By Hazan Beyaz
DAYOUNG had always wanted to shoot in water. It is the kind of idea that sounds simple until you try to plan around it. "I always wanted to use water in a photo shoot someday," she says. "It was always like, oh, maybe we should try water – and then, actually, never mind." For this shoot, it finally happened, and for DAYOUNG, she tells us that the day became something she will not forget.
It was not the only dream she had been carrying for a while. For nearly a decade, DAYOUNG was known as a member of WJSN (Cosmic Girls), raised in part by her bandmates after moving to Seoul from Jeju Island as a teenager. Over the years, she talked about wanting her own stage, telling interviewers and fans across broadcasts and YouTube content that one day she would sing and dance on her own.
In the back half of 2025, that moment finally arrived.
Her debut single album, gonna love me, right?, carried a title that read, in hindsight, like something close to a manifestation. Its lead track, "body" – a bright, propulsive cut built for daytime energy – became a slow-burning hit, climbing the charts on the strength of word of mouth rather than a big-budget marketing push.
Reflecting on this during our conversation, DAYOUNG reveals that she did not expect any of it to last. Before the release, she was certain "body" might be her only solo song, convinced there was no room for her in an industry saturated with talent. What changed her mind was not a chart placement but the response itself, and the realisation that people wanted to hear more from her.
That mindset carried into her second single, "What's a girl to do", released in April 2026 – a deliberate counterpart to "body", built for night rather than day. Where the debut was made for mornings and commutes, the follow-up leans into something designed for the hours after dark.