Baek began her music career in 1999, entering the South Korean dance scene with her first album
Sorrow. The first single, "선택" (
Choice), was one of the first
Korean pop songs to feature
Latin beats. The single charted well, and Baek quickly followed her debut with a second album,
Rouge, which came out in April 2000 and sold 360,000 copies. Two years after the release of
Tres, Baek released her fourth album
Smile in September 2003, which placed 46th for the year. In March 2006, Baek released her fifth album,
Smile Again. "사랑 안해" (''I Won't Love''), her first single from the album, was a
ballad, unlike the rest of her Latin-style singles. Although this was a significant change, the song reached the top spot on certain performance show charts. This change was not permanent, as there were many Latin/dance tracks on the album, including single "Ez Do Dance." She performed this single until the end of summer 2006, at which point she finished promotional activities for the album. In November 2006, Baek won Best Female Solo Singer at the
MKMF Awards and was nominated for the Overseas Viewer Award. On September 7, 2007, Baek's sixth album,
The Sixth Miracle, was released, with the lead single "사랑 하나면 돼" (
I Only Need One Love). She won an award for the album at the Seoul Music Awards in January 2008. Fearing she would lose her voice, Baek underwent vocal cord surgery to remove a cyst in February 2008. After recuperating from her surgery, Baek returned with her seventh album,
Sensibility, released on November 14, 2008. It was reported that she would come back with a dance single to showcase her strengthened voice, but instead came back with "총 맞은 것처럼" (
Like Being Hit by a Bullet), a mid-tempo ballad. The single hit No. 1 on various online music sites and hit No. 1 on
KBS's music program
Music Bank. On August 9, 2009, Baek announced a collaboration with
2PM member
Taecyeon for the title track of her mini-album
EGO called "내 귀에 캔디" (
My Ear Candy). Unlike her previous songs,
My Ear Candy is a pop-dance track that includes techno beats. They first performed the song on ''
Kim Jung-eun's Chocolate, although the episode did not air until a week later after her official comeback on Show! Music Core. EGO'' was released on August 14, 2009. On November 21, 2009, Baek won Best Female Solo Artist at
Mnet Asian Music Awards. She collaborated with
Mighty Mouth for their comeback single "사랑이 올까요" (
Will Love Come), released on March 12, 2010, along with a music video. This is her second collaboration with the group; she was previously featured on their mini-album
Love Class in the track
Miss U, released on August 6, 2009. Her single
Over Time topped various music charts on the day of its release on July 1, 2010, and Baek's greatest-hits album
Timeless: The Best also sold well. With the success of her eighth album
Pitta in 2011, music industry critics found it remarkable for a female singer in her mid-30s to succeed in an industry dominated by teen bands. Baek has also participated in numerous soundtracks for
TV dramas, including ''Don't Forget
for IRIS, Love Is Not a Crime
for Ja Myung Go, Love and Love
for Arang and the Magistrate, and Spring Rain
for Gu Family Book. The most famous thus far has been That Woman
from Secret Garden'', which won Outstanding Korean Drama OST at the 2011
Seoul International Drama Awards. Baek said, "I love to participate in producing music for soaps if I like the female lead after reading the script. It's a thrill to hear my song played during melodramatic moments in soaps." In 2012, Baek announced that she was releasing her first dance album in three years. She also became a judge/coach on
The Voice of Korea, the local version of reality singing competition
The Voice. On May 7, she released a ballad from the mini-album entitled
Voice, featuring
Gary from
Leessang. On the 17th, her
Good Boy mini-album was released, including the dance title track of the same name featuring
Yong Jun-hyung of
B2ST. On February 16, 2013, Baek held her first solo concert in seven years at the
Jamsil Gymnasium in
Seoul, followed by a nationwide tour in March. She performed for the first time in Japan at a sold-out concert in May. On November 1, 2022, Baek's agency announced the cancellation of Cheongju's first local concert, Baek Ji-young's national concert 'GO BAEK (Confession)', which was scheduled to be held on November 5 due to the aftermath
Seoul Halloween crowd crush event. ==Personal life==