IVE’s Jang Wonyoung Was “Sad” When Yujin Was Chosen As The Leader Of The Group—Here’s Why
Starship Entertainment‘s rookie girl group IVE made one of the biggest splashes in the K-Pop scene with their debut, “ELEVEN.” As the monster girl group goes on to break record after record just two months into their career, they have been seeing success like no other.
As their popularity continues to soar, the members have been busy participating in their promotional activities—and the latest member to do so was none other than Jang Wonyoung.
The stunning IVE member recently held a live broadcast for all of her fans, where she discussed a variety of different topics—but it was the topic of her group’s positions that started to take over headlines.
Wonyoung shared her transparent thoughts on the distribution of positions within IVE, specifically the leader position that was given to Yujin. She shared that in the beginning, she had a hard time accepting that Yujin was the group’s leader and found herself surprisingly “sad” over the decision.
When I first found out, I thought, ‘Unnie is the leader?’ I don’t know why I was sad about it, but I felt sad about the decision.
— IVE’s Wonyoung
The IVE member shared that through time, however, she was able to accept the decision and realized that Yujin was the absolute best fit for the position.
But just as expected, she has been doing such a great job as our leader. I think she’s the best member to be our leader.
— IVE’s Wonyoung
While Wonyoung’s comment was taken out of context to some netizens—with some alleging that she was being disrespectful to Yujin—her sadness did not, in fact, reflect jealousy or envy. Rather, the IVE member shared her “sadness” with the decision due to their previous experience as IZ*ONE members.
Yujin and Wonyoung both made their famous first official debut back in 2018 with the project girl group, called IZ*ONE. The two IVE members saw incredible success with their former girl group as well, but one of the main differences during their time in IZ*ONE versus their time with IVE was their age. More specifically, it was their age positions within the groups.
The two idols were previously the two youngest members while they promoted with IZ*ONE, but now, they are no longer the youngest members in their current girl group. In fact, Yujin is the second oldest member in IVE while Wonyoung is the fourth oldest member.
Given their previous history together as the two youngest members in IZ*ONE, the sudden shift may have been hard for Wonyoung to understand. Fans shared their theories on Wonyoung’s live broadcast comment, alleging that she probably had a difficult time letting go of Yujin as a fellow maknae—whom she leaned on and shared the experience of being the youngest—into her role as IVE’s leader.
This was only proven during a Bubble message regarding the two IVE members. Wonyoung shared her absolute shock about Yujin turning 20-years-old (the legal age in Korea), all while making it seem like Yujin was abandoning her…
….while Yujin shared her thoughts about Wonyoung’s adorable and hilarious disbelief.
Any longtime fan of Yujin and Wonyoung would know that the two share a truly special bond with one another. So with their IZ*ONE history meshing into their current promotions as IVE members, it’s no wonder Wonyoung had a hard time with Yujin’s transition!
