he has been on the stage of CCTV New Year's Eve Gala and Spring Festival Gala, served as the torchbearer of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, and has also become the well-deserved darling of variety shows such as Extreme Challenge, Great Escape, Big Brother Energetic, Meet the Temple of Heaven, Summer Surf Shop. He was cast as male lead in the movie 沙漏 (Reversed Destiny).
Early life
Born on 19 February 2002, in Rui’an, Wenzhou, Zhejiang province, Huang lived with his grandparents and attended Hangzhou Jinxiu Middle School before becoming a trainee at Yuehua Entertainment and flying to South Korea at age thirteen to commence training.
Huang participated in the South Korean boy groupsurvival reality show, Produce 101 which aired on Mnet in 2017. His notable stages include "Replay" and "Shape of You", with him taking the center position on the stage of "Replay". He was eventually eliminated on episode 8 with a total vote of 458,650, an impressive feat considering he was only 15 at the time.
It was later announced in late 2017 that Justin would be joining the Chinese reality boy group survival show, Idol Producer.
2018-present: Debut with Nine Percent, NEXT and solo activities
Following Produce 101, Huang then returned to China to develop his career. He found success after joining Idol Producer, which aired from January 19 to April 6, 2018. His notable performances include UNIQ's "EOEO" (performed with his fellow Yuehua NEXT trainees), Jackson Wang's "Papillon" and "It's Ok". In the finals, he ranked fourth with 14,574,594 votes and officially debuted as a member of the nine-member boy group Nine Percent.[2]
While promoting with Nine Percent, Huang debuted as a member of Yuehua's new boy band NEXT with the song "Wait a Minute" on June 21, 2018.[3] On June 23, 2018, Huang and other members of NEXT held their first fan meeting in Beijing, China. On November 5, 2018，Huang released his first solo original single "Hard Road".[4] On December 7, 2018，he released his second solo original song "After Leaving" as part of NEXT's "Next To You" album.[5] On April 23, 2019, his third solo original single "Liar" was released. On May 15, 2019, he also teamed up with Japanese Rapper KOHH to present a new collaborative single "Maria". That year, Huang won "Best New Songwriter" at the 2018 Asian Music Festival.
In early 2019, Huang joined the cast of Great Escape alongside artists like Yang Mi, Deng Lun and more. Following the show's success, he has participated in its following seasons, and is the only member to have participated in all its episodes to date. On November 8, 2019, Huang and five other members of NEXT released the album “Next Begins”. During the summer, Huang became a coach-in-training in the variety show “24 Seconds of Youth” and in the fall, he became part of the cast of “Meeting the Temple of Heaven”, as well as making appearances on many other reality TV shows.
In 2020, Huang was a fixed member of the variety shows “I Want to Open a Shop” and “The Great Wall”, amongst many others. In January 2020, it was announced that he would be joining the cast of 七圣 (Seven Saints), starring as 哪吒 (Nezha), although production of the movie has since stalled. On August 3, 2020, Huang released his first solo album "18", featuring many self-written songs, and held his first solo concert in October. He took part in Romon U Park's 星动一夏 (Starry Summer) festival for the first time that year and has continued his appearance since then.
Huang participated in various performances in 2021, including "A Wonderful Night on Douyin" and "Dream of the East 2022 Dragon TV New Year's Eve". On July 16 that year, he released the solo single U, of which he had significant songwriting contributions. It ties in with his experience growing up amidst tears and self-doubt. The song saw significant commercial success: 710,000 singles were sold every second with sales exceeding 2.13 million yuan; within a minute, its sales volume exceeded one million. [6]
In 2022, Huang continued his appearances on various reality shows, from familiar ones like Great Escape to joining new shows like 全力以赴的行动派 (All-Out Action) with fellow cast members Dylan Wang, Victor Qin and Hankiz Omar, better known as Hanikezi. On August 25, he released his second album VR with the lead single Wonderland and followed up with several music videos for its songs (including 意乱情迷 and 有花期的恋爱). He was also a torchbearer at the 2022 Beijing Olympics.
Huang went on tour in China in 2023, bringing 贾想世界 演唱会 (Justin's Imaginary World) to fans in various cities. At the same time, he has reprised his role as cast member on shows like Great Escape and All-Out Action (Season 2). On April 29, he took part in the LMF Music Festival. His upcoming performances include Yuehua's Family Concert in July and Romon U Park's 星动一夏 (Starry Summer), marking the third year of his participation in the festival. On July 7, it was officially confirmed that Huang would be starring in the film 沙漏 (Reversed Destiny) as male lead 路理 (Luli),[7] an adaption of the novel of the same name by author 饶雪漫 (Rao Xueman).
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