Jeon Somi

Jeon So-mi (born Ennik Somi Douma on March 9, 2001), professionally known by the mononym Somi, is a Canadian-born South Korean singer who finished first in Mnet's K-pop reality show Produce 101. She is best known as a former member of the now disbanded South Korean girl group I.O.I.

Early life and career beginnings

Somi was born to a Korean mother, Jeon Sun-hee and Dutch-Canadian father, Matthew Douma and has a younger sister. Her family moved to South Korea when she was one year old. Somi used to be bullied due to her mixed descent. Somi is a taekwondo third-degree black belt holder but could not gain the fourth-degree like her father due to her age. In 2013, she appeared on the Children's Day Special of KBS2's Let's Go! Dream Team Season 2 as one of the representatives of Midong Elementary School's Taekwondo demonstration team, where she was paired with Park Joon-hyung. In August 2014, she, her mother and her grandmother made a short appearance on the 187th episode of Hello Counselor. She also had a cameo role in the 2014 film Ode to My Father along with her father and sister.

She graduated from Cheongdam Middle School on February 3, 2017 and is currently attending Hanlim Multi Art School as a freshman. She is majoring in Practical Music and Vocal.

2015–2016: Sixteen, Produce 101 and debut with I.O.I

Somi auditioned twice for JYP Entertainment before joining the company, and passed the audition after performing 2NE1's "Lonely". As a trainee, she appeared in the music video of Got7's "Stop Stop It" with fellow female trainees. In May 2015, Somi participated in reality girl group survival show Sixteen and was pitted against 15 other trainees from JYPE to secure a spot in the company's new girl group, Twice. However, she was eliminated in the final round as she needed to grow more as a singer and dancer. In January 2016, Somi represented JYPE on reality girl group survival show Produce 101. She finished in first place with 858,333 votes and debuted on May 4, with the project girl group I.O.I, which released the extended play Chrysalis under YMC Entertainment. She was also one of the seven members of I.O.I's unit group that promoted the group's second single, "Whatta Man" during the summer of 2016. On August 18, it was announced that Somi would be collaborating with I.O.I bandmates Choi Yoo-jung and Kim Chung-ha and DIA's Ki Hui-hyeon for the digital single, "Flower, Wind and You", which was released on the 29th. In October, Somi was selected as the new host for SBS MTV's The Show along with UP10TION's Woo-shin.

2017–present: I.O.I's disbandment, solo activities and change of label

On January 9, 2017, it was confirmed that Somi signed a formal contract with JYPE for her solo activities such as variety shows. Later that month, she joined the second season of variety show Sister's Slam Dunk as the youngest member. On January 19, she co-hosted the 26th Seoul Music Awards along with Kim Hee-chul and Tak Jae-hoon. I.O.I officially disbanded at the end of January 2017. On February 1, JYPE launched Somi's website and a fan community where she can communicate and interact with fans.

On March 7, singer-songwriter Eric Nam shared the image teaser of his collaboration with Somi through his personal SNS channels. The mid-tempo soft rock single, co-written by Nam, titled "You, Who?" was released on March 9 at 18:00 KST. In late March 2017, Somi was cast in Idol Drama Operation Team, KBS's web entertainment program featuring female idol singers as scriptwriters and actors. She played a role as a high school student named Bo-ram. Final filming for the show was held on May 9. The seven cast members formed a project girl group called Girls Next Door and released a single as part of the show's soundtrack. The song titled "Deep Blue Eyes", co-written and co-composed by B1A4's Jinyoung, was released on June 14 under Warner Music Korea.

On May 12, Somi debuted with Unnies, the project girl group created through Sister's Slam Dunk. The group released two songs, "Right?" and "Lalala Song". She was credited as a lyricist for the lead single "Right?", as she wrote the rap part of the song. Somi was featured on Jun. K's single titled "Nov to Feb", released in November 2017. On August 20, 2018, JYPE released an official statement on their website that Somi has left the company and terminated her contract with them. In the following month, reports revealed that she had signed an exclusive contract with YG Entertainment's sub-label The Black Label, where she would likely to debut as a solo artist.

- Wikipedia