Woni
Comment: per WP:NMUSIC's criteria for band members - not enough coverage of her outside her group Jishara (please ping upon response) (talk) 21:43, 11 September 2026 (UTC)
| Woni | |
|---|---|
| Native name | ์์ด |
| Born | Jeong Woni May 25, 2004 Geoje, South Gyeongsang, South Korea |
| ๐ผ Occupation | Singer |
| ๐ Years active | 2024โpresent |
| Agent | The Muze Entertainment |
Jeong Woni (Hangul: ์ ์์ด; born May 25, 2004), known professionally as Woni (์์ด), is a South Korean singer. She is a member and the leader of the South Korean girl group RESCENE, which debuted under The Muze Entertainment in 2024.
Woni was born in Geoje, South Gyeongsang Province, and became the leader of RESCENE upon the group's formation. She made her debut with the group on March 26, 2024, with the single album Re:Scene. In 2026, she gained increased public attention through her personal YouTube channel and its videos featuring fellow RESCENE member Minami, including a video filmed in Geoje that became associated with the viral phrase "Geoje yaho". The resulting increase in attention contributed to renewed interest in RESCENE and its music.[1][2][3]
Early life
Woni was born Jeong Woni on May 25, 2004, in Geoje, South Gyeongsang Province, South Korea. She grew up in Geoje and has frequently discussed her connection to the city in interviews and entertainment appearances.
Woni's hometown later became a significant part of her public image. In interviews, she has described her affection for Geoje and discussed how her upbringing there influenced her identity as a performer.[4]
Career
2024: Debut with RESCENE
In February 2024, The Muze Entertainment introduced Woni as a member of its new girl group RESCENE. Woni serves as the group's leader and is its oldest member.[5]
RESCENE released the pre-debut single "YoYo" on February 29, 2024. The group officially debuted on March 26 with the single album Re:Scene, which contained "YoYo" and "UhUh".[6]
Woni discussed her position as leader in interviews following the group's debut. In an interview with HelloKpop, she described her role as supporting the other members and helping the group maintain a positive atmosphere.[7]
RESCENE released its first extended play, Scenedrome, on August 27, 2024. The release included the title tracks "Love Attack" and "Pinball".
2025: Continued activities
Woni continued promotional activities with RESCENE throughout 2025. In July, the group was featured on NME's NME 100 list of emerging artists. During an interview with the publication, Woni discussed RESCENE's musical identity and its use of scent and memory as recurring themes.[8]
In the interview, Woni described the group's music as being intended to create long-lasting emotional associations for listeners. She also discussed the concept of associating different scents with the group's albums and songs.[8]
2026: YouTube channel and increased public recognition
In 2026, Woni began operating a personal YouTube channel titled ์๋ ํ์ธ์์์ด์ ๋๋ค์๋ถํ๋๋ฆฝ๋๋ค ("Hello, I'm Woni, Nice to Meet You"), separate from RESCENE's official group channel. The channel featured variety-style videos involving Woni and other members of RESCENE.[3]
On March 6, 2026, Woni's channel released a video in which she learned Japanese from Minami, who adopted a Japanese gyaru persona. A follow-up video released on March 20 featured Woni and Minami visiting Geoje. During the video, Woni joked that Minami would be scolded by Geoje residents for appearing in the city dressed as a gyaru. Minami subsequently exclaimed "Geoje, yaho", a phrase that became widely circulated online.[3]
The videos attracted widespread attention and helped increase public interest in RESCENE. Newsis described the phenomenon as being centered on Woni, who was referred to as a "Geoje girl", and Minami, whose appearance in the videos contributed to the popularity of the "Geoje, yaho" phrase.[4]
The Korea Times subsequently reported on Woni's role in the group's rise, describing the videos filmed in her hometown as part of RESCENE's breakthrough following two years of comparatively limited public recognition.[9]
The renewed attention to RESCENE was accompanied by a resurgence in popularity for the group's 2024 song "Love Attack". The song subsequently reached the top of the Melon Top 100 chart in July 2026, nearly two years after its original release.[10]
In July 2026, Woni ranked first in the Korean Business Research Institute's individual rookie idol brand reputation rankings. The analysis identified "Geoje" and "YouTube" among the keywords strongly associated with her.[11]
Soompi reported that Woni ranked first in the July 2026 individual rookie idol brand reputation rankings, with RESCENE members occupying five of the top seven positions.[12]
RESCENE made their U.S. debut at KCON LA in 2026.
Association with Geoje
Woni's association with Geoje became a central element of her public image following the success of her YouTube videos in 2026. Her content frequently featured the city's scenery and everyday life, while interviews highlighted her identity as a native of the city.[4]
In June 2026, Woni appeared with Minami on the JTBC variety program Knowing Bros. During the appearance, Woni described herself as the first K-pop idol from Geoje, a claim that became part of the program's discussion of her hometown identity.[13]
RESCENE was subsequently appointed promotional ambassadors for Geoje in May 2026. The appointment followed the group's increased association with the city after the popularity of the "Geoje yaho" videos.[14]
In July, RESCENE appeared on the MBC variety program The Manager, where the members visited Geoje and were welcomed by local residents. Woni became emotional during the visit while reflecting on her hometown and the group's career.[15]
Museomno controversy
In July 2026, Woni became the subject of an online controversy concerning her use of the expression Lua error in Module:Korean at line 112: attempt to call field '_xlit' (a nil value). in a video. Some online users interpreted the expression as an allusion to language associated with the far-right internet community Ilbe. Others, including Korean linguistics scholars and officials in Geoje, argued that the expression could be understood as ordinary regional dialect.[14]
Geoje officials publicly defended Woni's use of the expression, stating that it was a form of everyday Gyeongsang dialect and should not automatically be interpreted as political language.[16]
The Korea Times later reported that the controversy was among a series of rumors surrounding Woni following RESCENE's sudden rise in visibility, and characterized the allegations as unfounded.[17]
Television and variety appearances
Following RESCENE's rise in 2026, Woni appeared with other members of the group on several South Korean television programs.
In June, she appeared on JTBC's Knowing Bros with Minami.[13]
In July, RESCENE appeared on MBC's The Manager, including a segment centered on the group's visit to Woni's hometown of Geoje.[18]
In August, Woni appeared with fellow members Liv and Zena on the tvN variety program Amazing Saturday.[19]
Artistry and public image
Woni's public image has developed around two principal aspects of her career: her role as the leader of RESCENE and her association with Geoje.
In interviews, Woni has described RESCENE's artistic identity in terms of scent, memory, and emotion. In a 2025 interview with NME, she said the group sought to make music that remained with listeners and could evoke memories after the music had ended.[8]
Her 2026 personal YouTube content expanded this public image by presenting her outside the formal setting of group promotions. Media coverage of the "Geoje yaho" phenomenon particularly emphasized the informal interactions between Woni and Minami and the contrast between the members' personalities.[9]
Discography
With RESCENE
- Re:Scene (2024)
- Scenedrome (2024)
- Glow Up (2025)
- Dearest (2025)
Filmography
Television
| Year | Title | Role |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Sikgaek Heo Yeong-man's Baekban Travel | Herself |
See also
References
- โ Bell, Crystal (July 9, 2025). "Open your heart to RESCENE's soft, reflective K-pop sound". NME.
- โ "How RESCENE's real story broke through K-pop's manufactured world". The Korea Times. July 17, 2026.
- โ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Han, Hae-seon (July 3, 2026). "๋ฆฌ์ผ๋ ์์ด "๋ฐ๋ท 2๋ ๋ง ์ญ์ฃผํ ์ธ๊ธฐ..์ด๋ฑํ์โ50๋ ๋ค์ํ ํฌ ์๊ฒผ์ด์"" [RESCENE's Woni: "After two years, our song is rising in popularity... We have fans from elementary school students to people in their 50s"]. Star News.
- โ 4.0 4.1 4.2 "'๊ฑฐ์ , ์ผํธ!' ๋ฆฌ์ผ๋ "์ ํฌ ์์ ์ ๋ํ ์๋ถ์ฌ์ด ์ปค์"" ['Geoje, yaho!' RESCENE: "We are proud of our music"]. Newsis. June 9, 2026.
- โ "RESCENE, 5-member girl group from THE MUZE, unveils members". Asia Artist Awards. 2024.
- โ "๋ฆฌ์ผ๋, ์ ๊ณต๊ฐ๊ณก '์์' ๋ฐ๋งค... ๋ณธ๊ฒฉ ๋ฐ๋ท ์๋" [RESCENE releases pre-release song "YoYo", begins preparations for debut]. Edaily. February 29, 2024.
- โ "Exclusive Interview: Introducing RESCENE". HelloKpop. June 2024.
- โ 8.0 8.1 8.2 Bell, Crystal (July 9, 2025). "Open your heart to RESCENE's soft, reflective K-pop sound". NME.
- โ 9.0 9.1 "How RESCENE's real story broke through K-pop's manufactured world". The Korea Times. July 17, 2026.
- โ "How 'small-agency miracle' girl group Rescene took 'Love Attack' to No. 1 on Melon in a rare K-pop breakthrough". Korea JoongAng Daily. July 14, 2026.
- โ "1์ ๋ฆฌ์ผ๋ ์์ด, 2์ ๋ฆฌ์ผ๋ ๋ฏธ๋๋ฏธ, 3์ ์์ผ๋ฆฟ ์ํฌ" [No. 1 RESCENE Woni, No. 2 RESCENE Minami, No. 3 ILLIT Wonhee]. Star News. July 2, 2026.
- โ "July Individual Rookie Idol Brand Reputation Rankings Announced". Soompi. July 4, 2026.
- โ 13.0 13.1 "๋ฆฌ์ผ๋ ์์ด "๊ฑฐ์ ์ต์ด ์์ด๋..์๋๊ฑฐ๋ฆฌ ๋ฑ๊ทน" [์๋ํ๋][๋ณ๋ณTV]" [RESCENE's Woni: "Geoje's first idol... I've become a source of pride"]. Star News. June 20, 2026.
- โ 14.0 14.1 "๋ฆฌ์ผ๋ ์์ด '๋ฌด์ญ๋ ธ' ํดํ๋, ๊ฑฐ์ ์๊น์ง ๋ฒ์ก๋ค" [RESCENE Woni's "Museopno" incident spreads to Geoje City]. Newsis. July 10, 2026.
- โ "Watch: RESCENE Reveals Dorm + Sheds Tears While Visiting Geoje In "The Manager" Preview". Soompi. July 5, 2026.
- โ "๊ฑฐ์ ์, ๋ฆฌ์ผ๋ ์์ด ์ผ๋ฒ ๋ ผ๋์ ์ง์ ๋์ฐ๋ค.."'๋ฌด์ญ๋ ธ'๋ ๊ฒฝ๋จ ๋ฐฉ์ธ"" [Geoje City directly responds to RESCENE Woni Ilbe controversy: "'Museopno' is a Gyeongsang dialect"]. Star News. July 11, 2026.
- โ "RESCENE's rise exposes price of media spotlight". The Korea Times. August 7, 2026.
- โ "๋ฆฌ์ผ๋ ์์ด, ๊ณ ํฅ ๊ฑฐ์ ์ ๋๋ด ๋๋ฌผ..ํ์ฅ์ค 3๊ฐ ์ ์์ '์ต์ด ๊ณต๊ฐ'[์ ์ฐธ์]" [RESCENE's Woni sheds tears in hometown Geoje; new dorm revealed]. Star News. July 11, 2026.
- โ "Watch: RESCENE's Woni, Liv, And Zena Get Playful In "Amazing Saturday" Preview". Soompi. August 9, 2026.
External links
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