Ji Suyeon Talks Weki Meki Reunion Hopes and First Solo EP

"I believe that if I keep going down my own path, the day will come when my taste lines up with the public's," Ji Suyeon said. "I don't think I'll suddenly put out a hip-hop dance song just to be popular."

The singer-songwriter, formerly of girl group Weki Meki, has left her idol image behind. She now writes, composes and arranges her own music. Her first solo EP, "Pile of Paper" (Jongideomi), was recently released on music streaming sites.

Ji sat down for an interview the day after the release at the K-POPIT building in Seoul's Jung district.

"This was my first time working on a full album instead of a single, so I had a lot on my mind," she said. "Once I went into the studio, I'd stay up working all night until the next morning."

She started preparing the EP in October 2025. The lyrics got most of her attention.

"The part I put the most work into was the lyrics," she said. "I thought hard about how to sing so the words would come across. In the end, what matters is singing that delivers the lyrics. I rerecorded many times, starting from the guide vocals, not even the final takes."

The title came from how feelings build up over time.

"The emotions that pile up day by day felt like a heap," Ji said. "I thought about what kind of pile it should be. Those feelings aren't always round. Sometimes they can poke at me. So I thought of paper, with its sharp edges."

The EP compares feelings people have in daily life, but never say out loud, to sheets of paper. Words left unsaid, regret over past relationships and emotions that are hard to sort out show up as folded or crumpled pages. It has five tracks, including the title track, "Chance and Fate" (Uyeongwa Pillyeon).

The songs draw on feelings she picked up from family and friends.

"I turned everyday worries into lyrics," she said. "That goes from hoping the people I love are happy to trying not to give too much meaning to things that happen by chance."

Ji was Weki Meki's main vocalist. Now she mostly makes calm, guitar-based acoustic music instead of idol dance tracks. Two songs on the EP, "A Book Called You" (Neoran Chaek) and "Pile of Paper," were written and composed entirely by her. The final versions stay close to her original demos. Neither song has a hard, fast beat or loud electronic sounds, so both feel easy to listen to.

"I really love that kind of music," she said. "I do think about the gap between what the public likes and my own taste. I think making music people like is my job."

She followed that with the joke about hip-hop dance songs. Still, she said her style is far from settled.

"This is only my first album, right?" she said. "I don't think I have enough songs out yet to really show what's mine. I probably need to release a lot more. But since working on this album, I do feel like I'm finding my direction."

Weki Meki disbanded in 2024, but Ji said the members still keep in touch. Her former bandmates came to the final show of the musical "Caffeine" (Kapein), which she performed in until October 2026. After the show, they talked until dawn, drinking nothing but water.

"Our group chat is active, too," she said. "It's not just one or two members who work to keep the conversation going. When something good happens, we congratulate each other. We share our show schedules and say, 'Come see it.'"

Former members Kim Doyeon and Choi Yoojung took part in the reunion of the group I.O.I in May. Asked whether Weki Meki might reunite too, Ji left the door open.

"If a good opportunity and a good day come, I think we could happily share news of a reunion," she said. "But when we meet up, we're so busy asking how everyone's doing that we haven't talked about a reunion yet."

Ji is also a musical actress. She made her stage debut in 2022 with "Bungee Jumping of Their Own." "Caffeine," which closed this October, was her first two-person show.

"There was a lot of pressure, because the two actors have to carry the whole show," she said. "Strangely, all the actors were my age. So we got really close and cared about each other a lot. Thanks to them, I could act comfortably. We still keep in touch now that it's over."

She is open to acting on screen as well. "If I get the chance, I'm willing to try screen acting in the future," she said.

Asked what has been on her mind lately, Ji said it is not having a real hobby.

"I still don't have one," she said. "It's a problem I need to solve, so I really want to find a hobby."

She has picked up a couple of small ones, sort of. "I try cooking with whatever's at home," she said. "I don't have many cooking tools or ingredients, but I try to make something with what I have. These days I sometimes build mini Lego characters, too."

Between her music and stage work, her schedule has gotten busier. She said she tries to make time to rest.

"On my days off, I really just sleep," she said with a big laugh. "'Caffeine' was a two-person show, so it took a lot out of me physically. I felt like I had to rest my voice and my body, so one day I slept 15 hours. I woke up because I was hungry, ate, and then slept another 10 hours straight."

As for what comes next, she has one stage in mind.

"I really want to perform at a festival," she said. "Now that the album is out, I finally have songs I can sing at shows. I'll work to release more music."