Lia

An audition poster in Canada

Lia (리아) is the main vocalist of ITZY. Appearing behind a mask on MBC’s King of Mask Singer on 20 August 2023, she said she had spent her primary-school years in Canada, saw a poster for a global audition in a Korean restaurant there, auditioned, and came to Korea (Xportsnews, 21 August 2023). On the same programme she recalled that in the group’s early days the breathy technique she naturally sang with made her live vocals waver, and that with practice those songs came to sit better while she danced.

In an interview for the April 2023 issue of Elle Korea she looked back on the group’s first world tour: moving through big venues in city after city felt awkward at first, she said, but she came to enjoy meeting fans everywhere (Soompi, 23 March 2023). Her first solo song is ‘Blossom’, on the January 2024 mini album BORN TO BE.

A voice in the dramas

Lia’s first soundtrack song was ‘밝혀줄게 별처럼’ (Balkhyeojulge Byeolcheoreom), a title that promises to light someone up like a star. The ninth song for the MBC drama The Red Sleeve, it came out at noon on 3 January 2022, and SPOTV News introduced it as her first soundtrack ballad. On 18 December that year her voice opened the soundtrack of tvN’s Alchemy of Souls: Light and Shadow with ‘푸른꽃’ (Pureunkkot), whose name means a blue flower (Korea Economic TV).

On 22 December 2024 came the third song for JTBC’s The Tale of Lady Ok, a duet with the actor Choo Young-woo whose title asks that the two of them never part again (Newsen), and that month’s compilation for SBS’s The Fiery Priest 2 included her song ‘Why Not’ (Electronic Times). On 20 October 2025 her ‘One Day’ came out as part three of the soundtrack for the Genie TV original 착한 여자 부세미 (Chakan Yeoja Busemi), a title that names its heroine, Bu Se-mi, as the good woman (ize).

Edaily introduced Lia as the group’s main vocalist on 11 December 2025, when it reported the soundtrack line-up for the drama Idol I. The same report said the drama would premiere on 22 December.

‘Asylum’, and a channel of her own

‘Asylum’, which Lia first sang at the world tour’s Seoul shows in February 2026, came out as her solo song on the mini album Motto on 18 May (The Korea Herald). Top Star News described that stage as one where her emotive vocals stood out against a staging that looked like she was sitting on a cloud.

Earlier, on 18 March, she had opened a personal YouTube channel under the name ‘LIA CHOI’. As Soompi reported her words, it was something she had wanted to do for a long time, and she had worked up the courage to start.