Post by sarahtiu015*Dolphin girl* on Feb 16, 2009 20:24:50 GMT 7
Boa Kwon (born November 5, 1986),[1] commonly known by her stage name BoA, which stands for Beat of Angel,[2] is a Korean singer, active in both South Korea and Japan. Born and raised in Gyeonggi-do, South Korea, BoA was discovered by SM Entertainment talent agents when she accompanied her older brother to a talent search. In 2000, after two years of training, she released ID; Peace B, her debut Korean album, under SM Entertainment. Two years later, she released her debut Japanese album, Listen to My Heart, under the Avex label. In 2008, under SM Entertainment USA, a subdivision of SM Entertainment, BoA debuted in the United States with the single "Eat You Up".
Influenced by hip hop and R&B singers as Nelly and Janet Jackson, many of BoA's songs fall into those genres. The writing and composition of her songs are handled mostly by her staff, for which BoA has drawn some criticism.[3] However, BoA began composing on her own with her Japanese debut album Listen to My Heart, in which she co-wrote and composed the song "Nothing's Gonna Change".
BoA's multilingual skills (she speaks Japanese and conversational English along with her native Korean and has recorded songs in Mandarin Chinese)[4] have contributed to her commercial success in South Korea and Japan and her popularity throughout Asia. She is one of only two non-Japanese Asians who have had million-selling albums in Japan and is one of only two artists to have first six consecutive number-one studio albums on the Oricon charts.
2000–2002: Debut
At age eleven, BoA accompanied her older brother to an SM Entertainment talent search. Though her brother was the one who auditioned, SM talent scouts instead took notice of BoA and offered her a contract. Her parents initially opposed the notion of BoA's leaving school to enter the entertainment business but eventually consented at her brother's persuasion.[3] BoA underwent two years of training (involving vocal, dance, and Japanese lessons), and at the age of thirteen released her debut album ID; Peace B in South Korea on August 25, 2000. The album was moderately successful; it entered the Top 10 of the South Korean charts and sold around 156,000 units.[5][6] Meanwhile, her Korean record label, SM Entertainment, made arrangements with Japanese label Avex Trax to launch her music career in Japan. In early 2001, BoA released her first mini-album, Don't Start Now; it sold around 90,000 units.[7] After its release, she took a hiatus from the Korean music industry to focus on the Japanese market at which time she worked to solidify her skills in Japanese.[3]
BoA began her Japanese music career singing at the Avex-owned club Velfarre.[1] In 2001, she released her debut Japanese single, a Japanese version of the song, "ID; Peace B" (originally from the eponymous album). The single reached #20 on the Oricon chart and was followed by "Amazing Kiss", "Kimochi wa Tsutawaru", and "Listen to My Heart"; the last became the singer's first single to enter the Oricon's Top Five. After the September 11, 2001 attacks, BoA recorded the charity single "The Meaning of Peace" with Kumi Koda as part of Avex's Song+Nation project to raise funds for charity.[8][9] Her debut Japanese album, Listen To My Heart, was released on March 13, 2002. The album was a breakthrough in BoA's career: it became an RIAJ-certified million-seller and debuted atop the Oricon, making it the first album by a Korean artist to reach the top.[5][10] A single, "Every Heart: Minna no Kimochi", was released on the same day as the album. After the release of Listen to My Heart, BoA released her second Korean studio album, No.1, a month later. The album sold around 544,000 units and became the fourth-best-selling record of the year in South Korea.[11] Jumping into the World (a Japanese re-release of the mini-album Don't Start Now) and the Japanese single "Don't Start Now" were released a month later on the same day.
[edit] 2003–2005: Commercial success and image change
BoA in hanbok, or traditional Korean dress. Her album Girls on Top portrayed a more "mature" image through bohemian and traditional Korean dress.[note 1]
BoA then released her seventh single "Valenti". It became a Top Five single for the artist, peaking at the number-two position on the Oricon.[13] BoA released two more singles "Kiseki / No.1" and "Jewel Song / Beside You: Boku wo Yobu Koe", both which also peaked at the number-three position. At the end of the year, BoA released her second Korean mini-album Miracle.
BoA's second Japanese studio album, Valenti (2003), became her best-selling album, with over 1,249,000 copies sold.[14] In support of the album, BoA launched BoA 1st Live Tour Valenti, her first Japanese concert tour.[15] Later that year, she released two Korean albums, Atlantis Princess and the mini-album Shine We Are!. The former was the fifth-best-selling South Korean record of the year with around 345,000 units sold; the latter sold around 58,000 units and was the fifty-second-best-selling record.[16] Her third Japanese studio album, Love and Honesty (2004) was a musical "change in direction": it contained a rock-dance song ("Rock With You") and "harder" R&B.[17][18] Though the album failed to match Valenti in sales, it topped the Oricon chart for two weeks and became RIAJ-certified triple-platinum.[19] Her first compilation album, Best of Soul (2005), however, sold over a million copies, making BoA the first non-Japanese Asian singer to have two million-selling albums in Japan.[14] In support of the album, BoA held a tour, Live Concert Tour 2004: Love & Honesty.[1] The tour, which started in Saitama and ended in Yokohama, spanned nine performances and attracted approximately 105,000 attendants.[20]
BoA reinvented her image on her fourth Korean album, My Name (2004); she left the "cute" and "youthful" style that had characterized previous years and presented herself as "sexy" and "sultry".[5] The sales of BoA's Korean albums began to decline: the album sold 191,000 units and became the eleventh-best-selling South Korean album of the year.[21] Her fifth Korean album, Girls on Top, continued her image change. The album portrayed the singer as more "mature and self-confident"; the "bohemian" look of the cover photograph represented "freedom and depth", while music videos and album photographs that portrayed BoA in traditional Korean dress brought the "idea of Korean womanhood" into her music.[12][22] The album sold less than the previous album; it was the fourteenth-best-selling record of the year in South Korea with 113,000 units sold.[23]
[edit] 2006–2008: Decline in sales and continued image change
In 2006, BoA was mostly inactive in South Korea as she focused her attention on Japan; however, on September 21, 2006, she released her first digital single in Korea, a Korean version of "Key of Heart". Her fourth Japanese studio album, Outgrow, was released on February 15, 2006. The limited CD+DVD edition of the album contained music videos of the album's singles and a password to access a special version of the official website. The album reached the number-one spot on the Oricon chart for its first week of release, making it her fourth consecutive Japanese album to do so. It had low debut sales, however; with 220,000 copies sold, it became her lowest-selling first-week debut for a studio album at that point.[note 2] "Do the Motion", the first single from the album, reached the top spot, making her the fourth non-Japanese Asian to have a number-one single on the Oricon charts.[27] "Merry Christmas from BoA" (2005), the album's last single, was the singer's first digital single. In support of Outgrow, BoA launched a special Zepp tour, B0A The Live, on September 29, 2006. The tour, which lasted until October 29, started from Nagoya and contained twelve shows, two in each of the following cities: Nagoya, Fukuoka, Osaka, Tokyo, Sendai, and Sapporo.[28] She staged her first Christmas concert on December 7, 2006.[29]
BoA's fifth Japanese studio album, Made in Twenty (20) (2007), continued her transition from a "teenage girl" image to a more mature image. The album, which contained R&B and dance songs as well as ballads, debuted at the top of the weekly Oricon charts, making the album her sixth in a row to do so.[30] She began using a personal computer for composing one of the songs ("No More Make Me Sick").[31] On March 31, 2007, she launched a nationwide tour of Japan in support of the album. The tour, which sold about 70,000 tickets, was, according to BoA, "the biggest concert" she had ever given.[32] Two tracks from the singles of Made in Twenty (20) were used as theme songs; "Your Color", from the single "Nanairo no Anutsa: Brand New Beat / Your Color" (2006), was used as the ending theme song for the Japanese release of the Xbox 360 game Ninety-Nine Nights. "Key of Heart", from the single "Key of Heart / Dotch" (2006), was the ending theme for the Japanese release of the movie Over the Hedge. She also released an English version of "Key of Heart", which was only available on the first press edition of the single. Later in 2007, Anycall (a Samsung brand) signed BoA, Xiah Junsu (of TVXQ), Tablo (of Epik High), and jazz pianist Jin Bora onto "AnyBand", a band created specifically to promote Anycall. The band released only one single, "AnyBand".[33][34][35]
With her sixth Japanese album, The Face (2008), BoA took more creative control over her music.[36] At this time, BoA was influenced by electro-pop.[36] Additionally, BoA included "happy spring" songs (the lead single "Sweet Impact" and its B-side, "Bad Drive"), a guitar-driven "groovy dance" song (2007's "Lose Your Mind"), and ballads.[37][38][39] Lyrically, BoA focused mainly on love, though "Be With You." (2008) was about a person's relationship with his dog. The album debuted at the top of the weekly Oricon charts, making BoA one of only two artists in Japan to have her first six studio albums top the Oricon weekly charts (the other is Ayumi Hamasaki, who has eight consecutive number-one albums).[40]
[edit] 2008–present: Foray into America
On September 2, 2008, SM Entertainment announced that BoA would make her American debut under a new subsidiary label, SM Entertainment USA.[41] A press conference was held on September 10, 2008 at the Seoul Imperial Palace Hotel to clarify the details of her American debut.[41][42] BoA's debut American single "Eat You Up" was released online on October 21, 2008; it reached the top positions on the online music charts in the United States.[43] The physical single was to be released in stores on November 11, 2008,[44] but SM instead released a promotional CD containing dance remixes of "Eat You Up". "Eat You Up" became a number-one Breakout on the Hot Dance Club Play chart.[45] The remix of "Eat You Up" featuring rapper Flo Rida was slated for release in late November and leak onto the internet in December.[46][47] BoA performed "Eat You Up" as well as other songs at YouTube's Tokyo Live concert, and performed in New York City on December 3, 2008, as well as the Jingle Ball at the Anaheim Honda Center on December 6, 2008.[48][49] She also performed the song "Look Who's Talking" at the event.[50]
Avex recently announced that BoA will release a triple-A-side single on February 18, 2009, "Eien/Universe/Believe in Love". Also, her second compilation album, Best & USA will be released on March 18. The album will be released in a two-disc or one-disc edition. The former will contain one disc with Japanese songs and one with her debut American album; the latter contains fourteen Japanese songs and two songs from her American debut album.[51] BoA's English self-titled album will be released on March 17.[52]
Image and artistry
"Valenti" (2002)
Play sound
Many of BoA's songs are dance tunes, such as "Valenti" (2002).
Problems listening to this file? See media help.
BoA lists hip hop as her main musical influence, though she also enjoys R&B. Her favorite musicians are Michael Jackson, Nelly, Britney Spears, Brian McKnight, Janet Jackson, Pink, and Jay-Z;[53] as a result, much of BoA's music is either dance pop or R&B. Because she also sings ballads, she is often compared to fellow Japanese singers Ayumi Hamasaki and Hikaru Utada. Her debut album, ID; Peace B, contained urban pop, "slickly produced" ballads, and "upbeat dance tunes". As her career went on, she began experimenting with different styles: Valenti contained mostly ballads; Love and Honesty was an experiment with "harder" R&B and rock music.[17]
Because the composition and writing of BoA's songs is handled mostly by her staff, BoA has been criticized as being a "manufactured pop star".[note 3] In response to such criticism, BoA said that "if one person were to force their own will on something, then things that should have gone right could easily go wrong" and that she is "not all that unhappy with the expression that [she is] a manufactured star. In a way, that is true. Because SM Entertainment created the environment and all the surrounding conditions, [she is] able to be successful in the way [she is] now."[3] Though her earlier releases were marked by a "cute" and "youthful" style, BoA began to present a more "mature" image starting from the album My Name. In a Talk Asia interview, Anjali Rao noted that some felt that My Name marked the beginning of BoA's decline in popularity and asked if the public would always see the singer as "Little Baby BoA"; BoA replied, "So while I apologize to those people who still want the baby BoA, in fact, what can I do? I just keep growing up! I can't stop that from happening."[3]
BoA has collaborated with "high-profile" artists. Among the Japanese artists she has performed with are the hip hop group M-Flo (for the single "The Love Bug"), Kumi Koda, and house DJ Mondo Grosso. She has performed with Western artists: the song "Flying Without Wings" from her album Next World was a collaboration with Irish band Westlife covering the original song; the Bratz single "Show Me What You Got" was performed with Howie D of the American band Backstreet Boys.[17] Other artists she has collaborated with are Soul'd Out, Dabo, Verbal (of M-Flo), Rah-D, and Yutaka Furakawa (of the band Doping Panda). American rock band Weezer covered "Meri Kuri" on the album Weezer (The Red Album).
BoA is a "top artist" in South Korea and Japan; her popularity in the latter is attributed to her linguistic skills (she speaks and records in Japanese, Korean, and English) and a Japanese interest in Korean pop culture started in the early 2000s when the two countries began promoting cultural exchanges.[55][56][57] BoA's popularity extends throughout Asia; she has fans in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Singapore. She has expressed plans to enter a global market; she stated in an interview, "I will [...] get recognition in the U.S. and Europe to become a world-renowned Diva. In June 2006, the music video of her Korean song "My Name" became the first music video ever shown on MTV K, an MTV music channel directed at Korean Americans.
Because of her wide appeal, BoA has appeared in advertisements for many brands. Among the brands she has promoted are Olympus, Nike, L'Oréal, Japanese cosmetic company Kosé,Skechers, and GM Daewoo. Four of her songs have been used as themes. "Every Heart" was used as the ending theme for the anime InuYasha; "Beside You: Boku wo Yobu Koe" was used as the opening theme for the anime Monkey Typhoon; "Key of Heart" was the theme song for the Japanese release of Over the Hedge;[66] and "Your Color" was the theme song of the video game Ninety-Nine Nights.[67][68] Her widespread popularity has also made her a "cultural ambassador"; she has represented South Korea in inter-Asian musical events and has appeared in an Oxford University Press-published English-language textbook.[69][70][71]
[edit] Other activities
From 2001 to 2007, BoA hosted Beat it BoA's World, a radio program on the Japan FM Network.In September 2004, BoA instigated controversy in Japan when she donated ₩KRW50 million to a memorial project for Korean independence activist and nationalist An Jung-geun.] BoA voiced Heather the opossum in the Korean and Japanese version of Over the Hedge.In 2008, Korean jewelry brand Ramee released Ramee by BoA, a line of jewelry designed by the singer herself. On June 9, 2008, BoA and nine other artists from around the world recorded an English cover of Wei Wei's "Dedication of Love". Produced by Roald Hoffmann and Brian Alan, the single was used to raise funds for victims of the Sichuan Earthquake.
