YENA: Artist Profile, IZ*ONE History, Music and Official Videos

One artist, one continuing file: IZ*ONE history, solo authorship and the full current route through LOVE CATCHER.

Bottom line

Choi Yena is a South Korean singer, performer, television personality and active solo artist. She promoted in the twelve-member project group IZ*ONE from 2018 through its planned conclusion in 2021, then made her Korean solo debut with the mini-album SMiLEY in January 2022.

Her bright comic timing is recognizable, but the catalog is broader than one cheerful character. Pop-punk drive, conversational breakup music, darker performance work and Japanese releases all belong to the same continuing artist file.

Profile

Stage name	YENA / 예나
Birth name	Choi Yena
Born	September 29, 1999
Nationality	South Korean
Former group	IZ*ONE
Solo debut	SMiLEY (January 17, 2022)
Company	YH Entertainment
Current status	Active solo artist

Name: Choi Yena. Stage name: YENA. Born September 29, 1999. Nationality: South Korean. Former group: IZ*ONE. Korean solo debut: January 17, 2022. Company: YH Entertainment. Current status: active solo artist.

As of 2026, her current Korean chapter is the fifth mini-album LOVE CATCHER and its title track “Catch Catch.” That evidence matters because a current profile cannot freeze her at “Good Morning” merely because the playlist stops there.

Before the debut

Yena trained before entering Produce 48, the competition that formed IZ*ONE. Survival-show footage is public formation history, not a permanent measurement instrument for every later vocal, dance or personality choice.

The useful question is what she carried forward: fast adaptation, expressive performance and an ability to make ensemble moments readable without treating every camera as an emergency.

IZ*ONE history

IZ*ONE debuted in October 2018 as a time-limited Korean-Japanese project group. Yena promoted with Kwon Eunbi, Sakura, Kang Hyewon, Lee Chaeyeon, Kim Chaewon, Kim Minju, Nako, Hitomi, Jo Yuri, An Yujin and Jang Wonyoung.

The group completed its planned activity in April 2021. “Former member” is chronology, not an accusation or evidence of conflict. Her group recordings remain part of her profile while solo videos receive their own exact routes.

What Yena contributed to the group

Yena could change a performance’s social temperature quickly: bright humor in one beat, rhythmic bite in the next, then enough seriousness to stop the character from becoming a mascot.

That flexibility made her useful in a large lineup, but a solo career had to turn versatility into authorship. Being good at many assigned moments is different from deciding which whole record should exist.

SMiLEY and the solo opening

The first mini-album SMiLEY established an intentionally vivid route. Its title track used pop-rock energy, comic-book brightness and BIBI’s contrasting feature without pretending optimism means never seeing the problem.

Yena participated in writing across the debut project. That detail matters because the “Yena genre” language later used by her company is stronger when connected to choices and credits, not just recurring yellow styling.

SMARTPHONE and digital play

The second mini-album SMARTPHONE extended her saturated pop world through game and device imagery. The concept could have become novelty wallpaper, but her performance supplied impatience, humor and physical attack.

Technology on screen is not analysis by itself. The era works where the interface changes movement or relationships rather than merely proving that a graphics team owns several icons.

Love War and tonal expansion

The 2023 single album Love War moved into a groovier, more bruised conversation. Yena participated in the title track’s writing and composition, while BE’O supplied the other side of a relationship close to collapse.

A darker release did not reveal a “real” Yena hidden behind bright concepts. Artists can own multiple temperatures. The useful development is how she adjusts vocal pressure and pacing without abandoning her recognizable directness.

HATE XX and controversy boundaries

HATE XX included “Wicked Love,” the exact dark performance video reviewed on this site, alongside the disputed “Hate Rodrigo” title. Public criticism and later video changes belong to that release history.

Responsible archiving separates confirmed actions from imagined private motives. “Wicked Love” deserves analysis on its own terms rather than serving as a footnote to a neighboring title’s controversy.

Why Wicked Love matters

“Wicked Love” uses temptation, divided judgment and a sharper performance vocabulary. It proves Yena can hold a controlled, darker frame without losing the facial precision that powers her brighter work.

The playlist contains the exact official upload oJ2EmLEUIto. Its React has a unique local frame and reviews that file rather than substituting the audio upload or dance practice.

GOOD MORNING

The January 2024 mini-album GOOD MORNING used band-driven neon pop-punk and alternative-rock energy to push away yesterday’s worry and tomorrow’s anxiety. Yena also helped write and compose the title track.

Hope is not automatically shallow. The song earns its lift where the arrangement gives frustration somewhere to go before the chorus announces a fresh start.

Good Morning as performance

The official MV turns an ordinary start into a sequence of escalating obstacles, then lets Yena treat each interruption as material. Her comic acting and rhythmic attack prevent encouragement from sounding laminated.

The exact playlist upload jJjKlNeMr-I receives a full React. This profile supplies career context and routes the video without copying the review into a biography.

NEMONEMO and a sharper pop geometry

The 2024 single NEMONEMO converted a relationship into corners, blocks and shapes that refuse a smooth fit. The sound and visual system made “Yena-core” feel less like a slogan and more like a consistent appetite for bright surfaces with emotional edges.

A signature is useful only when it keeps changing consequence. Repeating color is branding; finding a new argument inside the color is development.

Japanese catalog

Yena’s Japanese releases are part of the main career, not bonus trivia. Japanese versions and originals expand the archive’s language, collaborators and market route while preserving one human profile.

Trackers should record exact official uploads and release territory. A Korean MV cannot silently stand in for a Japanese original because the artist name looks identical.

Blooming Wings and growth

Blooming Wings, released in 2025, framed love and growth through first-love brightness and separation. It followed her first solo concert activity and extended the more explicitly named “Yena-core” identity.

The era shows why chronology needs more than famous titles. Without it, a reader jumps from 2024 to 2026 and misses the emotional bridge between square-edged romance and LOVE CATCHER’s chase.

LOVE CATCHER and 2026

The fifth mini-album LOVE CATCHER arrived in March 2026. “Catch Catch” uses electro-pop, pursuit imagery and playful tension; the official MV provides this page’s current real-human profile frame.

This image is stored locally and is not reused by either playlist React. Hero, featured image, static profile card and social previews point to the same current attachment.

Performance identity

Yena’s strongest skill may be the ability to make precision look socially spontaneous. She can hit an exact accent while appearing to invent the reaction in that moment.

That quality matters in comedy, darker choreography and live stages alike. Technique becomes character instead of arriving as a separate demonstration after the song has already ended.

Voice and songwriting

Her voice can cut brightly through dense guitars, lean into conversational midrange or add abrasion when a line needs impatience. Writing and composition credits across her solo catalog make those adjustments part of a developing authored perspective.

Credits do not mean she worked alone. They identify where collaboration includes her in the construction rather than positioning her only as the final visible performer.

One canonical person page

Former-member history, television work, Korean releases, Japanese music and current solo activity remain on this one profile. A new company name, album concept or hairstyle does not create another person.

Future releases extend the tracker here. Exact Reacts remain separate so the biography stays navigable and each video can receive long analysis without swallowing the career timeline.

International fan guide

Use YH Entertainment’s artist and album pages, Yena’s official artist channel, official Japanese label pages and durable release platforms. Confirm exact IDs before deciding whether a link is an MV, performance, stage video or repost.

Translations should preserve uncertainty. Social chatter can point toward a question, but status, dates and credits need a primary receipt before they become profile facts.

RaeRae take

Yena is most interesting when brightness becomes an action rather than a permanent personality requirement. “Good Morning” lets optimism fight through interruption; “Wicked Love” lets control survive temptation and darker styling.

The range is not a contradiction to solve. It is the reason a solo profile needs room to follow choices instead of compressing her into “former IZ*ONE sunshine.”

What to watch next

Watch post-LOVE CATCHER credits, live arrangements, Japanese originals and the balance between electronic pop, rock texture and the darker performance line opened by “Wicked Love.”

Also watch international archiving. Global fans should be able to distinguish official versions without rebuilding a release timeline from thumbnails and translated fragments.

Official video tracker

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJjKlNeMr-I

Good Morning — exact playlist MV and dedicated React.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJ2EmLEUIto

Wicked Love — exact playlist MV and dedicated React.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ItSKahBISg0

Catch Catch — official 2026 MV and current profile-image source.

Official Socials and sources

Archive method

This page separates durable chronology, exact-video evidence and RaeRae interpretation. Confirmed releases establish what happened; performance analysis explains what the public work does without inventing private intent.