Around 2016, the year she turned 16, she received an offer from SM Entertainment through social media and became a trainee. She left the high school she was attending and was recognized as a graduate through an equivalency exam. In November 2020 she debuted as the leader of the group aespa. The debut song “Black Mamba” entered Billboard’s Global (excl. U.S.) chart.
The breakthrough yearIn May 2021, the year she turned 21, she released the second single “Next Level.” It reached No. 1 on Melon’s 24Hits chart 36 days after release, and JTBC reports that aespa’s surge in popularity began in earnest then.
In April 2022 she took the main stage at Coachella in the U.S., as the first K-pop girl group officially invited to it. In July she released the second mini album Girls, which sold 1.42 million copies in its first week, the first girl group album to pass 1 million in first-week sales.
In 2023 she sang the solo song “SAD WALTZ” for the OST of the Netflix series Song of the Bandits. In November she released the fourth mini album Drama.
In May 2024 she became a regular cast member on the terrestrial variety show Synchro U, and released the first full album Armageddon four years after debut. In October she won No. 1 on a music show with “Up,” the first solo song whose lyrics she wrote alone, and released the fifth mini album Whiplash. At the end of the year she won a rookie award at the KBS Entertainment Awards.
In July 2025 she took the Waterbomb Seoul main stage solo as a Sprite model, and officially joined Nike. In September she released the sixth mini album Rich Man.
In March 2026 she held a birthday fan meeting. In May she attended the Met Gala in the U.S. for the first time, and recorded aespa’s eighth million seller overall with the second full album LEMONADE. In August she began the fourth world tour at Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul.
Karina (born Yu Ji-min, Apr 11, 2000) debuted as the leader of the group aespa on Nov 17, 2020, the year she turned 20, and became widely known with the second single “Next Level” on May 17, 2021, the year she turned 21. In 2022, the year she turned 22, the mini album Girls became the first girl group album to pass 1 million in first-week sales.
Ages are by calendar year (the year minus the birth year), birthdays aside.