[1][2] Her older twin sister, Ryu Hyo-young,[3] is also a rapper and former member of the group Coed School and its sub-group F-ve Dolls.

[citation needed] In July 2010, it was announced that Ryu Hwa-young would be added into T-ara as lead rapper while her sister would be debuting in the newly formed Coed School.

[6] She also participated in the writing of the rap lyrics of "Love is All the Same" (Korean: 사랑은 다 그런거래요) by fellow labelmate Yangpa.

On September 10, Ryu later participated in the hip-hop and rap event "Open Freestyle Day 2012", announcing that she was looking forward to studying music and eventually returning to the industry.

[10][11] On December 15, it was announced that Ryu signed an exclusive contract with Wellmade Yedang and was preparing to debut as an actress.

[14] She successfully made a transition into acting after receiving praise for her roles in tvN's romantic comedy Ex-Girlfriends' Club[15] and JTBC's coming-of-age drama Hello, My Twenties!.

[20] In November 2020, she was revealed to be on the variety show King of Masked Singer, her first singing activity since she was fired from T-ara.

[22] A wardrobe malfunction occurred during the January 29, 2012 episode of Inkigayo in which Ryu Hwa-young accidentally exposed her breast during her dance solo.

][33] Soon afterwards, more staffers came forwards with accounts that Ryu had been disrespectful to the other members as well as stylists, and claimed she had faked how severe an injury was in order to get more sympathy.