Joy of Red Velvet Gets Candid About Turning 30 and Fearing She'd Be Forgotten

Red Velvet's Joy had one of her most honest TV moments in a while on the September 11 broadcast of KBS2's The Seasons: Sung Si-kyung's Eardrum Boyfriend, where she sat down and talked through some fears she'd clearly been holding onto for a while.

She performed 'Hello (안녕)', the title track from her first solo album, a song she also wrote the lyrics for herself, and the performance gave her a natural opening to explain exactly what went into it.

'I was afraid the team would end'

Joy reflected on the period two years ago when Red Velvet's members were navigating contract renewals. "It was the re-signing season," she said, "and at the time I was really anxious that the team might be over." It's a rare kind of candor from an idol, and it landed. What she wanted to capture in the title track was the reassurance that came after: she said she was able to confirm that every member's commitment was solid, and she wanted to pass that feeling of stability on to fans through the music.

That context gives 'Hello' a different weight. What reads on the surface as a warm, upbeat comeback track was actually written as a direct message to the fanbase during one of the group's more uncertain stretches.

Turning 30 and starting over

The more personal admission came when Joy talked about approaching her thirties. "At 29, I was no longer young, and I was anxious that people wouldn't come looking for me if I wasn't pretty," she said. It's a pressure that sits specifically on idol-era careers, where visibility and image tend to be tightly linked, and Joy was willing to name it directly.

The follow-up, though, was almost a relief to hear. She said that once she actually turned 30, it felt less like a decline and more like being reset to one again, a fresh start rather than a closing chapter.

Park Jeong-hyun, impromptu performance, and what's next

Joy also talked about her deep admiration for veteran singer Park Jeong-hyun, sharing that her very first audition was performed with Park's song I Wish It Were So Now, which got her through. On the spot during the broadcast, she performed another Park Jeong-hyun track, I'll Write to You, a spontaneous moment that clearly meant something to her, given the history.

She also shared news about upcoming projects as actress Park Soo-young (her given name): a new drama and an animation dubbing project are both in the works. The episode wrapped with Joy and host Sung Si-kyung performing Cocktail Love together.