| | |
| Origin | Seoul, South Korea |
| Genres | R&B, pop, electronic, dance, K-pop |
| Years active | 2007–present |
| Labels | DSP Media(South Korea) Universal Sigma (Japan) |
| Website | |
| Members | |
| Park Gyuri Han Seung-yeon Koo Ha-ra Jung Nicole Kang Jiyoung | |
| Past Members | |
| Kim Sunghee | |
Kara (카라, often stylized as KARA or KaRa) is a South Korean girl group signed with DSP Media (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 new members were brought in; as such, the group currently consists of five members: Park Gyuri, Han Seung-yeon, Nicole Jung, Goo Hara, and Kang Jiyoung. The five-member band achieved their first number one song with "Honey".
The group eventually made their debut in Japan in 2010. By the end of that year, Kara was dubbed as Japan's #1 Rookie Artist of 2010 by Oricon and also received the New Artist Of The Year Award (International) from the Japan Gold Disc Awards. The group also released their first Japanese album, Girl's Talk which was eventually certified as Platinum by the RIAJ. In February 2011, Kara's "Jumping" and "Mister" singles received Platinum and double Platinum certificates, respectively, from RIAJ. In March, Kara became the first foreign female artist to top Oricon’s Composite DVD Chart and the first foreign artist to top this chart for 2 consecutive weeks. In April 2011 with their 3rd single "Jet Coaster Love", Kara became the first foreign female group since the creation of the Oricon (43 years ago) to rank #1 in the 1st week of release and the first foreign female group in 30 years to rank #1 in the charts all together. They also hold the title as the first Korean girl group to top the Oricon Weekly Single Chart. Their official fanclub is Kamilia, derived from a combination of the words "KARA" with the Spanish word for family, "familia." Kara's official balloon color is pearl peach.
History
Debut
Kara debuted on March 29, 2007 with "Break It" on M! Countdown, from their first album The First Blooming. Two music videos, "Break It" and "If U Wanna," came from this album. Because of their similarity to Fin.K.L and the fact that both groups were signed to the same company, the two were often compared; in response, Kara stated that they regarded the comparison as beneficial and inspiring. As the album was not a commercial success, member Han Seungyeon participated in many TV variety shows in the following months to keep Kara as a group recognizable to the public.
"Pretty Girl"
On November 29, 2008, DSP Entertainment released a teaser video for their upcoming single, "Pretty Girl", which received over 40,000 hits within 12 hours. The full video was released on December 2, 2008 online and was positively received by the public. The EP was released on December 4, embodying a "party/fun" concept. The group began its comeback on all major music shows on December 4, 2008, starting with M.Net Countdown. During their first national performance on KBS's Music Bank, member Koo Hara accidentally gasped "ah!" live on air due to slipping on falling confetti, and reportedly cried profusely afterwards.] Netizens made it a "hot issue", but Koo Hara received comfort instead of criticism from the public.
Park Gyuri attributed their popularity increase to their "pretty but natural" appeal, while media reports gave credit to the band finding its own identity and to older male fans, most notably singer Shin Hae-cheol.
Due to their increasingly hectic schedule as their popularity rose, a few of the group's members were taken to the hospital on December 19 after a KBS Music Bank rehearsal for cold and exhaustion.
"Honey"
At the end of January 2009, DSP Entertainment announced that it would commence voting on January 28 at Kara's official website for the follow-up single to "Pretty Girl", which ended on February 2. By the deadline of February 2, "Honey" was the clear winner, with 60% of the votes. The song was remixed from the original version, and also underwent a slight name change from "하니" (Ha-ni) to "Honey". Kara released the music video for "Honey" on February 16 and had their first live broadcasting comeback on KBS's Music Bank program on February 13, 2009; a repackaged mini-album followed on February 19.
"Honey" became the group's first #1 single when it topped the countdown the M.Net M! Countdown show. The song also won the "Mutizen" ("music netizen") award on SBS's program The Music Trend.
The group did its last round of promotional activities for this album on April 10–12, 2009.
Revolution
In June 2009 the group stated they would return in late July, with their concept "upgraded". The first teaser pictures of the group were then released in mid-July, showing radical changes in the group's style.
Their single "Wanna" was released on July 28, 2009 and immediately charted on various digital music charts. The music video was released on July 29, with the full album, Revolution, available online on July 30. Comeback activities commenced on July 31, beginning with KBS's Music Bank; the group performed both "Wanna" and "Mister". "Mister" proved to be popular with netizens due to the "butt dance" that is featured prominently in the choreography.Due to the popularity of "Mister", Kara's overall popularity increased, evidenced by an influx of advertisement requests by various companies; in total, they had more advertisements in October 2009 than they had had the previous two years.
"Wanna" also became a #1 single for Kara and won the "Mutizen Song" award on August 30, 2009 from Inkigayo.
During promotions for Revolution, the group also performed internationally, including at Bangkok's Parc Paragon.
Beginning of 2010: "루팡" (Lupin)
After a short hiatus, DSP Entertainment released two teaser photos of Kara's comeback concept on February 9, 2010. The photos garnered a lot of interest because compared to their past album concepts, the new photos showed the members in dark outfits and smokey makeup that elicited a darker, more mature, and sexier feel. The next day, the album jacket was unveiled with a "Stealer" concept as well as the title track "Lupin", which became #1 on several online music charts shortly after release. The teaser video was released on February 12 on Naver; the EP followed on February 17. Kara began their broadcasting comeback starting on M.Net's M! Countdown on February 25, 2010.
The music video was released on February 22, garnering more than 90,000 views in the first 2 hours.
On March 4, 2010, Kara won their first #1 award for "Lupin" on M! Countdown. On the following week, Kara won yet another #1 award on M! Countdown, making it their second consecutive win on the music program. "Lupin" also gave Kara their first #1 win on Music Bank on March 12, 2010, making it the group's first win on this particular music show since their debut, holding onto the position for three consecutive weeks. The song also won the Mutizen award from Inkigayo, and cumulatively Kara won an all-group best total of 6 awards during their "Lupin" promotional cycle.
End of 2010: "Jumping"
After about 9 months hiatus in Korean Music Entertainment, Kara announced the promotional track "Jumping" in Korea and Japan. Kara released it as a 2nd Japanese single and title track for their fourth Korean mini album. Despite promoting the song at the same time, Kara had 2 different concepts for the song in Korea and Japan. A teaser photo of Jumping's album cover was released on November 3, 2010 and according to a company official, “Kara’s new album utilizes the optical art concept of black and white geometric patterns, which differs depending on each member’s physical characteristics and image.” He added, “You will see a new and upgraded Kara with these modern, yet chic images.” Kara made their comeback with Burn and Jumping on MBC Music Core on November 20, 2010. On December 10, 2010, Kara got their second #1 win on KBS Music Bank for Jumping. Two days after their win in Music Bank, Kara won a #1 Mutizen Award for "Jumping" on SBS Inkigayo's 600th episode.
Japan activities and debut
Their first promotional tour in Japan on February 2010 had over 3,000 fans registered, exceeding the capacity of the venue, which resulted in a second showcase. Kara was also featured in a video message for a show called Arashi no Shukudai-kun (嵐の宿題くん Arashi's Homework), hosted by Japanese idol group Arashi. Kara held fan meetings on May 8 with more than 8,000 fans at Japan’s Grand Prince Hotel. In addition, Kara had an official Japan fan club meeting with 3,000 fans at Yokohama’s Mina Torimirai hotel on May 9. The group later on signed with Universal Music Japan and made their official debut in Japan by August with "Mister".The single ranked in various music charts which proved it to be very popular in Japan. The group later on released their second single entitled "Jumpin'" on November 10, 2010. The song quickly climbed up in other charts including mobile downloads. On September 29, 2010, Kara released their best hits album, "Kara Best 2007-2010". The album is a compilation of their selected Korean tracks since they debuted. It ranked #2 in the Oricon Daily Chart on the first day of release, selling 18,223 copies. It was announced on November 3, 2010 that the album was certified gold by The Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ), making KARA the first ever Korean Group since the '90s to release an all-Korean album that is able break the 100k copies barrier in Japan. Their debut Japanese album, "Girl's Talk", was released on November 24, 2010. It sold 107,000 copies in its first week and ranked number 2 in the Oricon weekly charts, making this the first album by a non-Japanese Asian girl group in Japan in 6 years and 9 months to sell more than 100,000 album copies in its first week.The album received a platinum certification from RIAJ on January 14, 2011.
After their successful debut in Japan, Kara was chosen as the best rookie artist according to a popular Japanese mobile ringtone site, Recochoku. On December 20, 2010, Oricon also announced Kara as 2010's best rookie artist, generating revenue to some 1.3 billion yen (or $15.4 million USD); and with a total of 493,000 copies of their releases sold this year.
Kara released their DVD "Kara Best Clips" which is a compilation of their past music videos on February 23, 2011. After one week, Kara was able to set another record when they ranked #1 in the Oricon’s Weekly Composite DVD Ranking. This made them the first ever foreign artist to be #1 for two consecutive weeks since the charts implementation in 1999. Kara has sold approximately 230,183 copies of their DVD.
On April 6, 2011, Kara released their third Japanese single, “Jet Coaster Love“, after the original release date was pushed back due to the 2011 Great Tohoku Earthquake and tsunami. As soon as it was released onto the music charts, “Jet Coaster Love” instantly rose to #2 on the Oricon Daily Chart with 47,810 copies sold. Kara was able to set another record as “Jet Coaster Love” maintained its position and ranked #1 in Oricon's 4/18 Weekly Single Ranking selling 123,000 copies in its first week. Despite its success, the group did hindered plans for promotion in Japan due to the natural disaster. Instead, the group announced that all procceeds from the single will be donated to Japan's natural disaster relief aid.
Other works
Soundtracks and special singles
The original group recorded a song titled "Fighting" on the soundtrack for 강남엄마 따라잡기 ("Chasing a Mother from Kangnam"), a drama that aired on SBS; the soundtrack was released on July 25, 2007. Their second song was "Butterfly" on the soundtrack for the anime Naruto, which was released on September 29, 2008. Kara also participated in the second soundtrack for Boys Over Flowers, recording the song "Love is Fire".
"Ddokateun Mam" ("똑 같은 맘", "The Same Heart") was a song used in "i-Musician", an upcoming mobile game that Kara promoted; the song was released digitally in June 2009.
In January 2010, they sang the main original soundtrack of drama series "별을 따다줘" (Catch Me a Star).
Kara appeared on MBC's Music Travel LaLaLa on October 22, 2009, where they performed "길" ("Road") by g.o.d and "빙글 빙글" ("Round and Round") with NoBrain. These tracks were included on Music Travel LaLaLa's soundtrack, released in February 2010.
On April 2010, it was revealed that Kara will sing a cheer song for the 2010 World Cup entitled "We're With You". Behind-the-scenes and individual member teaser videos were revealed along with photos of Kara wearing cheerleader outfits. The single was released on May 3, 2010.
Kara also released a single "2ME", the soundtrack for online game We Online.
In November 2010, Seungyeon's solo track "Superstar" for KBS's drama "Mary Stayed Out All Night" was revealed.
Commercial activities
Kara has endorsed online games, clothing, food & beverage, cosmetic products as well as shoes. KARA became endorsers of a cosmetics product, Mistine BB Wonder Compact in Thailand by April 2010. In May 2010, Kara became the female faces of Samsung Doogeun Doogeun Tomorrow Campaign. Kara has also been endorsing for Ask (resulting in a rise of sales and re-orders as part of the "Kara Effect") and also for fleece boot company Bear Paws.
With Kara's successful debut in Japan on August 2010, offers from different electronics, clothing and beverage brands started coming. In October 2010, it was revealed that Kara has sealed a revenue of 2 billion won from endorsements just 2 months after their Japanese debut. Officials said, "Kara shows a sophisticated image on stage while outside the stage, they show a friendly image" On October 28, 2010, it was confirmed that Kara was chosen as the new models of one of the three biggest Carrier companies in Japan, "KDDI", showing their popularity. Starting November 1, Kara would promote the "Au Santa Letter of Challenge", organized by the "Au Smart Sports Run&Walk", the group members will dress up in Santa Claus costumes, offering the users gifts with various contents. They will also create a "Challenge Live" Twitter account where users can post support messages and 15 pairs of people will be chosen to attend the Limited Kara Live Event via lottery. Furthermore with their success in Japan, Japanese game production company Rhaon Japan revealed through their official TalesLand official website that Kara will become the new models for this game. Players will be able to find Kara characters in the game, and will also be able to see a short animation of Kara, along with a promotional video on the landing page.
It was revealed in June 2011 that LG Electronics had chosen Kara to be the Japanese CF models for their upcoming cellphone brand, LG 'Optimus Bright'. Kara will also be releasing a new Japanese single titled 'Go Go Summer', which will be used for the commercial and be promoted at the same time. The commercial and print advertisements will be launched starting June 17. Moreover, members Park Gyuri, Goo Hara and Kang Jiyoung shall be the female models for Korean cosmetic brand "Nature Republic". The 3 members will officially start their exclusive activities with Nature Republic on June 3, 2011.
In 2010, Kara opened their own online clothing franchise called "Karaya", which members Gyuri, Hara and Jiyoung were chosen as spokesmodels. The said online shop proved to be a big hit and rose to 4th place in popularity among celebrity owned internet shopping mall sites.
International touring
It was announced on September 2009 that Kara, along with SHINee and Ryan of Paran from Thailand, would perform for the Thai-Korea Friendship Concert to be held on the 17th at Bangkok's Parc Paragon. Kara became quite active in Thailand as they visited more often and even filmed a commercial for a cosmetics brand.
On March 2010, it was announced that Kara will participate in the 8th Annual Korean Music Festival to be held at Hollywood Bowl, Los Angeles, with member Nicole as MC. Kara then became very active in Japan, holding showcases and hand shake events as preparation for their official Japanese debut. After their successful debut with Mister, Kara performed at the Asia Song Festival on October 23, 2010 with other Asian artists. Kara was also confirmed as a participant of the Seoul Tokyo Music Festival 2010 with leader Gyuri as one of the MCs.
Request for contract termination
On January 19, 2011, a lawyer representing four of the five Kara members announced to the media that they would be terminating their contract with DSP Entertainment, effective immediately; a lawsuit was also filed on their behalf. Park Gyuri, the leader of the group, was the only one remaining with the management company. In a statement, the lawyer representing the four stated that "the company repeatedly denied any requests and unilaterally forced tasks upon the members", and that they have been preparing for legal action for two months. Later that day, it was announced that Goo Hara would discontinue her involvement with the suit and has rejoined the company, as she apparently was not fully aware of the lawsuit's details. In a statement, DSP Entertainment firmly rebutted all accusations, also stating that they wished to resolve the issues and reconcile with the members quickly. DSP also denied earlier reports of denying Kara members their fair share of profits, stating that each member was paid ₩300,000,000 for their work.
The lawyer for the three remaining members released another statement giving further details of their allegations. Their representatives stated that they were misinformed regarding their Japanese promotions, and that their relationship with the company severely deteriorated with the hospitalization of CEO Lee Ho-yeon in March 2010.
On April 28, 2011, the dispute between DSP Entertainment and Kara's 3 members (Han Seung-yeon, Nicole Jung, Kang Ji-young) were all resolved.
Television and acting
Early work
Prior joining Kara, both Park Gyuri and Han Seungyeon were child actresses. Park's first appearance was on Today is a Nice Day in 1995. She later appeared as the teenage version of Kim Jung Eun's character in Ladies of the Palace in 2001. Han Seungyeon appeared in uncredited cameo roles in several television dramas, most notably in Star in My Heart in 1997. Goo Hara was an online shopping mall model before debuting, having been scouted after her photos were uploaded onto DSP's homepage.
Drama
| Year | Title | TV Network | Notes |
| 2008 | Sitcom That Person is Coming | MBC | Cameo appearance |
| 2009 | TV series Hero episode 1 | MBC | Cameo appearance |
| 2011 | TV series URAKARA | TV Tokyo | |
Discography
Main article: Kara discography
Awards
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