Yuqi

A Chinese singer, songwriter, and producer who made her recording debut as a member of chart-topping K-pop group (G)I-DLE, YUQI is known for her strong, warm voice, and effervescent dance-pop as a soloist. She went to number two on the Korean album chart with her debut EP, 2024's YUQ1. Song Yuqi was born and raised in Beijing, where she passed an audition to train with Cube Entertainment as a teenager. She joined Miyeon, Minnie, Soyeon, and Shuhua as a member of the Seoul-based Cube girl group (G)I-DLE in 2018. The project was an instant hit, reaching the Top Five of Billboard's World Albums chart with their first three EPs and hitting number one in Korea with the third, 2020's I Trust. YUQI, along with Minnie and primary songwriter Soyeon, had the chance to write and produce some of the group's material. While remaining a member of (G)I-DLE, she launched a solo career in 2021. Released on Cube, her debut single, that May's "A Page," consisted of two driving dance-pop songs ("Giant" and "Bonnie & Clyde") and helped land her a spot in the Chinese reality competition show Stage Boom. Later that year, she took part in "Salute to the Heroes," the theme song to the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics and Paralympic Games. She appeared on a handful of other Chinese reality shows as a soloist and on Korean TV with (G)I-DLE as the group prepared their full-length debut. The completed I Never Die arrived in March 2022 and went to number two in Korea. Six months later, their EP I Love returned them to number one. In early 2023, YUQI and bandmate Miyeon released "Sweet Dream," a song for the soundtrack to the Korean Netflix romcom Love to Hate You, and she teamed up with production team HypeerTime for "Not Cinderella" from the web toon I Wasn't the Cinderella. Soon after, she was featured on the YENA single "Hate Rodrigo," and she and Miyeon re-paired for "How to Twerk" from the dance competition show Street Woman Fighter 2. YUQI also made her acting debut on the Netflix thriller series Celebrity that year. She reached her biggest audiences yet as a soloist with a feature spot alongside JVKE on the Alan Walker single "Fire!," released in December 2023. In the meantime, (G)I-DLE had another number one hit with the EP I Feel, their first record to top the Billboard World Albums chart. They went to number two in Korea later in the year with HEAT. The year 2024 was a big one for YUQI, with (G)I-DLE's second album, 2, topping the Korean Circle chart upon its release in January (and number three on World Albums), and her first solo EP, YUQ1, doing nearly as well, reaching number two that April. Featuring collaborations with pH-1, Lexie Liu, and Minnie, the multilingual EP also cracked the Top 40 in Japan. Meanwhile, YUQI began to rack up endorsement deals, including some for cosmetics, apparel, and sunscreen brands.
© Marcy Donelson /TiVo