Yuqi of i-dle released her second solo mini album, 二十七 (27), on October 8 through Cube Entertainment, and the project answers a question fans have carried for a while: what does her music sound like when nobody else is writing it? All six tracks are written and composed by Yuqi herself, and the whole album is sung in Chinese.
The sunflower is its governing image, and the concept is unusually specific for a K-pop solo release. Age 27 is the subject, not just a milestone, and the album pairs a bright public face with private worry underneath. What follows is a guide to what 27 is, what is on it, and why the details keep mattering after release week.
What Is Yuqi’s 27?
27 is Yuqi’s second solo mini album, following YUQ1, and it arrived on October 8 at 1 p.m. KST. For US listeners, that timing worked out to 12 a.m. ET on October 8 and 9 p.m. PT on October 7. The title, 二十七, is simply Chinese for 27, the age she was while making it.
Cube describes the album as an exploration of Yuqi’s belief that she is the protagonist of her own life no matter how others see her, and that she will love herself in every form. The title track, Stay, was released with a music video, and its lyrics move between Chinese and English.
The rollout followed a steady schedule. The album was announced on September 23, an intro film came on September 24, the track list arrived on September 27, an audio snippet and the first concept images landed on September 28, a second concept set followed on September 29, and the prerelease single I Like You dropped on October 2.
Yuqi’s 27 Album Track List, Explained
The track list has been public since late September, and every song on it carries her name in the writing and composing credits, a detail that separates this project from a typical idol solo release.
- Stay (title track)
- 快乐
- Chamomile Tea
- I Like You
- Feels Right
- 银河之舞
One clarification matters for fans searching for a straight answer about her authorship. 27 is not Yuqi’s first self-written release: her single Motivation was also made up entirely of self-composed tracks. What is new is the scale. 27 is her first full solo project written and composed end to end by her, and her first solo release sung in Chinese.
Why the Sunflower Is the Heart of 27
The artwork teaser for 27 carried English text that frames the entire album. It describes 27 as the age when a person, like a sunflower turning its back on its own shadow and growing while looking only at the sun, hides the deepest worries behind the brightest smile. That tension between a bright surface and something heavier underneath runs through the concept photos and the title track alike.
Ahead of the release, Yuqi explained the message in simple terms. She said she wanted to say one thing: “No matter what version of myself I am, I will love who I am.”
She called Stay “the story of my youth at 27, pure and simple.” She chose it as the title track, she said, to carry the idea of running forward while facing the light like a sunflower and believing tomorrow will be better, and she asked listeners to pay close attention to the lyrics as they move between Chinese and English. She also noted that she tried genres she had never shown before, and that she worked to pour her honest 27-year-old self into the words even when the results felt raw.
How I Like You Set Up the Album’s Message
I Like You arrived on October 2 with its own music video, and it works as the album’s thesis in miniature. Yuqi wrote and composed it, and the song carries a message about recognizing and loving your own worth rather than letting other people’s opinions define you.
She explained why she shared it first. “I felt it was the song that connected most seamlessly with the overall theme of the album,” she said, adding that she loves the track personally and wanted Neverland, i-dle’s fandom, to hear it before anyone else.
The prerelease also offered an early signal of international interest. The Korea Times reported that it topped YouTube’s daily trending music video charts in Singapore and Hong Kong and entered charts in more than half a dozen countries, including Canada and Australia. Those placements are as reported and have not been independently confirmed.
Where 27 Fits in Yuqi’s Solo Career
The album’s place in her catalog is clearest with the numbers attached to the earlier steps. YUQ1, her first solo mini album, sold more than 550,000 copies in its first week. Its title track, FREAK, charted for 100 consecutive weeks on Tencent Music’s Korea chart in China.
Motivation followed in September 2025 as a single made entirely of self-composed tracks, and 27 landed a year and one month later. Read together, the three releases trace a clean line: a commercial breakout, a songwriting proof of concept, then a fully authored album built around her own age.
Singing in Chinese was her own call. “Because I wanted to capture my story at age 27, I prepared it as a Chinese-language album, which makes the meaning behind it even more special to me,” she said.
What Fans Are Asking Next
Several details remain open and have not been addressed in official materials. No Korean music show performances for Stay have been announced, and there is no word yet on physical album versions, an English or Korean-language edition, or any tour and festival plans tied to the solo era.
Sales and streaming figures for 27 have not been reported either, so any numbers circulating in fan spaces should be treated cautiously. The reliable places to watch are Cube Entertainment’s official channels and the verified Yuqi and i-dle accounts.
For now, the clearest next step comes from Yuqi herself. She has asked listeners to read through the lyrics of all six tracks and to listen closely to how Chinese and English meet inside Stay.