Yena is set to release her upcoming single titled “Hate Rodrigo” on June 27, 2023.
The K-pop artist’s music video bears resemblance to Olivia’s 2021 music video for “deja vu.” With the release of the song title and a teaser for the music video on June 20, fans became curious about the connection between Yena and Olivia.
According to Stone Music Entertainment, Yena’s agency, “Hate Rodrigo” is a song that conveys the adorable envy of “I hate all the kids who are better than me!” From this, we can infer that the single will express Yena’s admiration for the Grammy-winning singer.
Who is Yena?
At the age of 23, Yena gained prominence after securing fourth place in the South Korean reality competition show called Produce 48. The show formed the K-pop girl group IZ*ONE, which was active from 2018 to 2021.
Yena made her solo debut on January 17, 2022, with the release of her first EP, “Smiley.” She became the third former IZ*ONE member to embark on a solo career, following Le Sserafim’s Sakura and Chaewon, as well as IVE’s Wonyoung and Yujin, Eunbi, Hyewon, Chaeyeon, Minju, Nako Yabuki, Hitomi Honda, and Yuri.
During an interview with Billboard in 2019, Eunbi explained that the group’s name, IZONE, was actually created by their fans, known as WIZONE (pronounced weeze-One). The name signifies the moment when the 12 stars, representing the members, come together like the 12 astrological signs, hence the inclusion of a star in the name.
“When I was young, I had lymphoma. I was very ill to the point where the hospital informed us that there was no hope,” she shared on a South Korean reality series in 2018. “Our family faced financial difficulties, and to cover the medical expenses, my parents would sell kimbap (Korean seaweed rice rolls) early in the morning every day.”
Yena is the younger sister of Choi Sung-min, a singer and actor who debuted in 2010 as part of the mixed group Coed School. The group disbanded in 2013.
