Who is Bae Joohyun (aka Irene) on ‘Red Velvet’?
Bae ‘Irene’ Joohyun was born in Daegu, South Korea, on 29 March 1991 – her zodiac sign is Pisces and she holds South Korean nationality. She is a singer, probably best known for being a member of the girl group Red Velvet as well as its sub-unit Irene & Seulgi.
Early life and education
Joohyun was raised alongside her younger sister in Daegu by their father who is the owner of his own small store, and their mother who is working at the same store.
She became interested in singing at the age of eight, and so her mother enrolled her at a music school where Joohyun practiced singing and dancing.
She studied at Haknam High School where she continued working on her vocal skills, while she was also physically active, as she played a variety of sports such as soccer and tennis. She matriculated in 2009 – she didn’t enroll into college, and isn’t planning to, instead attending an audition organized by SM Entertainment, passing it and becoming their trainee – she trained under SM for five years before she became a member of the girl group Red Velvet.
The group Red Velvet
SM Entertainment began gathering members for Red Velvet in 2007 when Seulgi became a trainee, followed by Joohyun in 2009, and Wendy and Joy in 2012. They debuted on 1 August 2014, when they sang in the music show “Music Bank”, then on 4 August the girls released their debut single “Happiness”.
The music video for the song was uploaded onto YouTube, and was viewed over two million times in only 24 hours, becoming the second most-watched video worldwide for August 2014 – the song also peaked at #4 on the Billboard World Digital Songs Chart.
Red Velvet released their second single, “Be Natural” on 13 October 2014 and promoted it in the show “M Countdown” – it reached #33 on the Gaon Digital Chart, and #6 on the Billboard World Digital Songs Chart. For their initial success, the girls were rewarded with the Rookie of the Year Award at both Seoul Music and Golden Disk Awards.
The girls’ debut extended play (EP) came out on 17 March 2015, entitled “Ice Cream Cake” with the song “Automatic” as its lead single. Ten days later, they won the show “Music Bank”, marking their first show victory, then in Augus, the girls performed for the first time in the US at KCON Los Angeles. Their debut studio album came out on 9 September entitled “The Red”, and it topped the Billboard World Albums Chart as well as the Gaon Album Chart, while its title song “Dumb Dumb” reached #2 on the Gaon Digital Chart, and #3 on the Billboard World Digital Songs Chart. To mark the end of 2015, the girls released their new Christmas single “Wish Tree”.
Their second EP was released on 17 March 2016 entitled “The Velvet”, and was followed on 7 September by their third EP “Russian Roulette”, made up of seven songs including the eponymous lead track which reached #2 on the Gaon Digital Chart, as well as on the Billboard World Digital Songs Chart.
Their new EP “Rookie” came out on 1 February 2017, comprising of six songs including the eponymous lead single – the EP peaked at #1 on the Billboard World Albums Chart and the Gaon Albums Chart, while its lead single helped the girls win trophies in several shows, including “Music Bank”, “Show Champion” and “M Countdown” among others.
On 27 July, they began starring in their own reality TV show – “Level Up Project” – which followed the girls’ trip to Thailand, and aired 23 episodes until 10 September. Their new summer EP was released in July called “The Red Summer”, with the song “Red Flavor” as the lead single, and it topped both the Billboard World Albums Chart and the Gaon Albums Chart. Red Velvet’s debut solo concert was held on 18 August called “Red Room”, attracting 11,000 people – the concert was followed by the girls’ first Japanese showcase “Red Velvet Premium Showcase F’U’N Room Reveluv-Baby Party” held at Tokyo’s Yebisu The Garden Hall.
The girls’ second studio album came out on 17 November entitled “Perfect Velvet”, and the song “Peek-a-Book” as its lead single – the album topped the Billboard World Albums Chart while its lead single reached #2 on the Billboard World Digital Songs Chart.
The repackaged version of their second album “The Perfect Red Velvet” was released on 29 January 2018 topping the Gaon Albums Chart while its lead single “Bad Boy” peaked at #2 on the Gaon Digital Chart. On 28 March, Red Velvet held a solo concert at Tokyo’s Musashino Forest Sports Plaza attended by 10,000 people. Their first fan meeting was attended by 4,000 people at Chicago’s Rosemont Theatre and the girls then went on to tour around Japan which was followed by the release of their first Japanese EP “#Cookie Jar” which came out on 4 July and which peaked at #2 on the Oricon Weekly Albums Chart.
Their new summer EP “Summer Magic” was released on 6 August made up of eight songs. and its lead single “Power Up” topped each and every South Korean daily and weekly chart. Their fifth EP came out on 30 November entitled “RBB”, made up of six songs including its lead single “RBB (Really Bad Boys)”.
Their new Japanese single was released on 6 January 2019 entitled “Sappy”, and was followed by another Japanese single, “Sayonara” on 20 February – these were both featured in Red Velvet’s new Japanese EP “Sappy” which came out on 29 May. They went on to tour around North America in February. The girls’ new Korean EP “The ReVe Festival: Day 1” was released on 19 June, followed by the EP “The ReVe Festival: Day 2” on 20 August, and the finale of the series, “The ReVe Festival: Finale” came out on 23 December.
In early 2020, Red Velvet was featured in their animated musical movie “Trolls World Tour”, and on 21 April, it was announced that Joohyun and Seulgi would be forming a sub-unit called Red Velvet – Irene & Seulgi. They released their debut EP on 6 July 2020 entitled “Monster”.
Solo career
In May 2015, Joohyun became the host of the music program “Music Bank”, and continued hosting it alongside Park Bo-gum until June 2016. Because of their on-screen chemistry, it was believed by many that the two were dating, but both Joohyun and Park denied the rumors.
She launched her acting career in July 2016, playing the lead character in the web series “Women at a Game Company”. In October, she began hosting both the fashion show “Laundry Day”, and the show “Trick & True”.
In February 2018, she Bae commenced modeling for Copper Vision, a contact lens brand, and she also for the vitamin brand LEMONA Vitamin C in May. At the end of 2018, she started modelling for the distillery company HiteJinro Chamisul Soju.
It has recently been announced that Joohyun would star as Lee Hyun-Ji in the film “Double Patty”, set to be released in the second half of 2020.
Love life and relationships
Joohyun hasn’t been in a relationship since the launch of her singing career, but has talked about her ideal type of a man, stating how she doesn’t care much about the man’s looks, but that he would have to be a good man and have a good personality. She would also want to date somebody with whom she has a lot of in common – she realized she wanted this after watching the movie “Man Up”.
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It is widely believed that she was a in a long-term relationship only once, back when she was still in high school. There is a picture circulating the internet featuring her and a mysterious boy at a karaoke event, and one can see that they are both wearing school uniforms – according to the rumors, the relationship lasted for over two years before they split for unknown reasons.
As of August 2020, Joohyun is single, hasn’t married and doesn’t have children.
Hobbies and other interests
Joohyun likes to eat fruits and her favorite is watermelon, while some of the others she enjoys include apples, bananas and grapes. Summer is her favorite season as she likes to feel the sun on her skin, and is also keen on drinking refreshing summer drinks, with her favorite being Pink Island Ice Tea made of a red hibiscus flower, pink ukulele and red-flesh watermelon.
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In her spare time, Joohyun likes to dance to the music she plays on her ‘phone.
She likes to cook for herself, and for the other Red Velvet girls.
She enjoys watching movies, with some of her favorites being “The House of the Flying Daggers”, “Lost in Translation” and “Memoirs of a Geisha”.
She is also physically active, as she has two training sessions at the gym each week, and also plays several sports with her friends, such as badminton and Frisbee.
Age and height
Joohyun’s age is 29. She has long brown hair and brown eyes, is 5ft 2ins (1.57m) tall and weighs around 100lbs (44kgs).
As of August 2020, her net worth has been estimated at over $400,000.
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