Ailee (에일리)

(Hilary)

Ailee is a South Korean-American singer who moved from the U.S. to South Korea to pursue a professional music career. Ailee was born as Amy Lee (Korean name: Lee Yejin) on May 30, 1989 in Denver, Colorado, but she grew up in New Jersey. After attending Park Junior/Senior High School and graduating from Scotch Plains-Fanwood High School, Ailee went on to study communications, journalism, and criminal justice at Pace University. However, she later dropped out to pursue a music career. She took her first steps towards a singing career by creating a YouTube channel called “mzamyx3,” which later evolved into another channel called “aileemusic” that was meant to garner in more attention for her singing on the Internet. Her video, which proved to be pretty popular, caught the attention of the program director of NBC’s Maury Show, who contacted her in hopes of obtaining her participation in a program similar to American Idol. Although her win of second place in the competition opened some doors in the U.S. music scene, Ailee was determined to debut in South Korea first. 

Ailee's performance of Rihanna's "Unfaithful" on the Maury Show

Prior to her K-pop debut in South Korea, Ailee was singed under an independent agency based in New York and New Jersey Muzo Entertainment, where she collaborated with many artists, including Johnnyphlo and Philadelphia-based rapper Decipher. She later landed an audition in 2010 and, thus, moved to South Korea. Her performance of Big Mama’s “Resignation” landed her a spot in YMC Entertainment as a trainee. During her trainee days, she performed on MBC’s Singer and Trainee,” where she performed Usher’s “My Boo” with Wheesung, a South Korean R&B artist, and Beyoncé’s “Halo” solo. Judges and audiences alike praised Ailee for her professionalism although she had not yet officially debuted. 

Ailee's performance of Beyoncé's "Halo" on Singer and Trainee

In February 2012, she made her official debut with a song written and produced by Wheesung called “Heaven,” which had a strong run and peaked at #3 on GaOn, Korea’s real-time digital charts. She dominated the Cyworld Music Awards where she snatched two awards for “Song of the Month” and Rookie of the Month.” Several months later in October 2012, Ailee released her debut mini album entitled Invitation, which is composed of six tracks. Ailee’s sophomore mini album, A’s Doll House was released the following year on July 12, 2013. “U&I,” the album’s single, quickly shot to the top the music charts within four hours of its release. After releasing a Japanese single for “Heaven” in November of 2013 and a six-month hiatus in South Korea, Ailee made a comeback with “Singing Got Better.” Not surprisingly, as hinted by her previous two immensely popular singles, “Singing Got Better” reached #1 on many of Korea’s major music charts, including Mnet, Naver Music, and Daum Music.

Check out three of Ailee's hit singles, "Heaven," "U&I," and "Singing Got Better," respectively.