Ailee
이예진- Name
- Lee Ye-jin
A Korean American singer known for live vocals, she won Mnet's female vocal award four years in a row.
Their story
From the US to YMC
Lee Ye-jin grew up in the United States and came to Korea after an audition for YMC Entertainment. She later said that once she arrived, she was the foreigner. Her debut in February 2012 was a pop ballad, "Heaven", written and produced by Wheesung. That same year she also turned up on television, playing a member of a fictional girl group in Dream High 2.
Four hours to the top
The turn came with "U&I" in the summer of 2013. Shinsadong Tiger gave her a funky track with heavy brass, and within four hours it sat at number one on nine real-time charts. She told a reporter it felt like a dream, because it was her first all-kill. The next January, "Singing Got Better" brought her a music show trophy, and Mnet kept handing her its female vocal prize until 2016.
Ballads and big notes
Ailee built her name on songs that leave room for a long, loud finish. The breakup ballads fit that, and so did the drama soundtracks. "I Will Go to You Like the First Snow", written for Guardian: The Lonely and Great God, became the song most Korean listeners know her by. She has also tried funk, dance pop and English-language releases. Lately she has pushed back on the breakup label and called herself a guardian of self-esteem instead.
Where she is now
(Me)moir, released in March 2025, was her first mini-album in more than three years. Pdogg produced every track, and the lead song "MMI" leans toward hip hop R&B. She recorded its guide vocal in less than twenty minutes. On Christmas Eve 2025 she played KBS Arena with a full band, her first solo show in two years. In January 2026 she was back in the judge's chair for SBS's Veiled Cup, after a season of Netflix's Veiled Musician.