Kim Hae-sol (; born April 13, 1989), known professionally as Zion.T (), is a South Korean hip hop and R&B singer-songwriter. He has released 2 studio albums, Red Light (2013) and Zip (2023), as well as 3 EPs. He has also been featured on tracks by K-pop artists such as G-Dragon, Zico, and Psy.
Personal life In a 2014 interview, Zion.T explained that he chose his stage name because "I am a Christian and so the "T" in my name is representative of the cross."
In a 2017 interview, he said he was influenced by the American musician T-Pain. "There was a time when T-Pain's style of hip hop vocals were in. I really like T-Pain, so I used to emulate him a lot. This is something only my friends know, but I even had the nickname 'Zion.T-Pain'."
On April 5, 2024, JYP Entertainment confirmed that Zion.T was in a relationship with Twice member, Chaeyoung.
Career Zion.T made his musical debut in 2011, collaborating with Korean hip hop artists such as Dok2, Crucial Star, Simon D, Primary and Gray. His first single, "Click Me", featuring Dok2, was released in April 2011.
On April 9, 2013, Zion.T's first studio album, Red Light, was released with the title track "Babay", featuring Gaeko.
That year, he featured on tracks by Infinite H, Dynamic Duo, Swings and G-Dragon. In December, he released the EP Mirrorball ("") with the title track "Miss Kim" ().
In 2014, he released the digital single "Yanghwa BRDG", which became a hit and contributed to his rising mainstream success as an artist in Korea.
He also appeared on the soundtrack of the television drama series Pinocchio with the song "Kiss Me", and featured on songs by Seo In-young and The Quiett.
On February 1, 2015, he collaborated with the Korean R&B singer Crush on the single "Just" (). The same year, he released the digital singles "Zero Gravity" (), "Eat" () and "No Make Up" () and featured on singles by SHINee's Jonghyun, Yankie and Psy. That July, he participated in the biennial music festival event hosted by the MBC variety show Infinite Challenge, which resulted in a spike in domestic sales of his previously released singles. For the event, he partnered with the Infinite Challenge cast member Haha to perform under the name Eutteugeottasi () with the song "$ponsor", later released in an album of the songs performed at the event.-
Zion.T finished the year with two wins at the annual Mnet Asian Music Awards: Best Vocal Performance (Male) for "Eat " and Best Collaboration, with Crush, for the song "Just" , beating more well-established artistes in an idol-focused industry.
In 2016, following the end of his contract with the hip hop label Amoeba Culture, he signed with The Black Label, a sub-label of YG Entertainment. On February 1, 2017, he released his first EP under The Black Label, OO.
In December 2017, he released his collaboration with the veteran singer Lee Moon-se, the song "Snow". It topped all major music charts in South Korea. Lee Moon-se said he listened to Zion.T's song more than 200 times to faithfully represent his song, and showed great affection towards Zion.T and his musical career.
In August 2022, Zion.T established his own entertainment company, Standard Friends, and signed Wonstein as his first artist. He will still be represented by The Black Label as a singer.
Discography
Studio albums Red Light (2013) Zip (2023)
Filmography Television shows Year Title Network Role Notes English Korean 2016 Show Me the Money 5 쇼미더머니 5 Mnet Producer with Kush 2017–2018 Mix Nine 믹스나인JTBC Judge 2018 Hidden Singer 히든 싱어 Participant (Season 5; Episode 11) 2019 My Major is Hip Hop 내 전공은 힙합 V LiveYouTube Cast Member with Mino Sign Here 사인히어 MBN Judge Episode 5 2020 Song Farm! 곡FARM! Mnet Producer Show Me the Money 9 쇼미더머니 9 with Giriboy 2021 Show Me the Money 10 쇼미더머니 10 with Slom
Accolades Awards and nominations + Year presented, name of the award ceremony, category, nominated work, and the result of the nominationYearAwardCategoryNominated workResult2014 Best R&B & Soul Album 20157th MelOn Music Awards Top 10 Artists rowspan="4" Artist of the Year 17th Mnet Asian Music Awards Best Male Artist Artist of the Year Best Vocal Performance - Male"Eat" () - Zion.T Song of the Year "Just" () - Zion.T X Crush Best Collaboration & Unit 201625th Seoul Music Awards Bonsang Award rowspan="3" Popularity Award Hallyu Special Award 30th Golden Disk AwardsDigital Daesang"Eat" () - Zion.TDigital Bonsang Popularity Award rowspan="4" Global Popularity Award 5th Gaon Chart Music AwardsR&B Discovery of the Year201719th Mnet Asian Music Awards Best Male Artist Best Vocal Performance - Male 9th MelOn Music Awards Album of the Year OO Top 10 Artists Best R&B/Soul Award "The Song" () - Zion.T 201832nd Golden Disk AwardsDigital Bonsang Global Popularity Award rowspan="4" 27th Seoul Music Awards Bonsang Award Popularity Award Hallyu Special Award 7th Gaon Chart Music AwardsSong of the Year – February Song of the Year – December
Listicles + Name of publisher, year listed, name of listicle, and placement Publisher Year Listicle Placement Forbes 2016 Korea Power Celebrity 35th
References
External links
Zion.T Instagram