Tzuyu | |
---|---|
Born | Chou Tzu-yu June 14, 1999 East District, Tainan, Taiwan |
Occupation | Singer |
Musical career | |
Origin | South Korea |
Genres | |
Instrument(s) | Vocals |
Years active | 2015–present |
Labels | |
Member of | Twice |
Chinese name | |
Traditional Chinese | 周 子 瑜 |
Hanyu Pinyin | Zhōu Zǐyú |
Bopomofo | ㄓㄡ ㄗˇ ㄩˊ |
Wade–Giles | Chou1 Tzŭ3-yü2 |
Hokkien POJ | Chiu Chú-jû |
Korean name | |
Hangul | 저우쯔위 |
Revised Romanization | Jeou Jjeuwi |
McCune–Reischauer | Chŏu Tchŭwi |
Chou Tzu-yu (Chinese :周子瑜; Pe̍h-ōe-jī :Chiu Chú-jû;born June 14,1999),known mononymously as Tzuyu (Korean : 쯔위,Korean pronunciation: [t͈sɯ.ɥi] ), is a Taiwanese singer based in South Korea. She is a member of the South Korean girl group Twice, formed by JYP Entertainment in 2015. [1] [2] [3]
Tzuyu was born on June 14, 1999, in the East District of Tainan, Taiwan. [4] [5] [6] She started dancing from a young age and trained at a dance academy. [7]
In 2012, Tzuyu was discovered by talent scouts at the Muse Performing Arts Workshop in Tainan, and moved to South Korea in November of that year to begin training. [6] [8] In 2015, Tzuyu participated in the South Korean reality television show Sixteen , created by JYP Entertainment and co-produced by Mnet. [1] [9] As one of nine successful participants, she went on to join the newly formed girl group Twice. [1]
In October 2015, Tzuyu officially debuted as a member of Twice with the release of their first extended play, The Story Begins . [10] Its lead single "Like Ooh-Ahh" was the first K-pop debut song to reach 100 million views on YouTube. [11] Since then, she has worked as a presenter on multiple South Korean music television shows. [12] As a soloist, Tzuyu released covers of "Me!" by Taylor Swift and "Christmas Without You" by Ava Max as part of the Melody Project series. [13] [14]
Tzuyu has featured alone in various advertisements, including those for LG U+ [15] and Crocs Korea. [16] She covered the October 2021 issue of L'Officiel Malaysia [17] as a model for the Coach Fall/Winter 2021 collection. [18] In January 2022, Tzuyu was chosen as the new muse of South Korean clothing brand Zooc. [19] [20] In October 2022, she was announced as the muse of Visée, one of Japan's most popular cosmetics brands. [21] [22] In October 2023, she was appointed as the brand ambassador for the Pond's Skin Institute's Brand Evolution Campaign. [23]
On February 29, 2020, Tzuyu donated ₩ 50 million ( US$ 43,708.2) to the South Korean Community Chest, for helping prevent the spread of COVID-19. [24]
Tzuyu has received widespread attention for her beauty since her debut with Twice, [1] [12] [25] [26] and was nicknamed "Light of Taiwan" [upper-alpha 1] by the Taiwanese media due to her popularity. [28] [29] [30] [31]
After the flag controversy in 2016, Tzuyu was credited with increasing Taiwanese votes by up to 1-2% in favor of President Tsai Ing-wen. [32] [33] According to Gallup Korea's annual music survey, Tzuyu was the third most popular idol among South Koreans in 2016. [34] She ranked ninth in the 2017 survey [35] and twelfth in 2018. [36] In 2019, Tzuyu was ranked as the second most popular female K-pop idol in a survey of soldiers completing mandatory military service in South Korea. [37] In 2023, Tzuyu surpassed Jay Chou and became the most followed Taiwanese celebrity on Instagram with over 10 million followers. [38]
In 2016, she passed an exam at Tainan Municipal Fusing Junior High School to certify her middle school education. She attended high school at Hanlim Multi Art School in South Korea, and graduated in February 2019 along with bandmate Chaeyoung. [39] [40] [41] [42] [43]
In November 2015, Tzuyu appeared with bandmates Sana, Momo, and Mina on the Korean variety show My Little Television . She introduced herself as Taiwanese and held the flag of the Republic of China (Taiwan) alongside that of South Korea. [44] Mainland Chinese internet users reacted angrily towards Tzuyu's actions due to the political rift between the two countries. [45] Soon after, Twice was barred from Chinese television [46] and Tzuyu was pulled out of her endorsement with Chinese communications company Huawei. [47] Meanwhile, her agency, JYP Entertainment, released a video showing Tzuyu reading an apology, which said in part:
There is only one China, the two sides of the strait are one, and I have always felt proud to be Chinese. I feel extremely apologetic to my company and to Internet friends on both sides of the strait for the hurt that I have caused, and I also feel very guilty. [48]
Tzuyu's apology sparked a furor among the Taiwanese public on election day. [49] [50] The incident gained international attention, as it was believed to have affected the 2016 Taiwanese general election. [48] [33] A survey found that Tzuyu's video apology affected the decision of about 1.34 million young voters. [51]
In response to criticism, JYP Entertainment announced that it would be adopting new procedures concerning its exports and overseas activities in order to protect employees from future controversies. This included the implementation of cultural sensitivity training for its artists and staff members. In an interview with The Korea Times , a JYP representative stated that the training would include issues pertaining to political conflicts between countries. [52]
Title | Year | Album |
---|---|---|
"Daring Woman" (당돌한 여자) (with Jihyo, Nayeon and Chaeyoung) | 2015 | Two Yoo Project – Sugar Man Pt. 11 |
All song credits are adapted from the Korea Music Copyright Association's database unless stated otherwise. [53]
Title | Year | Artist | Album | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
"21:29" | 2019 | Twice | Feel Special | As lyricist |
"Celebrate" | 2022 | Celebrate |
Year | Title | Role | Note | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|
2015 | Sixteen | Contestant | A survival show designed to select the members of Twice | [9] |
2016 | Inkigayo | Special MC | with Nayeon, Minhyuk, and Kihyun | [54] |
2019 | Battle Trip | Cast | with Chaeyoung and Dahyun, Ep. 141–142 | [55] |
Title | Release date | Publisher | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|
Yes, I am Tzuyu. | April 28, 2020 | JYP Entertainment | [56] [57] |
Zhōu is a Chinese-language surname. In places which use the Wade–Giles romanization such as Taiwan, Zhou is usually spelled as Chou, and it may also be spelled as Chiau, Chau, Chao, Chew, Chow, Chiu, Cho, Chu, Jhou, Jou, Djou, Jue, Jow, or Joe. Zhou ranks as the 10th most common surname in Mainland China as of 2019. In 2013 it was found to be the 10th most common name, shared by 25,200,000 people or 1.900% of the population, with the province with the most being Hunan. Derived from the Zhou dynasty, it has been one of the ten most common surnames in China since the Yuan dynasty. It is the 5th name on the Hundred Family Surnames poem. The Korean surname, "Joo" or "Ju", and The Vietnamese surname, "Châu" or "Chu", are both derived from and written with the same Chinese character (周). The character also means "around". Zhōu also stands for other, rare Chinese family names, 舟, 州,and 洲.
My Little Television is a South Korean television program which has been broadcast since February 2015, and features personal internet broadcasting similar to the likes of afreecaTV, Twitch or Daum tvPot. This program is inspired by real-time streaming services. It is a program that values communication with viewers. The program is hosted by Seo Yu-ri. The program is formatted in the form of a competition between main casts based on their internet broadcasting performance. It airs on KakaoTV, as well as on MBC since the beginning of April 25, 2015. The first season finished on June 10, 2017 with 101 episodes aired and 50 shows streamed online.
Sixteen is a 2015 reality girl group survival show created by JYP Entertainment and Mnet. The show pitted sixteen trainees against one another to secure a spot in the girl group Twice. Sixteen contestants were assessed not just by their singing and dancing abilities but also their charisma and personality. The show ran from May 5 to July 7 on Mnet for ten episodes.
Twice is a South Korean girl group formed by JYP Entertainment. The group is composed of nine members: Nayeon, Jeongyeon, Momo, Sana, Jihyo, Mina, Dahyun, Chaeyoung, and Tzuyu. Twice was formed under the television program Sixteen (2015) and debuted on October 20, 2015, with the extended play (EP) The Story Begins, and has received the honorific title of "The Nation's Girl Group" in their home country.
The Story Begins is the debut extended play by South Korean girl group Twice. It was released by JYP Entertainment on October 20, 2015, through KT Music. It features six tracks, including the lead single, "Like Ooh-Ahh", which was composed by Black Eyed Pilseung and is a blend of several different genres.
Page Two is the second extended play (EP) by South Korean girl group Twice. The album was released digitally and physically on April 25, 2016, by JYP Entertainment and distributed by KT Music. It is supported by the lead single, "Cheer Up" which was produced by South Korean producing duo Black Eyed Pilseung.
Momo Hirai known mononymously as Momo, is a Japanese singer, rapper, and dancer based in South Korea. She is a member of South Korean girl group Twice under JYP Entertainment.
"TT" is a song recorded by South Korean girl group Twice. The song was released by JYP Entertainment on October 24, 2016, as the lead single from their third extended play Twicecoaster: Lane 1. It was written and composed by Sam Lewis and Black Eyed Pilseung respectively. The title "TT" refers to an emoticon used to express crying or sadness.
Im Na-yeon, known mononymously as Nayeon, is a South Korean singer. She rose to prominence as a member of the South Korean girl group Twice, created by JYP Entertainment through the reality television show Sixteen (2015).
Signal is the fourth extended play (EP) by South Korean girl group Twice. The EP was released on May 15, 2017, by JYP Entertainment and distributed by Genie Music.
"Cheer Up" is a song recorded by South Korean girl group Twice. It was released by JYP Entertainment on April 25, 2016, as the lead single from their second extended play Page Two. It was written and composed by Sam Lewis and Black Eyed Pilseung respectively.
Kim Da-hyun, known mononymously as Dahyun, is a South Korean singer, rapper, and actress. She is a member of the South Korean girl group Twice, formed by JYP Entertainment in 2015.
The videography of South Korean group Twice consists of forty-three music videos, one film, nineteen video albums, thirty-two DVDs and fifty-nine reality shows. The group composed of nine members; Nayeon, Jeongyeon, Momo, Sana, Jihyo, Mina, Dahyun, Chaeyoung and Tzuyu, was formed by JYP Entertainment in July 2015 through the survival television show Sixteen.
"What Is Love?" is a song recorded by South Korean girl group Twice. It was released by JYP Entertainment on April 9, 2018, as the lead single from their fifth extended play of the same name. The song earned the group their third consecutive Song of the Year award at the 2018 Mnet Asian Music Awards.
Yoo Jeong-yeon, known mononymously as Jeongyeon (Korean: 정연), is a South Korean singer. She is a member of Twice, a South Korean girl group formed by JYP Entertainment.
Mina Myoi, known mononymously as Mina, is a Japanese singer and dancer based in South Korea. She is a member of the South Korean girl group Twice, formed by JYP Entertainment in 2015.
Fancy You is the seventh extended play by the South Korean girl group Twice. It was released by JYP Entertainment on April 22, 2019, and features the lead single "Fancy". The group embarked on a world tour in support of the EP.
Feel Special is the eighth extended play by South Korean girl group Twice. It was released by JYP Entertainment on September 23, 2019. Marketed as the group's eighth "mini album" release, it consists of seven tracks, including the lead single of the same name and the Korean version of their Japanese single "Breakthrough".
Son Chae-young, known mononymously as Chaeyoung, is a South Korean rapper and singer. She is a member of the girl group Twice, formed by JYP Entertainment.
"Cry for Me" is a song recorded by South Korean girl group Twice. The song was released by JYP Entertainment on December 18, 2020.
An article in a Korean newspaper analyzed that a small gesture by Tzuyu, then 16 years old, increased President Tsai's vote by 1-2 %.