Nisky Alum to K-pop Idol: Jennifer Huh's Journey to Stardom

On May 2nd 2022, Hybe Labels debuted their new girl group under the sub-label Source Music. This announcement incited much discussion and excitement amongst K-pop fans as the mega-corporation behind BTS, TOMORROWXTOGETHER, and ENHYPEN had been known to only debut boy groups for the last decade. Among the members of LE SSERAFIM, the name for this highly anticipated debut group, was a 20 year old Niskayuna Alum by the name Huh Yunjin.

Jennifer Huh, as she was known in New York, had taken an interest in music since a young age. In her KBS LeeMujin Service interview, Huh revealed that her interest in music stemmed from choir visits with her grandmother as a child. She started taking voice lessons in middle school and even wrote songs in high school, where she was an active member of Niskayuna’s music program and the Varsity Field Hockey Team Captain. Her first musical role was in our 2017 school musical Phantom of the Opera, arguably our most successful high school production to this date. The role of Carlotta Guidicelli, the leading soprano at the Paris Opera House, got her nominated for the best actress award at the state-wide high school musical theater awards hosted by Proctors Theater. With all her classical vocal performance experience, Huh had originally planned on becoming an opera major at university. However, after seeing the BTS performance at the AMA’s, she started thinking about joining Korea’s music industry instead, as their success had made her feel proud as a fellow Korean. 

After many auditions, she joined Pledis entertainment and after 5 months of training became one of the 2 trainees the company sent to Produce 48, the 2018 mnet girl group survival show successor to the widely beloved Produce 101. On the show, 17 year old Yunjin won fans over with energetic performances of songs like “High Tension” and “I am”. What's more, her exceptional vocals were on full display during the “Into the New World” performance, a widely beloved song by SNSD, delivering a flawless execution of its famously demanding main vocal part.  After she was unfortunately eliminated on episode 11, ranking 26th, Yunjin attended Hanlim Multi Arts School, a well-known and prestigious performing arts high school whose alumni include big names in K-pop like Cha Eun-Woo, TWICE’s Chaeyoung, Krystal Jung, and more. As an Applied Music student, she and Myung Hyungseo, a current CLASS:y member, gave a tour of the school in English. Fans also circulated a video of her participating in a cover of TWICE’s “Fancy” at what seems to be a school related performance. 

Seeing her active in Korea incited rumors over her future career. Those rumors intensified when her company Pledis was acquired by entertainment corporation Hybe (formerly Bighit entertainment). Some said she would participate in I-Land, a survival show created by Belift Labs and Hybe Entertainment as transferring between subsidies of a larger corporation would be easier with the acquisition. Fans were right about one thing, Yunjin did indeed transfer companies. But instead of participating in yet another survival show, she directly debuted along with Miyawaki Sakura and Kim Chaewon, her former well-intentioned rivals and fellow trainees on Produce 48. In April of 2022, Hybe dropped teasers of each individual member of LE SSERAFIM, Yunjin’s among them. Their group name, Le SSERAFIM, was an anagram of IM FEARLESS, their slogan and title of their debut track. Fans were ecstatic, eagerly anticipating their May 2nd debut. 

Huh debuted as one of the group’s vocalists and was included in the writing and composing credits for one of the songs in their debut album—”Blue Flame”. After debut activities came to a gradual halt, she further explored song composition, releasing her own self written and produced song “Raise y_our glass” on August 8th. The song was a testament to her difficulties during her time in the industry and a tribute to her group mates and their relationship. In her Weverse Magazine interview, Huh states that she “started working on [the song] to soothe [her] mind, bring [herself] some comfort. She acknowledges the efforts of the other LE SSERAFIM members, “thank[ing] the other members for deciding to walk this path together…and all their hard work. Every one of them went through their own challenges, with their own ups and downs, so I wanted to show them I felt they worked so hard, that we can lean and rely on each other more from now on and find happiness and that we can keep loving the things we love and keep doing everything we want to do, together.” 

Since then the group made a comeback a month ago with their second EP, a continuation of their debut concept,  with title and title track “ANTIFRAGILE”. This time, Huh was given writing and composing credits on three tracks: “Impurities”, “No Celestial”, and “Good Parts (when the quality is bad but i am)”. With 2 comebacks under her belt, she quickly became known for her pristine, clear-cut vocal tones, earning praise from the likes of Lee SeungYoon and Lee MuJin, other very well established K-pop singers.

From a beloved member of our theater program to a rising and  successful K-pop idol, Jennifer Huh’s journey to where she is now is a remarkable one. With her extraordinary talent, hard work and persistence, she is already making her mark on K-pop, but it is clear that this is only the beginning: both our school and the music world can be sure to look forward to her future accomplishments.