Sihyeon competed in the first season of Mnet's reality television competition Produce 101 in 2016. She finished in 40th place and subsequently signed with Yuehua Entertainment. Sihyeon returned to the competition at the third season called Produce 48 alongside fellow trainees Yena and Yiren. While Yena became a member of the girl group Iz*One, Sihyeon and Yiren were eliminated in the eleventh episode, finishing in 27th and 28th place respectively. Onda, under the name Jo Se-rim, competed on Mnet's reality television competition Idol School in 2017. She was eliminated in the fourth episode, finishing in 40th place. On February 17, 2019, Yuehua Entertainment revealed that they would debut a new girl group named Everglow. The group's official Instagram and fan cafe opened on February 18. The company revealed the members of the group through the "Crank in Film" series on Stone Music Entertainment's YouTube Channel. Everglow's concept photos were released on March 8.
2019–present: Debut with ''Arrival of Everglow'', ''Hush'' and ''Reminiscence''
On March 18, 2019, Everglow released their first single album, Arrival of Everglow, with the lead single "Bon Bon Chocolat". The song was co-written by the American singer-songwriter Melanie Fontana, who has previously written for established groups including the boy bandBTS and the singer Tiffany Young. The group made their debut stage on March 21 on Mnet's music program M Countdown. Everglow enjoyed commercial success with their releases; Arrival of Everglow debuted and peaked at number 6 on the Gaon Album Chart, selling more than 23,000 copies as of September 2019, while "Bon Bon Chocolat" debuted and peaked at number 5 on the World Digital Song Sales Chart, selling 5,000 copies in the US as of August. On August 19, 2019, the group released their second single album Hush with the lead single "Adios". On September 24, 2019, Everglow won their first music program broadcast award on The Show. On February 3, 2020, the group released their first mini-album Reminiscence with the lead single "Dun Dun". The song marked Everglow's first appearance on one of Gaon's single charts, reaching number 63 on the component Download Chart, while the EP debuted at number 4 on the Album Chart and sold over 27,000 copies in its month of release. The music video for "Dun Dun" has over 130 million views to date. On January 21, 2020, it was announced that Everglow would embark on the Everlasting Tour in USA, beginning in Dallas, Texas on March 6, 2020. Everglow were scheduled to perform in five different cities in the United States, these being Dallas, Atlanta, Chicago, Jersey City and Los Angeles. However, due to concerns of the coronavirus outbreak, their sold-out Los Angeles show was unfortunately cancelled.
