SongsunLeader
Trained for nine years before debut and wrote both lyrics and music for "Got Your Back".
Their story
Seven girls, three countries
TRI.BE was put together by Shinsadong Tiger, the songwriter behind hits for T-ara, HyunA and EXID, and Universal Music in Korea, which had never formed an idol group before. The final seven were chosen in 2020 and given four months to train together: four Korean members, Kelly and Jia from Taiwan and Mire from Japan. Leader Songsun, a trainee for nine years, was the only one born before 2000.
Drums first
The debut on 17 February 2021 set the tone. "Doom Doom Ta", co-written by EXID's LE, mixed afrobeat, baile funk and dancehall, and the members introduced themselves in Korean, Mandarin, Japanese and English. They kept a quick pace that first year: "Rub-A-Dum" in May, then the EP Veni Vidi Vici in October, its title track "Would You Run" a moombahton song about leaving for outer space.
Growing up in public
"Kiss" in 2022 and the EP W.A.Y in 2023 swapped some of the charisma for a lighter, younger image, and the fans, TRU, got a showcase of their own in Seoul. Jinha left in July 2023. A year later the six came back with Diamond, an afrobeats-influenced song about a rough stone being polished, with members writing on the B-side "Run". Days after the release Shinsadong Tiger died. The group went ahead with the promotions anyway, and in May took True Diamond on tour in Europe.
Where they are now
In March 2025, a year after Shinsadong Tiger's death, the Seoul Bankruptcy Court declared TR Entertainment bankrupt. No statement about TRI.BE followed, and Diamond is still their latest release. Six members remain from the line-up that last promoted together: Songsun, Kelly, Hyunbin, Jia, Soeun and Mire.
