ARrC ARCHIVE · FORMER MAIN VOCALIST · SOLO ARTIST AS JIWOO
Ziwoo
Profile
| Stage name | Ziwoo |
|---|---|
| Born | November 16, 2006 |
| Roles | Vocalist and performer |
| Group | ARrC |
| Group debut | 2024-2025 |
| Agency | See official profile |
The original main vocalist went viral before debut, left ARrC for personal reasons, then returned in 2026 as soloist Jiwoo instead of disappearing into a former-member footnote.
Profile
| Birth name | Kim Ji-woo (김지우) |
|---|---|
| Stage name | Ziwoo |
| Born | November 16, 2006 |
| From | South Korea |
| Western zodiac | Scorpio · private, intense and more comfortable revealing emotion through sound |
| Chinese zodiac | Fire Dog · loyal, earnest and unwilling to fake comfort |
| Group | ARrC |
| ARrC role | Former main vocalist · solo artist as Jiwoo |
| Group debut | August 19, 2024 with AR^C |
| Agency during ARrC | Mystic Story |
| Status | Original member · 2024–January 2025 |
Before ARrC: the classroom voice that escaped into the algorithm
Before Mystic Story introduced him as Ziwoo, Kim Ji-woo already had a public voice. He appeared on I Can See Your Voice 10, and a classroom clip of him singing Mark’s “Marry Me” reportedly collected millions of TikTok views. The clip worked because it did not look engineered: a student, a familiar song and a voice too finished for the room.
Virality is not training, but it changes the starting line. Ziwoo entered Mystic Story’s incubation camp in June 2024 and debuted with ARrC two months later. Like Doha, he arrived close to the official launch. Unlike a completely unknown trainee, he also carried an existing audience expectation: the boy from the classroom video had to become a main vocalist inside somebody else’s concept.
The original main vocalist
Ziwoo debuted on August 19, 2024 as ARrC’s main vocalist. His tone gave the original lineup a clear melodic center and a little emotional gravity beneath its youthful hip-hop styling. “S&S (sour and sweet)” needed the rap structure to feel energetic, but it also needed a voice capable of making the sweeter half sound like more than a branding word.
He was not in ARrC long enough for the role to develop across multiple eras. That makes his original-lineup footage important. It documents the first vocal architecture of the group before January 2025 forced everyone to learn a revised version.
The ARrC music file
| Release | Ziwoo’s chapter |
|---|---|
| AR^C · August 19, 2024 | The official debut and his only complete ARrC release. “S&S (sour and sweet)” connected his viral-vocal reputation to a working idol group. |
| Pre-filmed 2024–2025 content | Mystic Story warned that already-recorded material could still include him after departure. A delayed upload is production logistics, not proof of a secret eighth member. |
| nu kidz: out the box · February 18, 2025 | The first release after his exit, with Andy joining. Ziwoo is part of the history that explains why the comeback felt like both continuation and reset. |
| STAY IN THE MIRROR · March 2026 | His solo return as Jiwoo under 5SECONDS Entertainment. The former main vocalist reappeared as the center of his own sound. |
January 22, 2025: departure without a public autopsy
Mystic Story announced that Ziwoo would leave ARrC for personal reasons on January 22, 2025. The company also explained that pre-filmed content might still include him. That second sentence was necessary because fandom timelines are not production timelines. Videos can be recorded weeks or months before publication, and a person appearing after a departure notice does not automatically reveal a conspiracy.
“Personal reasons” is unsatisfying because it does not let fans solve the story. It is also a legitimate boundary. Ziwoo was eighteen. A profile can document what happened without inventing the private chapter he did not publish.
Jiwoo: the solo return
In March 2026, he returned under the simplified stage name Jiwoo with STAY IN THE MIRROR through 5SECONDS Entertainment. That return changed the meaning of the departure. He had not vanished from music; he had left one structure and rebuilt inside another.
The solo file lets listeners compare three versions of the same instrument: the viral classroom singer, the ARrC main vocalist and the artist expected to carry an entire release under his own name. The voice remains recognizable, but the responsibility changes. A group line can be a bright window. A solo song makes the singer build the house around it.
One person, two searchable roles
Ziwoo belongs on the member directory because he is part of ARrC’s original history. Jiwoo belongs on the artist directory because he has active solo work. Those are tags and views, not duplicate humans. Keeping one canonical profile protects the timeline, the internal links and the SEO trail while letting fans discover him through either chapter.
That structure also prevents a common fan-site failure: the solo artist page pretending the group never happened while the former-member page stops at the departure notice. His story only makes sense when both halves can see each other.
The panda side quests
- Family café: early profiles called him the café’s CEO, which may be the most K-pop possible promotion from “helps with the family business.”
- Voice comparison: classroom clip, ARrC stages and solo recordings form a built-in vocal-growth playlist.
- Stage-name edit: Ziwoo in ARrC, Jiwoo as a solo artist. Same person; fewer SEO duplicates.
- Privacy boundary: leaving for personal reasons does not make the fandom entitled to the missing document.
- Timeline detective work: pre-filmed content teaches the useful lesson that upload dates are not filming dates.
Fandom notes and things the fact box misses
- Birth name: Kim Ji-woo (김지우).
- ARrC status: original main vocalist from debut through January 22, 2025.
- Solo status: active as Jiwoo from 2026.
- Viral origin: the “Marry Me” classroom clip and I Can See Your Voice 10 predate ARrC.
- Pre-filmed footage: not evidence that the departure was reversed.
- Canonical rule: former member and solo artist belong to one profile, with both directory tags.
Official Socials
- Instagram · @jiwoonav
- Mystic Story official ARrC conclusion notice
- Official ARrC video archive
- “awesome” RaeRae React
- Ziwoo/Andy lineup Tea file
YouTube tracking history
Ziwoo does not currently have a verified standalone official solo-video catalog. His former ARrC group releases remain attached to the ARrC group profile so group totals are not duplicated as individual activity.