Brown Eyed Girls

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Brown Eyed Girls

Left to Right: Jea, Narsha, Ga-In, Miryo
Background information
Origin South Korea
Genres Pop, R&B, dance-pop
Years active 2006–present
Labels Nega Network (South Korea)
Associated acts Sunny Hill, Seeya, Cho PD, Lunafly, LC9
Website www.browneyedgirls.co.kr
Members JeA
Miryo
Narsha
Ga-In
Korean name
Hangul 브라운아이드걸스
Revised Romanization Beura-un A-ideu Geolseu
McCune–Reischauer Pŭraun Aitŭ Kŏlsŭ

The Brown Eyed Girls, often abbreviated as B.E.G., BG or 브아걸 (beu-ah-geul) is a South Korean pop girl group managed by Nega Network. The group consists of four members: JeA, Miryo, Narsha, and Ga-In. They've debuted as an R&B/ballad vocal group in 2006 and challenged themselves with different music genres. They rose to popularity in 2008 with L.O.V.E, and cemented their position in the K-Pop world in 2009 with Abracadabra. Other than promoting as a group, all of the members have released solo albums.

History

Debut: Your Story and Leave Ms. Kim

The group's leader Jea was the one responsible of the group's creation, and was actively involved in the selection of the other members. The first member Jea picked out was Miryo, who was known as a great female rapper from the hip-hop community. Miryo previously worked with other fellow rappers, such as Gil Seong-joon from Leessang, and the main female rapper in well-known hip-hop group Honey Family. Narsha was chosen when Jea remembered her as "talented singer" from her high school days. Ga-in was selected by the three members after she was eliminated from "Battle Shin Hwa". According to Ga-in, she was crying in the bathroom after failing the audition, was found by composer Ahn Jung Hoon, and then was chosen through the audition in Brown Eyed Girls' company. The four members held several small size concerts, and was actually known as "Crescendo" before officially debuting as "Brown Eyed Girls".[1]

After more than 3 years of training in singing and holding several small size concerts, the Brown Eyed Girls released their debut album Your Story in South Korea in March 2, 2006, with the ballad track, "Come Closer" as their single. Debuting as a ‘faceless group’ they did not appear on any visual media and choosing to not even appear in their own music video. The album was well-received critically but did not do as well as expected commercially. The album was later re-released to include "Hold The Line" (which samples "Push The Button" by British girl band Sugababes and "Technologic" by Daft Punk). This song became a hit, further boosting the band's popularity. "Hold the Line" was disclosed across the world because it was included in the list of songs from the game Pump it Up.

After a short break, the group went back into the studio to work on their second album Leave Ms. Kim (떠나라 미스김), which included their R&B title track "You Got Me Fooled" (너에게 속았다). Subsequent singles were "Oasis" (오아시스) featuring Lee Jae Hoon and "It's Mine" (내꺼야), a collaboration with fellow group SeeYa.

During the break between their debut and second albums, the Brown Eyed Girls released their first digital single entitled "I Am a Summer" (내가 여름이다), which was later included in their second LP.

The first two albums contained typical R&B ballads which had been very popular in the K-pop scene. However, the commercial success was relatively higher in two singles between the first and second albums. Moreover, the second album containing "You Got Me Fooled" (너에게 속았다) was released at nearly the same time as Wonder Girls' "Tell Me" which received a nationwide success in Korea. Therefore, their second album was once again a commercial disappointment. At the same time, the general K-pop scene was changing from R&B ballads to dance music.

2008: With Love and My Style mini albums

In January 2008, Brown Eyed Girls came back with their first mini-album "With L.O.V.E". Their single "L.O.V.E", was a departure from the B.E.G. sound that people had come to know[2][3] but it became an instant success and Brown Eyed Girls scored their first No. 1 song and also one of the top hit songs in the first half of 2008. "Love Action" was the second single taken from the mini album. With Love also marked the group's second digital album (after "I Am a Summer"), though it was released in conventional CD format as well. After the release of their first mini-album, they could achieve the commercial success. "Love" was composed by Saint-Binary and Min-Soo Lee.

Looking to strengthen their success, Brown Eyed Girls returned again in September and released their second mini-album "My Style". Title song "How Come" is a retro-style dance song that has become a popular trend. Despite facing strong competition from other top groups, "How Come" still managed to hit No. 1 on a lot of music charts, proving that Brown Eyed Girls have established themselves as one of the top female groups in Korea.[4]

2009–2010: Sound G, Japanese debut and solo activities

On July 20, 2009, Brown Eyed Girls released their third full-length album, the double-disc Sound G. Even though "Candy Man" was the first song unveiled from the album, the first heavily promoted single was "Abracadabra", which was composed by Ji-nu and Min-Soo Lee. He composed the first part of "Abracadabra", and tried to compose the refrain part. However, he could not think of a good idea to make the refrain part. Therefore, Min-Soo Lee, who worked with BEG previously, helped and composed the refrain part of "Abracadabra".

The release of this album also saw a shift in the image of the group, as the members redefined themselves as independent and mature city girls.[5] Their music video for their title track sparked controversies. As the group is sporting a substantially more provocative visual style, criticism has arisen for the suggestive and erotic themes that the video presents.[6] They later released a "stage version" of the video, which focuses only on the choreography. Nevertheless, even with all the controversies they took the Kpop world by storm, snagging awards at music shows and year end music awards. The sexy hip dance became a national dance with a lot of fellow celebrities doing a parody of it.[7]

Later on, the group revealed a repackaged version of the album titled Sign that included a new single, "Sign", along with "Drunk On Sleep" and a remix of their previous hit "Abracadabra". The repackaged album was released along with the music video for "Sign". The music video caused controversy because of its content, it featured scenes of violence and death, including Ga-In drowning in a tank of water. "Sign" has reached certain success, but it has not matched the success of the band's previous single "Abracadabra".

The quartet has been readying for their Japan debut since signing with major record label Sony Music Japan International. In August 2010, the group re-released Sound G in Japanese to promote them in the country, which indeed marks the beginning of their Japanese promotions.[8]

After the success of the album, the members concentrated more on their individual activities juggling it with their overseas schedules. In June, Narsha released her single 'I'm In Love' and own album 'NARSHA',[9] In August, JeA collaborated with Rattpoom, a Thai singer, in his song 'Face to Face'.[10] Later in October, Gain also started her solo activities through her album Step 2/4 with tango music, 'Irreversible' as the title track.[11] On October 31, she clutched her win (Mutizen song) in Inkigayo. In December, JeA worked on her ballad single 'Because You Sting' featuring G.O. of MBLAQ.[12]

Aside from that they also became part of popular variety shows and sitcom. Ga-in has appeared on We Got Married with 2AM's Jo Kwon since September 2009. The couple is very popular in Korea and is one of the most recognized virtual couples in the country. Regrettably, their virtual marriage came to an end after 15 months in January 2011. She made her acting debut in MBC daily sitcom 'All My Love'. She was the female lead 'Gaumji'. However, owing to schedule conflict, her filming in sitcom ended in May 2011. Narsha has appeared on Invincible Youth (also known as G7) since October 2009. She is known on the show as "Sung In Dol" (Adult idol) due to her age difference with other members and her funny, but naughty reactions on the show. She was also one of the fixed cast member in SBS's variety show 'Heroes'. In April 2010, She DJed on "Pump up the Volume" on KBS Cool FM. Due to Brown Eyed Girls' overseas promotions Narsha decided to leave the show, with her last broadcast on December 28, 2010.[13]

The group successfully ended the year with a concert entitled "Hot Winter Party" held in the Ax-Korea Hall in Seoul.

2011: Japanese promotions and return to Korea with Sixth Sense

On January 17, the Japanese music video for "Sign" was released.[14] Its content is completely different from the original Korean version of the song, since the new version focuses on choreography while the original version did not feature any. The group started their promotions in Japan in early 2011.[15]

The girls originally planned to hold a concert in Japan in April but due to the Tōhoku Earthquake in March, the concert was postponed to September instead. The band's first Japanese concert at C.C Lemon Hall in Shibuya took place on September 12. There, they unveiled one of their songs in their fourth album An Inconvenient Truth, which was composed by JeA and KZ.[16]

On September 6, NegaNetwork released an official comeback date, marking the end of their two-year hiatus. The group was expected to release a single on September 16 titled, "Hot Shot", followed by their fourth full length album and music video "Sixth Sense" on September 23.[17][18]

The concept for this album is “Resistance for freedom of expression through music via sixth sense.” Representatives of their agency, NegaNetwork explained,

This album focuses not only on their singing and performance. The members hope to convey their thoughts to the public through music. Their title track is an expression of the limitations of experiencing music with only five senses, and it asks people to feel it instead with their sixth sense. The song itself is very free in style.[19]

Prior to their first stage performance, they achieved success with "Sixth Sense" in all major charts in Korea.[20] They kicked off their promotional cycle officially with a double stage performance of "Hot Shot" and "Sixth Sense" on September 24 on Music Core.[21] and grabbed the top spot on M! Countdown and Inkigayo.[22] They also broke the jinx of going down a slump after a “big hit” as they won over their famed song Abracadabra, receiving higher digital sales for Sixth Sense.[23] They concluded their "Sixth Sense" promotions after a month but it was immediately followed by the release of a repackage of their fourth studio album.[24]

On November 4, their repackage album was released. They followed up promotions with their ballad song 'Cleansing Cream'. They officially concluded their promotional activities on November 18 with a final performance on KBS‘s ‘Music Bank'.[25]

2012: Solo activities, digital single and Tonight 37.2 °C

The members branched out to solo activities once again. Starting with Miryo, releasing her self- produced solo album, MIRYO a.k.a. JOHONEY on February 1. She had a rocky start with two of the songs from her album banned in broadcasting stations. Namely, “Revenger”, which according to SBS officials has lyrics depicting violence[26] and the title track “Dirty” for the lyrics of the song, containing the word, “cross-eyed” which could be perceived as a derogatory term for the disabled thus forcing Miryo to change the lyrics to be able to perform on music shows.[27]

On TV, Narsha made her acting debut with MBC's drama 'Light and Shadow' playing the role of an aspring singer Lee Jung Ja[28] and followed by Ooh La La Couple as a goddess. The other members participated on reality programs. Gain became a CEO of a public relations company called ‘Mental Breakdown' particularly for the show, "OnStyle's Launch My Life – Ga In's Fashion King". While Miryo was included in Mnet's hiphop program Show me the Money, collaborating with a rookie rapper to compete against other contestants for the top spot.[29] Jea also became a fixed member of Immortal Song 2 but she later left the show due to her solo album promotions and was replaced by Narsha which later on left the show also due to her musical "When A Man Loves".[30]

On July 17, BEG released their digital single "The Original" of the hybrid soul genre – the genre the girls have originally debuted with. It has two tracks Come with me and the title track “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” meant to be a gift to the fans who are still supporting the group despite it not being active at the moment. It was produced and composed by JeA. No promotional activities were done.[31]

Gain dropped her second mini-album on October 5 "Talk About S" with the title track Bloom. Upon its release, the title track has soared to the No. 1 position on real-time music charts achieving an all-kill[32] and winning the top spot in M! Countdown. JeA also pre-released the track "Let's Hug" on December 28 from her upcoming solo album reaching the no.1 spot on real-time charts.[33]

Before the year ended, fans of Brown Eyed Girls were finally able to see all four members up on stage together once again for their 19+ Rated ‘Tonight 37.2 °C‘ concert.[34] Each member took on a specific theme including seduction, desire, betrayal, and revenge to tell a story about a promise they made with a man ‘until death do them part’.[35]

2013: More solo activities, 5th studio album and M&N

JeA started the year by releasing her solo album "Just JeA", showing her prowess as a vocalist and a producer.[36] Gain also surprised everyone by releasing a duet album on April 7 with Cho Hyung Woo, called "Romantic Spring". The album contains warm, beautiful love song that perfectly fit the season.[37]

On July 4, a teaser image was released via Facebook and Twitter for Brown Eyed Girls' long awaited comeback. July 9 marked the release of a digital single: "Recipe". Hip Hop producer Primary to produce "Recipe". Miryo and Dynamic Duo's Choiza wrote the lyrics for the songs. They scored an all-kill after less than a day, hitting #1 on Korea's charts, including including Melon, Bugs, Mnet, and Soribada.[38] After the success of their digital single, they released their 5th studio album, Black Box, on July 25. "KILL BILL was announced as the title track and is composed by Lee Gyu Hyun and Jea. 

The music video teaser for "KILL BILL" was released on July 25. The actual music video release was on July 28, and the dance version on August 2. They performed their comeback stage on SBS' Inkigayo on July 28 and they concluded their promotions on August 25.

Youngest member Gain also revealed in an interview that she will release another solo album after the Kill Bill promotions.[39] In October 2013, Ga-In also broke onto the CPOP scene, featuring in Show Luo's music video for "愛投羅網 官方完整版 (Cast The Net Of Love)" .[40]

On November 4, multiple sources in the entertainment field revealed that Miryo and Narsha will be forming a sub-unit and plan on appearing on music shows beginning in mid-November. While Brown Eyed Girls members have frequently done solo activities, this is the first time two members will be working together as one team.[41] On November 11, M&N released their first single "Tonight" which had two versions (the Korean and English versions). On November 27, it was revealed that leader JeA and YGE producer Choi Pil Kang have been reported to have been dating for the past year.

Other musical efforts

The girls have also been featured on several South Korean Drama soundtracks. Including The Vineyard Man (Loving You), Queen of Games (독한 사랑), Dae Jo Yeong (대조영), The Kingdom of The Winds (다애), My Fair Lady (I Love You), and The Slave Hunters (Stray Child).

JeA also participated in OST songs even before Brown Eyed Girls' debut.

Also, Miryo and JeA collaborated for the single "Love Is..." which was released in May 2010.

Collaborated with 4minute in 2010 for a World Cup song.[42]

Ga-in also participated "4Tomorrow Project" with Kara's Seung Yeon, After School's Uee, and 4minute's Hyuna.

She also released digital single "We Fell in Love" (우리 사랑하게 됐어요), composed by Jea, with then We Got Married partner 2AM Jo Kwon. The song was voted No. 1 in several music programs in January 2010

In 2011 Miryo and Sunny of Girls' Generation collaborated for the single "사랑해 사랑해 (I love you, I love you)" the song was released the same year.

Ga-in collaborated with Park Jin-young for the song "Someone Else" shortly before his comeback. The MV and the full-length song was pre-released on April 2012.

Brown Eyed Girls influence on PSY

On April 13, 2013, international phenom PSY released a MV from his latest single, Gentleman, which featured dance moves borrowed heavily from the Abracadabra MV, as well as featuring Ga-In in the video.[43]

Members

Stage name Birth name
Romanized Hangul Romanized Hangul
JeA 제아 Kim Hyo Jin 김효진
Miryo 미료 Jo Mi Hye 조미혜
Narsha 나르샤 Park Hyo Jin 박효진
Ga In 가인 Son Ga In 손가인

Discography

Main article: Brown Eyed Girls discography
Studio albums
Extended plays
  • 2008 : With L.O.V.E
  • 2008 : My Style
  • 2010 : Festa On Ice 2010

Awards

Year Awards
2006
2008
2009
2010

Music programs

These are a collection of Brown Eyed Girls wins on Korea's televised music shows. Inkigayo is aired on SBS, M! Countdown on Korea cable channel Mnet and Music Bank on KBS.

Music Bank

Year Date Song
2008 February 22 L.O.V.E
2009 August 21 Abracadabra

Inkigayo

Year Date Song
2008 March 2 L.O.V.E
March 9
2009 August 16 Abracadabra[46]
August 23
2011 October 16 Sixth Sense[22]
October 23

M! Countdown

Year Date Song
2009 August 20 Abracadabra
September 3
2011 October 6 Sixth Sense
October 20[47]

References

  1. ↑ "Brown Eyed Girls and ZE:A talk about the history of their group names". Allkpop.com. May 9, 2010. Retrieved 2012-10-06. 
  2. ↑
  3. ↑ "Top 100 (Korean) Songs of the Decade:#20~11 « Found In Translation". Jdbae.wordpress.com. Retrieved 2012-10-06. 
  4. ↑ "Artist of the week – Brown Eyed Girls". Soompi. November 16, 2008. Retrieved 2012-10-06. 
  5. ↑ "Brown Eyed Girls Reveal Sexy". Allkpop.com. June 22, 2009. Retrieved 2012-10-06. 
  6. ↑ "Brown Eyed Girls Abracadabra MV released". Allkpop.com. July 22, 2009. Retrieved 2012-10-06. 
  7. ↑
  8. ↑ "[News] Brown Eyed Girls make official debut in Japan ~ Latest K-pop News - K-pop News | Daily K Pop News". Dkpopnews.net. Retrieved 2013-08-06. 
  9. ↑ "Narsha releases her new mini-album!". Allkpop.com. July 7, 2010. Retrieved 2012-10-06. 
  10. ↑ "Jea features for Thai singer, Rattapoom". Allkpop.com. August 27, 2010. Retrieved 2012-10-06. 
  11. ↑
  12. ↑ by (2010-12-27). "Brown Eyed Girls' Jea stuns in "Because You Sting" MV". allkpop.com. Retrieved 2013-08-06. 
  13. ↑ "Narsha to leave "Narsha’s Raise the Volume" radio program". Allkpop.com. December 18, 2010. Retrieved 2012-10-06. 
  14. ↑ "Brown Eyed Girls unveil Japanese "Sign" PV". Allkpop.com. January 17, 2011. Retrieved 2012-10-06. 
  15. ↑ "Brown Eyed Girls to begin vigorous Japanese promotions in 2011". Allkpop.com. November 12, 2010. Retrieved 2012-10-06. 
  16. ↑ "Brown Eyed Girls hold their first concert in Japan!". Allkpop.com. September 13, 2011. Retrieved 2012-10-06. 
  17. ↑
  18. ↑
  19. ↑ "Brown Eyed Girls unveil final image teaser for "Sixth Sense"". Allkpop.com. September 22, 2011. Retrieved 2012-10-06. 
  20. ↑ "Brown Eyed Girls' "Sixth Sense" achieves all-kill prior to their 1st comeback stage". Koreaboo.com. September 23, 2011. Retrieved 2012-10-06. 
  21. ↑ "Brown Eyed Girls to make a double stage comeback on ‘Music Core’ this week". Allkpop.com. September 21, 2011. Retrieved 2012-10-06. 
  22. ↑ 22.0 22.1 "Brown Eyed Girls win the ‘Inkigayo’ Mutizen + October 16th performances". Allkpop.com. October 16, 2011. Retrieved 2012-10-06. 
  23. ↑ "Brown Eyed Girls' "Sixth Sense" Digital Sales Revenue Beats "Abracadabra"". Soompi. October 22, 2011. Retrieved 2012-10-06. 
  24. ↑ "Brown Eyed Girls to promote fourth album repackage in November". Koreaboo.com. October 25, 2011. Retrieved 2012-10-06. 
  25. ↑ "Brown Eyed Girls will make their exit tonight on KBS Music Bank". Koreaboo.com. November 18, 2011. Retrieved 2012-10-06. 
  26. ↑ "Miryo's debut album get's banned from SBS ~ Daily K Pop News". Dkpopnews.net. Retrieved 2012-10-06. 
  27. ↑ "Miryo’s "Dirty" Banned for Lyrics Containing "Cross-Eyed"". Soompi. February 3, 2012. Retrieved 2012-10-06. 
  28. ↑ "Brown Eyed Girls’ Narsha makes her acting debut in ‘Light and Shadow’". Allkpop.com. February 8, 2012. Retrieved 2012-10-06. 
  29. ↑ "Mnet to launch rapper version of ‘I Am a Singer’ titled ‘Show Me the Money’". Allkpop.com. June 7, 2012. Retrieved 2012-10-06. 
  30. ↑ "Narsha to leave ‘Immortal Song 2′". Allkpop.com. March 21, 2013. Retrieved 2013-04-09. 
  31. ↑ "Brown Eyed Girls release digital single ‘The Original’". Allkpop.com. July 16, 2012. Retrieved 2012-10-06. 
  32. ↑ "Ga In achieves an ‘all-kill’ on real-time music charts with "Bloom"". Allkpop.com. October 6, 2012. Retrieved 2012-10-06. 
  33. ↑ "brown eyed girls jea tops charts with her pre-released track lets hug". Allkpop.com. December 28, 2012. Retrieved 2012-12-30. 
  34. ↑ Bang, Ji Young (2012-12-24). "[TD포토] 브라운아이드걸스 19禁 콘서트 '성인돌의 37.2°C'". TV daily. Retrieved 3 June 2013. 
  35. ↑
  36. ↑ "Brown Eyed Girls' JeA releases solo debut EP, "Just JeA" + MV for "While You Were Asleep"". Koreaboo.com. January 4, 2013. Retrieved 2013-04-09. 
  37. ↑ "Ga In & Cho Hyung Woo enjoy a lovely "Brunch" in new MV + release mini-album ‘Romantic Spring’". Allkpop.com. April 7, 2013. Retrieved 2013-04-09. 
  38. ↑ http://www.allkpop.com/article/2013/07/brown-eyed-girls-score-an-all-kill-with-recipe#axzz2f8xf84Eb
  39. ↑ http://onehallyu.com/index.php?/topic/13834-ga-in-to-release-a-new-solo-album-after-begs-promotions/
  40. ↑ "Show Luo & BEG’s Ga-In Heat Things Up In "Cast The Net Of Love" MV". 247AsianMedia.com. 2013-10-22. Retrieved 2013-10-22. 
  41. ↑ http://www.allkpop.com/article/2013/11/miryo-and-narsha-to-form-first-brown-eyed-girls-sub-unit#axzz2jrfLhzSF
  42. ↑ Brown Eyed Girls and 4minute Reveal World Cup Song
  43. ↑ PSY’s Awesome “Gentleman” MV Borrows Moves From Brown Eyed Girls’ “Abracadabra”
  44. ↑ "싸이월드 뮤직". Music.cyworld.com. 2012-07-18. Retrieved 2013-08-06. 
  45. ↑ "싸이월드 뮤직". Music.cyworld.com. 2012-07-18. Retrieved 2013-08-06. 
  46. ↑ "Brown Eyed Girls Work Their Magic on Inkigayo". Allkpop.com. August 16, 2009. Retrieved 2012-10-06. 
  47. ↑ "Brown Eyed Girls win on M! Countdown with "Sixth Sense" + comebacks, debuts, and more". Koreaboo.com. October 20, 2011. Retrieved 2012-10-06. 

External links

Brown Eyed Girls
Studio albums
Extended plays
  • With L.O.V.E
  • My Style
  • Festa On Ice 2010
Singles
Korean
  • "Come Closer"
  • "Hold The Line"
  • "Oasis"
  • "I Got Fooled By You"
  • "L.O.V.E"
  • "How Come"
  • "My Style"
  • "Candy Man"
  • "Abracadabra"
  • "Sign"
  • "Magic"
  • "Hot Shot"
  • "Sixth Sense"
  • "Cleansing Cream"
  • "One Summer Night"
  • "Recipe"
  • "KILL BILL"
Japanese
  • "SIGN"
Related topics
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