generasia:Featured article for 2021 week 18
Ailee
Ailee (에일리), born Amy Lee, is a Korean-American artist currently under Rocket3ENT. She debuted in 2012 under YMC Entertainment.
Before her K-Pop debut, Ailee was signed under Muzo Entertainment in America. She moved to South Korea in 2010, where she passed an audition and became an artist for YMC Entertainment. After being recognized for her singing on Singer and Trainee, she started acting on the KBS drama series Dream High 2. She has released five extended plays and two studio albums, currently gearing up to release her third, and twenty one singles, six of which charted within the top five of the Gaon Digital Chart.
Ailee debuted in 2012 with her first single "Heaven", peaking at #3 on Gaon, earning her Best New Artist Awards at the MelOn Music Awards, Golden Disk Awards, Gaon Chart K-Pop Awards and the Seoul Music Awards. She has also received a Best Newcomer and three Best Female Vocal Performance awards at the Mnet Asian Music Awards for "U&I", "Noraega Neureosseo" and "Sondaejima". For her work in Unmyeongcheoreom Neol Saranghae's OST, "Jamsi Annyeongcheoreom", Ailee won Best Original Soundtrack at the 7th Korea Drama Awards. Her song for "Dokkaebi OST Part.9", "Cheotnuncheoreom Neoege Gagetda", released in 2017 won various awards and was the most digitally successful song of that year, becoming the best selling record in movies and dramas in the Korean sound record market. She has also received the Mnet America Rising Star Award, a special award presented by Mnet America at the pre-show of 55th Grammy Awards, where she was invited as a VIP guest to perform, and she attended both the ceremony and red carpet events in Los Angeles.
On December 13, 2019, Ailee released her first English language single under American label, Sun and Sky Records. The single, entitled "Sweater", was hailed as "a heart-wrenching-yet-soothing ballad" by Billboard.
Her pre-release Korean mini-album, LOVIN', is released this week on May 7th.
