''Yuq1'' is the debut

extended play An extended play (EP) is a Sound recording and reproduction, musical recording that contains more tracks than a Single (music), single but fewer than an album. Contemporary EPs generally contain up to eight tracks and have a playing time of 1 ...

(EP) by Chinese singer-songwriter

Yuqi Song Yuqi (, ; born September 23, 1999), known mononymously as Yuqi, is a Chinese singer-songwriter, dancer and record producer. She is a member of the South Korean girl group I-dle, which debuted as (G)I-dle under Cube Entertainment in May 201 ...

. The EP was released on April 23, 2024, and was promoted with its two singles, "Could It Be" and "Freak".

Background

Following the release of her digital single album ''

A Page ''A Page'' (stylized in sentence case) is the debut single album released by Chinese singer-songwriter Yuqi. The album was released digitally on May 13, 2021, by Cube Entertainment. The album consists of two lead singles, "Giant" and "Bonnie a ...

'' in 2021, Yuqi announced her new album ''Yuq1'' on April 2, 2024. Although Yuqi had previously pursued solo music, ''Yuq1'' was declared to be the official beginning of her solo career, making her the third member of South Korean girl group

(G)I-dle I-dle (; stylized in all lowercase), formerly known as (G)I-dle (), is a South Korean girl group formed by Cube Entertainment in 2018. The group consists of five members: Miyeon, Minnie (singer), Minnie, Soyeon, Yuqi, and Shuhua. Originally a se ...

to debut as a soloist. After her participation in composition and lyrics for (G)I-dle's songs, the EP also marked Yuqi's first time composing her own album.

Promotion and release

Revealing a preview for ''Yuq1'',

Cube Entertainment Cube Entertainment Inc. () is a South Korean entertainment company. The company operates as a record label, talent agency, music production company, event management and concert production company, and music publishing house. Cube are known for h ...

posted a concept trailer on

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

, showing Yuqi playing a guitar while reminiscing about her past before investigating the sudden whispers and screams around her. To promote the EP, "Could It Be" was rolled out as a pre-release single on April 5, 2024. ''Yuq1'' was released on April 23, 2024. Its lead single "Freak" was released alongside an accompanying music video on the same day. The following month, Shinsegae Centum City, in collaboration with IPX (formerly Line Friends), opened a

pop-up store Pop-up retail, also known as pop-up store (pop-up shop in the UK, Australia and Ireland) or flash retailing, is a trend of opening short-term sales spaces that last for days to weeks before closing down, often to latch onto a fad or scheduled e ...

that featured a themed photo zone, as well as a variety of clothes and merchandise, to commemorate the release of the mini-album.

Title and artwork

The EP's title, which is based on her name, aimed to capture the essence of who Yuqi is as a solo artist; the inclusion of the number 1 to replace the letter I visually expressed her confidence in both the album and her future career. Design-wise, a red rabbit was featured on the EP's concept photos, cover art, and tracklist as a "main character", which Yuqi stated to represent herself, explaining: "I was born in the year of the

Rabbit Rabbits are small mammals in the family Leporidae (which also includes the hares), which is in the order Lagomorpha (which also includes pikas). They are familiar throughout the world as a small herbivore, a prey animal, a domesticated ...

, and my favorite color is red!"

Commercial performance

''Yuq1'' accumulated more than 500,000 units in pre-order sales. The mini-album then sold a total of 550,170 copies during the first week of its release, breaking the record of the highest first-week sales made by a K-pop female solo artist's debut EP. In South Korea, it debuted at number two on the

Circle Album Chart The Circle Album Chart, previously known as the Gaon Album Chart, is a record chart ranking the 100 most popular albums, extended plays and single albums in South Koreabased on their Record sales, physical sales. It is a part of the Circle Chart, ...

for the week of April 21 to 27, 2024.

Track listing

Charts

Weekly charts

Monthly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Reference

{{DEFAULTSORT:Page, A 2024 debut EPs Cube Entertainment albums Albums produced by Yuqi Kakao Entertainment EPs