HOME / ENTERTAINMENT / MUSIC

Irene and Seulgi from K-Pop girl group Red Velvet: 5 fun facts about their career and long-lasting friendship

While Red Velvet helped fans bring in the new year with their amazing performances, some fans wished Irene and Seulgi would perform their sub-unit song

SM Entertainment’s mega-concert SMTown Live 'Culture Humanity' brought together the agency's biggest K-pop idols on one stage on New Year's Day 2021, including SuperM, Baekhyun, Kai, Taemin, WayV, NCT 127, Red Velvet, Girls’ Generation’s Taeyeon, Aespa, Super Junior and more.

Among them, Red Velvet performed as a group of five members after a hiatus of one year following singer Wendy's injuries from her accident in 2019. They performed some of their biggest hits such as 'Psycho', 'Peek-A-Boo', and 'Bad Boy' that were pre-recorded, In a speech that was pre-recorded, they wished their fans for the new year.

The group's performance renewed fans' fervor as many applauded the group for their performance. One fan tweeted, "THE SCREEN SAVERS SEULGI IS GIVING US." Another wrote, "I'm so proud of wendy, seulgi, yeri, joy and irene. I am also proud of those reveluvs who stayed and waited patiently for this moment. We are a one tough fandom #RedVelvet." However, some wished that Red Velvet's sub-unit comprising of Irene and Seulgi would make an appearance separately, with one tweeting, "i wish irene and seulgi did monster but i guess i’ll live."

While Red Velvet helped fans bring in the new year with their amazing performances, let's take a look at some facts about their relationship.

Friends since trainee days

Seulgi once revealed that she and Irene became close when they became the only two female trainees left in the agency, leading them to rely on each other from their early days and therefore build their close friendship. The two artists have been friends for more than a decade now, with Seulgi joining SM Entertainment in 2007 and Irene in 2009.

Red Velvet's first sub-unit

SM Entertainment's K-pop groups are known for the sub-units, but Red Velvet did not have one until 2020. Red Velvet - Irene & Seulgi is Red Velvet's first sub-unit and was formed earlier this year. The sub-unit released their first extended play, titled 'Monster'. The duo's performances in the music videos for the title track 'Monster' and another track from the mini-album, 'Naughty', had fans praising them.

Lived together for over a decade

Given that they met each other in their trainee days, Irene and Seulgi started living together while they were in the dorms. Irene and Seulgi spoke about their experiences living together in an episode of MBC's 'Where is My Home'. Seulgi said, "I voluntarily chose the small room first. But [because of that,] I also get to use the living room and common area. I set up my closet in the living room.” Irene shared, “I use the master bedroom, which has its own bathroom and balcony.”

Reality show

Irene and Seulgi are part of the reality show, 'Level Up Irene x Seulgi Project', which premiered earlier this year in conjunction with the debut of their sub-unit. In the variety series, the singers share moments from their daily lives. Seulgi said the series was fun to film and what stood out was the duo's chemistry, with Irene stating that she was first worried about whether it would be okay to broadcast a different side of them.

SM Rookies

Both Irene and Seulgi, the two oldest members of Red Velvet, were part of SM Entertainment's pre-debut training team known as SM Rookies. Groups like Red Velvet and NCT were created out of SM Rookies.