Twice member Jihyo announced Wednesday that she has left JYP Entertainment after 21 years and established her own agency, Emithaus, while reaffirming that she will continue activities with the girl group.
The announcement confirms reports that first surfaced in July that Jihyo was preparing to leave JYP Entertainment and establish her own agency.
In a handwritten letter posted on Instagram, Jihyo said she had decided to conclude her longtime relationship with JYP, where she spent most of her childhood and adolescence before debuting as Twice’s leader in 2015.
“After 21 years, my journey with JYP Entertainment, which began when I was just a child, has come to an end,” she wrote. “There were good days and difficult ones, but one thing I know for certain is that every one of those moments has shaped who I am today.”
In her letter, Jihyo expressed gratitude to the company and its staff for supporting her throughout those years. She added that her departure from JYP, however, will not affect her group activities with Twice. She said Twice is an "irreplaceable" part of her life, and she hopes to continue performing with the group.
Jihyo also announced the launch of Emithaus, which will oversee her solo activities.
“To me, independence is not so much a conclusion about the time that has passed, but a choice about how I want to live going forward,” she wrote. “Just as ‘emit’ means to ‘express or release,’ I hope this will be a place where I can freely explore and bring to life even the possibilities within me that I have yet to discover.”
Jihyo also thanked Twice’s fandom, Once, for supporting her throughout the group’s 11-year career.
“I know that watching someone grow and change through so many stages of life and continuing to support them along the way is never something to be taken for granted,” she wrote. “I will continue to fill the years ahead with choices and efforts that stay true to who I am and keep growing as an artist who lives up to all the love and support you’ve given me.”
Emithaus plans to manage Jihyo’s solo activities before expanding into music and content production through the recruitment and development of additional artists.
Under JYP, Jihyo made her solo debut in 2023 with her first EP, “Zone,” which sold 534,565 copies in its first week, making it the bestselling K-pop female solo EP in first-week sales at the time and the first to surpass the half-million mark. The album also peaked at No. 14 on the Billboard 200.
Jihyo’s announcement follows a series of changes involving Twice members’ individual management since their contracts came up for renewal with JYP.
In August, member Chaeyoung announced that she would continue her solo career independently through Lil Fantasy, a name she uses to refer to her personal creative musical universe, and Jeongyeon signed with Varo Entertainment.
lee.jungjoo@heraldcorp.com