Yuqi

Who Yuqi is

Yuqi (우기) is a member of i-dle. On MBC’s Radio Star in June 2023 she said that before her debut she had auditioned for SM in Beijing four times, and that after a CUBE audition the following week both companies called her at the same time. She chose CUBE, she said, after being told that “if you sign, you can debut next year” (Xports News, 15 June 2023). She debuted in (G)I-DLE on 2 May 2018.

Alongside the group’s work she has written songs. Maeil Ilbo reported that Yuqi has lyric and composition credits on ‘i’M THE TREND’ and ‘All Night’, among others.

Variety in two countries

The year after her debut she joined Keep Running (奔跑吧), China’s version of Running Man, as a regular cast member (Hankook Ilbo, 12 February 2019). In Korea she was the lead of the KakaoTV original Learn Way, first released on 20 September 2020 (Edaily), and on tvN’s survival show 나는 살아있다 (Naneun Sarainneunda, “I am alive”), which began on 5 November that year, she said she “wanted to show that idols can do it well too” (Edaily). On MBC’s I’m Sunny Thank You, first broadcast on 5 July 2025, she hosted alongside Kim Sung-joo, Kang So-ra and Zhang Hao (The Fact).

What she has released on her own

She made her solo debut with her first mini album, YUQ1, at 6 p.m. KST on 23 April 2024. Maeil Ilbo reported that the title swaps the letter I in her name for the number 1, and that Yuqi wrote and composed five of its seven tracks, including the title track ‘FREAK’. The rapper pH-1 features on ‘Drink It Up (Feat. pH-1)’, the singer Lexie Liu on ‘On Clap (Feat. Lexie Liu)’, and her groupmate Minnie on ‘Everytime (With MINNIE ((G)I-DLE))’. On 17 November that year she won Best Solo Artist at the 2024 Korea Grand Music Awards (Ilgan Sports).

Herald Muse reported in September 2025 that YUQ1 had sold half a million copies and that ‘Radio (Dum-Dum)’, a digital single from March 2025, had been certified platinum on QQ Music. According to the same report she is also credited as a producer on ‘자유롭게 날아 (Feat. 우기 (YUQI))’ by NOWZ, a younger group at her agency.

The single Motivation came out at 6 p.m. KST on 16 September 2025. It holds the title track ‘M.O.’, ‘아프다’ (Apeuda, “it hurts”) and that song’s Chinese version, ‘还痛吗’. “‘M.O.’ is a hip-hop track, so I paid attention to writing lyrics and melodies that would feel hip,” she told MHN. bnt News reported that straight after release the single was number one on the daily digital-album bestseller charts of QQ Music and Kugou Music and on Bugs’ real-time chart in Korea.

The records continued on Chinese-language charts. Star Today reported that as of 27 March 2026 ‘FREAK’ had spent 100 consecutive weeks on Tencent Music’s Korea chart, and MHN Sports reported that the same month she was named the Tencent Music chart’s Female Artist of the Year for 2026. Her second mini album, 二十七(27), came out at 1 p.m. KST on 8 October 2026 with the title track ‘Stay’ (TenAsia).

On the brand side, Fendi named Yuqi an ambassador in January 2024 (Sports Kyunghyang), and Tory Burch chose her as a brand ambassador that November (News1).