How I became a DIVE

About the members (info from https://kprofiles.com/ive-members-profile/):

• An Yujin → An Yujin (안유진)/Eugene An is the leader, main dancer and vocalist of IVE. Born on 1st September 2003 at Dunsan-dong, Daejeon, South Korea, she trained for a year and four months and is the 1st member to be revealed under IVE. She is a former IZ*ONE member.

• Gaeul → Kim Gaeul (김가을) is the main dancer, lead rapper and sub-vocalist of IVE. Born on 24th September 2002 in Incheon, South Korea, she trained for 4 years and is the 2nd member to be revealed under IVE. She is the oldest member of the group.

• Rei → Rei (레이)/Naoi Rei (直井れい)/Kim Rei (김레이) is the main rapper and sub-vocalist of IVE. Born on 3rd February 2004 in Nagoya, Japan, she trained for three years and is the 5th member to be revealed under IVE. Despite being the only Japanese member in the group, she is very fluent in Korean.

• Jang Wonyoung → Jang Wonyoung (장원영)/Vicky Jang is the vocalist, dancer and visual of IVE. Born on 31st August 2004 in Seoul, South Korea, she trained for a year and two months and is the third member to be revealed under IVE. She is a former IZ*ONE member.

• Liz → Liz (리즈)/Kim Jiwon (김지원)/Elizabeth Kim is the main vocalist of IVE. Born on 21st November 2004 in Jeju-do, South Korea, she trained for 2 years and is the 4th member to be revealed under IVE.

• Leeseo → Leeseo (이서)/Lee Hyunseo (이현서) is the lead dancer, sub-vocalist, visual and maknae of IVE. Born on 21st February 2007 in Seoul, South Korea, she trained for 2 years and is the 6th and final member to be revealed under IVE.

How I became a DIVE:

I have been listening to Love Dive, I Am, Kitsch and I Want when I just started becoming a K-pop fan. I was well aware of their songs and their presence through social media and know two members of Eunchae’s Star Diary (Liz & Leeseo). I decided to become a DIVE after singing Love Dive a couple of times and realised that I couldn't tell who is who. I have no regrets about becoming a DIVE and cherish every single member. As of right now, I have no bias in IVE.

Learning about each member:

• Yujin

—> Before becoming a DIVE, I sang Love Dive a few times on the karaoke which also shows the song’s MV. Yujin’s charismatic presence when performing is so good that I always find her throughout the song. Sometimes, I even forget to sing when she appears. My friend was asking who she was when I was singing the song which then made me realise I need to know IVE to pinpoint who is who. Now that I know who Yujin is, I’m inspired to be as confident as her and shine on stage. She’s so funny too :)

—> Vocals: Lower than the other members, which stands out when listening to their songs. Her vocal tone is very unique and easily recognisable. She also has a large vocal range and could go quite high too (mentioned by her vocal teacher in one of the first eps in 1, 2, 3 IVE) —> Dance: She is very aware of her body movements and helped the members in correcting mistakes. In ep 1 of 1, 2, 3 IVE, she was able to spot errors made by the members and patiently helped them. I love her dribble move in Heya! As for stage presence, my goodness, she’s so charismatic on stage! Her facial expressions are so on point and the way she makes eye contact with the camera and the audience is so good!!

• Gaeul

—> Gaeul’s name was so interesting that it was stuck in my head for a while when I was reading up about the group. I always associate her as the short-haired unnie (older girl) in the group (she inspired me to have short hair again). Also, she’s so smol. 🤗

—> Vocals: Her vocal pitch is much higher than the other members. The way she sings and raps has this unique satisfying punching style to listen to. It’s usually much more obvious when her part is next to Yujin or Rei. I love listening to her part in the Heya post-chorus. :D

—> Dance: As the main dancer of the group, I love watching her dance! Her technique and details are on point and swift in dancing. You have to watch her dance in Starship X Game Caterers videos, her dancing shines a lot in there.

• Rei

—> Other than Liz & Leeseo, I know that Yujin and Wonyoung were in Izone and Gaeul’s name is so interesting that I just know she’s in IVE too. Rei was the only member who I didn’t know in the group and after watching a few IVE interviews, she became one of my favourite idols mainly because of her cuteness as well as her abilities. As the only Japanese member in the group, she is the main rapper! I was expecting her to be the main vocalist or dancer since Korean is not her first language. However, her passion for becoming an idol and willingness to master Korean motivates me to pursue my dreams as well. Her cuteness in Starship x Game Caterers videos makes me melt whenever I watch her, she’s so cute!!

—> Vocals: After watching her guest star in Lee Mujin's service, I can confidently say that I admired her doubly more than when I first became a DIVE. As a main rapper of IVE, her singing abilities are very strong too. Nevertheless, I love listening to her rap. It’s very smooth and flowy with her cute pitch that stands out compared to the other members. I rarely have favourite rappers but she is one of my favourites. ;)

—> Dance: Rei’s dancing doesn’t stand out as much compared to the other members. I would love to see more of her dancing. 🫶

• Wonyoung

—> Wonyoung was really popular in IVE and even before becoming a DIVE, I already knew the impact she has on the K-pop community. After being a DIVE, I don’t deny, she is indeed a visual! Her IG posts, oh my goodness, she looks gorgeous in every photo. It’s only after noticing her visuals that I’m more aware of photoshoot images and editorial magazines.

—> Vocals: Her vocal tone and pitch are quite high, so I get excited to hear her lower parts in Baddie and Rebel Heart. :D I love listening to her sing.

—> Dancing: Her dance style fits IVE’s genre so well. Her elegance and swift movements are satisfying to watch. Her facial expressions as well as stage presence prove that she is very professional in her work and has definitely been in this industry for a long time. Also her wink…ahhh, so cool!!

• Liz

—> After watching Liz in Eunchae Star Diary, I always get excited to watch her in their MVs. Her elegance and charm fit IVE so well and she shines so much in the videos. She literally looks like a Disney Princess in her photoshoots. Gorgeous!!

—> Vocals: I LOVE listening to her sing! Her voice is so beautiful, powerful and lovely. Her guest star in Lee Mujin's Service proves that her vocals are heavenly. I don’t think I could listen to another person cover Love Wins All by IU brilliantly after listening to Liz's version. I wished I could hear her live!

—> Dancing: Dancing may not be her main strength when debuting but I can confidently say that she is improving a lot! That goes along with her confidence on stage. After watching videos of her being nervous on camera and on stage when debuting, I am so happy that she’s enjoying herself on stage now. She’s so confident and smiley in Heya MV!

• Leeseo

—> Leeseo’s so cute in Eunchae Star Diary. Her speaking voice is also very unique from the members. The main thing that I didn’t know about her till now is that she is actually very physically affectionate to her members. Her love language is physical touch and was very surprised as she was quite shy in Eunchae’s video ☺️ Also, the Maknaes' disapproval towards pigtails 🤭

—> Vocals: Leeseo’s vocals are very unique. She has this elegant, sweet yet calming tone in her voice that makes it pleasing to listen to. She’s also really good at rapping, which I was surprised by and love every single moment of her rapping.

—> Dancing: I didn’t take notice of Leeseo’s dancing until doing this blog and I didn’t realise how good her footwork is. In Heya MV, there are moments of her dancing as the centre in her part in verse 2 and her footwork is so good! I need more! :D