Baek Ye-rin (Korean: 백예린; born June 26, 1997), anglicized as Yerin Baek, is a South Korean singer-songwriter. A former member of South Korean duo 15&, she debuted as a solo artist with her extended play, Frank, in 2015. Baek is credited with writing and composition for the majority of her songs, often touching on personal topics and real-life experiences. In addition to her solo career, she is also the lead vocalist and guitarist for the South Korean rock band The Volunteers and has been performing with them since 2018.
Yerin Baek was born on June 26, 1997, in Daejeon.
In 2007, at age 10, Baek appeared in episode 6 of SBS's Star King as the "10-year-old ballad prodigy," performing Whitney Houston's "I Have Nothing" and winning the competition. At the time, she sang pop songs by Whitney Houston and Beyoncé, which she later credited to the influence of her father, who had participated in a college band.
In the same year, Yangpa and Beyoncé also appeared on KBS2 Relaxed under the title "Ballad prodigy who will cry." When she mentioned this in an interview nine years later, she recalled, "It is a dark history to be on Relaxed. Back then, I didn't know what I was doing and just did what my mom told me to do."
Baek later auditioned for the first open recruitment at JYP Entertainment, singing Beyoncé's "Listen," and began her trainee life after finishing in second place overall. She became one of a trio of trainees whom JYP sent to the United States for training. Baek trained for a total of five years, including two years in New York and New Jersey starting at age 13. During her time in the United States, she experienced difficulties adapting to the language but managed to overcome her fear of English after two years. Since her solo debut, she has released most of her songs with English lyrics.
2007–2015: Career beginnings and 15&
In 2007, Baek appeared on the sixth episode of the SBS variety show Amazing Contest Star King along Seunghee, a member of the South Korean girl group Oh My Girl. She was labeled as a "10-year-old ballad genius" and performed "I Have Nothing" by Whitney Houston, and won first place. She also appeared on the KBS2 television show Yeo Yoo Man Man.
In the same year, Baek auditioned to become a trainee during JYP Entertainment's first open audition and won second place behind 2PM's Jang Wooyoung. According to Baek, she would go to school during weekdays, and travel from Daejeon to Seoul on Friday nights where she would be practicing until Monday morning, and come back to Daejeon to attend her classes.
In 2010, while a trainee under JYP Entertainment, Baek moved to New York for two years where she spent her time practicing English, singing, and dancing. She had Johan Kim as a vocal coach during her trainee days. She would move back and forth Korea and the United States during her trainee days.
On September 27, 2012, it was revealed that Baek will debut as part of a duo along with K-pop Star season 1 winner Park Ji-min called 15&. On October 7, 15& debuted with their first single, "I Dream", on SBS's Inkigayo.
2015–2019: Solo success and departure from JYP
Following 15&'s four-year hiatus in February 2015, Baek was featured in a number of tracks. She was featured in South Korean rapper Olltii's single "Excited" from his debut album which topped the realtime charts upon release, and appeared in the final episode of the rap competition show Unpretty Rapstar, as a featured artist in contestant Yuk Ji-dam's song, "On & On". The song also went on to top the charts upon release. She was also featured on San E's single "Me You", and eventually topped the real-time charts of seven major music charts.
In November 2015, it was announced that Baek will postpone her college entrance examinations and will focus on her musical career. She officially debuted as a solo artist with her first extended play, Frank, with the lead single titled "Across the Universe" on the 30th. The EP marked the start of Baek's long-time collaboration with producer Cloud.
In February 2016, Baek graduated from Hanlim Multi Art School alongside 15& member Park Ji-min and Yugyeom of Got7.
Baek released her first digital single titled "Bye Bye My Blue" on June 20, 2016. Her follow-up digital single titled "Love You on Christmas" was released on December 7.
Baek continued to be featured on songs by popular artists, and began performing covers and her own unreleased songs at festivals. In 2017, Baek performed her then unreleased song "Square" at a festival in Han River while wearing a green dress, and the fan-taken video which was uploaded to YouTube instantly became a hot topic and continues to garner views. The song was eventually released two years later.
In 2018, she formed The Volunteers with members of the independent rock band Bye Bye Badman, and released their first EP, the post-grunge rock "Vanity & People". The Seoul-based rock band consists of vocalist and guitarist Baek, bassist Hyungseok Koh (Cloud), guitarist Jonny, and drummer Chiheon Kim. Like the majority of Baek's post-JYP solo work, The Volunteer's lyrics are written entirely in English.
Baek released her second EP, Our Love Is Great, on March 18, 2019. The following day, her title track "Maybe It's Not Our Fault" went to the top of all eight domestic music sites' realtime charts. At the 2020 Korean Music Awards, Our Love is Great and lead track "Maybe It's Not Our Fault" won Album of the Year, Best Pop Album, and Best Pop Song respectively.