Fiestar

Fiestar

Fiestar at Gu-am park, Gayang-dong, Gangseo-gu, Seoul, November 2013,
From left to right: Cao Lu, Hyemi, Linzy, Jei, Cheska (former), Yezi
Background information
Origin Seoul, South Korea
Genres K-pop, dance-pop
Years active 2012–present
Labels Collabodadi
Associated acts
Website Official artist profile
Members
  • Jei
  • Cao Lu
  • Linzy
  • Hyemi
  • Yezi
Past members Cheska

Fiestar (Korean: 피에스타) is a five member girl group from South Korea formed by LOEN Entertainment, but due to LOEN's multi-label system they are currently under Collabodadi.

The group consists of multi-national members: Jei, Linzy, Hyemi and Yezi from South Korea; and Cao Lu from China.[1] They made their debut in August 31, 2012 with their single "Vista".[2]

History

Pre-debut

While many of the members took part in various activities before the group's formal debut, according to their agency, all of them had been training together for two years and the average training time among the members was 4 years.[3] Chinese member Cao Lu was previously a solo singer in Mainland China after winning a 2004 CCTV sponsored singing contest. Her album, titled Cat, was released in 2005 under her former stage name, LuLu.[4]

Main rapper Yezi also became famous as an underground rapper even before she debuted, since she released various rap mixtapes on her account and garnered high praises from netizens before she was planned to become a member of the group.[5]

Leader Jei did modeling for various online clothing stores [6] and was the female lead for boy band Infinite's music video for their song 'Paradise',[7] Bongshil Sister's My Love [8] and also for Taw's music video for Happy Hours featuring Joo and the Lifestyle.[9] She later replaced Joo on the promotions due her being diagnosed with a bump on her throat, and became fine right after the promotions ended.[10]

Linzy was a trainee under YG Entertainment and was originally planned to be a 2NE1 member and is also one of the trainees to be originally planned to become a member from YG's new girl group (with the idea scrapped in 2012, and the group disbanded even before debuting) and recorded a song for the 2010 Korean drama Obstetrics and Gynecology.[11]

2012: Debut & We Don't Stop

LOEN Entertainment initially announced that they would be debuting a six member girl group that contained not only members from South Korea, but from China and the United States as well.[12] After revealing the names and pictures of the members, it was revealed that they would be singing a duet with label mate IU prior to their debut for their agency's artist collaboration album.[13] Titled 'Sea of Moonlight', the song ranked high on the Korean music charts.

In August, the group's debut single "Vista" was announced and it was revealed that they would also be collaborating with hip-hop artist Tiger JK for a pre-release song called "Wicked", which received much attention for its Reggaeton influence. JYJ's Junsu made a guest appearance in the music video for "Vista" along with Seungah from Sunny Hill. Their song Vista charted high on charts, with the other songs all charting on the K-pop Billboard Hot 100, with two songs breaking up to Top 10.[14]

On November 1, member Cheska revealed the girls were planning to comeback, which was later confirmed by LOEN following the release of the teaser image, along with the comeback date of November 9, 2012 with their second single album, We Don't Stop. We Don't Stop is revealed to be with the works of Hyuk Shin. The B-side for single, Sweet Love, was released on November 5 and featured ballad singer Kim Yeon-woo. The promotions followed on Music Bank on November 10, 2012.[15]

Members had some individual activities, like Jei appearing in TVN's love-reality show, Romantic and Idol, alongside AOA's Hyejeong, 4Minute's Jihyun, and more. Members Jei, Cheska, and Yezi appeared alongside IU for comedy show, Gag Concert. Linzy and Hyemi appeared in KBS's singing show 1000 Songs Challenge. The whole group also appeared in Weekly Idol, and on Dream Team 2. The group also made an endorsement with HIM Magazine.[16]

2013: A-HA!, Whoo!, Major Label Re-Organization, & I Don't Know

Fiestar's begun the 2013 by ending their promotions of We Don't Stop on Simply K-pop, and also appearing KBS' 1 vs. 100. Cao Lu also appeared on Dream Team 2. They appeared on shows again last May 2013, appearing on various shows, with the whole group appearing on SBS' Ggurugi Life Inquiry, KBS' Family Love, MBC Music's All the K-pop with only Cao Lu and the show Stress Out along with Spica. Member and leader Jei also appeared on their brother group History, appearing in all individual teasers of each 5 members, with the theme "Romantic Dating Tips". Member Linzy joined the cast of the Korean musical rendition of the 2006-2008 musical movie hit High School Musical taking the role of Sharpay Evans, sharing the role with The Grace's Dana. The musical also shows a tremendous cast with Super Junior's Ryeowook, F.T. Island's Jaejin, f(x)'s Luna, AOA's Choa and musical actress Oh So-yeon. The photoshoot begun at June 28, and begun the show at July 2, at Blue Square Samsung Card Hall.[17]

Last July 25, LOEN released a picture with Jei, Cheska, and Cao Lu holding up a book while looking at the camera, and released a statement that Fiestar will be creating an educational program entitled, "Fiestar's A-HA! For the Global K-Pop Fan", for international viewers who wants to learn the Korean Language. The first video is released on July 26, with their main topic, "Daebak", with Jei speaking Korean, Cheska in English, and Cao Lu translating it in Chinese.[18]

Fiestar made a CF for the Samsung's Zoom Camera Feature for Samsung Galaxy S4, with the full commercial released on June 30. Member and leader Jei had a pictorial with SURE Magazine, hinting of a comeback somewhere beginning on the second half of 2013, and another album with the help of Eric Benét. Member Cheska also updated their fancafe, hinting of a comeback drawing near. Their comeback is announced on August 22 with a digital single, and is said to be with the works of Eric Benet. The digital single is titled "Whoo!", with a sneak peek 10-second audio clip released at the end of the group's 'A-HA' 5th lesson video.[19] LOEN Entertainment announced that Whoo! will just be a pre-release single for their upcoming comeback. The whole song collaboration with Eric Benet is released on August 27, and featured a Latin R&B music, introducing a new sound from Fiestar. The song ranked high on music charts, despite no live promotions.[20]

In September, LOEN announced a major reorganization and created a multi-label system, splitting LOEN into two parts: LOEN Tree, which houses IU, History, SunnyHill; and Collabodadi, which owns Zia and Fiestar.[21] Few days after the creation of the multi-label system, their agency's Twitter released a statement that Fiestar will indeed have a comeback in November 1, and on the same day, also released BTS videos of their music video for their third single.[22] On Fiestar's 12th episode of 'A-HA!', the whole six members released an audio teaser by the end of the video, and hinted more of the audio on Fiestar's thirteenth episode and last of Season 1's 'A-HA!'. A few days later, on October 23, Fiestar released a black-and-white teaser image of their third single, titled Curious. They also released another teaser on October 28, featuring the girls making a 'Shh!' pose, and on the same day, released the album jacket image and the tracklist for their third single, with the title track entitled "I Don't Know". They announced that Fiestar will be sporting the cutely sexy concept, doing a 90 degree change on their image, and said it will be still as powerful as their past singles. They released the video teaser on October 31, and on the same day, various celebrities released supporting messages to Fiestar, featuring Clara, IU, Kim Suk Hoon, and the Gag Concert team. They released the full music video on November 1.[23] The single ranked high on digital music charts despite the heavy competition with fellow artists. They made their first comeback stage on Music Core on November 2.

The group had their own TV reality show titled "Channel FIESTAR!" which is currently airing on SBS MTV. Their program features skits, activities, commercials, and the private lives of each members.[24] The show's first episode aired on November 28.

2014: Cheska's withdrawal, I Love Korea & One More

On March 20 their label announced Cheska would be withdrawing from the group after a long conversation with the agency. They also announced that Fiestar would not be adding any new members. Their comeback was scheduled for mid-July 2014 after being pushed back due to the Sewol ferry tragedy.[25][26] On June 16, a cheering song for the 2014 Brazil World Cup titled "I Love Korea", a collaboration between The Friends and Fiestar was released.[27] Teasers for Fiestar's comeback single "One More" were released on June 29,the music video was released on July 1 and the song was released on July 2.[28][29]

2015: 1st Mini Album "Black Label"

On February 16, it was announced that FIESTAR will come back in March with their first mini album "BLACK LABEL". The album will be digitally released on March 4. The lead single for the album will be called "You're Pitiful".

Controversies

The song "One More" was banned by MBC for containing "ambiguous" lyrics, which the network claimed contained allusions to a threesome. While the lyrics originally passed scrutiny from the three major broadcasting stations (KBS, MBC and SBS), backlash from netizens forced the networks to review the lyrics. Fiestar's representatives maintained that the lyrics did not allude to threesomes, but rather a comparison of a smart phone game to a monotonous relationship. However, Fiestar rerecorded the song, completely changing the lyrics to avoid further misunderstandings and continued promotions shortly thereafter.[30] The controversy spawned from the lyrics prompted MBC to crack down further on songs with ambiguous or easily misconstrued lyrical content.[31]

Members

Former Members

Discography

Extended plays

Title Album details Peak positions Sales
KOR
Weekly
[33]		 KOR
Monthly
[34]
Black Label 11 28

Singles

Title Year Peak chart positions Sales Album
KOR Gaon KOR
Hot 100
[36]
Album
[37]		 Digital
[38]
"Sea of Moonlight" (with IU) 2012 — 12 10 LOEN Tree Summer Story
"Vista" 9 27 28
  • KOR (CD): 1,920+

KOR (DL): 306,832+ [39]

 Vista (single)
"We Don't Stop" 21 66 58
  • KOR (CD): 1,408+

KOR (DL): 87,319+ [40]

 We Don't Stop (single)
"Whoo!" (with Eric Benét) 2013 — 58 80 Digital single
"I Don't Know" 17 63 63
  • KOR (CD): 1,629+

KOR (DL): 49,913+ [41]

 Curious (single)
"One More" 2014 — 51 57
  • KOR (DL): 62,230+
 Digital single
"You're Pitiful" 2015 — 60 —
  • KOR (CD):

KOR (DL): 65,454[42]

 Black Label
"—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released in that region.

Other charted songs

Title Year Peak chart positions Album
KOR
Gaon
[38]		 KOR
Hot 100
[36]
"Wicked" (Feat. Tiger JK) 2012 57 71 Vista (single)
"Sweet Love" (Feat. Kim Yeon-woo) 70 99 We Don't Stop (single)
"Head, Shoulders, Knee, Foot" 2013 57 92 Curious (single)
"—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released in that region.

Videography

MVs

Year Song title Album Released Length Note
2012 "Sea of Moonlight" (with IU) LOEN Tree Summer Story July 26 3:43 Special collaboration
"Vista" Vista (single) August 31 5:11 Debut music video.
"Vista (Performance Ver.)" September 4 3:34
"We Don't Stop" We Don't Stop (single) November 8 3:40
2013 "I Don't Know" Curious (single) October 31 3:46
2014 "I Love Korea" - June 16 6:27 World Cup cheering song
"One More" One More (single) July 1 3:18 First official release without Cheska
2015 "You're Pitiful" Black Label March 4 3:57

Filmography

Dramas

Year Channel Show Role Note
2014 SBS She's So Lovable Fiestar (Ep 3,7,10,16 Cameo)

Variety Shows

Year Title Network Member Note
2012 Weekly Idol MBC Every 1 All Guest
All The K-Pop MBC Every 1 All Guest
2013 Family Love KBS2 All Guest
2014 Weekly Idol MBC Every 1 All Guest

Awards

Year Awards Category Result
2012 4th Annual Seoul Success Awards Best Rookie of the Year Won
2012 Arirang's Simply K-Pop Awards Super Rookie Idol of the Year
All the Kpop - World-Class Rookie Awards Rookie of the Year
Knock-Out Award
22nd Seoul Music Awards Rookie Award[43] Nominated
Popularity Award[43]

References

  1. ↑ "LOEN to debut new six-girl member group, FIESTAR". Allkpop. Retrieved July 8, 2012.
  2. ↑ "FIESTAR releases "Vista" MV (with special appearance by JYJ’s Junsu)". Allkpop. Retrieved October 20, 2012.
  3. ↑ "Loen Entertainment reveals new photo of upcoming girl group FIESTAR". Allkpop. Retrieved October 20, 2012.
  4. ↑ "LuLu to go to South Korea to debut on LOEN's six-member girl group + to use her real name".
  5. ↑ "Fiestar's Yezi covering Avril Lavigne's Girlfriend".
  6. ↑ "Pre-debut Jei's Modeling".
  7. ↑ "Jei as the female lead for boy group Infinite's Paradise".
  8. ↑ "Jei on Bongshil Sister's My Love".
  9. ↑ "Jei on Taw's Happy Hours music video".
  10. ↑ "Jei performing live with Joo".
  11. ↑ "Obstetrics and Gynecology OST Album Info". Melon.
  12. ↑ "Loen Entertainment to debut new six-member girl group, FIESTAR". Allkpop. Retrieved October 20, 2012.
  13. ↑ "Loen Tree releases "Sea of Moonlight" ft. IU and FIESTAR". Allkpop. Retrieved October 20, 2012.
  14. ↑ "Fiestar's Vista ranks high on music charts".
  15. ↑ "We Don't Stop".
  16. ↑ "Fiestar Activities 2012".
  17. ↑ "Linzy Casted for High School Musical".
  18. ↑ "Fiestar's A-HA!".
  19. ↑ "Fiestar to release a digital single".
  20. ↑ "Fiestar releases Whoo! + ranking high on music charts".
  21. ↑ https://twitter.com/FIESTAR6/status/390797515898884096
  22. ↑ http://www.allkpop.com/article/2013/10/fiestar-gives-a-peek-at-upcoming-concept-and-comeback-mv-with-bts-photos#axzz2jxeTUeMn
  23. ↑ http://www.allkpop.com/article/2013/10/fiestar-say-i-dont-know-with-the-release-of-their-comeback-mv#axzz2jxeTUeMn
  24. ↑ "Fiestar to have their own reality show, titled "Channel FIESTAR!"".
  25. ↑ "Collaboddadi's Facebook Post on Cheska". LOEN Entertainment Inc. Facebook. March 20, 2014. Retrieved March 26, 2014.
  26. ↑ serendipity (March 19, 2014). "FIESTAR's Cheska to leave the group". allkpop (6theory Media LLC). Retrieved March 26, 2014.
  27. ↑ "The Friends Releases 2014 Brazil World Cup Cheer Song MV "I Love Korea" Feat. Fiestar". Soompi. Retrieved 6 January 2015.
  28. ↑ "FIESTAR Knocks Out the Boys with Sexy New Music Video "One More"". Soompi.
  29. ↑ "FIESTAR Teaser Images Released Ahead of "One More" Comeback". Soompi. Retrieved 6 January 2015.
  30. ↑ "FIESTAR’s "One More" Banned by MBC for Threesome References". Soompi. Retrieved 6 January 2015.
  31. ↑ "FIESTAR to Release New Lyrics for "One More" After MBC’s Ban, MBC Cracking Down on "Ambiguous" Lyrics". Soompi. Retrieved 6 January 2015.
  32. ↑ 32.0 32.1 "FIESTAR Profile". misskpop.weebly.com. Retrieved 18 September 2014.
  33. ↑ "Gaon Weekly Album Chart". Gaon Chart (in Korean). Korea Music Content Industry Association. Retrieved January 27, 2014.
  34. ↑ "Gaon Monthly Album Chart". Gaon Chart (in Korean). Korea Music Content Industry Association. Retrieved January 27, 2014.
  35. ↑
    • "Gaon Album Chart - March". Gaon Chart (in Korean). Korea Music Content Industry Association. March 2015. Retrieved April 9, 2015.
  36. ↑ 36.0 36.1 "Billboard K-Pop Hot 100" (in Korean). Billboard Korea. Retrieved January 20, 2014.
  37. ↑ "Gaon Weekly Album Chart". Gaon Chart (in Korean). Korea Music Content Industry Association. Retrieved January 20, 2014.
  38. ↑ 38.0 38.1 "Gaon Digital Chart". Gaon Chart (in Korean). Korea Music Content Industry Association. Retrieved January 20, 2014.
  39. ↑ http://gaonchart.co.kr/digital_chart/album.php?nationGbn=T&current_month=9&current_year=2012&chart_Time=month
  40. ↑ http://gaonchart.co.kr/digital_chart/album.php?nationGbn=T&current_month=11&current_year=2012&chart_Time=month
  41. ↑ http://gaonchart.co.kr/digital_chart/album.php?nationGbn=T&current_month=11&current_year=2013&chart_Time=month
  42. ↑ Cumulative sales for You're Pitiful":
  43. ↑ 43.0 43.1 "[Seoul Music Awards] Nominees for the 2012 Seoul Music Awards". 2012 2012 Seoul Music Awards. seoulmusicawards.com. Retrieved November 30, 2012.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Fiestar.