saint's guillotine: the international branch

Despite the (rather) failure of her first Korean album, BoA and her management, SM Entertainment announced that she will make a debut in Japan. Her "special" Korean album, "Jumping into the World" was a kind of declaration of her international move, containing songs in Korean, English and Chinese. On March 7, 2001- the release date of this special album, she had a debut showcase in Roppongi, Tokyo, Japan with a huge support by AVEX and AXEV, which were her record label and management in Japan. In the showcase, she was introduced as an "international artist" who is fluent in Japanese, English and Korean.

Jumping into the World_Korean special album
- march 7, 2001
- sales: 90,568
- monthly chart peak: 6
- 2001 MIAK annual chart: 74

Don't Start Now




ID; Peace B_Japanese debut single
- may 30, 2001
- sales: 40,470 (14,740 in the first week)
- oricon weekly peak: 20
- weeks on chart: 6
- tie-up: DDI Pocket "Feel H Sound Market" CM song



Amazing Kiss_Japanese 2nd single
- july 25, 2001
- sales: 59,450 (15,720)
- oricon weekly peak: 23
- weeks on chart: 8
- tie-up: NTV "Romihi" ending theme in August
               LF "Show Up Nighter" ending theme in July
               Kanebo "Testimo" CM song



Kimochi wa Tsutawaru [Feelings will be delivered]_Japanese 3rd single
- dec 5, 2001
- sales: 77,220 (18,020)
- oricon weekly peak: 15
- weeks on chart: 10
- tie-up: Lotte "Eare" CM song



The Meaning of Peace_song+nation charity single, duet with Kumi Koda
- dec 19, 2001
- sales: 66,840 (23,230)
- oricon weekly peak: 12
- weeks on chart: 7



(couldn't find a PV. I'm attaching the commercial, instead.)



As you can see above, all her solo singles got tie-ups and the duet single was produced by Tetsuya Komuro, the legendary producer in the J-pop industry, which show the degree of support by AVEX. What is noticable here is the the four-month gap between her second and third single. No matter what the reason was, for these four months, she improved her Japanese and vocal skills. I still cannot forget the shock when I first heard her 4th single, Listen to My Heart, which I will list up in next posting. I screamed, "OMG, BoA sings as well as Ohk Ju-Hyun or Kim Hyun-Jung!!"

* OHK Ju-Hyun: the lead vocalist of "Fin.K.L.," one of the two most popular Korean girl band in history -- the other is S.E.S. She used to be famous with her vocal skill based on classical vocal training. It's a pity that she lost such a great vocal ability after her "famous" diet.
KIM Hyun-Jung: one of the Korean pop divas at that time. She was famous for her high-pitched and powerful vocal skills.

Posted by saint.juste

Mmmm.... At first I was not really understanding why people were so frantic about this song and performance.... But now I'm addicted, too. I cannot stop myself replaying the song =.=

Anyway, Congratulations to DongBangShinKi, or Tohoshinki, or TVXQ. This song, which is the title of their fourth Korean album, already went to the top in Korean chart, and its Japanese version is expected to be no.1 in this coming Oricon weekly chart, which will make their 4th no.1 hit in Japan. This boyband's recent success in Japanese market is practically the first after BoA's in 2002. This may be another model of the Korean Wave.... but I need more time to situate this one in a rather academic sense. ;)

Jumun - Mirotic (Korean Version), released Sept. 26, 2008.



However, I feel really pity that they all got so muscular.. Where has the "flower-like" beauty of Hero and Micky gone.... T-T (Hey kids, it's not the idols' job to build muscles!!!)

Posted by saint.juste

Finally decided to make a series of postings for my future reference.
Basically this will be BoA's discography both in Korea and in Japan with her official music videos (or PVs), but I'll put a link if there is any interesting video clips.

Quick note: CD titles in Red is what was released in Korea, and those in Blue is in Japan, just following the official uniform color of each country's national soccer team :p


ID; Peace B_Korean debut album
- aug 25, 2000
- sales: 177,612
- monthly chart peak: 16
- 2000 MIAK annual chart: 59

ID; Peace B



SARA



Clearly, these two MV's show the degree of the promotion by her management.
"ID; Peace B" was produced in collaboration with Kangjegyu Films, which was established by Director KANG Je-Gyu who directed Shiri and is one of the most commercially successful and influential movie directors in Korea. And, HONG Jong-Ho, the director of "SARA" has been one of the most famous music video directors, and I dare say, he was the top at that time.

However, her first album was not really successful despite the heavy promotion. There was a rumor that her management, SM Entertainment had to make an early release of other artists' new albums - such as S.E.S. and Shinhwa - to cover a deficit.

Posted by saint.juste

BoA, a Korean pop singer who started her career success in Japan, is finally making a debut in the US pop music industry. Her digital single, "Eat You Up" will be released on Oct. 10, 2008. BoA and LEE Su-Man, the CEO of her management, SM Entertainment had a press conference yesterday, and introduced the song's video teaser. According to them, the production and management staff is composed of the well-known names in the American music industry. At this point, I don't want to make any prediction. I'll just wait and see.

However, this time she cannot get any help from the political/economic situation, which, at least partly, brought her success in Japan. Indeed, this is what makes this observation more interesting. (Especially after Rain's seemingly bitter failure.) Yeap. She will be my research topic for the Asian Media class.

Anyhow, here go the two video clips presented yesterday. The first one is directed by a "Western" director, Diane Martell, and the second one by a Korean director, CHA Eun-Taek. (Video Source: bestiz.net)





For more information, go to: www.boaamerica.com

BUT, the website doesn't work at all.
It took me about 5 minutes to see the flash on the front page, and all the video clips keep stopping. If they really wanted people in the US to see the website, they had to make it less "heavy": with less flash, and smaller files. Anyone who clicks to see the website will be irritated and just leave. (I tried to find any contact email to tell them.. but I coudn't find any. Even in SM's Korean website!)

Posted by saint.juste

This is definitely one of the must-see films this summer.
Director Kim Jee-Woon moved from horror to film noir, and then finally to Korean-style western movie.
(He is the director of "A Tale of Two Sisters," which was re-made as "The Uninvited" to be released in January 2009)

Posted by saint.juste