Kim Min-jeong (
Korean: 김민정; born January 1, 2001), known professionally as Winter, is a South Korean singer and dancer.[1] She is a member of the South Korean girl group
Aespa which debuted under
SM Entertainment in November 2020. In January 2022, she became a member of the
supergroupGot the Beat.
Early life
Kim Min-jeong was born on January 1, 2001, in
Nampo-dong,
Busan, South Korea,[2][3][4] but spent her childhood in
Yangsan,
Gyeongsangnam-do.[5] She was born into a military family with her father, older brother, and several relatives all in the
military. Due to this, she initially dreamt of becoming a soldier.[6]
She went to Yangsan Samsung Middle School and was a diligent student who was in advanced math and was popular among students, leading to her being elected vice president. She learned to play multiple instruments, such as the
piano and
guitar and played various sports like
bowling,
kendo,
fencing,
basketball, and
badminton. She was also in the school's dance club.[7][8][9][10] She was attending Yangsan Girls' High School until she was discovered by an SM talent scout while performing at a dance festival at her school in 2016. Prior to being scouted, she had never shared her aspirations of becoming a singer with her parents, who were surprised by her decision to audition. She shared that during the audition, she had to sing for over three to four hours.[2] She was accepted and dropped out of high school to immediately begin her training. She later took her
GED exam and passed.[11]
Winter was trained vocally by SM Entertainment's in-house vocal coaches, including
Yoo Young-jin who was a longtime producer of the agency before his departure in 2023.[12] She was also a student of Waackxxxy, a South Korean dancer who specializes in
waacking.[13]
Career
2020–present: Debut in Aespa, GOT The Beat and solo activities
Winter trained for four years, and in 2020, she was revealed as the first member of
Aespa, a group with a
metaverse concept under SM Entertainment and the company's first girl group since
Red Velvet in 2014. They debuted with the single "
Black Mamba" on November 17.[14] On December 6, Winter participated in a tribute to her labelmate and SM Entertainment senior
BoA, in celebration of her 20th anniversary, and performed a cover of her song "
ID; Peace B" at the
2020 Mnet Asian Music Awards.[15]
In 2022, SM Entertainment created a
supergroup composed of their female artists as a counterpart to their male supergroup,
SuperM. The Girls On Top project's first unit,
Got the Beat, would have 7 members: Winter and her fellow aespa member
Karina,
Girls' Generation's
Taeyeon and
Hyoyeon, Red Velvet's
Wendy and
Seulgi and BoA. The group made their debut on New Year's Day at the
2022 SM Town Live Concert with the single "
Step Back", which was officially released on January 3.[16] After making their debut stage on M! Countdown, her individual fancam for "Step Back" went viral and became the fastest female idol fancam in history to amass 10 million views, reaching it in only 25 days.[17] In the same year, she released a duet with fellow aespa member
Ningning called "Once Again" as part of the official soundtrack of the South Korean drama Our Blues.[18] The song charted at 119 on the
Gaon Digital Chart.[19] In December, she participated in two tracks for the 2022 Winter SM Town: SMCU Palace, "Jet" and "Priority", which featured her labelmates in SM Entertainment.[20]
In 2023, she released a collaboration with Super Junior's
Yesung called "Floral Sense" for his second studio album's reissue, Sensory Flows. The song and its accompanying music video featuring Winter were released on February 27.[21] Months later, Winter, along with
Im Si-wan, were appointed as the ambassadors of the
2024 World Team Table Tennis Championships which would be held in Busan, the hometown of both singers. To promote the event, Winter and Im Si-wan released the song "Win For You" on September 21 as the event's official theme song.[22] In November, she released a collaborative song with
(G)I-dle's
Soyeon and
Ive's Liz titled "Nobody", which was released on November 16.[23] In the same month, she was announced to be a part of the official soundtrack of the South Korean drama Castaway Diva and released the song "Voyage" on November 19.[24] Winter was also revealed to be part of the lineup for the official soundtrack of the South Korean drama My Demon and released the song "With You", on December 8.[25][26]
On March 14, 2024, it was announced that Winter would be collaborating with
Bang Yedam on a new single "Officially Cool". The single was released on April 2.[27]
Endorsements
On October 13, 2023 she became the brand ambassador of the South Korean skincare and cosmetics brand
Mamonde.[28] In November, she became the face of
Polo Ralph Lauren in South Korea.[29] A month later, it was announced that she will be the ambassador of the South Korean cosmetics brand Espoir, another brand owned by
Amorepacific Corporation after Mamonde, and eventually became its global ambassador.[30][31] On April 1, 2024, Winter became the new model for the South Korean
isotonic drink Toreta.[32]
Personal life
Her family comes from the
Gimhae Kim clan, the 22nd generation of the Samhyeonpa branch,[33] and are
Buddhist, though she has stated she herself is not particularly religious.[34][35] On April 12, 2024, SM entertainment confirmed that Winter had undergone surgery after suffering a
collapsed lung.[36]
^"With You" did not enter Circle Digital Chart, but peaked at number 32 on the component Download Chart[39]
References
^Cheon, Yun-hye (October 27, 2020).
"SM 새 걸그룹 에스파, 첫 멤버 윈터 공개..뛰어난 보컬+댄스 실력 겸비" [SM's new girl group Aespa unveils first member Winter, who has excellent vocal and dance skills]. Herald POP (in Korean).
Archived from the original on August 11, 2023. Retrieved March 7, 2024 – via
Naver.
^
abLee, Soo-hyun (July 19, 2023).
""즉흥적으로 계속 불렀다"...에스파 윈터, 댄스 페스티벌 캐스팅→오디션 일화 공개" ["I just kept improvising and singing"...Aespa Winter reveals dance festival casting to audition secrets]. Top Star News (in Korean).
Archived from the original on November 28, 2023. Retrieved November 27, 2023.
^Seo, Donghyun, ed. (September 28, 2023).
"Born and Raised". Magazine B (in Korean). Vol. 96. Busan, South Korea. pp. 111–112.
Archived from the original on November 28, 2023. Retrieved November 27, 2023.
^Chae, Seok-won (October 11, 2022).
"9년 전 사진 전격 공개하며 '자연미인' 인증한 초특급 아이돌 멤버" [Super Junior Idol member confirms she was 'naturally beautiful' by revealing photos from 9 years ago] (in Korean). wikitree.
Archived from the original on November 28, 2023. Retrieved November 27, 2023.
^Seo, Dong-beom; Park, Ui-ryung, eds. (January 2021).
"Next Door". Harper's Bazaar Korea (in Korean). Vol. 96. South Korea.
Archived from the original on July 1, 2020. Retrieved November 27, 2023.
^Lee, Seul-gi (September 27, 2023).
"레드릭 부름에 달려온 에스파 윈터, 알고 보니 '왁킹' 왁씨 제자(스우파2)[결정적장면]" [Aespa Winter, who came to Redric's call, is actually a 'Wakking' Wakse disciple (Swoopa 2) [culminating scene]] (in Korean).
Nate News.
Archived from the original on November 28, 2023. Retrieved November 27, 2023.
^Kang, Da-yoon (March 14, 2024).
"방예담, 에스파 윈터 만난다...4월 2일 첫 듀엣곡 발표 [공식] - 마이데일리" [Bang Ye-dam, Aespa's Winter will meet... on April 2, their first duet [Official] - MyDaily]. MyDaily (in Korean).
Archived from the original on March 18, 2024. Retrieved March 18, 2024.
^Lee, Si-a (October 13, 2023).
"아모레퍼시픽 마몽드, 앰버서더 '윈터'와 리브랜딩 캠페인" (in Korean). Insight Korea.
Archived from the original on November 28, 2023. Retrieved November 27, 2023.
^Peak chart positions on Circle Download Chart (previously called Gaon Download Chart)
"Jet, Priority". Circle Chart (in Korean). December 25–31, 2022.
Archived from the original on November 18, 2023. Retrieved November 27, 2023.
"Floral Sense". Circle Digital Chart (in Korean). February 26 – March 4, 2023.
Archived from the original on March 9, 2023. Retrieved November 27, 2023.
"Win For You". Circle Digital Chart (in Korean). September 17–23, 2023.
Archived from the original on September 28, 2023. Retrieved November 27, 2023.
"Nobody". Circle Digital Chart (in Korean). November 12–18, 2023.
Archived from the original on November 23, 2023. Retrieved November 28, 2023.
"Officially Cool". Circle Digital Chart (in Korean). March 31 – April 6, 2024.
Archived from the original on April 11, 2024. Retrieved April 11, 2024.
^Peak chart positions on Circle Digital Chart (previously called Gaon Digital Chart)
"Once Again". Circle Chart (in Korean). May 22–28, 2022.
Archived from the original on July 7, 2022. Retrieved November 27, 2023.
"Voyage". Cirlce Chart (in Korean). November 19–25, 2023.
Archived from the original on November 30, 2023. Retrieved November 30, 2023.
^"Download Chart 2023 Weeks 49" (in Korean). Korea Music Content Association. December 3–9, 2023.
Archived from the original on December 14, 2023. Retrieved December 19, 2023 – via Circle Chart.