Early life and pre-debut activities

Tzuyu was born on June 14, 1999, in the East District of Tainan, Taiwan.^[4][5][6] She started dancing from a young age and trained at a dance academy.^[7]

In 2012, Tzuyu was discovered by talent scouts at the Muse Performing Arts Workshop in Tainan, and moved to South Korea in November of that year to begin training.^[6][8] In 2015, Tzuyu participated in the South Korean reality television show Sixteen, created by JYP Entertainment and co-produced by Mnet.^[1][9] As one of nine successful participants, she went on to join the newly formed girl group Twice.^[1]

2015–present: Debut with Twice and solo activities

In October 2015, Tzuyu officially debuted as a member of Twice with the release of their first extended play, The Story Begins.^[10] Its lead single "Like Ooh-Ahh" was the first K-pop debut song to reach 100 million views on YouTube.^[11] Since then, she has worked as a presenter on multiple South Korean music television shows.^[12] As a soloist, Tzuyu released covers of "Me!" by Taylor Swift and "Christmas Without You" by Ava Max as part of the Melody Project series.^[13][14]

Endorsements

Tzuyu has featured alone in various advertisements, including those for LG U+^[15] and Crocs Korea.^[16] She covered the October 2021 issue of L'Officiel Malaysia^[17] as a model for the Coach Fall/Winter 2021 collection.^[18] In January 2022, Tzuyu was chosen as the new muse of South Korean clothing brand Zooc.^[19][20] In October 2022, she was announced as the muse of Visée, one of Japan's most popular cosmetics brands.^[21][22]

Philanthropy

On February 29, 2020, Tzuyu donated ₩50 million (US$43,708.2) to the South Korean Community Chest, for helping prevent the spread of COVID-19.^[23]

Public image

Since her debut with Twice she received attention for her beauty,^{[1][12][24][25]} and was nicknamed "Light of Taiwan"^{[upper-alpha 1]} by the Taiwanese media due to her popularity.^{[27][28][29][30]}

Influence

After the flag controversy in 2016, Tzuyu was credited with increasing Taiwanese votes by up to 1-2% in favor of President Tsai Ing-wen.^[31][32] According to Gallup Korea's annual music survey, Tzuyu was the third most popular idol among South Koreans in 2016.^[33] She ranked ninth in the 2017 survey^[34] and twelfth in 2018.^[35] In 2019, Tzuyu was ranked as the second most popular female K-pop idol in a survey of soldiers completing mandatory military service in South Korea.^[36] In 2023, Tzuyu surpassed Jay Chou and became the most followed Taiwanese on Instagram with over 10 million followers.^[37]

Flag controversy

In November 2015, Tzuyu appeared with bandmates Sana, Momo, and Mina on the Korean variety show My Little Television. She introduced herself as Taiwanese and held the flag of the Republic of China (Taiwan) alongside that of South Korea.^[43] Mainland Chinese internet users reacted angrily towards Tzuyu's actions due to the political rift between the two countries.^[44] Soon after, Twice was barred from Chinese television^[45] and Tzuyu was pulled out of her endorsement with Chinese communications company Huawei.^[46] Meanwhile, her agency, JYP Entertainment, released a video showing Tzuyu reading an apology, which said in part:

There is only one China, the two sides of the strait are one, and I have always felt proud to be Chinese. I feel extremely apologetic to my company and to Internet friends on both sides of the strait for the hurt that I have caused, and I also feel very guilty.^[47]

Tzuyu's apology sparked a furor among the Taiwanese public on election day.^[48][49] The incident gained international attention, as it was believed to have affected the 2016 Taiwanese general election.^[47][32] A survey found that Tzuyu's video apology affected the decision of about 1.34 million young voters.^[50]

In response to criticism, JYP Entertainment announced that it would be adopting new procedures concerning its exports and overseas activities in order to protect employees from future controversies. This included the implementation of cultural sensitivity training for its artists and staff members. In an interview with The Korea Times, a JYP representative stated that the training would include issues pertaining to political conflicts between countries.^[51]

Collaborations

Songwriting credits

All song credits are adapted from the Korea Music Copyright Association's database unless stated otherwise.^[52]

Television shows

Photobooks