Why Is Red Velvet's Irene Suddenly Everywhere Again?

On August 14, 2026, Red Velvet's Irene sat down with rapper-host Lee Young-ji, drank through several rounds of soju on camera, and did something fans said they had never seen in her twelve years as an idol: she visibly let her guard down.

The episode of "Cha-jwi-bbul," an independent YouTube talk show built around Lee inviting one guest at a time to drink and open up, showed Irene laughing loudly, breaking into unplanned choreography for her new single, and joking that she had "never lost at Halli Galli," a Korean tabletop card game.

Within two weeks she had also thrown a ceremonial first pitch at a Samsung Lions baseball game in her hometown of Daegu and walked the blue carpet at SBS's Gayo Daejeon summer special.

To an outside observer, this looks like a normal promotional push around a comeback. To Korean fans, it reads as something more specific: the final, low-risk step in a six-year process of rebuilding public trust — one that Irene's own agency already tried, and visibly failed, to shortcut once before.

A guest slot, not a show built for her

"Cha-jwi-bbul" is not produced by SM Entertainment, Irene's agency. It is Lee Young-ji's own channel, with roughly 4 million subscribers, and Irene was one guest among many — the same format used for idols, actors, and comedians with no connection to SM at all.

That distinction matters more than it sounds. It meant Irene was borrowing an already-trusted stage rather than starring on one built around her.

The image that took twelve years to crack

Since Red Velvet's 2014 debut, Irene was cast as the group's composed, faintly aloof leader — Korean media and fans routinely used the phrase "ice princess" to describe her public manner. She rarely showed drunkenness, aegyo (a cutesy, endearing manner of speaking or acting), or unscripted emotion on broadcast.

That reserve was not incidental. It hardened after 2020, when the same restraint became something closer to a survival strategy.

What actually happened in 2020

In October 2020, a fashion editor who had worked with Irene posted, without naming her, that a star had verbally berated her on a photo shoot. Online speculation quickly pointed to Irene, based on hashtags in the post that matched Red Velvet song titles.

Irene confirmed she was the idol involved and apologized directly: "I sincerely apologize for hurting the stylist with my foolish attitude and careless words and actions." SM Entertainment issued its own apology, stating it took responsibility and would "work hard so that this does not happen again."

The incident became a reference point for gapjil — a Korean term for a superior abusing their position over a subordinate — and sparked a wider conversation about how idols treat behind-the-scenes staff, the stylists, managers, and stage crews whose labor is normally invisible to fans.

Ten months of silence, then a careful return

Red Velvet canceled a fan meeting and pulled out of a scheduled festival appearance. Irene went quiet on social media until the end of 2020, and the group did not promote again as a full unit until August 2021 — roughly ten months later.

When she did return, she was noticeably different on camera. Where Irene had previously handled most of the group's talking as leader, she visibly ceded that role and let comeback interviews center on other members instead.

The reality show that convinced no one

In 2022, SM C&C — an affiliate of SM Entertainment — produced Irene's first solo reality series, "Irene's Work & Holiday," which followed her on a trip with close staff members. Given that the 2020 scandal was specifically about staff mistreatment, the premise read to many viewers as an answer to the controversy rather than as ordinary content.

The response was immediate skepticism. Korean online communities openly mocked the effort, with widely shared comments along the lines of "the intention is so obvious" and describing it as SM's public-relations team trying, and failing, to manage the situation.

The show's credibility problem got worse mid-broadcast. Photos surfaced of Irene at a Bali airport walking with only a small bag while staff pushed a luggage cart — reigniting the exact "power abuse" framing the reality show had been designed to defuse.

Why a borrowed stage works when a built one doesn't

The gap between those two outcomes is the piece of context international readers usually miss. In the Korean entertainment ecosystem, audiences are highly attuned to who controls a piece of content and why it exists.

A show produced by an idol's own agency, built around the exact behavior that got them into trouble, reads as an argument the company is making on the idol's behalf. A guest appearance on an unaffiliated, already-popular show reads as something closer to a fact being observed by someone with no stake in the outcome.

Korean fans and commentators drew that contrast explicitly this time — several noted, in effect, that this was the first time in a decade they had seen an unscripted version of Irene, precisely because it happened somewhere SM did not control the edit.

Four years of unglamorous groundwork before the loud reappearance

The 2026 appearances did not happen in isolation. They followed a slow, deliberately low-visibility sequence of steps that rebuilt Irene's standing before she risked anything resembling spontaneity on camera.

• 2023: Irene's first solo brand endorsement since the scandal, with cosmetics brand 2aN
• 2024: She renewed her exclusive contract with SM, telling the agency she trusted "the staff of the company who have been with me since my debut"
• 2024: Solo debut EP "Like a Flower," her first individual musical release
• 2025: A duo project and Asia tour with fellow member Seulgi
• 2026: A first full-length solo album, "Biggest Fan," followed by her first solo concert tour across five Asian cities

Only after that sequence — years of professional, low-risk output with no further incidents — did Irene appear willing to be shown drinking, dancing off-script, and joking on someone else's unscripted show.

Why the reaction this time actually differed

Fan response to the 2026 appearance was overwhelmingly positive rather than suspicious. Comments circulating after the episode included fans of ten years saying they were seeing this side of her for the first time, alongside surprise that she had agreed to drink on camera at all.

That reaction is the clearest evidence the strategy, if it can be called that, worked this time where the 2022 reality show did not. Audiences appear to distinguish between an idol being shown as likeable by their own company and an idol being caught being likeable somewhere else.

What the pattern doesn't resolve

None of this amounts to confirmation of a deliberate campaign. SM Entertainment has not described Irene's 2026 media appearances as image rehabilitation, and no agency is likely to characterize its own publicity that way.

The 2022 Bali controversy itself also remains contested — an entertainment reporter who reviewed additional footage argued Irene had carried her own bag for most of the trip, while critics maintained the initial photos were damning regardless. That dispute was never conclusively settled either way.

What is verifiable is the sequence: a scandal specifically about staff treatment, a company-made show about staff treatment that backfired, and — four years later — an unscripted appearance on an outside platform that landed the way the earlier attempt never did.

Four years of groundwork before the 2026 reappearance

Frequently asked

What happened with Red Velvet's Irene in 2020?

A fashion editor accused an unnamed idol of berating her on a photo shoot, and online speculation identified Irene, who confirmed it and apologized while SM Entertainment issued its own apology.

Why is Irene acting differently in interviews now?

After years of low-risk professional output following the 2020 scandal, Irene appeared relaxed and unscripted on the 2026 show "Cha-jwi-bbul," which is produced independently of her agency.

What was the controversy with Irene's Work & Holiday reality show?

SM C&C's 2022 show followed Irene traveling with staff, which read to viewers as obvious image management, and it backfired when Bali airport photos showed staff carrying her luggage while she carried only a small bag.