Kim Min-jeong, better known by her stage name Winter, is a South Korean singer. She was born on January 1, 2001, in Nampo-dong, Busan. She grew up in a military family and initially aspired to become a soldier. In 2016, Winter was discovered by an SM talent scout during a school dance festival, leading her to pursue a career in music. She trained under SM Entertainment for four years and debuted as the first member of Aespa in November 2020 with the single "Black Mamba." This marked SM Entertainment's first girl group debut since Red Velvet in 2014. Winter gained recognition for her performance of BoA's "ID; Peace B" at the 2020 Mnet Asian Music Awards. In January 2022, she joined the supergroup Got the Beat, alongside prominent artists from SM Entertainment. That year, Winter also released a duet, "Once Again," for the drama Our Blues, and participated in tracks for the 2022 Winter SM Town album. In 2023, she collaborated with Super Junior's Yesung on "Floral Sense" and was appointed an ambassador for the 2024 World Team Table Tennis Championships, releasing the theme song "Win For You" with Im Si-wan. During this time, she also issued the song "Nobody" in collaboration with Soyeon of (G)I-dle and Liz of Ive, as well as the emotional ballad "Voyage," released as part of the Castaway Diva original soundtrack.
