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South Korean singer and rapper (born 2000) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Yu Ji-min (Korean: 유지민; born April 11, 2000), known professionally as Karina, is a South Korean singer and rapper. She is the leader of the South Korean girl group Aespa, formed by SM Entertainment on November 17, 2020. She is also a member of the supergroup Got the Beat, which debuted on January 3, 2022. In 2024, Karina achieved her first top-ten song as a solo artist on the Circle Digital Chart, as well as her first-ever solo music show award from Show! Music Core, with "Up" from Aespa's digital single album Synk: Parallel Line.
Karina | |
|---|---|
Karina in September 2024 | |
| Born | Yu Ji-min April 11, 2000 Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, South Korea |
| Occupations |
|
| Musical career | |
| Genres | |
| Instrument | Vocals |
| Years active | 2020–present |
| Labels | |
| Member of | |
| Website | Official website |
| Korean name | |
| Hangul | 유지민 |
| Hanja | 劉知珉 |
| Revised Romanization | Yu Jimin |
| McCune–Reischauer | Yu Chimin |
| Stage name | |
| Hangul | 카리나 |
| Revised Romanization | Karina |
| McCune–Reischauer | K'arina |
| Signature | |
 | |
Karina was born and raised in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, South Korea,[1][2] in a family consisting of her parents and an older sister.[3] She attended Hansol High School until she was discovered by an SM Entertainment representative through social media and trained for 4 years before her debut.[4] She then dropped out to focus on training and later obtained a GED equivalent certificate.[5]
Karina is Catholic and stated that her baptismal name is Katarina, which is the inspiration for her stage name.[6][7][8]
During her time as a trainee, Karina appeared in labelmate Taemin's music video for the song "Want" in February 2019, and performed with him on several music programs in the following weeks.[9][10] Karina also appeared alongside labelmate Kai for Hyundai and SM's virtual showcase, The All-New Tucson, Beyond DRIVE.[11]
On October 27, 2020, SM revealed Karina as the second member of Aespa.[12] She debuted as the leader of the group on November 17, 2020, with the digital single "Black Mamba".[13]
From October 30 to mid-December 2021, Karina hosted the show Travel Diary Soul: Seoul alongside David Lee McInnis as part of a tourist promotion by Seoul Metropolitan Government. The programme ran for 4 episodes and showcased tourist hotspots in the city. It was produced jointly with History Channel and aired to 39.5 million households in 19 countries.[14][15] On December 17, she was announced as a member of SM's supergroup Got the Beat alongside bandmate Winter and other female labelmates such as BoA, Girls' Generation's Taeyeon and Hyoyeon, and Red Velvet's Seulgi and Wendy.[16]
On May 11, 2023, MBC announced that Karina will be the special host of the May 13th episode of Show! Music Core alongside Lee Min-hyuk and Jungwoo.[17] On September 22, Karina released the single "Sad Waltz" for the Netflix TV series Song of the Bandits.[18] On November 30, it was announced that Karina will take part in the Netflix unscripted show Agents of Mystery.[19] Filming for the show started in January 2024,[20] with the first episode scheduled for release on June 18.[21]
On April 8, 2024, it was confirmed that Karina will appear in KBS 2TV's 싱크로유 (Synchro U), a variety music programme, alongside Yoo Jae-suk, Lee Juck, Lee Yong-jin, Yook Sung-jae, and Hoshi. The pilot episodes will air on May 10 and 18.[22] It was also confirmed on the same day that Karina will be a special DJ of the MBC FM4U's radio show Lee Seok-hoon's Brunch Cafe on April 18 and 19.[23]
Karina was introduced by SM as a member with multiple talents from dance, vocal and rap ahead of her debut.[24] Following her debut introduction video, the phrase "Karina is a God" has been adopted by fans and the press[25][26] noted by her public image and role in her group,[27] with the magazine Paper calling her a "dynamic dancer, an attentive leader, and a sultry rapper to her group".[13]
In 2021, Karina topped South Korean's brand reputation for K-pop artists and influencers for two consecutive months.[28] She also topped Star News' female idol category for 8 weeks.[29] In the Korean Business Research Institute's monthly "Individual Girl Group Members Brand Power Ranking", Karina placed first in both the June and July issue and fourth on the October issue.[30][31] She was also featured on Seoul Metropolitan Government's "Tour Promotion Program" that "helps tourists to appreciate the panoramic view of the entire city and the historic Seoul Wall]] as well as pottery making in Mullae-dong".[14]
In April 2022, Karina was selected as a goodwill ambassador for Maeil Business Newspaper's "Clean Campaign".[32]
In November 2023, Lotte Chilsung selected Karina as model for their "Kloud Krush" alcohol beverage.[33] In December, Vogue Korea announced Karina as the new face of YSL Beauty's "Rouge Pur Couture" lipstick line.[34]
In January 2024, Converse Korea appointed Karina as their new ambassador.[35] In April, she was selected as model of Vita 500 Zero, a popular Vitamin C drink brand in Korea. The announcement was released on April 11,[36][37] following a previous social media post teasing the brand's new model on April 9.[38] On August 12, Karina was selected as the ambassador and model of the fashion e-commerce company Musinsa's Musinsa Beauty.[39] On August 28, Italian luxury fashion house Prada named Karina as their global brand ambassador.[40][41] On September 2, she was selected as the muse of the Danish outdoor brand Nordisk.[42]
| Title | Year | Peak chart position | Album |
|---|---|---|---|
| KOR | |||
| "The Cure" (with Kangta, BoA, U-Know, Leeteuk, Taeyeon, Onew, Suho, Irene, Taeyong, Mark and Kun) |
2023 | —[upper-alpha 1] | 2022 Winter SM Town: SMCU Palace |
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released in that region. | |||
| Title | Year | Peak chart position | Album |
|---|---|---|---|
| KOR | |||
| "Sad Waltz" | 2023 | —[upper-alpha 2] | Song of the Bandits OST |
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released in that region. | |||
| Title | Year | Peak chart position | Album | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| KOR [45] |
HK [46] |
JPN Hot [47] |
MLY [48] |
NZ Hot [49] |
SGP [50] |
TW [51] |
WW [52] | |||
| "Hot & Cold" (온도차) (with Kai, Seulgi and Jeno) |
2022 | —[upper-alpha 3] | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 2022 Winter SM Town: SMCU Palace |
| "Up"[upper-alpha 4] | 2024 | 2 | 9 | 50 | 12 | 17 | 11 | 3 | 27 | Synk: Parallel Line |
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released in that region. | ||||||||||
All song credits are adapted from the Korea Music Copyright Association's database unless stated otherwise.[53]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | Travel Diary Soul: Seoul | Host | For Seoul Metropolitan Government | [15] |
| 2024 | Synchro U | Cast member | [22] |
| Year | Title | Role | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | Agents of Mystery | Cast member | [60] |
| Year | Title | Notes | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | Show! Music Core | Special MC with Jungwoo and Lee Min-hyuk | [61][17] |
| Year | Title | Notes | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | Lee Seok-hoon's Brunch Cafe | Special DJ on April 18 – 19 | [23] |
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