Artist Of The Week - BoA

Aug 31, 2010

PROFILE

Real name : Kwon BoA
Date of birth : November 5 1986
Physique : 162cm, 45kg
Achievements : 2010 Billboard Japan Music Award, 2009 US Billboard Special Award

BIOGRAPHY
For this week’s featured artist, Soompi proudly presents BoA. She is one of the most popular singers in both Korea and Japan. At the tender age of 24, she was already considered a 10-year veteran! She was picked up as a singer by SM Entertainment at the age of 12 when she tagged along with her older brother who was actually the one auditioning! The biggest power of BoA’s success is known to be her powerful talents in both vocal and dance along with her fluency in Japanese and conversational fluency in English. Although she was only 12, her debut had been two years in the making, covering everything from the basics of singing, dancing, and acting too. Her debut album in 2000 focused on appealing to older teenage fans through various rhythmic dance numbers was a huge success in Korea, putting BoA at the top in just a matter of days after its release.

However, her popularity didn’t stop there. In 2001, she advanced into the Japanese market catering her style especially for the Japanese listeners. Unlike other Korean singers around that time who temporarily visited Japan to simply introduce their songs on a short-term visit, BoA shifted focus to give her all in adapting to Japan and searching for ways to meet the demands of pop music lovers there. Her efforts proved to be a success because by the end of 2002, BoA was selected among the top 15 pop musicians in Japan. In the same year, she also received the golden artist award at the Best Hit Song Awards. Since her successful debut in the neighboring country, BoA has been busily going back and forth from Korea to Japan throughout her singing career. She tried to regularly release albums both in Korea and Japan, not to mention the countless singles. She has bragging rights as the only non-Japanese Asian to have two million-selling albums in Japan and one of only two artists to have six consecutive number-one studio albums on the Oricon charts since her debut. In 2004, she even released a few songs in Mandarin Chinese.

However, once again, this all wasn’t enough. Having been dubbed “Asia’s Star” due to her strong influence in Asia, she decided she wanted to conquer the biggest pond out there: the US music market. She teamed up with producer Thomas Troelsen to release the song “Eat You Up” which dropped online in the US in October of 2008. Rather than releasing a hard copy of the single, SM Entertainment decided to release a promotional CD containing dance remix versions of “Eat You Up”. The track soon became a number one breakout on the Hot Dance Club Play chart. A remix version featuring American rapper Flo Rida was produced, but unfortunately leaked on the web in December of 2008. She followed up her moderate success with her first English album in March of 2009. She headlined as one of the performers for the San Francisco Pride Festival alongside Solange Knowles and The Cliks. She didn’t stop there — she then released a repackaged English album that following August containing two new songs.

Not forgetting to cater to her Asian fans throughout her journey, she released a new single in Japan before starting to prep for her long-awaited comeback in her home country: Korea. Just in time for her 10 year anniversary, BoA returned to the Korean stage in August of 2010 with her sixth album Hurricane Venus. Her comeback was around the same time many other experienced singers were planning to break their hiatus as well, such as Se7en and Hwanhee. Korean fans were looking forward to seeing Asia’s Star do something that not many other singers out on the market could handle or do both well: singing and dancing live. BoA has since been climbing up the music charts with her comeback songs, and even took the number one spot on various music performance shows. And unlike most other singers who star in variety programs to increase their popularity, BoA has refused to show her face on the small screen for such programs. She claims that she’s not funny enough to appeal to television viewers in that type of a setting.

DISCOGRAPHY
Purchase this album
# ID: Peace B (1st album, 2000-08-25) : ID: Peace B, Come To Me, Heart-Off, Sara, I’m Sorry, No Way, Every Breath You Take, Whatever, I’m Your Lady Tonight, Young Lovers, Letting You Go, Someday Somewhere

# Don’t Start Now-Jumping Into the World (1.5 album, 2001-03-08) : Don’t Start Now, Again, Destiny, Love Letter, Love Hurts, Power, Let U Go, ID: Peace B (English Version), Sara (English Version), Dreams Come True, I’m Sorry (Chinese Version)

Purchase this album
# No. 1 (2nd album, 2002-04-12) : No. 1, My Sweetie, Waiting…, Tragic, Shy Love, Day, Dear My Love, Beat It!, P.O.L (Power Of Love), My Genie, Pain-Love, Happiness Lies, Realize (Stay With Me), Azalea, Listen To My Heart

# Miracle (2.5 album, 2002-09-24) : Destiny, Every Heart, Valenti, Feelings Deep Inside, Share Your Heart (With Me), Happiness, Snow White, Nobody But You, Next Step, Nothing’s Gonna Chance, Listen To My Heart

# Atlantis Princess (3rd album, 2003-05-31) : Time To Begin, Atlantis Princess, Tree, Milky Way, Beat of Angel, Gift, Where Are You, Male A Move, So Much In Love, Endless Sorrow, The Show Must Go On, The Lights of Seoul

# Double (1st single album, 2003-10-23) : Double, Always, Milky Way

# Shine We Are! (single, 2003-12-03) : B.I.O, Shine We Are!, One Way, Discovery, Milky Way, Flower, Searching For Truth, Beside You, Always, Flying Without Wings

Purchase this album
# Rock With You (single, 2003-12-03) : Rock With You, Atlantis Girl, Moon and Sunrise

Purchase this album
# My Name (4th album, 2004-06-11) : My Name, Spark, I Got U, My Prayer, One Wings-Embracing Each Other, Pit-a-Pat, I Kiss, Don’t Give a Damn, Maybe…Maybe Not?, Etude, Good-bye, Feel Me, Stay In Love, We

Purchase this album
# Merry-Chri (14th single, 2004-12-20) : Merry-Chri, Mega Step, Christmas Song

Purchase this album
# Girls On Top (5th album, 2005-08-22) : Moto, Do You Love Me?, Girls On Top, If You Were Here, Love Can Make A Miracle, Addiction, Freak In Me, Garden In The Air, I Spy, Can’t Let Go, Heroine, Breathe Again, Autumn Letter

# Key Of Heart (digital single, 2006-09-21) : Key Of Heart

# Eat You Up (digital single in the US, 2008-10-22) : Eat You Up

# BoA (US 1st album, 2009-03-18) : I Did It For Love (feat. Sean Garrett), Energetic, Did Ya, Look Who’s Talking, Eat You Up, Obsessed, Touched, Scream, Girls On Top, Dress Off, Hypnotic Dancefloor

# 1st US Album Repack BoA Deluxe (US 1st repack album, 2009-09-01) : Energetic (Radio Edit), Control, Crazy About, I Did It For Love (feat. Sean Garrett), Energetic, Did Ya, Look Who’s Talking, Eat You Up, Obsessed, Touched, Scream, Girls On Top, Dress Off, Hypnotic Dancefloor”

Purchase this album
# Hurricane Venus (6th album, 2010-08-05) : Game, Hurricane Venus, Dangerous, Stand By, M.E.P (My Electronic Piano), Let Me, Implode, Adrenaline, Ordinary Day, Don’t Know What To Say, Romance