Shin Jihoon was born in Yeongwon as the second daughter to (now-divorced) traditional etiquette teacher, Shin Beom-su, and retired taekwondo athlete, Heo Dambi. She grew up on a family farm/etiquette school that helped employ a few of the village's residents so it was always a warm, community-oriented upbringing for her.

In the mornings, she and her sister, Jiwon, would recieve lessons from their father in etiquette before heading to the local school that taught only half the day. This allowed for children to go home and help with their family farms and/or businesses. For Jihoon and Jiwon, this meant any combination of sitting in on classes to encourage shy or nervous younger kids that visited the school from the city, tending to easier-to-handle crops, harvesting, or attending pansori and taekwondo classes.It was certainly a busy upbringing but Jihoon always looks back on it fondly because it was a simple life.

Her taste for musical fame started with one of these simple pastimes. By the time that they were 13 and 10, the girls had begun performing in their village, and surrounding ones, as a pansori duo with both of them as vocals while Jiwon played the buk and Jihoon played the gayageum. The girls were well recieved and as videos began to make their way around the internet, there was high praise as the South Korean government considers many pansori singers to be "living national treasures." Dubbed the Shin Sisters, they played together at festivals all around the country and even on a major talk/variety show.

As with any duo, though, there was the possibility of one overshadowing the other. Jiwon was talented, definitely, but media had a tendency to focus on how the younger Jihoon could freestyle like a seasoned pro, how she had perfect pitch, and how powerful her voice was despite her age. A mere year and a half after they got their start, Jiwon stopped doing traditional music to focus more on taekwondo. Despite feeling guilty for her sister's departure, Jihoon, who loved both equally, stuck with both hobbies well into her teen years until the accident.  She was injured during a match—the same injury that forced her mother to retire early—and though they laugh about it occassionally, the first few months after having to quit were very hard.

Losing such a big part of her life was a major blow to the 16-year-old but she merely put that emotion into her pansori and the piano, which she had been playing for about the same time. She continued playing festivals and traditional concerts but she was still unknown outside of the traditional music world. That is, of course, until she began to put a spin on things for her own enjoyment. Jihoon was a fan of all kinds of music—from pop and indie to rock and classical—and she wanted to somehow put together her musical interests.

So, in addition to playing traditional songs, Jihoon had begun to rearrange western and Korean pop songs, among other genres, for the gayageum; she posted these videos, which featured both her playing and her singing, on YouTube. After about a year of doing this, one video went viral which put Jihoon back on the national radar. However, pansori isn't end game for Jihoon. After years of cultuvating musical interest, she wants to branch out and be recognized for her original songs. Only, she can't exactly make the big move to the city with her father ill and her sister busy with university in the U.S.