Korean singer DEAN to return with his first music in over four years later this month

South Korean musician DEAN has been confirmed to release his first music after four years and six months this November.

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The singer’s label, Universal Music, announced the upcoming release of DEAN’s first single in more than four years through a statement to South Korean outlet TV Daily earlier today (November 14). In the company’s brief statement to press, it wrote: “DEAN will return after 4 years and 6 months. He will begin promoting his new single, which will be released on [November] 18.”

Remaining details about DEAN’s upcoming release remain scarce, and the label has yet to confirm if the single will be part of a larger body of work to be released at a later date.

DEAN’s November 18 release will officially mark the end of a near five-year-long hiatus on solo music. His last stand-alone work was the single ‘Howlin’ 404′ in 2019, which also dropped as a single. Prior to that, the 31-year-old singer made his claim to mainstream fame with songs such as ‘Instagram’ and ‘D (Half Moon)’, since he made his debut on the K-Indie scene with his first mini-album ‘130 Mood: TRBL’ in 2016.

Despite his lack of solo output, DEAN has been sporadically collaborating with both Korean and international artists alike as a featured artist, with the most recent being his collaboration with British multi-hyphenate Wesley Joseph on a single titled ‘Sugar Dive’ which released in February earlier this year.

His last feature was nearly two years prior to ‘Sugar Dive’, when he joined forces with South Korean singer-actress IU for a B-side off her fifth studio album ‘Lilac’ titled ‘Troll’ in March 2021. 

DEAN last provided fans with an update on his progress with new music in 2021, through videos and photos posted to his personal Instagram of numerous music files that date back to June 2020. “My team and I have built, destroyed, built again, only to destroy again. We rode this out so many times and went through so much trial and error since 2019,” he wrote in the caption.

“Dear fans, please hang in there just a little longer. Love you all. Let me show you how I’m different. I’m just a workaholic,” DEAN added. No further details regarding his next body of work have been shared since.