Jewelry's Lee Ji-hyun makes second YouTube bid, possibly inspired by groupmate Seo In-young's success

Lee Ji-hyun, a former member of the K-pop group Jewelry, has announced she is giving YouTube another try.

Lee wrote on her Instagram on Wednesday that she was embarking on "a second YouTube challenge," adding that fans would be seeing "a rawer version of 'Queen Ji-hyun'" going forward.

She has already opened a YouTube channel under the name "Hyeonsaengmodeu Queen Ji-hyun" — a channel about her everyday life — and uploaded her first video Wednesday, showing her meeting with a YouTube production crew.

In the video, Lee explained what prompted her return to YouTube. "Many people tell me they relate a lot to my social media posts and that they draw strength from them, thinking, 'I should work hard too.' I'm so grateful for that," she said.

Lee first tried YouTube in 2022 with a channel called "Lee Ji-hyun's Easy Vibe," but she fell short of 10,000 subscribers and stopped posting in November 2024 after two years.

Her renewed attempt is widely seen as having been inspired by the success of fellow Jewelry member Seo In-young on YouTube. Seo launched her channel "Gaegwacheonson Seo In-young" — documenting her personal transformation — in March and amassed more than 860,000 subscribers in just four months, with every video surpassing 1 million views.

The two, along with the other three Jewelry members — Park Jeong-a, Cho Ha-rang (also known as Cho Min-a) and Ha Ju-yeon — reunited last month on Seo's YouTube channel, giving fans a rare glimpse of the group performing together on stage.

Meanwhile, Lee has been raising a son and a daughter on her own after two divorces. She has also passed the national cosmetology licensing exam and opened her own hair salon, carving out a new path as a hairdresser.