Joy (조이)

When SM Entertainment released Joy's debut solo extended play Hello in 2021, it marked the first time the label had given the Red Velvet member a project built entirely around her own register — and the result was quieter, warmer, and more deliberately personal than the group's characteristically polished ensemble sound. That debut, modest in scale but clear in intent, established a solo identity that Joy has continued to develop across her public life both on and off record.

Debut and the shape of a solo voice

Within Red Velvet, Joy serves as lead rapper and sub-vocalist — roles that, by the group's own design, position her behind the more prominent vocal lines. *Hello* reframed that hierarchy. Rather than leaning into her rap contributions, the EP drew on a retro-inflected warmth, led by "Je T'aime," a track built from classic pop sentiment rather than the sleeker production dominant in SM's flagship output at the time. "If Only" and "Day by Day" extended the same emotional directness, and the overall project revealed a vocal character defined less by technical range than by sincerity of delivery. The EP did not attempt to reposition her as a powerhouse vocalist; it argued instead that emotional clarity is its own kind of instrument.

From *Hello* to *From Joy, with Love*

After a gap of roughly a year and nine months, Joy returned in 2025 with a second extended play, From Joy, with Love, accompanied by the single "Love Splash!" The title of the EP carried its own implicit statement — a deliberate orientation toward directness, toward a relationship with an audience rather than a performance for one. The material remained consistent with the softer end of the pop spectrum she had staked out in 2021, signaling that the tone of *Hello* was not a tentative experiment but a considered artistic position. The announcement of the return drew substantial attention, in part because the hiatus had been long enough for the question of when — and whether — she would release new music to become a genuine discussion among observers of her career.

Standing within Red Velvet

Joy debuted with Red Velvet in 2014, joining a group that would define a significant strand of fourth-generation K-pop through its dual-concept framework: the bright, propulsive energy of its "Red" mode and the darker, more atmospheric textures of its "Velvet" side. Within that structure, Joy's role has been defined as much by presence and personality as by vocal contribution. She has been a consistent figure in the group's variety and promotional activities, and her height and physical profile have made her a recurring subject in Korean fashion and entertainment coverage throughout the group's decade-plus run.

A public life on and off stage

Joy's visibility has never been confined to recorded music. Her appearances on the long-running Korean variety program *I Live Alone* have been among the most discussed elements of her public image in recent years. In 2026, her episodes attracted particular attention when she disclosed, on camera, that she had been studying for a professional dog groomer's license. The motivation she gave was candid in a way that relatively few major-label artists make room for: she wanted a practical skill to fall back on if she could no longer work as a celebrity, and she was drawn to the idea of eventually volunteering with abandoned dogs. The footage, which showed her studying alongside her dog Haetnim, circulated widely and was covered extensively in Korean entertainment media — not as a novelty item, but as a genuine window into how she thinks about her life beyond the present.

Her relationship with singer Crush, which became public in 2021, has remained one of the more openly documented pairings in contemporary K-pop, a category in which public dating remains relatively uncommon among active artists at major labels. The two have been the subject of consistent coverage across travel, social media activity, and personal milestones. A detail that circulated widely in mid-2026 — that Crush had performed at Joy's sister's wedding — was taken by many observers as an indication of how far the relationship had progressed beyond the carefully managed public statements that typically characterize celebrity dating in this industry. By that point, the relationship had been publicly acknowledged for approximately five years.

The coverage surrounding Joy in early-to-mid 2026 also included a significant volume of commentary on her physical appearance following a visible change in her figure. Some of that coverage expressed concern; some framed the same observations in the language of admiration common to Korean entertainment reporting. Whatever the framing, that volume of scrutiny — sustained over several months — underscored the degree to which Joy's image is publicly watched, a consequence of more than a decade of visibility as part of one of SM Entertainment's most prominent active groups, and increasingly as a solo artist with her own distinct public identity.