Busker Busker

Busker Busker
Busker Busker in February 2012
Background information
Origin	Cheonan, South Korea
Years active	2011–present
Labels	Chungchun Music
Website	BuskerBusker.com
Members	Jang Beom-Jun Kim Hyung-Tae Brad Moore

Busker Busker (Hangul: 버스커 버스커) is a Korean indie band, most famous for their runner-up performance in the Korean music audition television program Superstar K3 of Mnet. From November 14, 2011 to December 10, 2011, Busker Busker suspended all public activities.^[1] However, they have since resumed their activities by participating in the Superstar K3 Top 11 Tour Concert and are, as of Jun 24, 2012, done recording their first and second studio album apart from the other Top 11 contestants.

Their members consist of guitarist and vocalist Jang Beom-Jun (Hangul: 장범준), bassist Kim Hyung-Tae (Hangul: 김형태) and drummer Brad Moore (full name: Bradley Ray Moore). After their six months contract with CJ E&M came to an end, they joined Chungchun Music in 2013.^[2][3]

Biography

Before Superstar K3

The group Busker Busker was founded by the band's guitarist and lead singer, Beom-Jun. His vision was to create a busking art group that focused on street performances and sought to bring an artistic cultural presence to the streets of Korea. His vision included all art mediums, not just music, and he sought to create festivals that would showcase the budding talents of local artists. Members of Busker Busker included university students, mostly from the Cheonan campus of Sangmyung University. Prior to Brad joining the band, the band's name was Pinky Pinky and was only a subset of the total Busker Busker group. Unfortunately, the band's drummer had to leave the band in order to keep his compulsory commitment to join the Korean Army. At that time, Beom-Jun and Hyung-Tae were both university students at Sangmyung University where Brad also worked as an instructor of English. They met and the three became the new bandmates, renaming the band Busker Busker. However, the band was still a loose formation, as many members of the Busker Busker group would rotate in and out of band performances. The Busker Busker group set up multiple performances in a local Cheonan park in the summer of 2011, which is where the Busker Busker Band's fame began to escalate. At the same time, Beom-Jun, Hyung-Tae, and Brad were participating in Superstar K3 auditions, as a trio because they were the only members of the band that were be able to participate in the process. After their auditions aired on TV, the band solidified as a trio.

Participation in Superstar K3

Busker Busker auditioned for the 3rd season of the Korean audition show: Superstar K. They were eliminated from the TV show after performing the song Juliette with another auditioning group, Two Gae Wol. However, despite only making it to the Top 48 of the contestants to tryout, it happened that the band that originally made it to the Top 10 dropped out.^[4] As a result, Busker Busker, along with another band (Haze), were given a second chance to appear on the TV show and signed on to be a part of the show's new Top 11. Busker Busker's first song on the show, Tokyo Girl, was extremely popular and the band survived the first elimination round. After repeating their previous success, the band managed to avoid elimination. Eventually, only the last three groups remained which included Busker Busker, Ulala Session, and Two Gae Wol. Going into the second-to-last show, the three groups were asked to honor a promise they had made earlier on the show, that if they were to end up in the Top 3 of Superstar K3, they would strip dance. Which they performed in Hongdae in front of a group of onlookers.^[5] After the live performances of the second-to-last show, and the live voting was completed, it was determined that Busker Busker and Ulala Session were to be the final two groups remaining. The last episode of the season was the final competition between the two remaining groups, with Ulala Session taking the top place.^[4]

Post-Superstar K3

Since the completion of Superstar K3, the group had been highly elusive and took time off from public activities to determine their music direction.^[1] This was in part due to the difficulty the band had communicating and practicing.^[6] In addition, while the band was scheduled to take part in a Superstar K3 Top 11 Concert Tour, Brad returned home for the Christmas holidays. As a result, the band temporarily found a new drummer for the concert while Brad travelled to America. After Brad returned on January 12, the band resumed practices in order to prepare and record their first album as a separate entity from the Superstar K3 TV show.^[7]

Busker Busker 1st Album and Wrap Up Album (2012)

On March 29, 2012, Busker Busker released their first album, which was simply titled Busker Busker 1st Album. The album quickly became a national sensation, with every song on the album debuting high on various charts. The album sold over 50,000 copies during its first three weeks. On June 21, Busker Busker released their Finale Album, which contained music not included in their 1st album. Some of the songs on this wrap up album were recorded during the preparation of the Busker Busker 1st Album, but they were left out as they didn’t coincide with the album's theme of “spring.” The new album is again composed and written entirely by Busker Busker's Jang Beom Jun. All 5 tracks took over the top five spot on Korean major online music charts, proving themselves unstoppable once more.^[8] After their “Youth Bus” encore concerts on June 22 and 23, they have ceased promotional activities for their 1st album.^[9] At the end of the year their album sold over 136,000 copies. ^[10]

In 2013, the title song of their first album, Cherry Blossom Ending was called to the carol of spring as in 2013 the song rose back to No. 1 a year after its release.^[11]

Busker Busker 2nd Album

Following the great success of their first album, Busker Busker released a second album on September 25th, 2013. All nine of the songs in the new album ranked high on iChart, and various music charts such as Bugs Chart, Melon Chart, Mnet Chart, etc.^[12] The title track is "Love, At First" and it has achieved an all-kill according to instiz's iChart.

Albums

Song List

Superstar K3 Compilation Album

1. 동경소녀 (김광진)/Tokyo Girl (Kim, Kwangjin) 3:32
2. Livin' La Vida Loca (Ricky Martin) 3:18
3. 정류장 (패닉)/Bus Stop (Panic) 3:27
4. 어쩌다 마주친 그대 (송골매)/I Bumped into You (Songolme) 3:20
5. 막걸리나 (윤종신)/Makkeolina (Yoon, Jongshin) 3:06
6. 그댄 달라요 (윤종신)/You're different (Yoon, Jongshin) 3:46
7. I Believe (이수영)/I Believe (Lee, Suyoung) 3:18
8. 서울사람들/Seoul People 3:26
9. 너에게 주는 선물 (Superstar K3 TOP11)/A Gift For You (Superstar K3 TOP11) 4:24
10. 줄리엣 (샤이니)/Juliette (Shinee) 3:29

Busker Busker 1st Album

1. 봄바람/Spring Wind (Opening Track, instrumental)
2. 첫사랑/First Love
3. 여수 밤바다/Yeosu Night Sea
4. 벚꽃 엔딩/Cherry Blossom Ending (Title Track)
5. 이상형/Ideal Type (With MV)
6. 외로움증폭장치 (브래드 드럼 한판 쉬기)/Loneliness Amplifier (Brad takes a break)
7. 골목길/The Alley (interlude)
8. 골목길 어귀에서/Entrance Of The Alley
9. 전활 거네/Calling You
10. 꽃송이가/The Flower
11. 향수/Perfume

Busker Busker 1st Wrap Up Album

1. 그댈 마주하는건 힘들어 (그마힘)/It's Hard To Face You
2. 네온사인/Neon Sign
3. 소나기 (주르르루)/Showers
4. 정말로 사랑한다면/If You Really Love Me (Title Track)
5. 기다려주세요/Please Wait

Busker Busker 2nd Album

1. 가을밤/Autumn Night
2. 잘할 걸/Too Much Regret
3. 사랑은 타이밍/Love Is Timing
4. 처음엔 사랑이란게/Love, At First (Title Track)
5. 시원한 여자/Cool Girl
6. 그대 입술이/Your Lips (With Chae Ji Yeon of Putput)
7. 줄리엣/Juliet
8. 아름다운 나이/Beautiful Age
9. 밤/Night

Awards

Music Programs

Below lists Busker Busker's number-one wins on South Korea's televised music programs

M! Countdown

Music Bank

Music Core

Inkigayo

Show Champion

References