Choi Young-jae

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Choi Young-jae (Korean: 최영재; born September 17, 1996), professionally known by the mononym Youngjae, is a South Korean singer, dancer, songwriter and producer. He is the main vocal of the Korean boy band Got7.

Got7

Choi started dreaming of becoming a singer in his childhood, when he sang with his older brother. When the latter enlisted in the military, he joined a practical music academy in his hometown, Mokpo, to learn more professionally, and in 2011, he won the Vocal Excellence Award at Mokpo Youth Music Festival. In 2013, JYP Entertainment held a closed audition in the academy and he became a trainee. After one month of training in Seoul, Choi was added to the project group to form JYPE new boy band. After a total of 7 months of training, he subsequently debuted as the main vocalist of the seven member boy group, Got7, with the single "Girls Girls Girls", released on 16 January 2014, from the group's first EP Got It?. In early times after the debut, Choi mentioned his dream was to become a music therapist.

Solo activities

He has been writing songs and lyrics under the name Ars since 2016, starting with "Rewind" in Got7's extended play Flight Log: Departure.

Choi had a collaboration with Sanjoy and Elliott Yamin in 2017 on the song "Victim of Love", while he recorded "I'm All Ears" with Park Ji-min for the Life Insurance Social Responsibility Foundation's youth suicide prevention campaign in 2018. The song was released on October 15 alongside its music video.

In 2018 and 2020, he sang "At the Usual Time" (그 시간에) and "Fall In Love" (빠져드나봐) for the original soundtracks of TV dramas Wok of Love and When My Love Blooms. Together with Day6's Young K, he became the new DJ of MBC Radio Idol Radio starting from May 18, 2020.

In the spring of 2019, he joined Jus2 in their 'Focus' Premiere Showcase in Asia, acting as the MC for Tokyo (April 10-11) and Osaka (April 17-18) stops.

On May 25, 2020, in collaboration with Howlpot, a pet product design brand, he launched Ars X Coco, a clothing store for people and dogs, which ran for two weeks until June 8. The proceeds, amounting to 15 million won, were donated to Korea Animal Rights Advocates's The Bom Center, a non-profit care center for abandoned dog. Choi featured in the September issue of Star1 Magazine for his first solo interview and photoshoot the same year.

Choi graduated from Seoul's Korean Arts High School in February 2015 and got accepted into Seokyeong University's Department of Theater and Film; the following year he moved to the Daekyeung University's Modeling Department for schedule conflicts.

In August 2020, he registered as an organ donor.

Collaborations

As featured artist

Soundtrack appearances