Rei

Rei Naoi, known mononymously as Rei, is a Japanese singer and rapper based in South Korea. Born on February 3, 2004, in Nagoya, Aichi, Japan, she is best known as a member of the South Korean girl group Ive under Starship Entertainment.

In 2018, Rei joined Starship Entertainment after passing the Loen Friends Global Audition in Japan, where her performance of Red Velvet's song "Happiness" caught the judges' attention with her distinct voice. Later that year, she moved to South Korea to begin approximately three and a half years of training. While training, she attended the School of Performing Arts Seoul in the applied music department, officially graduating on February 10, 2022.

Starship Entertainment revealed Rei as the fifth member of Ive on November 6, 2021, serving as a rapper and vocalist. She officially debuted with the group on December 1, 2021, through the single album Eleven. Rei subsequently expanded her role to songwriting, contributing lyrics to "Royal" on the 2022 single album Love Dive and participating as a writer on the single album After Like. In 2023, she authored four tracks for Ive's first studio album, I've Ive, including "Kitsch", "Hypnosis", "Not Your Girl", and "Next Page". Although she temporarily went on a health hiatus in April 2023, she resumed activities with the group at the end of May.

Rei has achieved notable visibility through viral social media trends and solo activities. In April 2025, she initiated the "Rampaging Guinea Pig" challenge from the song "Attitude", featured on Ive's third mini album Ive Empathy, which gained widespread popularity across TikTok, Instagram Reels, and YouTube Shorts. She was previously associated with viral hits such as the "Ribbon Dress" and "Kongsoon Pose". In May 2025, Rei co-hosted the Asia Star Entertainer Awards, marking her debut hosting a major awards ceremony. She later won the Best Trend Leader award at the TikTok Awards Korea 2025 in October, and released a cover of "Baby Powder" filmed in Paris in November 2025.

Throughout her career, Rei has modeled for various major publications and attended high-profile fashion events. Her pictorial appearances include features in Arena Homme Plus, Vogue Japan, Cosmopolitan Korea, L'Officiel Korea, Spur, Dazed, Harper's Bazaar Korea, and China's Deling magazine. Additionally, she has attended promotional pop-up stores and photowalls for luxury and lifestyle brands such as Ferragamo, Swarovski, Versace, Polo Ralph Lauren, Stand Oil, Tod's, Opening Project x Setter, Luna, UGG x Sacai, TAMBURINS, and Miseki Seoul.

Rei has secured numerous endorsement deals and ambassador appointments. In 2022, she was named a muse for Bonajour beauty, an exclusive model for FCMM fashion, and the Korea-Japan muse for Peach C cosmetics. She later served as a muse for Opening Project from 2024 to 2025, became the Korean-Japanese ambassador for Luna makeup, the Japanese muse for rom'u contact lenses, a model for Fully Beauty, and the face of Millet outdoor brand's 25FW campaign. Her additional roles include promotional modeling for the Pokémon Card Game Pocket alongside teammate An Yu-jin, brand ambassador positions for Valentino and Miseki Seoul, and being named the global ambassador for AGE20S.