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KARA

Revision as of 22:42, 17 May 2011 by Nhk110 (talk | contribs) (→‎Information)
KARA promoting Jumping (2010)
Left to Right: Hara, Nicole, Seung Yeon, Gyuri, Ji Young

KARA (카라) is a Korean pop girl group formed by DSP Entertainment. They were originally a four member group where they were marketed as the second Fin.K.L, however Kim Sung Hee withdrew from the group and was replaced with Ji Young and Hara. They are best known for the "butt dance", which was a part of their "Mister" choreography, and their hit songs "Honey" and "Pretty Girl". In 2010 they changed to a darker concept with their hit song "Lupin". In Japan, they are signed under Universal Music.

On January 2011, it was stated that four KARA members (all minus Gyuri) filled a lawsuit to terminate their exclusive contracts with DSP Entertainment. However, it was later revealed that Hara decided not to join Seung Yeon, Nicole and Ji Young in terminating her contract. Due the conflict DSP Entertainment suspended any Korean group activities as they declared they will no longer be managing the three members. On the following days reports about the five members and DSP Entertainment meetings surfaced, however the company has not yet released an official statement about a possible agreement.

Members

Former Member

Information

Debut

KARA promoting The First Bloooooming (2007)

KARA debuted as a 4 member girl group marketed as the 2nd Fin.K.L by DSP Entertainment. Their first full length studio album titled The First Bloooooming was released on March 29, 2007, and the third track from their album "Break It" became the lead single. In the MV for "Break It", each member of KARA was referenced as a specific member of Fin.K.L: Kim Sung Hee as Lee Hyori, Nicole as Lee Jin, Gyuri as Ock Ju Hyun and Seung Yeon as Sung Yu Ri. After "Break It", KARA released their 2nd single from the album "Mame Deulmyeon", then released "Secret World" for the 3rd single. The First Bloooooming was met with modest success, and promotions ended in July of 2007.

After The First Bloooooming, KARA entered an extensive period of recording and preparing for their next release. It was announced that KARA was scheduled to make their comeback in March 2008, however on February 28, 2008, news broke of Sung Hee's sudden departure from the group. Subsequent days after the shocking news, further information was revealed that Sung Hee broke a pact with her father. In order to be in KARA, Sung Hee promised her father that she would be able to balance her school work and being in the group. Yet when she failed her University Enterance Exams, her father pulled her from the group and blocked any further participation with KARA.

KARA promoting 1st Mini Album (2008)

1st Mini Album

In March 2008, DSP Entertainment announced that online auditions would be held to find 2 new members for the group, 6,000 participants from all over the world took part in the auditions. After a couple of months, it was announced that Hara and Ji Young were chosen. On July 24, 2008, KARA released their 1st mini album titled 1st Mini Album and used "Rock U" as the lead single. "Rock U" harbored a noticeably different musical and image change for KARA. Previously, KARA's image and musical direction was R&B like their counter part Fin.K.L. However, the image and musical direction for "Rock U" was cute, sweet, and playful; typically found in K-pop Idol girls groups. "Rock U" was a major divergence from KARA's previous title as the 2nd Fin.K.L by DSP Entertainment. However, "Rock U" was a minor hit for them. Sequentially, they digitally released "GOODDAY Season 2", a continuation of the song "Good Day" from their mini album.

KARA promoting Pretty Girl (2008)

Pretty Girl & Pretty Girl (Special Edition)

On November 28, 2008 DSP Entertainment released a teaser video for KARA's MV "Pretty Girl"; the lead single for Kara's 2nd mini album of the same name. The teaser video accumulated over 40,000 hits within 12 hours, until it was officially released on December 2, 2008 online to rave reviews. The mini-album continued with KARA's newly formed cute image from "Rock U". DSP Entertainment said they went with a party concept for the album, and Pretty Girl was released December 4, 2008. KARA began promotions for the mini album on the release date, and performed the title song "Pretty Girl" on KBS Music Bank. Pretty Girl was repackaged into a "Special Edition" 3rd mini album titled Pretty Girl (Special Edition). DSP Entertainment let fans decide which song from the mini album would be the lead single for it. Fans voted on KARA's Official Website and chose "Honey" as the lead single. KARA received their first award with "Honey" on M!net Countdown. They received their second award, a "Mutizen", on the SBS program.

KARA promoting Revolution (2009)

Rise In Popularity`& Revolution

KARA received more exposure from the success of "Pretty Girl" and "Honey". Nicole joined Star Golden Bell on December 20, 2008. The group became VJs for MTV Korea; hosting a J-Pop show called J-Pop Wave. In March, KARA was chosen to host the 4th Season of Idol Show. Then KARA had their first reality show on MTV Korea called MTV Meta Friends.

On June 4, 2009, KARA digitally released "Ttok Gateun Mam", a song included on their "iMusician" digital single which was used for the i-Musician mobile game they sponsored. DSP Entertainment announced that KARA would release their 2nd full length studio album in mid July. Kara lost 3-5 kg in order to fit the new sexy and mature image needed for their album. The release date was postponed and Revolution was released on July 30, 2009. "Wanna" became the lead single for Revolution and charted high very quickly on various digital charts. KARA performed "Wanna" and "Mister" to promote Revolution. "Mister" quickly became popular among the public due to a certain part of the choreography nicknamed the "butt dance". "Wanna" awarded Kara the "Mutizen" on the SBS program.

KARA ended promotions for Revolution on October 18, 2009 with "Mister".


Japan activities and debut

Kara released Kara Premium Box for Japan on April 28, 2010, which is a compilation of their past Korean albums from The First Blooming to Revolution. The box also contains a special DVD and Japanese versions of their hits "Pretty Girl", "Honey", and "Wanna". On the first day of release, the album was ranked at number 7 in the ORICON daily chart.

Their first promotional tour in Japan on February 2010 had over 3,000 fans registered, exceeding the capacity of the venue, which resulted in a second showcase. Kara was also featured in a video message for a show called Arashi no Shukudai-kun (嵐の宿題くん Arashi's Homework?), hosted by Japanese idol group Arashi.Kara held fan meetings on May 8 with more than 8,000 fans at Japan’s Grand Prince Hotel. In addition, Kara had an official Japan fan club meeting with 3,000 fans at Yokohama’s Mina Torimirai hotel on May 9.

In 2010, Kara signed with Universal Music Japan and announced that they will officially debut in Japan by August with "Mister". On July 15, 2010, Universal Music Japan released the MV teaser of "Mister" stating that their single will be released on August 11.

After their successful debut in Japan, Kara was chosen as the best rookie artist according to a popular Japanese mobile ringtone site, Recochoku. In addition, their single "Mister" ranked #1 in their music video chart, #2 in their video chart and #5 in their ringtone chart; while "Jumping" entered the top 3 in the ringtone chart upon release and is now ranked at #1 and #4 in ringtones, #1 in video and #2 in music video. As Recochoku is highly popular among Japanese teens and young adults in their 20s, it shows that the group is indeed appealing to the Japanese youths.On December 20, 2010, Oricon also announced Kara as 2010's best rookie artist, generating revenue to some 1.3 billion yen (or $15.4 million USD) and with a total of 493 000 copies of their releases sold this year.

1st Japanese single, "Mister"

Upon release, Kara's "Mister" debut single ranked #5 in the Oricon daily chart.Kara also held a surprise performance in Shibuya109 in Tokyo on the same day but due to 3,000 fans, Shibuya Management canceled the rest of the show segments for security reasons."Mister" was ranked #1 on Japan iTunes as most downloaded video and song.Kara had a hand-shaking event for 10,000 fans in Tokyo on August 14, 2010.On August 17, 2010 it was announced by Oricon Style that Kara’s single debut album "Mister" ranked #5 in the weekly singles making them the first ever Korean girl group to do so. Oricon Style reported, “First time in 29 years and 8 months since a foreign girl group has entered the top 10 with their debut album.”"Mister" is also scheduled to be performed on TV Asahi's program "Music Station" for the first time on October 15th, showing off the popular "butt dance".The single was certified Gold by the RIAJ in digital downloads,but eventually received a "Platinum" certification later, making them the first Korean girl group to get a Platinum. USEN also recently revealed that Mister ranked #18 for the year, based on hit song rankings, song requests, and broadcasts. Japan's Karaoke charts also ranked Mister #1 for the months of November and December, revealing Kara's popularity potential.In April 2011, Mister was certified Triple Platinum by RIAJ by selling 750,000 in ringtones.

1st Japanese compilation album, "Best 2007-2010"

On September 29, 2010, Kara released their first Japanese album "Kara Best 2007-2010." The album is a compilation of their selected Korean tracks since they debuted. The songs are entirely sung in Korean. Kara ranked #2 in the Oricon Daily Chart on the 1st day of release, selling 18,223 copies. This ranking also marked the best that any Korean girl group has been able to achieve for a full album in the Japanese market.Apart from that, this album was also the most downloaded album in Japan's iTunes Store Pop.It also has been announced on their official Japanese website on October 1st that this "Kara Best 2007-2010" album will include a bonus. The bonus is that the group will give a photograph to the applicants to show their gratitude. Also, among those applicants, 10 will be chosen via lottery to attend a meet & greet session on October 15th.On October 5, 2010, the Oricon has announced that Kara's Best album ranked #2 in the weekly ranking, selling 51,000 copies, making Kara the first Korean girl group album to enter Top 10 in history. In addition, this album exceeded the ranking of Iconiq's Change Myself, Justin Bieber's My World, and Kesha's Animal to become the highest ranked album among newcomers this year.It was announced on November 3, 2010 that the album was certified gold by The Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ), making KARA the first ever Korean Group since the '90s to release an all-Korean album that is able break the 100k copies barrier in Japan.Kara "Best 2007-2010" ranked #7 in the Oricon Album Monthly Chart for October.

2nd Japanese single "Jumping'"

On September 29, 2010, it was revealed that Kara will be releasing their second single entitled "Jumping'" on November 10, 2010. "Jumping'" was also chosen as the new theme song for Fuji TV's Saturday morning news and information program, Mezamashi Saturday. On October 13, Kara's album covers were revealed adding to the anticipation of the single release. Universal Music Japan revealed Kara's PV teaser for "Jumpin'" on October 25, 2010. It was also revealed that the song and concept for "Jumpin'" was inspired by the anime movie, "The Girl Who Leapt Through Time". The Official PV was released a few days later and a new cheerleader version was also released through Universal Music Japan and Universal Sigma Youtube channels on November 5, 2010. The cheerleader version will be used to promote KDDI's "au Santa's Challenge. The single debuted at #5 in the Oricon chart and even rose to #2 in the said chart, only second to Arashi. The song quickly climbed up in other charts including mobile downloads. The music video and song also ranked #1 in iTunes Japan. The single ranked #5 in the weekly Oricon Chart selling around 55,000 copies. On December 2010, the single was then certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of Japan for having over 100 000 copies shipped. Furthermore, their free music application "Kara Jumping" ranked #1 for the 'free music category' on Japan's iTunes App store chart, earning over 50 000 downloads within 10 days upon release without any official promotions. It was met with many positive reviews and a representative of production company Danal even commented, "Kara's popularity in Japan exceeds anything imaginable."

First Japanese album, "Girl's Talk"

Kara released their first Japanese album on November 24, 2010. The album was released in 3 versions and contained ten tracks including "Mister" and "Jumping," as well as Japanese version of "Lupin". Girl's Talk sold 107,000 copies in its first week and ranked number 2 in the Oricon weekly charts, making this the first album by a non-Japanese Asian girl group in Japan in 6 years and 9 months to sell more than 100,000 album copies in its first week. Subsequently, Girl's Talk was certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ) for shipping over 100 000 copies. On January 14, 2011 Girl's Talk received a platinum certification from RIAJ, making Kara the first Korean Girl group to sell 250,000 albums. On February 12, 2011 twelve weeks after the album release, Girl's Talk ranked #1 in the ORICON daily chart, making it Kara's first #1 album. Girl's Talk also managed to sell 300,000 albums making them the first foreign female group to sell 300,000 copies since Destiny’s Child in 2005. To date KARA's Girls Talk Album has sold 392,946 copies, making it the highest sold original Japanese album by Korean group.

Compilation DVD, "Best Clips"

Kara released their DVD "Kara Best Clips" which is a compilation of their past music videos on February 23, 2011. It debuted #1 in the Oricon daily chart and eventually became #1 in the Oricon weekly chart. It’s also been revealed that they’re the first foreign "female" artist to top the composite DVD ranking chart since its inception in 1999. The previous record was held by Chinese group Twelve Girls Band’s, "Twelve Girls Band: First Premium Concert in Japan" (1/26 2004) and American artist Britney Spears’s Greatest Hits: My Prerogative (12/20 2004) have came in at #2 on Oricon’s Weekly Composite DVD Ranking. Kara is the first foreign female artist to get number one on the Composite DVD Ranking. Furthermore, Kara sold 132,000 copies of their music video collection "Kara Best Clips" in their first week and this is the greatest amount sold for a "music video collection" for a female artist; not including live performance DVDs. The previous top seller was Kuraki Mai’s "First Cut" (11/20 2000), which sold 99,000 copies. Kuraki has held the record for 10 years and 3 months, but Kara has just taken her record away. In total, there have been only 6 foreign artists who have made it to number one on the Weekly DVD Composite Ranking: Kara, The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Tohoshinki (TVXQ), Junsu/Jejung/Yuchun (JYJ) and Michael Jackson.

After one week, Kara was able to set another record when they ranked #1 in the Oricon’s Weekly Composite DVD Ranking. This made them the first ever foreign artist to be #1 for two consecutive weeks since the charts implementation in 1999. Kara has sold approximately 158,000 copies of their DVD.

3rd single, "Jet Coaster Love"

On April 6th, Kara unleashed their third Japanese single, “Jet Coaster Love“, after the original release date was pushed back due to the natural disasters that struck Japan early last month. As soon as it was released onto the music charts, “Jet Coaster Love” instantly rose to #2 on the Oricon Daily Chart with 47,810 copies sold. The single lost the #1 spot to SDN48 with only a difference of 2,000 copies. On its second day, Kara was able to snatch the #1 spot on the Oricon Chart selling 28,643 copies. Kara was able to set another record as “Jet Coaster Love” maintained its position and ranked #1 in Oricon's 4/18 Weekly Single Ranking selling 123,000 copies in it’s first week. This is the first time a foreign female group has had a number one ranking in it’s first week of release since the creation of the Oricon Single Ranking back in January 1968, so it has been 43 years and 4 months.

In addition, the last time a foreign female artist has placed #1 on the weekly singles ranking was 6 years ago when BoA’s "Do the Motion" reached #1 on the 4/11 2005 ranking. The last time a foreign female group placed number one, was The Nolans’s "Dancing Sister" single on the 11/17 1980 weekly ranking, which became number one in its 16th week; it’s been 30 years and 5 months.

Kara was selected as the number one newcomer this year and "Jet Coaster Love" is their first number one in both the weekly single and album rankings. Kara’s #1 ranking in both the single and album categories is a great feat. The only other Korean artists who have been able to receive this high honor are BoA and TVXQ. Also, this is the first record from the current Hallyu girl group frenzy lineup. The incredible thing was that Kara dominated the chart without the help of promotional activities, thus proving once again their explosive popularity in the country. In addition, all proceeds from the single will be donated to Japan’s natural disaster relief aid

Trivia

  • Official Balloon Color: Pearl Peach
  • Official Fanclub: Kamilia (카밀리아)

Korean Discography

Albums

Mini Albums

Digital Singles

Collaboration / Other

Japanese Discography

Albums

Singles

Digital Singles

DVDs

Box Set

Filmography

Television

Awards

  • [2007.05.05] Korean Culture Content Agency (KOCCA) - Best Rookie Album Awards
  • [2007.08.09] Cyworld Digital Music Awards - Rookie of The Month of August
  • [2009.03.05] MNet M! Countdown - Honey
  • [2009.03.08] SBS Inkigayo #1 - Honey
  • [2009.03.12] MNet M! Countdown - Honey
  • [2009.03.19] MNet M! Countdown - Honey
  • [2009.03.26] MNet 20's Choices - Honey
  • [2009.08.30] SBS Inkigayo #1 - Wanna
  • [2009.11.21] MNet Asia Music Awards: Best Dance - Honey
  • [2009.12.16] MelOn Music Awards - 2009 Top 10
  • [2010.01.03] 16th Korea Entertainment Arts Awards - Best Female Singer
  • [2010.02.03] Seoul Music Awards - Bonsang Award
  • [2010.03.04] MNet M! Countdown #1 – Lupin
  • [2010.03.11] MNet M! Countdown #1 – Lupin
  • [2010.03.12] KBS Music Bank #1 – Lupin
  • [2010.03.14] SBS Inkigayo #1 – Lupin
  • [2010.03.19] KBS Music Bank #1 - Lupin
  • [2010.03.26] KBS Music Bank #1 – Lupin
  • [2010.12.10] KBS Music Bank #1 – Jumping
  • [2010.12.12] SBS Inkigayo #1 – Jumping
  • [2010.??.??] 52nd Japan Record Awards: Premium Box Award
  • [2011.??.??] 25th Japan Gold Disc Awards: The Best 3 New Artists (International)
  • [2011.??.??] 25th Japan Gold Disc Awards: New Artist of the Year(International)
  • [2011.??.??] 2011 Korean Ministry of Culture and Tourism: Content Industry Award (Special Honor)

External Links

v • d • e
KARA
Gyuri (L) · Seungyeon · Youngji · Nicole · Jiyoung
Topics
Images · Songs · Former Members: Sunghee · Hara
 KARA - Move Again promo.jpg
Korean Discography
Albums
Special Albums
Mini-Albums
Other Mini-Albums
Digital Singles
01 · 02 · 03 · 04 · 05 · 06 · 07
Video Releases
Japanese Discography
Albums
Special Albums
Best Albums
Mini-Albums
Singles
01 · 02 · 03 · 04 · 05 · 06 · 07 · 08 · 09 · 10 · 11 · 12
Digital Singles
01 · 02 · 03 · 04 · 05 · 06 · 07 · 08 · 09 · 10 · 11 · 12 · 13 · 14 · 15 · 16
Box Sets
01 · 02 · 03 · 04
DVDs
01 · 02 · 03 · 04 · 05 · 06 · 07 · 08 · 09 · 10 · 11 · 12 · 13 · 14 · 15
Taiwan Discography
Best Albums
Korean Official Website · Japanese Official Website
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