Boa Kwon (born November 5, 1986 in Guri, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea) is a multilingual, South Korean singer, commonly known by her stage name BoA, and the letters of her first name have been backronymed to Beat of Angel by her fans. She has been active in both South Korea and Japan. Aside from Korean, BoA also speaks Japanese and conversational English. She has also released a number of Chinese songs, although she is not able to speak the language itself
ID; Peace B and Listen to My Heart era
At the age of thirteen, after two years of training, BoA released her debut album ID; Peace B on August 25, 2000. The album received positive reviews and climbed into the top ten chart, going on to sell nearly 375,000 copies. Meanwhile, her Korean record label, SM Entertainment, made arrangements with Japanese company Avex Trax to launch her music career in Japan.
In early 2001, BoA released her first mini-album Jumping into the World. After its release, she took a hiatus from the Korean music industry to focus on the Japanese market. During this time she struggled to solidify her skills in Japanese.
BoA entered the Japanese music industry soon after signing with Avex Trax and singing at a Avex-owned nightclub Velfarre. In 2001, she debuted with a Japanese version of the song, "ID; Peace B", released as a single. The single reached #20 on the Oricon chart. ID; Peace B was followed by the subsequent singles "Amazing Kiss" (#23), "気持ちはつたわる" (Kimochi wa Tsutawaru) (#15), and "Listen to My Heart" (#5). The single "Listen to My Heart" became her first major commercial success in Japan and went on to sell over 180,000 copies.
Her Japanese debut album, Listen To My Heart, was released on March 13, 2002. The album debuted at #1 on the Oricon and charted for 91 weeks. It sold over 932,000 copies domestically and over 1,300,000 copies worldwide. A breakthrough in her career, her album was one of the few albums by Korean artists to enter the top five, and performed well despite the disputes and tensions between Japan and South Korea due to the 2002 FIFA World Cup. BoA's fifth single "Every Heart-ミンナノキモチ-" (minna no kimochi, everybody's feelings) was released on the same day. The song was the ending theme for the hit anime series InuYasha. The single peaked at #10 on the charts.
A month later, BoA released her second full studio Korean album, No.1. This album is her most successful Korean album to date, selling over 650,000 copies. The album peaked at #15 on the Japanese charts. In September of the same year, her second mini album Miracle became another commercial success, selling 327,000 copies. Later in the year she became the youngest artist ever to receive a "Artist of the Year" in South Korea.
Valenti and Atlantis Princess era
BoA continued releasing singles leading up to her second Japanese album, including "Don't Start Now" (#17), a "special single" featuring a Japanese edition of the promotional track of her Korean mini-album, Don't Start Now, and her hit single Valenti. It peaked at #2 on the charts and sold over 200,000 copies. Valenti was quickly followed by two more hit singles: "奇蹟 (kiseki) / No.1" (#3) and "Jewel Song / Beside You –僕を呼ぶ声–" ("boku wo yobu koe"
(#3).
On January 29, 2003 BoA's second studio album Valenti was released. It reached #1 on the charts with over 620,000 copies sold in its first week of release. It was number one on the Oricon Charts for two consecutive weeks. Valenti has become her best-selling album, with over 1,539,000 copies sold domestically (making her the highest and fastest selling Asian foreigner in Japanese history) and 1,600,000 copies sold worldwide. The album's subsequent live tour was sold out in Osaka and Nagoya within 15 minutes, while Tokyo sold out within a day. The album had the fourth highest debut sales of the year and would go on to become one of the top five selling albums of the year in Japan.
Released on May 30, 2003, BoA's third Korean album Atlantis Princess sold over 344,000 copies domestically, topping the Korean music charts. Atlantis Princess was well-received throughout Korea and would receive multiple awards later in the year.
She released her third mini-album Shine We Are! in the winter of the same year, which sold 80,000 copies.
My Name and Love & Honesty era
After the releases of her second album and her third Korean album and her first Japanese tour, BoA continued her career in Japan. She released several singles for her upcoming album: "Shine We Are! / Earthsong" (#2), "Double/Midnight Parade/Milky Way ~君の歌~" (#2), and "Rock With You" (#5). On January 15, 2004 her third Japanese album, Love and Honesty, was released. It reached #1 on the Oricon chart for two weeks and would go on to sell over 650,000 copies domestically and over 800,000 copies worldwide. The album's live tour was extremely successful (in some venues, with arenas filled to one thousand above capacity, due to the high demand for seats).
In 2004, BoA's fourth Korean album, My Name, was released. This album received public attention for its complete style shift from the "young and cute" BoA to a more mature one. This album sold approximately 365,000 copies. BoA won her second Daesang ("Grand Prize" award at the 2004 MKMF Awards for the music video of the album's title track, "My Name." In June 2006, the music video of "My Name" became the first music video ever shown on MTV K, an MTV music channel directed at Korean Americans. Following the success of My Name, the other single cuts from the same album; Spark was a great success, winning "SBS Popular Song" 'Mutizen' award for the first time as a 2nd single cut (sub-title) of an album and also My Prayer was a great success, becoming the first single cut from an album as a ballad track.
Best of Soul and Girls on Top era
After the release of Love and Honesty and her second live arena tour Live Tour 2004 ~Love & Honesty~, two more singles were released: Quincy / コノヨノシルシ (Konoyo no Shirushi) (#4) and メリクリ (Merry Kuri) (#5). However, instead of releasing her expected fourth Japanese language studio album, BoA released a "best of" compilation album of her Japanese singles (including a bonus track: "La La La Love Song" featuring Japanese hip-hop group SOUL'd OUT) on February 2, 2005. Her greatest hits album Best of Soul made her the first non-Japanese Asian singer to have two albums sell over a million copies domestically.[4] Her live tour sold out once again. Best of Soul became the ninth highest selling album of 2005[5]. Best of Soul also had the eighth highest first week sales of 2005.
In 2005, BoA released her fifth Korean studio album, Girls on Top. Debuting at #1 in South Korea and Taiwan, it sold approximately 295,000 copies. She won the "Best Female Artist" award at the m.net Music Festival at the end of 2005.
BoA's 15th single Do the Motion hit #1 on the Oricon chart, making her the fifth non-Japanese singer to have #1 single, the first in over 21 years. In September, she went on to release her 16th single, make a secret (#3), which only sold 55,000 copies. Her 17th single, 抱きしめる (Dakishimeru) (#9), was released on November 23, 2005 and was met with similar sales numbers. Her 18th Japanese (and 4th Korean) single, Everlasting (#4), released on January 18, 2006, had low debut sales as well (approximately 33,000 copies).
Outgrow era
Her fourth Japanese studio album Outgrow was released on February 15, 2006. The limited CD+DVD edition of the album contained music videos of the promoted singles and a secret password to unlock a special version of the official website. The album hit #1 on the Oricon chart for its first week of release, making it her fourth Japanese album to do so. The album had relatively low debut sales (220,000 copies sold) making it her lowest-selling first-week debut for a studio album at that point. The album has sold approximately 428,000 copies in Japan and 643,000 copies worldwide.
BoA also released her first digital single, Merry Christmas from BoA, on December 7, 2005 and performed in NHK Best Singers contest for the fourth year in a row, making her the only foreigner to ever perform in the event for that many years with other top Japanese artists such as SMAP and Ayumi Hamasaki.
During 2006, BoA was largely inactive in Korea and focused on her career in Japan. She consistently released and promoted singles and started a special ZEPP tour BoA THE LIVE on September 29, 2006. Starting from Nagoya, Japan, the tour continued until October 29, 2006 with a total of 12 shows, two in each of the following cities: Nagoya, Fukuoka, Osaka, Tokyo, Sendai, and Sapporo.
BoA's 19th single "Nanairo no Ashita~brand new beat~ / Your Color" was released on April 5, 2006. "Your Color" was used as the ending theme song for the Xbox 360 Japanese release of Ninety-Nine Nights. "Key of Heart / Dotch" was released on August 8, 2006, which collected the lowest first week sales of her career. The single eventually sold 40,943 copies. The track was the ending theme of Over the Hedge in Japan. She also released an English version of "Key of Heart," which was only available on the first press edition of the single. Her 21st Japanese single "Winter Love" was released on November 1, 2006 and debuted at #2 on the Japanese Single Oricon Daily charts on the single's first day. The single stayed at #2 on the Oricon Weekly Charts, becoming her highest charting single since "Do the Motion". The single rose to the #1 position in its second week. November 5 marked her 20th birthday, making Winter Love BoA's last "teenage" single.
BoA staged her first Christmas concert on December 7, 2006. She sang her own Christmas ballads ("Winter Love", "Last Christmas" and "Merry Kuri" in the ZEPP Tokyo Stadium.
Made in Twenty (20) era
BoA's 5th Japanese studio album Made in Twenty (20) was released on January 17, 2007. The album was leaked on the Internet five days before its release date. It debuted at the top of the Oricon Daily Album Charts and the Oricon Weekly Album Charts. However, Made in Twenty (20) had the lowest first-week sales of her career, at 182,009 copies. Her nationwide tour in Japan to promote her album began on March 31, 2007.
BoA has stated that she will start work on her sixth Korean album after the completion of her Japanese tour (i.e. late April/early May). BoA also stated that she will be in Korea for now concentrating on her lessons and production activities. BoA has a contract with SM Entertainment until 2012.On September 21, 2006 BoA released her first digital single in Korea: a Korean version of Key of Heart. The song was used in her first Olympus commercial. BoA has replaced Korean actress Jun Ji-hyun as the new face of Olympus Korea, and has been featured in their advertisements since September 2006.
The Face era
BoA released her 22nd Japanese single "Sweet Impact" on April 25. It reached #5 on the Oricon charts on the first day of its release. The cover (CD+DVD) of "Sweet Impact" drew minor controversy because of its similarity to a Vogue magazine cover featuring English model Kate Moss.
It was reported that BoA's 6th Korean album would be out in June. However, all plans for a Korean album were pushed to 2008. It has already been more than two years since her last Korean album, Girls on Top, was released.
BoA released her 23rd Japanese single on September 26, 2007. The single, entitled "Love Letter", a medium tempo ballad. Included on the single are the B-sides "Diamond Heart" and "Beautiful Flowers." The single has six tracks, which include the previously mentioned songs as well as an instrumental version of each. The entire single leaked onto the Internet on August 14th, 2007. The single is available in both CD-only and limited edition CD+DVD formats. The CD+DVD version includes the PV to Love Letter, which was released on August 29, 2007. It debuted at #3 on the Oricon Daily Charts.
BoA and SEAMO teamed up for SEAMO's 3rd album "Round About." Their track, "Hey Boy, Hey Girl," has been featured as the 4th track on the new album. "Hey Boy, Hey Girl" has been performed on Music Station, in order to promote the album which was released on October 31, 2007.
BoA recently signed a contract with Samsung (via Anycall) for the "AnyBand" concept and released their first single AnyBand featuring two songs "TPL" (Talk Play Love) and "Promise U". This commercial will also include Xiah Junsu (from boyband DBSK), Tablo (from Epik High), and jazz pianist Jin Bora.
BoA's 24th Japanese single "Lose Your Mind" was released on December 12th, a day after her BoA the LIVE X-Mas Special, including her song "Smile again" as a B-side. The title track features Yutaka Furukawa from J-Rock band Doping Panda.
"be with you", BoA's 25th Japanese single, was released on February 20, 2008. Her sixth Japanese album, "The Face" was released a week later on February 27, 2008.
On September 2, 2008, SM Entertainment announced that BoA would make her American debut under a new subsidiary label, SM Entertainment USA. A press conference was held on September 10, 2008 at the Seoul Imperial Palace Hotel to clarify the details of her American debut.BoA's debut American single "Eat You Up" was released online on October 21, 2008; it reached the top positions on the online music charts in the United States. The physical single was to be released in stores on November 11, 2008, but SM instead released a promotional CD containing dance remixes of "Eat You Up". "Eat You Up" became a number-one Breakout on the Hot Dance Club Play chart. The remix of "Eat You Up" featuring rapper Flo Rida was slated for release in late November and leak onto the internet in December. BoA performed "Eat You Up" as well as other songs at YouTube's Tokyo Live concert, and performed in New York City on December 3, 2008, as well as the Jingle Ball at the Anaheim Honda Center on December 6, 2008. She also performed the song "Look Who's Talking" at the event.
BoA released a triple-A-side single on February 18, 2009, "Eien/Universe/Believe in Love". On the same day, the Ravex single "Believe in Love" was released, featuring vocals by BoA. Her second compilation album, Best & USA was released on March 18. The album will be released in a two-disc or one-disc edition. The former will contain one disc with Japanese songs and one with her debut American album; the latter contains fourteen Japanese songs and two songs from her American debut album. BoA's self-titled English album was released on March 17
BoA is one of two artists in J-pop history to top the Oricon Weekly Album Charts six consecutive times. The other artist with such an honor is Ayumi Hamasaki, who currently has eight consecutive number one albums. This is an amazing feat, considering that she is not Japanese
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