How FIFTY FIFTY's Yewon Helped Push 'Pookie' Into a Viral Comeback

FIFTY FIFTY's Yewon wants her voice to do one specific thing. She wants it to move people. "I want to show the power of a voice," she said. "A friend of mine who is always tough once cried after listening to one of my songs. I want to be a singer who gives that kind of feeling. I hope my songs can heal someone."

Yewon sat down with Kpopit at the company's office in central Seoul to talk about the long second life of "Pookie," the FIFTY FIFTY single released in April that has only recently turned into a viral hit.

The delayed bump has kept her busy. "Even though promotions ended, it doesn't feel like they ended," she said with a laugh. "New content keeps coming out, so I've never been bored. It still feels like we're promoting 'Pookie.'" She added that the live shows are the part she looks forward to most. "It's fun. I really love meeting fans on stage. Even when I'm tired, the moment I get on stage, I forget everything."

The recent surge has been driven in part by other idols posting their own challenge videos to the song. Several well-known artists have joined in, including male idols covering the choreography. "It was so strange to see," Yewon said. "Senior artists weren't just doing 'Pookie.' They were doing a boy-group version of it. I kept thinking, why is that person doing this dance? Is this edited? Am I dreaming? I got so many messages from friends saying, 'My artist just danced to your song.' I was really proud."

Yewon is also one of the quieter reasons "Pookie" took off again. In behind-the-scenes content, she kept bringing up a "boy-group version" of the choreography performed by fellow member Moon Sua. The clip moved from behind-the-scenes footage into interviews and then into the wider conversation around the song.

"Sua is really playful," Yewon said. "Back during 'SOS,' she would do a boy-group version of the dance as a joke. While we were preparing 'Pookie,' I asked her to try it with this song too, and she was so good at it. After seeing it, I thought, I have to keep mentioning this. I have to keep bringing it up in our behind-the-scenes videos."

She gives Moon Sua most of the credit. "Sua comes up with ideas no one else thinks of. Who would think of a 'boy-group version' instead of just a powerful version? She even captures that specific smile male idols do on stage. That's a talent. I didn't want a talent like that to go to waste." She added, "It was Sua's idea that helped push the song back up the charts."

Music was not always the only path Yewon considered. As a child, she briefly dreamed of becoming an archer after watching the Olympics. "I thought the archers looked so cool. Ki Bo-bae especially," she said, referring to the Korean Olympic gold medalist. "I had always dreamed of being an idol, but that was the first time I was interested in something different."

She started mimicking the sport at home with a remote control and a clothes hanger. After trying an archery arcade game at a noodle restaurant and doing surprisingly well, her parents enrolled her in a class. She trained for a year.

A real decision point came soon after. "There was an archery class at school, and they told me my form was good enough that I could possibly compete," she said. "When I had to choose a middle school, a school with an archery team approached me. If I chose that, I was choosing a career as an athlete. I realized I might never get to dream about being a singer again, so I decided to keep archery as a good memory."

She did not neglect school either. In elementary school, she placed second in all of Mapo District in a math competition. "I always thought about practical things, so I studied constantly. I figured I was a student, so I should study. I even looked for a tutor on my own." Her parents, she said, told her the opposite. "They actually told me not to study so much. They felt bad watching me come home from study cafes at 2 a.m. No one was pressuring me, but I had this strange sense of responsibility. I'm competitive too. I saw the kids who were good at school and I wanted to beat them. So I did both. School and audition classes."

A month into her audition classes, ten agencies reached out. She ended up signing as a trainee with Source Music under HYBE, but left because of health issues and returned to being a regular student.

That stretch was the hardest. "It was painful seeing the friends I trained with debut. It was hard to even listen to their songs. My body and my mind were both wrecked. Even at study cafes, I kept watching stage videos. I had no energy to study. A friend of mine finally told me, 'If you're going to be a singer, you have to give up school. You really have to commit.' From that moment, I put studying aside and focused only on becoming an idol."

She auditioned again and joined Belift Lab, another HYBE label. Not long after, she appeared on the survival show "R U Next?," the program that ultimately formed the group ILLIT. Yewon was eliminated.

"I practiced every day for over a month, and then I caught COVID-19 and couldn't even perform the stage I'd been preparing," she said. "I'd already started later than the others. I told myself I had to let it go. I focused on my stages and on protecting my mental health. I told myself this experience would help me later in life. I kept thinking, I'll take a better path later, I can do this."

The hard years are part of why joining FIFTY FIFTY's new lineup felt different. "I told myself it was my last chance, and I took it," she said. "I barely had time to prepare for the show, and the audition for FIFTY FIFTY was also decided in a very short period. I kept thinking, why is my life always rushed? I was anxious about what would happen if it didn't work out. That was a new feeling for me." When she got the call, she said, she cried. "I was so happy. My family was so happy too, and seeing them like that made me even happier. I thought, this kind of day is finally here."

FIFTY FIFTY relaunched with new members in September of last year. Since the group already had a hit in "Cupid," the new lineup had to think carefully about direction. "We talked a lot about which way to go," Yewon said. "Do we keep the group's existing color and add something new, or do we build our own color?" They chose the second path. "Since we're starting fresh, we decided to show a new side. I felt more excited than pressured. I had confidence."

That confidence proved out. "Pookie" became a new hit and let the lineup introduce itself on its own terms. "I feel proud," Yewon said. "That was exactly what I wanted to hear. Every time someone says it, it makes me happy."

She calls her bandmates a second family. "The atmosphere is really good. It's not easy to find people who hype each other up. Our members know how to bring out each other's strengths. We give each other feedback all the time."

FIFTY FIFTY is still only about a year into this chapter, and Yewon has clear goals for what comes next. "I want to perform at the biggest venues in Korea, and I want to play a dome show at least once," she said. "These are venues I've only heard about. I think actually being there would feel different. And if that venue were filled with our fans, I think I'd be truly happy."