HANA

Uchinaga Hana (Korean: 우치나가 하나, Kanji: 内永花, born August 13, 1998) known as Hana (Hangul: 하나) is a Japanese rapper based in South Korea. Hana placed fourth in MNET's survival reality show PRODUCE, and was therefore part of the group ST✹R. A month after the disbandment of ST✹R, Hana was presented as a part of the girl group LOONA, with the solo song 'SHINE'. In May of 2018, she debuted as part of the LOONA sub-unit YYXY, and in August of 2018, debuted with all 13 members.

Early Life
Born on August 13 1998, Hana lived a humble life in Osaka before moving to South Korea at the age of 15 with hopes to become an idol. Hana auditioned at many agencies but did not pass any auditions. Online, you can find many videos of Hana busking on the streets in the hopes of getting street casted. After struggling to find an agency to take her in for a year, Hana was scouted on the streets by a Blockberry Creative staff, right outside YG building. Desperately, Hana accepted the offer, and trained for 2 months before being sent to PRODUCE to represent Blockberry.

Pre-debut
Hana trained with Hyunjin of LOONA as both of them joined Blockberry in the same batch. Hana said that her and Hyunjin used to go out and busk and went viral for playing a mashup of 10 IU songs. They brought along many trainees to Blockberry.

Produce
On her own, Hana was sent to PRODUCE to represent Blockberry. She made her debut to the trainers with a performance of 'BUBBLE POP!' by Hyuna. She was given a grade of E, but was later re-evaluated to a B. She was known for her sweet higher-pitched rap, compared to SUNI who had a deeper voice. Hana placed fourth on PRODUCE, with 842,878 votes. She debuted in ST✹R as the lead rapper. She is one of three Japanese members in the group.

Presentation as LOONA member & Debut in YYXY
In February of 2018, a year after ST✹R's disbandment, Hana was presented as a LOONA member with solo 'SHINE'. At this time, 11 of 13 members of LOONA were already revealed. Fans wondered how Hana was added to the line-up, as the first member of LOONA was revealed in 2016, when ST✹R was active, meaning Hana would be debuting with people she did not know. She debuted as part of the LOONA sub-unit YYXY in May of 2018.

Debut in LOONA & Blockberry Debt Scandal
All 13 members of LOONA debuted on the 13th of August 2018. In early 2020, Blockberry Creative lost a lawsuit of 3 million USD from a foreign investor company for breach of contract. The investor company demanded rights over LOONA's future activities, preventing LOONA from being able to move agencies. This issue has not been solved and is still ongoing.