Artist Highlight: Woozi
The origin of SEVENTEEN’s multi-talented producer.
DEBUT
Woozi, born Lee Jihoon, started out in music at a young age. Like many idols, he was first exposed to music through church. Woozi attended an English language academy where the principal was a pastor, and shared his love for music with Woozi. He began attending the principal’s church where he sang in the choir and played a variety of instruments. The main instrument he focused on at the time was the clarinet, which he played until high school.
Woozi attended a music academy shortly before he entered high school, where he was able to study music in a more structured setting. There, he developed his singing abilities which aided his success at his audition. Woozi auditioned at the Pledis Entertainment open audition in Seoul, among 300 contestants. Out of the 300 who auditioned, Woozi was the only one who passed. From his very first day as a trainee, Woozi put his all into improving and practicing. Although he was a talented vocalist, he had no experience in dancing. He practiced for 12 hours a day, improving his abilities to the point that he was asked to choose between joining SEVENTEEN’s performance team or vocal team.
Woozi trained for around five years before debuting with Pledis Entertainment's 13-member boy group SEVENTEEN as the group's lead vocalist, producer, and vocal team leader. The group debuted with the five-track EP 17 Carat which Woozi helped write and produce.
UNIVERSE FACTORY
Woozi began producing music as a trainee alongside labelmate BUMZU who served as his mentor as he began learning music production. The two have a studio together, named Universe Factory where they write and produce songs for themselves, SEVENTEEN, and other artists. The two have written a majority of SEVENTEEN’s discography, including the group's debut EP and unit BSS’s No. 1 album Second Wind.
The duo also produced and wrote Woozi’s first solo song “Ruby,” an English track which was released in January 2022.
Woozi won the title “Best Producer” at the Asia Artist Awards in 2021, an award that typically does not go to producers who are also idols. He is also one of the youngest artists in the Korea Music Copyright Association (KOMCA) top 10 list, with over 160 copyright registered songs to his name.
Edited by Lacey Diluvio