Park Ji-hyo (; born Park Ji-soo on February 1, 1997), known mononymously as Jihyo, is a South Korean singer. She is the leader and vocalist of the South Korean girl group Twice, formed by JYP Entertainment in 2015.

Life and career

Early life

Jihyo was born on February 1, 1997, in

Guri, Gyeonggi Province Guri (, lit. Nine Villages Town(Town of Nine Villages) is a city in Gyeonggi Province, South Korea. It is located immediately to the east of Seoul, in the heart of the Capital Metropolitan Area. The Royal Tombs of the Joseon Dynasty are locat ...

, South Korea as Park Ji-soo.

Pre-debut

JYP Entertainment scouted Jihyo after she placed second in a contest on

Junior Naver The Naver Corporation is a South Korean internet conglomerate headquartered in Seongnam that operates the search engine Naver. Naver established itself as an early pioneer in the use of user-generated content through the creation of the online ...

. She joined the company at the age of eight and trained for ten years, during which she became the face of Innisfree's teen line with boy band Boyfriend and trained with K-pop acts such as Wonder Girls' Sunmi and Hyerim,

Bae Suzy Bae Su-ji (; born October 10, 1994), better known as Bae Suzy, is a South Korean singer, actress and model. She was a member of the girl group Miss A under JYP Entertainment. She made her debut as an actress with television series ''Dream High ...

, Jo Kwon, and Nichkhun. Jihyo was set to debut in a

girl group A girl group is a music act featuring several female singers who generally harmonize together. The term "girl group" is also used in a narrower sense in the United States to denote the wave of American female pop music singing groups, many of who ...

with now-Twice members

Nayeon Im Na-yeon (; born September 22, 1995), known mononymously as Nayeon, is a South Korean singer. She became a member of the South Korean girl group Twice, under JYP Entertainment, in 2015 as a winning contestant of the reality survival televis ...

, Jeongyeon and

Sana Sana may refer to: Places * Sanaa, the capital of Yemen * Sana (river), a river in Bosnia and Herzegovina * Sana, Bhutan, a town in Bhutan * Sana, Haute-Garonne, a commune in France * Sana, Iran, a village in Iran * Sana, Mali, a commune in M ...

, although the project was cancelled. Instead, she joined the reality television show '' Sixteen'', a competition to select the founding members of Twice. She legally changed her name to Jihyo before the competition. As one of nine successful participants, she went on to join the newly formed girl group Twice. Jihyo was voted by her bandmates as leader in an anonymous vote.

Debut with Twice and solo activities

In October 2015, Twice officially debuted with the release of their first extended play (EP), '' The Story Begins.'' Its lead single " Like Ooh-Ahh" became the first K-pop debut song to reach 100 million views on YouTube. On March 6, 2022, Jihyo released her first OST titled "Stardust Love Song" for tvN's ''

Twenty-Five Twenty-One ''Twenty-Five Twenty-One'' () is a 2022 South Korean television series directed by Jung Ji-hyun and starring Kim Tae-ri, Nam Joo-hyuk, Bona, Choi Hyun-wook and Lee Joo-myung. The series depicts the romantic lives of five characters spanning ...

''. She released her second OST titled "I Fly" for SBS's ''

Today's Webtoon ''Today's Webtoon'' () is a South Korean television series starring Kim Se-jeong, Choi Daniel, and Nam Yoon-su. It is a remake of a Japanese drama, which was based on the manga series ''Jūhan Shuttai!''. It aired from July 29 to September 17, 2 ...

'' on July 29.

Discography

Collaborations

Soundtrack appearances

Songwriting credits

All song credits are adapted from the Korea Music Copyright Association's database unless stated otherwise.

Filmography

Television shows

Bibliography

Photobooks

Awards and nominations

Notes

References

External links

* {{Authority control 1997 births Living people People from Guri JYP Entertainment artists South Korean women pop singers South Korean female idols Twice (group) members 21st-century South Korean women singers K-pop singers Japanese-language singers of South Korea English-language singers from South Korea