YEJI
PROFILE
| GIVEN NAME | Hwang Yeji 황예지 (黃禮志) |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 2000-05-26 (May 26th, 2000) |
| NATIONALITY | 🇰🇷 South Korea |
| HEIGHT | 167cm / 5’ 6’’ |
| MANAGEMENT | JYP Entertainment |
| GROUP | ITZY |
| OFFICIAL POSITION(s) | Leader, Main Dancer |
| DEBUT | 2019-02-12 as ITZY with Digital Single IT’z Different |
| MBTI | ESFJ |
| @yezyizhere | |
| SIGNATURE |  |
CAREER SUMMARY
PRE-DEBUT
Yeji started dancing as a hobby when she was in the fifth grade; she started going to a dance academy in Jeonju, her hometown, and learned to dance professionally when she was in the seventh grade.
In 2015, Yeji had a cameo role on episodes 8 and 9 of tvN drama Twenty Again, as one of the dance crew members in a college festival scene.
Yeji auditioned at JYP Entertainment two times through the dance academy. The first time she auditioned, she passed through the first rounds of auditions, but got flustered in the second round when she was asked to perorm a different genre of dance than the one she had shown in the first round. The second time she auditioned, she prepared three vocal and four dance performances.
In January 2016, Yeji became an official trainee of JYP Entertainment. In 2016 and 2017 ITZY performed at the JYP trainee showcases; the public’s reception of her was positive, saying that she had the “classic JYP visual” and was “definite main dancer material.” Yeji also made an appearance in the survival show Stray Kids through the August 2017 showcase, where it was revealed that she was acting as leader of the new batch of JYP female trainees.
In 2018, Yeij was one of the contestants on SBS’s new music variety program The Fan. Junho of 2PM introduced Yeji as “the secret weapon of JYP,” praising her dance and overall performance skills. Yeji performed three cover stages on The Fan; “Ain’t My Fault” by Zara Larsson, “New Rules” by Dua Lipa, and “POP” by NSYNC. As an amateur, she competed against professional artists of various genres.
Yeji trained for 2 years and 8 months before debut.
AFTER DEBUT
In 2019, Yeji debuted as the leader of ITZY, a 5-member group under JYP Entertainment, with Lia, Ryujin, Chaeryeong, and Yuna with “Dalla Dalla.” Yeji had had exposure to the general public through her pre-debut ventures such as the JYP trainee showcases and The Fan, and had already built up a sizable fandom of her own before debut. Upon debut, her superior dance skills, visual, and live singing/rapping abilities received praise.
In the August of 2019, after the release of “ICY,” Yeji ranked number 1 one on the K-Pop Girl Group Member Brand Reputation Rankings.
As of 2024, Yeji’s “Artist of the Month” video on the Studio Choom YouTube channel, covering “River” by Bishopp Briggs, has close to 60 million views, making it the most-viewed “Artist of the Month” video on the channel; the “MIX&MAX” video with Ryujin, covering “Break My Heart Myself” has over 60 million views.
In January 2024, Yeji released a solo track “Crown On My Head” as one of the b-side tracks on the eighth mini-album BORN TO BE, for which she participated in the composition/lyric writing.
POSITIONS
LEADER
Yeji is the official leader of ITZY, and the eldest member of the team. Yeji had consistently shown her leadership abilities from her trainee days, leading and directing the other trainees. Yeji had already been acting as the leader of female JYP trainees in 2017.
As the leader of ITZY, Yeji’s leadership style has been said to be accommodating and gentle by the other members such as Yuna. In official situations such as award shows or official broadcasts, ITZY takes on the classic role of leader by representing the team with the greetings and communications with the filming staff.
VOCAL
Yeji is the lead vocal of ITZY and one of the “vocal line.” From her pre-debut days, Yeji had been praised for her stable live vocals, especially with powerful choreography as the main dancer of the team. Yeji had never learned to sing professionally before becoming a trainee of JYP Entertainment, and her stable vocals were a result of hard training.
Yeji has the most parts in ITZY’s title tracks such as “Dalla Dalla,” “Wannabe,” “Not Shy,” and “LOCO,” and many b-side tracks, often singing the chorus.
RAP
Even though Yeji mostly gets the vocal parts of ITZY songs, Yeji’s rap verses for “Not Shy” were met with positive receptions from the fandom. Much like her singing, her rap performances are also praised for stability, clarity, and her unique voice tone.
DANCE
Yeji is thought of as one of the best dancers of 4th-gen K-Pop girl groups. She is one of the two main dancers of ITZY, along with Chaeryeong, and part of the dance line with Ryujin and Chaeryeong. Yeji’s dancing has been praised by many of the veteran performers of the K-Pop industry, including JYP, BoA, and Lee Hyori. Yeji is very atheletic, and it shows in her powerful execution of ITZY’s advanced choreography.
Yeji’s dancing is considereed as representative of ITZY’s choreography as a whole; she is known as the “opening master” of ITZY performances, almost always starting the choreography of ITZY’s title tracks. She is also often at the center of intense dance breaks, a defining feature of ITZY title trcks.
Yeji is also praised for her dynamic facial expressions on stage.