A Pink

Apink
Apink at the NBA 3X Korea event, Yeoeuido park, Seoul, in August 2013
Background information
Origin	Seoul, South Korea
Genres	K-pop, dance-pop
Years active	2011–present
Labels	A Cube Entertainment, Cube Entertainment
Website	Official website
Members	Chorong Bomi Eunji Naeun Namjoo Hayoung
Past members	Yookyung

A Pink (Korean: 에이핑크; stylized as Apink) is a South Korean girl group under A Cube Entertainment formed in 2011.^[1] The group consists of Park Cho-rong, Yoon Bomi, Jung Eun-ji, Son Na-eun, Kim Nam-joo and Oh Ha-young. Hong Yoo-kyung left the group in April 2013.

The group has released three Korean EPs and one studio album. They debuted on April 21, 2011, with "Mollayo" (몰라요; "I Don't Know") from their debut EP Seven Springs of A Pink on Mnet's M! Countdown. The group has also won numerous rookies awards at shows such as the 26th Golden Disk Awards, 21st Seoul Music Awards, and 13th Mnet Asian Music Awards. Their first music program win was on M! Countdown on January 5, 2012, for "My My" from their second EP Snow Pink.

History

Pre-debut

The first trainee to be revealed as a member of Cube Entertainment's new girl group was Son Na-eun, who was featured in labelmate Beast's "Soom" (숨; "Breath"), "Beautiful" and "Niga Jeil Joha" (니가 제일 좋아; "I Like You the Best") music videos in late 2010. The second member revealed was the group's leader, Park Cho-rong, who was shown at the end of Beast's "Shock" Japanese music video. It was later revealed that the new girl group would be managed by a sub-division of Cube Entertainment known as A Cube Entertainment. On February 21, A Cube Entertainment set up an official Twitter account and revealed Oh Ha-young as the third member of APink. Jung Eun-ji was the fourth member revealed through A Cube's Twitter through a video of her singing a rendition of Jennifer Hudson's "Love You I Do". Hong Yoo-kyung was similarly revealed through an online video where she was playing the piano. Yoon Bo-mi and Kim Nam-joo were the last members to be revealed through Twitter.

Prior to the group's debut, the documentary APink News aired on the Korean cable channel TrendE. The show chronicled the debut process of the members of APink. The pilot episode of APink News was aired on March 11. Each episode featured a different celebrity guest as its anchorman. Among the celebrity guests of the show were G.NA, Mario, MBLAQ's Seung Ho and G.O, Beast, 4minute, 2AM's Jinwoon, Infinite's Sunggyu and Sungjong, and Secret's Sunhwa and Hyoseong.

2011: Debut - Seven Springs of APink and Snow Pink

A Pink at the GSL Season 5 Code S Final Performance, September 10, 2011

On April 13, the music video teaser for APink's debut EP, Seven Springs of A Pink, was released. The theme of the teaser was the spring season and the idea of innocent beauty.^[2] The group released the album and the music video for its lead single, "Mollayo" (몰라요; "I Don't Know"), on April 19.^[3] The album featured five songs, including "It Girl" and "Wishlist". The music video for "Mollayo" featured Beast's Gi Kwang. APink made their debut stage performance with "Mollayo" on Mnet's M! Countdown on April 21 to promote their album. During the group's first official fanmeet, it was revealed that their official fan club name is 'Pink Panda', a play on the name of the group and the Korean word for 'fan' (팬, paen). Following their promotions for "I Don't Know", the group promoted "It Girl" on the weekly music shows. APink also recorded the song "Uri Geunyang Saranghage Haejuseyo" (우리 그냥 사랑하게 해주세요; "Please Let Us Love") for the popular SBS drama, Protect the Boss. The soundtrack was released in September 2011.

In November 2011, APink began recording a new reality television show called Birth of a Family with boy band Infinite. The show followed the journey of the two idol groups in taking care of abandoned and mistreated animals over the course of eight weeks. The first episode aired on November 12.^[4]

The group released their second EP, Snow Pink, on November 22, featuring the lead single "My My".^[5] The album featured five tracks, including "Yeah" and "Prince". The music video teaser for "My My" was released on November 21.^[6] Promotions for "My My" began on November 25, on KBS' Music Bank. The song was particularly noted for having a sound reminiscent of girl groups of the early 2000s, such as S.E.S and Fin.K.L. During their promotions for "My My", the group opened up a one-day idol tea cafe, serving visiting fans to raise profits for charity and preparing food and drinks themselves. The members also auctioned off some of their personal items for charity.^[7]

On November 29, APink were awarded the Best New Female Artist award at the 13th Mnet Asian Music Awards.

A Pink released a song with Beast called "Skinny Baby" for the school uniform brand Skool Looks on December 26. The track was written by Kim Taewan and Yoon Sangjo.^[8]

2012: Une Annee

APink in February 2012

On January 5, 2012, the group won their very first music show award on Mnet's M! Countdown for "My My".^[9]

Eunji and Beast's Yoseob released the music video for their duet song "Love Day" on March 13, which was from a project titled 'A Cube for Season # Green',^[10] with the full single being released the next day.^[11] Eunji and Yoseob performed the song on the April 7 episode of MBC's Show! Music Core.^[12]

The group performed at the Kool Haus in Toronto, Canada, to about 1,000-1,600 fans on March 21, 2012.^[13] On April 19, they released "4 Wol 19 Il" (4월 19일; "April 19th") as a gift for their fans to celebrate their one year anniversary. The song was composed by Kim Jin-hwan, and the lyrics were personally written by the group's leader, Park Cho-rong.^[14] "April 19th" was included on their first studio album, Une Annee, which was released on May 9. The group promoted the album by making weekly appearances on several music programs and performing their title song "Hush". APink released their third single from the album, "Bubibu", on July 6. The single was chosen by fans through an internet polling on Mnet's official website.^[15][16] The group began follow-up promotions for "Bubibu" on July 7.

Fans have great respect for APink who performed in front of a massive crowd despite the pouring rain in the MNET One Asia Tour 2012 Smile Thailand concert at the Rajamangala National Stadium in Thailand on October 4.^[17][18]

2013: Second Cube Project + Second Collaboration, Line-up Changes, Secret Garden and Rise In Popularity

Eunji and Namjoo featuring Hyunseung of Beast released the single from the project "A Cube For Season #White" on January 3^[19] to commemorate APink's win the year before and Eunji, Hyunseung and B2STs successes that year. Later in January, APink recorded a second collaboration single with Beast, titled "5! My Baby (Oh! My Baby)" which was for the school uniform brand Skoolooks. On January 5, APink appeared at the AIA K-POP 2013 concert in Hong Kong and performed several of their hit songs along with other Cube Entertainment groups 4Minute and B2ST.^[20]

On the 23rd of April, it was announced that member Yookyung would leave the group to focus on her studies.^[21] A Cube announced that she is to be replaced by a new member, who is expected to start promoting with the group for their comeback, expected to be in July, with the date confirmed in a recent interview at a university event.

On May 31, Eunji and labelmate Huh Gak released a song from the "A Cube For Season #Blue" project titled 'Short Hair', which received an all-kill immediately upon its release to online music charts.^[22] On June 23 A Cube Entertainment revealed Teaser for "Secret Garden". On July 3, it was revealed on A Cube Entertainment's official YouTube channel that the group's upcoming title track would be named "NoNoNo" off their third mini album "Secret Garden", to be released on July 5. The group would be promoting as a six member group after the leave of previous member Hong Yookyung. The music video for "NoNoNo" and the mini-album was released simultaneously, one day after the group performed their title track on Mnet's M! Countdown on July 4.^[23]

On July 11, APink were appointed honorary ambassadors of the Seoul Character & Licensing Fair 2013.^[24] On July 17, APink won their first trophy on Show Champion for their title song "NoNoNo", followed by their first network win on KBS Music Bank. Promotions for "NoNoNo" concluded on August 16, 2013. A Pink also released the music videos for the tracks "Secret Garden" and "U You" of their 3rd mini album which concluded their promotions of Secret Garden. On August 31, A Pink held their first official fan-meeting in Korea. APink successfully held their first fan-meeting in Taiwan and Singapore on 20th October 2013 and 25th October 2013 respectively. On November 22 2013, A Pink attended the 15th Mnet Asian Music Awards where they received the Next Generation Global Star award.^[25]

On December 2, APink collaborated with fellow Cube Entertainment acts Beast, 4Minute, BTOB, G.NA, Roh Ji-hoon, Shin Ji-hoon and Kim Kiri to release "Christmas Song".^[26] In the same month, APink recorded a collaboration single with B.A.P, titled "Mini" for the school uniform brand Skoolooks.^[27]

2014: Digital Single "Good Morning Baby"

On January 9, APink posted photos of themselves on APink's official fancafe. It was later revealed that they would be releasing a digital single to commemorate their 1000th day since their debut as well as to thank their fans for their support. The single, titled "Good Morning Baby", was released on January 13 at 12:00 PM KST.

Members

Current

Former

Discography

Studio albums

• 2012 : Une Annee

EPs

• 2011 : Seven Springs of A Pink
• 2011 : Snow Pink
• 2013 : Secret Garden

Filmography

Variety Show

Movies

• 2012 Marrying the Mafia 5: Return of the Family (Naeun)

Television Dramas

• 2011 MBC All My Love (Chorong)
• 2012 tvN Reply 1997 (Eunji; Bomi and Chorong [cameo])
• 2012 SBS The Great Seer (Naeun)
• 2012 JTBC Childless Comfort (Naeun)
• 2012 SBS Salamander Guru and The Shadows (Naeun [cameo])
• 2013 SBS That Winter, The Wind Blows (Eunji)
• 2013 tvN Reply 1994 (Eunji [cameo])

Music video appearances

Endorsements

Awards and nominations

Others Members Awards

Music Programs

References

External links

• Official website
• Apink Me2day