The Boss

The Boss (often referred to as DGNA or, incorrectly, D-NA) is a South Korean boy band with five members, formed under Open World Entertainment in 2010. The group consists of Mika, Karam, Hyunmin, Injun and Jay. Their official fancolor is Pearl Terracotta, which was revealed during February 2011 on their official website. In South Korea they are known as Dae Guk Nam Ah, literally meaning 'The Boys of Super Space', which is how their English name of 'The Boss' was formed, which is mainly used outside of Korea. In Japan, they are known as Daikoku Danji.

All five members of The Boss were formerly members of Xing Entertainment and members of the generation band Xing (band) with different stage names. After being officially announced on January 28, 2010, The Boss debuted on March 4, 2010 with their song 'Admiring Boy' on Mnet M!Countdown. On June 18, 2010, they performed a comeback on KBS2's Music Bank with 'Biteul, Biteul', also known as 'Stumble Stumble', after releasing the respective music video. They also went onto promote another song, 'Nobody...Anybody' in August 2010, but without a music video release this time.

Since September 2010, The Boss spent a year promoting their Japanese singles, 'Love Power', 'Love Bingo', and 'Love Parade' in April 2011, June 2011 and September 2011 respectively as part of their 'Love Series' before returning to Korea to promote 'Lady' in late October 2011. They have been commonly known as 'K-Pop re-exported from Japan' as they used ‘Japan-First Korea-Later’ strategy in their performance.

Pre-debut and Xing

The original Xing was formed in 2006 with none of the members of The Boss. Famous members of the original Xing include Yong Jun Hyung who is now part of Cube Entertainment boyband Beast, as well as Kevin Woo, who is now a member of NHMedia boyband, U-KISS and Kim Kibum who was apart of U-KISS. Hyunmin replaced one of the original Xing members, Choi Sungsoo. In early 2008, the three remaining members of Xing were joined by the other three members of Xing Entertainment's other band, Singing In The Rain (including The Boss member Mika) as well as a new special dance member, Jeon Jihwan (The Boss member Jay). After the only original remaining Xing member, Kevin, left the band, he was replaced by two new members, Park Hyunchul and Lee Injoon (both now The Boss members). All of the members of 4th generation Xing were replaced to create a 5th generation, and from there, The Boss members went to sign under Open World Entertainment to create a new boyband.

Originally, The Boss was meant to consist of seven members, including the other two members of 4th generation Xing (Kim Jisang and Shin Gwangchul), however, both chose not to go with the band for personal reasons.
2010: Debut and mini-album, Awake

On March 4, 2010, The Boss made their debut performance on M! Countdown with their first song "Admiring Boy"

Their first dance/ballad mini-album Awake was released on the 17th of June 2010 and included the singles "Admiring Boy" and Shining World, as well as the more recent release of their next promotion, 'Stumble Stumble' .

The Boss appears in a live Japanese variety show called Made in BS Japan as Monday special MCs. Made in BS Japan is a television show that introduces various food, fashion, and history from all over Asia. The Boss started appearing on October 4, 2010. Starting January 2011, The Boss is now in charge of the Wednesday show which talks about the Korean entertainment because U-KISS who is in charge as Wednesday special MCs have graduated from the show due to busy schedules.
2011: Japan and Korea

Popsicle and Rookie Award

In January 2011, they returned to the music scene with a 3-member unit group named Popsicle with members Mika, Karam, and Jay. On 12 January,they release their music video,titled “I’ll Love You Until It Snows in the Middle of a Summer Day” and made debut performances on Music Bank on 14 January 2011 and ended their promotion on 22 January, 2011 along with the other two members, Hyunmin and Injun. On 20 January, 2011, The BOSS won the Newcomer Award at 20th Seoul Music Awards. On 23 January, 2011 they went back to Japan to get ready for their Japanese debut.

First Japanese single-Love Power

On March 30, 2011, The Boss released their first Japanese singles' PV: "Love Power." Their first Japanese single was released on April 13, 2011. They made their debut along with their live event from April 12, 2011 until April 17, 2011 which took place at Fukuoka, Hyogo, Sapporo, Nagoya and Tokyo. This debut makes them popular in Japan placing 6th place on Oricon Daily Chart and 9th places on Oricon Weekly Charts. The single made it to the Oricon Monthly Charts, ranked 30th spot with 12,136 copies sold. This was their first large effort to make into Japanese music market.

Prior to their debut in Japan, they took 6 months to study Japanese language started from September 2010. They mastered Japanese in a short time and improved their Japanese from time to time. Now they can converse in Japanese very well. Uniquely, they made new songs for Japanese debut instead of using their translated Korean songs as their Japanese songs like other groups did. It's original, new and fresh Japanese songs made specially for their Japanese debut.
Love Bingo

On June 15, 2011, The Boss released their second Japanese single, titled "Love Bingo. "The 'Premium Live & Bingo Event' in Shibuya-AX Tokyo was performed on 21 May, 2011. The members gave their valuable things to the five lucky fans. Love Bingo ranked at #12 on CD TV’s Domestic Charts 2011. The ‘Love Bingo!’ Live & Love Exchange Event took place from 15 June, 2011 until 19 June, 2011 at Fukuoka, Sapporo, Hyogo, Tokyo and Nagoya.

Love Parade

On September 21, 2011, The Boss released their third Japanese single, titled "Love Parade," originally intended as the last of their "Love Series." The single peaks at number 8 on its first week on Oricon Weekly Charts and also the one of their best singles with over 18,000 copies sold on their first week. Love Parade also made it to the Oricon Monthly Charts, ranked 26th spot. The Boss also managed to gather 30,000 fans for their Love Parade event held in Sapporo, Fukuoka, Nagoya, Osaka, and Kanagawa.

2nd Korean single-Lady

In September 2011, after almost one year in Japan, The Boss came back to Korea to promote their new second single album, Lady. The single contain two songs, Lady and Calling You as well as one instrumental song.It's for the first time to use a ballad song as their title song. They showed a perfect performance with a fantastic harmony during their comeback on SBS Inkigayo on 30 October 2011, and were exalted with compliments. Additionally, the “tiger like” voice of the member Hyunmin was a commented subject and received a lot of interest. On 30 October, 2011, they release Lady Live version video on YouTube. It overtook Girl generation's "The Boys" for the 2nd spot of Korean sales in Japan at that time. They wrapped up their Lady promotions on 19 November, 2011 at Live Power Music. They spent only one month in Korea, and went back to Japan on 21 November, 2011.

Love Days

On December 7, 2011, The Boss released a new single in their Japanese "Love Series" titled "Love Days."It is their fourth Japanese single since Love Power and continuing their 'Love Series' trend.The single went on to reach seventh spot on Oricon Weekly Charts on its first week with 17,758 copies sold. They also managed to attracts 10,000 fans on their live event which held on 10 December, 2011. Love Days also manages to reach 4th spot on USEN’s K-Pop's Weekly Chart on December 28, 2011.

Love Parade, Love Days, Love Bingo, Love Power were ranked 32nd, 33rd, 38th and 42nd respectively in K-Pop Groups’ Japanese Singles Sales Ranking Chart 2011.
2012-present: 1st Japanese and Korean album

On January 18, 2011, The Boss released their first Japanese album, Love Letters. It sold 14,379 copies and was placed at #7 on Oricon Weekly Charts. This was followed by the released of their fifth Japanese single, Jumping on March 28, 2012.

Since the arrest of Open World Entertainment CEO Jang Seok-woo for sexual harrassment on 10 April, 2012[6] and his subsequent detention in police custody on 13 April, the group has cancelled the planned released of their first Korean album, Shadow. Together with label mate X-5 have stopped their activities and performances. · close