| Park Bom | |
|---|---|
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Park Bom |
| Also known as | Bom, Bommie, Bom Bom, Jenny Park, CornBom, Bomtaro |
| Born | March 24, 1984 Seoul, South Korea |
| Genres | R&B, hip hop, electropop, dance, pop, rock, electronic dance |
| Occupations | singer, actress |
| Instruments | Vocals |
| Years active | 2005–present |
| Labels | YG Entertainment |
| Associated acts | 2NE1 |
| Website | 2NE1 official website |
| Korean name | |
|---|---|
| Hangul | 박봄 |
| Hanja | 朴봄 |
| Revised Romanization | Bak Bom |
| McCune–Reischauer | Pak Pom |
Park Bom (Korean: 박봄, Japanese: パク・ボム) (born March 24, 1984), is a South Korean idol singer.[1] Born in Seoul, South Korea, she eventually moved to the United States where she learned English. She is the main vocalist of girl group 2NE1, where her stage name became solely "Bom" (Pronounced BOHM [stress the OH]). She is signed to YG Entertainment.[2]
Starting in 2006, Park recorded with labelmates Big Bang, Lexy, Masta Wu and starred with Lee Hyori in her CF, "Anystar" as a co-actress. Later in 2008, she starred as the lead actress in Kim Ji Eun's music video, "Tell Me Once More". In 2009, she debuted with 2NE1 as the main vocalist. The group's debut extended play, 2NE1, would be the third best selling album of 2009 in Korea.[3] For the band's next album, Park sang her first solo single "You and I". It reached number one on the Gaon Chart, the national music chart of Korea. The song would be later released on 2NE1's next album, To Anyone, which would go on to sell over 120,000 copies.
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Park Bom was born in Seoul, South Korea as a second daughter. In 6th grade, she left Korea by herself to study abroad in the United States. She graduated high school from Gould Academy in Bethel, ME and enrolled into Lesley University with a major in psychology.[4] As a high school student, she fell in love with music through Mariah Carey. She would listen to Mariah Carey's songs during lunch and even forget to eat. She wanted to pursue it as a career but she did not obtain permission from her parents. However, with encouragement from her aunt, she secretly transferred to Berklee College of Music to pursue her music career.[1]
Park Bom auditioned to become a singer at YG Entertainment, but was rejected multiple times. After three years, she was finally accepted and immediately became a trainee, where she learned Japanese and Mandarin.[1] She starred in two of Big Bang's three earliest singles in the songs "We Belong Together"[5] and "Forever With You".[6] Bom also collaborated with Lexy and Red Roc with "Baby Boy" and "Along My Way", respectively. She also starred in a Samsung Anycall Music Video Commercial alongside famous Korean pop singer Lee Hyori, recording her own version of the Anycall "Anystar" song featuring fellow label mates, G-Dragon and Gummy. Later in 2008, she starred as the lead actress in Kim Ji Eun's music video, "Tell Me Once More".
YG Entertainment announced that the new group would consist of four members and debut sometime in May 2009.[7] The company stated that the group had trained for four years, and that their debut album would contain songs produced by 1TYM leader, Teddy Park and G-Dragon of Big Bang.[7][8][9] The group's name was initially announced as "21"; however, due to the discovery of a singer with the same name, the group was renamed "2NE1", which "NE" is the abbreviation of "New Evolution".[10]
2NE1 debuted in SBS The Music Trend on May 17, 2009 where they performed their digital single Fire produced by Teddy Park of 1TYM. With the release of their self-titled mini album, 2NE1 started the promotions of their title track I Don’t Care. Their mini album hit the no. 3 spot at the Hanteo's "Best-selling album of 2009".
After a hiatus, 2NE1 returned with their first full-length studio album To Anyone.,[11] which was released on September 9, 2010. Promotions started with the simultaneous showcase of the three title tracks of the album, Clap Your Hands, Go Away and Can't Nobody. Following those promotions, another song It Hurts (Slow) [12][13] was released on October 31, for Halloween. The album garnered huge success and 2NE1 won an overall 11 times on various music shows from their promotions.[14]
In August, after finishing "I Don't Care" promotions, the group took a temporary hiatus with each member releasing their own solo singles. Bom's single, entitled "You and I",[15] was the best performing of the three and took the number one spot on the Gaon Chart for the month of November.[16] In February, the group released a surprise single "Follow Me"[17] that took number one for the week of February 13.[18] They came back on September 9 and released three lead singles for their newly released album, To Anyone.[19] The album went on to sell over 120,000 copies. At the 2010 Mnet Asian Music Awards, Park's song, "You and I", won the award for best digital single.[20]
In 2011, it was announced that Bom would have a new digital single released before 2NE1 promotions for a new mini-album. The song was titled "Don't Cry" and was released on April 21, 2011.[21] "Don't Cry" managed to top many of South Korea's music content providers' digital charts, later becoming a perfect all-kill on the music charts of Korea.[22]
Park Bom is primarily a pop and R&B singer.[23][24] She has named American singer Mariah Carey as one of her biggest influences who inspired her to get into music. In addition, Park names Beyoncé as one of her role models, because she wants "to have her strong vocals and [...] her strong performances". She lists hip hop and R&B as her favorite music genres.[1] Donga.com mentioned that Bom's husky voice, steadiness at high pitch, and exotic style is easily distinguishable. For example, according to Izm's Seung Won-Ho, her voice stands out more than the catchy beats in the song "Don't Cry."
| Year | Title | Peak positions | Album | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| KOR [16] |
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| 2006 | "Anystar" | -- | non-album release | ||||||||||
| 2009 | "You and I" | 1 | To Anyone | ||||||||||
| 2011 | "Don't Cry" | 1 | 2NE1 2nd Mini Album | ||||||||||
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released in that region. | |||||||||||||
| Year | Title | Peak positions | Album | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| KOR [16] |
|||||||||||||
| 2008 | "We Belong Together" (Big Bang Ft. Park Bom) | n/a | n/a | ||||||||||
| 2009 | "Forever With You" (Big Bang Ft. Park Bom) | n/a | n/a | ||||||||||
| 2010 | "Oh Yeah" (GD & TOP feat. Park Bom) | 1 | GD & TOP | ||||||||||
| 2011 | "I Cheated" (GD & Park Myungsoo feat. Park Bom) | 1 | Infinite Challenge West Coast Highway Music Festival | ||||||||||
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released in that region. | |||||||||||||
| Year | Nominated work | Award | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | You and I | Cyworld Song of the Month — November | Won |
| 2010 | Mnet Asian Music Awards "Best Digital Single" | Won |
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