Red Velvet member Irene has officially announced her long-awaited solo debut with her first mini-album ‘Like A Flower’, due out later this month.
SM Entertainment announced the K-pop idol’s solo debut on November 4 at midnight KST with a post to Red Velvet’s official social media. The label posted a teaser image containing a painted illustration of Irene surrounded by flowers and butterflies, alongside details for Irene’s solo debut.
Slated to be her first mini-album, ‘Like A Flower’ is due out on November 26 at 6pm KST. More details such as the album’s tracklist are to be announced in the coming days.
IRENE The 1st Mini Album 【Like A Flower】
➫ 2024.11.26 6PM (KST)#아이린 #IRENE#LikeAFlower #IRENE_LikeAFlower#레드벨벳 #RedVelvet pic.twitter.com/5Z2uJP4OKV— Red Velvet (@RVsmtown) November 3, 2024
SM Entertainment shared in a press statement to Star News that ‘Like A Flower’ will feature eight tracks “with a variety of moods”, with a title track of the same name. The label also described Irene’s forthcoming solo debut to be a pop-based album, while exploring “various genres”.
With this, Irene will become the fourth member of Red Velvet to break out as a soloist, after bandmates Seulgi, Wendy and Joy. Wendy was the first to go solo with her debut mini-album ‘Like Water’ in 2021, followed by Joy with the ‘Hello’ remake album that same year. Seulgi was the most recent Red Velvet member to go solo with her mini-album ’28 Reasons’ released in October 2022.
Previously, Irene and Seulgi became the band’s first official subunit in 2020 with the release of the duo’s mini-album ‘Monster’. It featured a title track of the same name and another hit single ‘Naughty’.
Completed by youngest member Yeri, Red Velvet last released music as a full group earlier this year in June, with the release of their seventh mini-album ‘Cosmic’. In celebration of the band’s 10th anniversary, the five-piece released a new version of the mini-album on August 1 to include a new fan-dedicated song ‘Sweet Dreams’.
Shortly after ‘Sweet Dreams” release, Red Velvet embarked on a brief 10th anniversary fancon tour called ‘Happiness: My Dear, ReVe1uv’. The tour included five cities across Asia, beginning with three shows in Seoul before going on to perform in Bangkok, Jakarta, Manila and Macau.