Jang Yeojun
Jang Yeojun did not survive one audition show and call it character development. He went through Wild Idol, Boys Planet, a dissolved trainee lineup, and Project 7 before finally debuting. CLOSE YOUR EYES is his fourth public beginning and the first one that became a real group career.
Identity dashboard
- The first survival show
- Boys Planet and Jellyfish
- Project 7 finally worked
- CLOSE YOUR EYES career
- Voice, dance, and stage presence
- The personality and MC file
- Official links and sources
The first survival show
Yeojun is from Daejeon and entered public trainee life through MBC’s Extreme Debut: Wild Idol in 2021. He appeared as contestant number 36 and was eliminated in episode three. The show mixed outdoor physical challenges with performance evaluation, which is a very elaborate way to tell a teenager he needs more screen time.
An early elimination can disappear from a polished debut biography, but it matters here because Yeojun kept returning. Survival shows do not only test singing and dancing. They test whether a contestant can build a recognizable story from a few edited minutes while competing against people who may receive more favorable narratives.
Boys Planet and Jellyfish
Yeojun later trained under Jellyfish Entertainment for roughly three years. In December 2022, he was announced as one of the company’s Boys Planet contestants alongside Park Gunwook, Han Yuseop, and Park Hyunbeen. He was eliminated in episode five after ranking 62nd.
Park Gunwook went on to debut in ZEROBASEONE. Yeojun returned to the Jellyfish trainee pool, where the remaining male trainees were briefly presented through material fans called Jelly-i. The prospective lineup dissolved before debut. That left Yeojun with two televised eliminations, years of training, and another almost-group that never reached a music show.
This is the part one-line profiles miss. “Former Boys Planet contestant” sounds like a credential. Living it meant going back to practice after millions of viewers watched the rejection and after a former teammate advanced into one of the generation’s biggest rookie groups.
Project 7 finally worked
In 2024, Yeojun entered JTBC’s Project 7. The program used an assembly concept that allowed viewers to vote on teams and combinations, turning ordinary survival-show anxiety into a human group project with global polling.
Yeojun arrived with more camera experience and a clearer sense of what a survival edit required. He advanced to the finale and placed sixth with more than four million points, securing a place in the seven-member group that became CLOSE YOUR EYES.
The result has sometimes been listed as seventh in interim or article rankings, but the final debut ranking placed him sixth. Accuracy matters because a contestant’s entire career can be reduced to a copied number that nobody checks.
CLOSE YOUR EYES career
2025: ETERNALT
CLOSE YOUR EYES debuted on April 2, 2025 with the mini album ETERNALT. “All My Poetry” introduced a softer, literary image than the aggressive title tracks often given to survival-show boy groups. Yeojun’s vocal tone and gentler camera presence fit that choice.
The group earned a music-show win only six days after debut. It was the kind of result that can make a long trainee history look inevitable after the fact. It was not inevitable. The members came from different companies, countries, and previous careers, and had only months to turn a voted lineup into a functioning group.
“Snowy Summer” and the first comeback
The 2025 comeback widened the group’s sound with “Snowy Summer” and “Paint Candy.” Yeojun’s individual fancams show a performer more relaxed than the contestant who had to fight for every edited second. He no longer needed to demonstrate three years of growth inside one mission stage.
2026: touring and a stronger identity
By the first anniversary, CLOSE YOUR EYES had moved from debut novelty into touring and a more forceful release cycle. Yeojun also took on music-show MC work, including appearances alongside Jeon Minwook and other idol hosts.
On February 19, 2026, UNCORE announced that Yeojun had been diagnosed with rhabdomyolysis after seeking care for an abnormal change in his condition. The agency said he would receive inpatient treatment and pause activities. He later returned for the OVEREXPOSED cycle. The April single “POSE” also put his name in the lyric credits. That matters because his profile is no longer limited to performing material selected for him. He has started leaving fingerprints on the songs.
Dated timeline
| Date | What happened |
|---|---|
| 2021 | Entered MBC’s Extreme Debut: Wild Idol as contestant 36 and exited in episode three. |
| December 2022 | Introduced as a Jellyfish Entertainment trainee for Boys Planet. |
| March 2023 | Eliminated from Boys Planet in episode five at rank 62. |
| 2024 | Returned through JTBC’s Project 7, advanced through the final, and placed sixth. |
| April 2, 2025 | Debuted with CLOSE YOUR EYES through ETERNALT. |
| July 2025 | Returned with the group’s Snowy Summer era. |
| February 19, 2026 | UNCORE announced a temporary health break after a rhabdomyolysis diagnosis and inpatient treatment. This was a medical status notice, not a personality storyline. |
| April 2026 | Returned for OVEREXPOSED and received a lyric credit on “POSE” alongside Jeon Minwook and the song’s other writers. |
Voice, dance, and stage presence
Yeojun’s strength is balance. He does not dominate the group through the largest voice or the most aggressive dance line. He is a reliable melodic performer with clean movement and a face that reads well in softer concepts.
His survival-show history improved his camera timing. He knows where the lens is, but he no longer looks as if every close-up might determine whether he is allowed to keep his career. In “All My Poetry,” restraint works better than desperate impact. In “Paint Candy,” he can lean into brightness without losing precision.
| Watch | What to notice |
|---|---|
| Wild Idol | The raw first attempt and how little time he had to establish himself. |
| Boys Planet | Jellyfish training, cleaner fundamentals, and another early exit. |
| Project 7 | The improved survival instincts and the final sixth-place run. |
| “All My Poetry” debut fancam | How his softer vocal and visual tone fits CLOSE YOUR EYES. |
| “Paint Candy” fancam | More ease, brighter expressions, and a performer no longer auditioning. |
The personality and MC file
Yeojun is generally described as considerate, calm, and more playful once he is comfortable. Years of moving between trainee teams made adaptability part of the job. In CLOSE YOUR EYES, he is neither the oldest nor the youngest, which gives him room to connect the group’s older leadership with its teenage members.
Music-show hosting adds a different skill. An MC has to read cues, interview guests, react on schedule, and keep live television moving when timing slips. It is useful career development for someone whose earliest public appearances depended entirely on other editors deciding whether he existed in an episode.
The group’s fandom is CLOSER. Yeojun also maintained an individual Instagram before group debut, though official group channels are the primary source for current schedules and promotional material.
Zodiac side quest, for fandom entertainment only
This is pop astrology, not evidence about his real personality. Yeojun’s verified September 27 birthday makes him a Libra. Because he was born after Lunar New Year on February 9, 2005, his Chinese zodiac is the Wood Rooster.
Western sign: Libra
The Libra mini-read would notice how often Yeojun’s public career depended on balance. He had to fit different teams, concepts, camera edits, and experience levels without disappearing inside them. The astrology version of the profile would call that social calibration. The biography calls it three survival shows and a lot of practice.
Chinese zodiac: Wood Rooster
Rooster symbolism tends to emphasize preparation, visibility, and taking pride in presentation. The Wood element softens the sharpest version of that image with flexibility and cooperation. That is a fun match for a performer whose progress is easiest to see when the 2021, 2023, 2024, and debut footage sits side by side.
When Libra and Wood Rooster share one idol
Put the two signs together and the fandom reading becomes somebody who wants the formation clean, the camera found, and the team atmosphere intact. RaeRae’s version is simpler: Yeojun kept returning until the industry finally ran out of ways to send him back to the trainee room.
Official links
Current status: August 2026 checkpoint
As of August 12, 2026, Jang Yeojun remains a current member of CLOSE YOUR EYES. His February health break belongs in the timeline, but it did not end his membership. The active directory label therefore remains Current member · 2025–present.
The 2026 profile record includes the group’s OVEREXPOSED era and Yeojun’s writing credit on “POSE.” Future releases should be added here without overwriting the survival-show history that explains how long his route to debut actually was.
Official video tracker
CVM Sekai tracks CLOSE YOUR EYES and UNCORE official channels for music videos, dance practices, performance clips, behind-the-scenes footage, and clearly credited Yeojun content. Group releases remain attached to the group profile and this canonical member page. His writing credit and survival-show footage do not create an Artist classification without a formal solo music release.
Official Socials
Sources
- UNCORE official Jang Yeojun profile
- JTBC Project 7 official site and final result clips
- UNCORE health notice reported by Soompi, February 19, 2026
- Sports Kyunghyang interview on OVEREXPOSED and “POSE” writing credit
- CLOSE YOUR EYES official channel and fancams
- The Korea Times group interview
- Sports Kyunghyang interview
- Rolling Stone Korea interview
- Oricon, Project 7 finalist profile
- Project 7 results and source index
August 2026 status checkpoint
As of August 27, 2026, Jang Yeojun remains an active member of CLOSE YOUR EYES. UNCORE announced that the group is preparing a new album with a late-September comeback as the target. “POSE” remains the latest released single until that comeback is formally published.
For Jang Yeojun, that update must preserve the route into the group instead of replacing it with a comeback headline. The next update should add the confirmed release title, official video and any member-specific credit without deleting the earlier survival-show and debut chronology that makes this one canonical biography useful.
Release-by-release watch guide
ETERNALT: establish the baseline
Start with “All My Poetry” and the April 2025 debut stages. The softer arrangement leaves fewer places to hide timing, tone and facial control behind an aggressive beat. For Jang Yeojun, watch clean dance transitions, melodic support and the camera patience learned across three survival programs. The debut is not the final verdict; it is the cleanest baseline for measuring what changes later.
Snowy Summer: test range without abandoning softness
The useful replay question for Jang Yeojun is how the expression changes without erasing the performer underneath it. The July comeback kept the group melodic while making the visual world stranger and brighter. “Snowy Summer,” “Paint Candy” and the related stage material show whether a member can adjust expression and energy without becoming a completely different performer every era. This is where the group began separating adaptability from costume changes.
blackout: increase the pressure
“X” and “SOB” ask for sharper attack, darker confidence and more rhythmic weight. Compare the full-stage footage with the debut rather than comparing thumbnail views. Jang Yeojun is especially useful to watch here as the member who turned repeated almost-debuts into a real group career. The question is not who owned the era on social media. It is whether the member made the arrangement and formation more convincing.
“POSE” and the 2026 turn
Jang Yeojun’s choices during “POSE” matter more than another generic claim that the whole group matured. The April 2026 single arrived after the group had already cycled through three mini albums in one year. By then rookie novelty was no longer enough. The performance had to show choice: where to hold back, when to hit, and how to keep seven people distinct without turning the stage into seven separate auditions. That maturity is the bridge into the announced late-September comeback.
How international fans can actually follow the work
Jang Yeojun’s record is especially easy to fragment when schedules and clips travel across different language feeds. CLOSE YOUR EYES has official Korean group accounts, Weverse, an official YouTube channel and a Japanese fan-club site. International fans still have to assemble the story from multiple places: Korean comeback notices may appear before translated summaries, Japanese schedules live on a separate site, personal posts can be mistaken for official announcements, and short-form clips often circulate without the release date or original upload attached.
To verify Jang Yeojun, the official upload and dated notice remain the starting point. The safest route is to begin with the official YouTube channel for music and performance video, use Weverse and the group’s official social accounts for schedule notices, then use the Japanese site for Japan-specific activities. Translation accounts are helpful alerts, not primary evidence. If a post does not link back to a company notice, official account, album credit or complete interview, treat it as a lead to verify rather than a fact to repeat.
The point of Jang Yeojun’s canonical page is to remove that scavenger hunt without turning rumor into biography. This page helps by keeping dates, aliases, group relationships and exact video IDs together. It does not scrape every airport photograph into a timeline. The goal is a career record a reader can follow from outside Korea without needing six apps, three fan wars and a detective board made of red string.
What the next comeback needs to answer
- Does the September record continue the darker blackout/“POSE” lane, return to the literary softness of ETERNALT, or find a bridge between them?
- Where does Jang Yeojun receive a specific musical or performance responsibility rather than generic screen time?
- Are there official lyric, composition, choreography or production credits to add?
- Does the official-video upload receive an exact React relationship, and do the group/member trackers point to the same ID?
- Does the release change the working role description on this page, or merely give better evidence for the role already described?
Editorial bottom line
Jang Yeojun belongs in the CLOSE YOUR EYES member directory as a current member from 2025 to the present. The page is deliberately one canonical biography: survival-show history, pre-debut work, group releases, later credits and future solo activity all stay attached to the same person. A new era should deepen this record, not spawn a second profile with a slightly different spelling.
RaeRae bottom line: Jang Yeojun does not need a puff-piece crown. The useful case is already onstage: clean dance transitions, melodic support and the camera patience learned across three survival programs. The September update should be judged by receipts—new writing credits, health-status notices only when officially published, and continued broadcast work—not by whichever ten-second clip wins the algorithm that week.
Watch the group’s exact “SOB” 2025 KGMA mega-crew performance React, reconciled to official YouTube ID uf_5eKmzXYk.
Return to the CLOSE YOUR EYES group profile for the full member map, release chronology and corrected official-video tracker.
Yeojun is not a permanent audition contestant
Jang Yeojun’s pre-debut history is unusually crowded: Wild Idol, Boys Planet and PROJECT 7 can make the biography feel like a list of rooms where somebody else judged him. The more useful post-debut question is what he does with that accumulated camera knowledge. He understands how quickly an edit can choose a reaction, how a formation can hide a performer and how one missed chance can become a fandom myth. In CLOSE YOUR EYES, that history should read as preparation, not as a sentence requiring him to prove the same resilience forever.
Watch his transitions rather than only the obvious center moments. Yeojun often helps a section stay connected when the song changes texture or the camera moves toward a younger member. That job does not produce the loudest screenshot, but it keeps the stage from feeling like seven individual audition clips sewn together. His page will keep the survival chronology because it matters, then judge the adult career by released music, full stages and credits.
