Kara (카라, often stylized as KARA) is a popular girl group from South Korea signed with Daesung Entertainment (DSP). The band name Kara comes from the Greek Word "chara" (χαρά, lit. "joy"), which the group interpreted to mean "sweet melody".
Kara started as a four-member group and debuted with their first album The First Blooming in 2007. In 2008, Kim Sunghee departed the group due to parental pressure, and two members were brought in; as such, the group consists of five members: Park Gyuri, Han Seung-yeon, Goo Hara, Nicole and Kang Jiyoung. The five-member band achieved their first number one song with "Honey". Other successful singles include "Pretty Girl", "Wanna", "Mister", and "Lupin."
The group has released two full-length albums — The First Blooming and Revolution — along with various EPs. Kara has won various awards, including the Best Dance Award at the M.net Asian Music Awards and Best Female Singer at the 16th Korean Entertainment Arts Awards.
Kara began to promote internationally in various Asian countries as of 2009 and started to achieve wider international popularity in Asia.
Debut
Kara had their debut performance on March 29, 2007 with "Break It" on M! Countdown. Their first album was The First Blooming, with which Kara presented a mature, independent, "strong-female" image. They made two music videos from this album: "Break It" and "If U Wanna". Because of their similarity to Fin.K.L and the fact that both were signed to the same company, the two were often compared; in response, Kara stated that they regarded the comparison as beneficial and inspiring. The album won the Best Newcomer Music Award in May 2007. Despite the initial interest, Kara was largely overshadowed in both album sales and popularity by other hit girl groups that debuted the same year, notably the Wonder Girls and Girls' Generation. Years later, Seungyeon would admit that the album wasn't of as big success as she and the group would have liked. Seungyeon would go on to participate in many variety shows on TV at the time in order to keep Kara as a group recognizable to the public.
About
2AM is a South Korean four-member ballad boy band under JYP Entertainment. The members are Jinwoon, Jo Kwon, Seulong, and Changmin. 2AM is one of the two subgroups branched out from the eleven-member (before Jaebeom's departure) boy band One Day, the other being 2PM. They officially debuted on July 11, 2008 on KBS's Music Bank, performing their debut song "This Song". They won their first Mutizen at Inkigayo on February 7, 2010 with "Can't Let You Go Even If I Die".
Pre-debut
Along with the members of 2PM, 2AM appeared on the documentary Hot Blood that was aired on Mnet, documented their rigorous training program of their pre-debut days. Changmin was the only member of One Day to not appear in the documentary because he was serving in the military at that time. Initially, Jinwoon was eliminated on Hot Blood, but he ended up in 2AM due to Daehun's withdrawal from JYPE. JoKwon trained for 2567 days, 10 days past 7 years after joining JYPE.
About
T-ara (also known as Tiara or 티아라) is a 7-member girl group of Core Contents Media (CCM). The same entertainment agency in which artists like Davichi and SG Wannabe are in. T-ara debuted on July 29th 2009 on MBC's 'Golden Fishery', they are the first group to debut on a variety TV show. T-ara's members are Eunjeong, Hyomin, Jiyeon, Soyeon, Qri, HwaYoung and Boram (Leader).
History
Before the 7-member T-ara, T-ara was a 5-member girl group. Early June 2009 two months before the girls' official debut, former leader Jiae and member Jiwon quit the group. They believed that the concept of T-ara did not match them. Immediately after, Jeon Boram, the daughter of Jeon Youngrok was added into T-ara. Three weeks before T-ara's official debut, Soyeon and Qri were added into T-ara. After a year CCM added a new member into group. Thus making T-ara a 7-member girl group.
Girls' Generation (Korean: 소녀시대; 少女時代; So Nyeoh Shi Dae) is a popular nine-member South Korean girl group formed by SM Entertainment in 2007. In the order that they were announced as Girls' Generation members prior the group's debut, the members are;Yoona, Tiffany, Yuri, Hyoyeon, Sooyoung, Seohyun, Taeyeon(leader), Jessica, and Sunny. Outside Korea they are most commonly referred to as SNSD, the acronym of the group's Korean name So Nyeo Shi Dae or So Nyuh Shi Dae. In China, they are known as Shao Nü Shi Dai (or Siu Nui Si Doi in Hong Kong) and in Japan as Shōjo Jidai.
The group has so far released two full albums, two mini-albums, and various singles, all of which went on to achieve commercial success. Their 2009 hit single "Gee" holds the record for being the longest running #1 song on both KBS's Music Bank, having held the #1 chart ranking for 9 consecutive weeks, and on M.Net's M!Countdown holding the #1 position for 8 weeks. That year also saw the group winning various awards, including consecutive Artist of the Year (Daesang) awards at the Seoul Music Awards, Golden Disk Awards, Melon Music Awards, and the Korean Cultural Entertainment Awards.
The members of the group have had various activities as solo entertainers — acting in dramas and musicals, hosting various reality, variety, children's or game shows, modeling, endorsing brands and releasing solo singles.
Pre-debut
The members were professionally trained primarily in singing, dancing and languages while a select few were also underwent further training in acting and modeling. Many of the members had already made appearances in magazine ads, television commercials, and small television appearances. For nearly two years, Korean websites speculated about which female SM Entertainment trainees would be placed into the group.
-Hong Chai, Jeremy, Yew Liang, Yong Zheng
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