Hi, My Name Is Yeri!

Everyone knows how important and essential a K-pop group’s ‘maknae’ (youngest member) is to their overall success. They add much life and entertainment to the group, even though they might be the youngest. They are arguably one of the most adored members within their group and provide unique insights into their concepts and discography. Kim YeRim plays that undeniable role in Red Velvet, one of South Korea’s vocal powerhouses from SM Entertainment. From being Red Velvet’s maknae, songwriter, talented YouTube channel host, and now a multiple award-winning actress, let’s look at YeRi’s works thus far!

Veteran Luvies will know that YeRi debuted at a really young age with Red Velvet during their Ice Cream Cake era. She was the literal “apple of their eye” to her unnies in Red Velvet. She was the mischievous youngest member, that is adored and well-loved by all of them. The older members always mentioned how much YeRi has grown, to the extent that she can sometimes be the most matured person among them! YeRi has come a long way from being placed into one of K-pop’s best groups alive and one of the top 3 girl groups of the 3rd generation, alongside Twice and Blackpink. That’s a noteworthy accomplishment, considering YeRi was only 16-years old at the time! YeRi was also part of SM Rookies prior to her debut with Red Velvet. Wendy has often mentioned how much YeRi has improved her vocal techniques and loved YeRi’s lines during their group’s harmonization or ad-libs. SeulGi has stated before that YeRi has put in a lot of effort into perfecting her dancing skills and her enthusiasm on stage, gives SeulGi more motivation to give a better performance. YeRi is an irreplaceable asset in Red Velvet and the group has mentioned numerous times during interviews about how YeRi makes them livelier as a group overall, giving them the strength to continue their rigorous schedules. Joy even said that YeRi was so mentally strong to keep going, even though it was tough, that if their positions were switched, Joy would have been crying! Without a doubt, YeRi has achieved so much and contributed to Red Velvet’s reputation as one of the best in K-pop. 

SM Entertainment might be famous for having external composers and songwriters create title tracks for their artists, but that didn’t stop YeRi from trying to write songs and lyrics in her free time. Despite her busy schedule, she still tries to write and create songs in her free time for different special occasions. YeRi even kept her promise to actress, Han ChaeYoung, and wrote a short song for her to commemorate their short time together as “unnie and dongsaeng” when they were paired together on the television show, Secret Unnie (even though she was actively doing music show promotions). YeRi’s choice in music is heavily influenced by her life experiences. Therefore, she composed and wrote “Dear Diary”, her solo song to comfort and empathize with herself and her fans, that were struggling in their 20s. She wrote it as a healing message to herself, when she was undergoing a turbulent time in her life. Additionally, YeRi has writing credits to Ellie Goulding’s “Close to Me (Red Velvet Remix)”, alongside band member, Wendy, for the chorus that is sung in Korean too! Also, Yeri collaborated with Ragoon to compose and write their song “Story”, which was released on streaming platforms in 2017. There are several unofficial and unreleased songs that YeRi has composed, but she hasn’t shared them with the world yet. Here’s to hoping we can get to hear more of YeRi’s artistry and songwriting, potentially in her solo album some time soon. We missed songwriter YeRi! 

Did you know YeRi used to be the sole host of her YouTube show, Yerihan Bang (Yeri’s Room)? She even earned herself YouTube’s acclaimed “Silver Button” for having 100, 000 subscribers to her channel (with Irene and SeulGi there to celebrate it with her on their special guesting episode)! YeRi hosted the show and had multiple well-known guests coming on each episode. Red Velvet’s maknae is known to be everyone’s social butterfly. Her social circle ranges far and wide from SNSD’s TaeYeon, Twice’s NaYeon (that guested on her show to promote Twice’s comeback), IU, to even actress Cho YiHyun, and several many others! YeRi’s extremely adored by fellow senior and junior artists because of her kind personality. YeRi has a very welcoming and approachable personality, that simply makes it irresistible for people to not be drawn to her. That must be why she is such a good promoter for artists’ and their comebacks on her show. Notable guests include: SNSD’s Yuri, 2NE1’s Dara, Wonder Girls’ YuBin, AKMU’s Chanhyuk, and many more. YeRi even promoted Irene and SeulGi’s first subunit mini-album titled Monster, which gave Luvies a delightful treat to see them interact during the COVID pandemic in 2020. That episode is full of non-stop laughter and jokes (yes, even kisses from Irene and SeulGi for the maknae). The platform allowed YeRi to show off her alluring charms and her heartwarming interactions with fellow artists in the K-pop industry. YeRi even prepared a “music box challenge” special episode where she sang snippets of cover songs like Yerin Baek’s “Bunny”, IU’s “Bbibbi”, and AKMU’s “How Can I Love the Heartbreak” to name a few (including her own acoustic version of Red Velvet’s all-time hit “Bad Boy” as she played the guitar herself). YeRi dropped a surprise by sharing a short song that she composed herself with Wendy in mind! YeRi did this to comfort Luvies from their homes and presented this episode as a gift to her fans that she missed seeing. Is it even possible to not love her?

YeRi is one of the idols that is constantly thinking of Luvies and sincerely cares for them. She’s not afraid to defend those that are dear to her and is confident in her views. From taking the time to hear of Luvies’ troubles and feedback on Instagram Live or Bubble to personally giving tissues and water to fans during their concerts, YeRi treats her fans as friends she wants to look out for. YeRi even pressed (and confirmed) 60 times on Bubble just to send high quality pictures of Red Velvet’s Chill Kill teaser and concept photos for Luvies to view, because they weren’t uploaded properly by SM Entertainment’s Center 3.0. YeRi was the first Red Velvet member to open her own YouTube channel, yerimiese, where she uploads vlogs of her life. She offered Luvies a glimpse into her life, while she’s on vacation in Hawaii, which is welcomed respite from the COVID pandemic at that time. YeRi has continued to upload contents like special behind-the-scenes of her schedules individually and while with Red Velvet. The main goal of her YouTube channel was to give her an outlet to interact with fans more. She takes the time to read the comments under her videos to find out what Luvies want and think of the contents she puts out! We are sure to leave comments of gratitude underneath her videos to continue supporting YeRi and to thank her for her efforts to connect with us!    

YeRi debuted as an actress with a 1-act, Drama Stage: Mint Condition, in 2021. At the time, she wanted to try something new and gain new experiences. Fast forward to 2 years later, she would receive a Daesang (grand prize) at the 2023 Korea First Brand Awards for “Idol Actress” and an Excellence Award for “Actress in a Webseries” category at the 2023 APAN’s Star Awards! She also won for “Favorite Female Acting Idol” at the 2024 Korea First Brands Award at the beginning of this year. These 3 awards are all from her work as Baek JenNa in Bitch X Rich alone! The audience was full of praises for YeRi’s progress as an actress and how much she has improved in her acting abilities. This is testimony to her versatility as an actress in being able to deliver different characters to us naturally. YeRi started off as a supporting cast in, Drama Stage: Mint Condition, followed immediately by her first lead role as Oh HaRin for, Blue Birthday, alongside Pentagon’s Yang HongSeok. The drama received a nomination for “Best Web Drama Award” at the 2022 APAN’s Star Awards. YeRi played the role of a time traveler between the present and as a high school student as she attempts to solve a murder mystery, in this fantasy romance thriller. 

Actress Kim Yerim wins Best Actress in Web Drama award at 2023 APAN Star Awards 💜

Congratulations, Yeri 🥹#YERI #KIMYERIM #예리 #김예림 @RVsmtown pic.twitter.com/al29ihpVuF

— RVElites | SSW2 - WISH YOU HELL (@rvelites) December 30, 2023

YeRi even participated as one of the lead casts in a special short drama, Applause, that showcases the life of someone with visual impairment and the role of guide dogs. The main goal was to raise awareness about youth disability and guide dogs. She held a preview at Shinseo Middle School (Seoul) for students to promote awareness of important social issues to support students with disabilities. YeRi took on the role of EunSeo, a student that is a puppy walker volunteer, who encounters a schoolmate with visual impairment, and how they are connected via guide dog, Gal Chae. In a 180-degrees turnaround, YeRi took on a lead role as Baek JeNa, a complex heiress to a business conglomerate in Bitch x Rich. Not just Luvies, but even the public was impressed with YeRi’s character delivery as a rich and powerful student, that faces a battle of wits in the prestigious Cheongdam International High School with her peers. She was able to excellently strike a balance of portraying a cold and influential heiress in high society, but also as an understandable and emotionally vulnerable teenager in a turbulent family. This is solid proof of YeRi’s wonderful acting skills, and we can’t wait to see what future scripts she will embark on. 

YeRi is Irene’s “baby” in Red Velvet, without a doubt. In Irene’s words, she “practically raised and fed YeRi” since their trainee days. From taking the time to iron YeRi’s school uniform while she was still attending school, waking her up for school, prepping YeRi’s meals (while playfully hiding an egg under the rice as a surprise), doing her hair, looking out for her to even catching her from falling while on stage, simply put, Irene is YeRi’s 2nd mom basically. YeRi has a special place in Irene’s heart and probably is the person that could get away with pulling most pranks on Irene (or playfully manhandling her ‘unnie’ in the most comical way). While YeRi doesn’t openly mention it in front of Irene, she looks up to Irene a lot and thinks of her as a role model. YeRi was thrilled when someone once told her on live that she looked like Irene, which means “she’s equally perfect like Irene” in her own words, literally. YeRi even purposely takes the time to drag ‘famous homebody’ Irene out of the house to hang out and have meals together (without letting up the chance to call her a grandma, of course). Thus, is the relationship between the oldest and youngest in Red Velvet. 

SeulGi is YeRi’s go-to person whenever they want to talk or hang out. Luvies would most often catch SeulGi playing around and having fun with YeRi, both on-screen and off-screen. SeulGi, alongside Irene, are the trainees that saw YeRi’s progress throughout the years as an idol from their SM Rookie days till today. It’s a common inside joke among Luvies that Irene is YeRi’s “mum” and SeulGi would be the “dad”. YeRi mentions that she always text SeulGi every weekend when they have no schedules if she would like to hang out. The two of them even live a couple blocks away from each other, which makes it convenient for them to meet up any time. SeulGi is so approachable and comical, that she always ends up as the source of laughter for the ‘maknae line’. Putting age difference aside, SeulGi is always proud of YeRi’s achievements and said that YeRi gives very matured opinions during their schedules, which has helped contribute to their continued success as Red Velvet. Likewise, YeRi is always eager to brag about how amazing SeulGi is as a person and band member, be it through their personal lives or work schedules.    

Wendy and YeRi equals to “Tom and Jerry” within Red Velvet. Wendy always seems to be the victim of YeRi’s jokes and pranks, even being caught in friendly crossfire at times between YeRi and the other members. They can be one of the most hyper members in Red Velvet, that makes them seem to go on a different tangent when they do vibe with each other. It might be delayed, but Wendy has been holding up well with YeRi’s teases of late, and instead the joke ends up being on YeRi’s end! One of our favorite episodes between the two must be in Level Up season 1 where they were in Thailand, YeRi not only made Wendy do a ton of aegyo (cute expressions) but denied her to be YeRi’s roommate. However, in a quick reversal of events, Wendy gained the upper hand when YeRi was at her mercy because she needed to tag along Wendy for shopping cash. Wendy made YeRi do a performance which created some comical moments between the two. It is undeniable that the two love each other very much, to the extent that YeRi is always recommending Wendy’s songs and Wendy that constantly sing praises of the maknae everywhere she goes. Check out Wendy's and YeRi's interactions with each other in Level Up season 5, which would make you end up having stitches from laughing too much!

Joy and YeRi make up the ‘maknae line’ of Red Velvet. They are the duo that would often join hands to tease their ‘unnie line’ and are the most in-sync with each other. It is always a hilarious moment to see them cutely bicker and get into a small “catfight” with each other (even during their formal schedules, much to the laughter of their unnies). With that being said, the maknaes constantly protect and look out for each other. Joy is very protective of YeRi and observant of her moods, even if that makes YeRi at the receiving end of Joy’s hugs and kisses (unwillingly at times). YeRi instinctively sent Joy a chicken gift card, just because she herself ate good chicken and thought of sharing it with Joy (even though Joy haven’t met them all in a while because she was on a health hiatus during that period). It certainly melted people’s hearts when Joy mentioned how she picked YeRi for her event during Level Up season 5 because of how happy YeRi looked while on the train cart. YeRi picked Joy as well for her event and as a present bought a massage cream for Joy, because Joy had stiff shoulders (but also bought foot odor removal as an underlying tease). 

joyri level up project 5pic.twitter.com/6h1BhG9bwr

— max (@connexionseason) June 2, 2023

Except for YeRi’s appearance in SMTOWN Tokyo 2024 Live Concert recently for Red Velvet’s activities and Chill Kill online fan calls, Luvies did not get to see much of YeRi’s solo activities. YeRi reassured fans that she currently has been resting and trying to take better care of her health lately, even though we did not get many updates from her. Fans are eagerly anticipating what YeRi might show us during her birthday party on the 10th of March (even though her birthday is on 5th March), we can’t wait to hear what other plans YeRi has in mind for this year. Luvies are hungry for more YeRi content this year and we are confident that she’s going to achieve significant milestones with whatever projects she partakes in. Happy Birthday YeRi!