Yeji

A leader from Jeonju

Yeji (예지) is the leader of ITZY, the girl group signed to JYP Entertainment. Jeonbuk Domin Ilbo reported on 8 March 2019 that she is from Jeonju and that she became a JYP trainee through an audition in January 2016, debuting three years later as the group’s leader.

In December 2018, a little over two months before that debut, she appeared on SBS’s The Fan as JYP trainee Hwang Yeji. According to the Hankook Ilbo, 2PM’s Junho, who put her forward, described her as someone who “practises steadily and diligently, travelling back and forth between her hometown of Jeonju and Seoul”, and Soompi reported that she performed to Zara Larsson’s ‘Ain’t My Fault’.

Two writing credits, and AIR

Her first solo song is ‘Crown On My Head’, from the mini album BORN TO BE, released on 8 January 2024. SPOTV News reported on 20 December 2023 that its music video was the first of the members’ solo videos to be released, that Yeji co-wrote the lyrics and music, and that the song drew on ‘crown’ and ‘queen’, two words that stand for ITZY.

News1 announced on 10 February 2025 that Yeji would release the mini album AIR on 10 March, the first solo record by a member of the group. According to Newsis it holds four songs: the title track ‘Air’, ‘Invasion’, ‘Can’t Slow Me, No’ and ‘258’, with Park Jin-young contributing to the production. At a press conference on release day she said that, having written for her earlier solo song, this time she had been asked to put meaning into the title track, and that she “wanted to write lyrics that feel overwhelming”. Listeners, she added, might find themselves asking “was there a voice like this?” (SPOTV News).

Sports Kyunghyang reported that she performed ‘Air’ on four music shows over four days, from Mnet’s M Countdown on 13 March to SBS’s Inkigayo on the 16th. Billboard in July and NME in December each placed ‘Air’ on their lists of the year’s K-pop songs, and NME wrote that “Yeji’s solo debut was one of 2025’s most satisfying surprises.” On 30 August she played a solo set at a-nation 2025, the summer music festival at Ajinomoto Stadium in Tokyo (MHN Sports).

An ambassadorship, and ‘Pocket’

Roger Vivier named Yeji a brand ambassador in February 2025 (Marie Claire Korea), and Star News reported on 25 November that she had become the brand’s global brand ambassador. In between, on 11 July, she sat in as a special host on KBS 2TV’s Stars’ Top Recipe at Fun-Staurant (News1).

At the group’s three-night world tour stop in Seoul, at Jamsil Indoor Stadium in February 2026, Yeji gave the first performance of an unreleased solo song, ‘Pocket’. MHN wrote that she filled the stage with a Y2K sound and powerful choreography. Three months later the song appeared under her name on the mini album Motto (The Korea Herald, 18 May 2026).