Jewelry (band)

Jewelry
Origin	Seoul, South Korea
Genres	K-pop, Dance
Occupations	Singer
Years active	2001–2010 (Old Members) 2008-present (New members)
Labels	Star Empire Entertainment, Giza Studio (Japan, 2004-2005)
Members
Eunjung Baby J Yewon Semi
Past members
Jung Yoo Jin Jun Eun Mi Lee Ji Hyun Cho Min Ah Park Jung Ah Seo In Young

Jewelry (Korean: 쥬얼리) is a South Korean girl group. After releasing their first album with low sales, the group eventually rose to prominence via their second album and reached their commercial peak with their fourth album Superstar, which spawned a number-one hit for them. After branching out in Japan with only limited success, the group came back with two new members in 2008 with the hit song "One More Time". As of 2010, they are the longest running Korean girl group ever, surpassing super-group Baby V.O.X.

History

Debut

Jewelry debuted in 2001 with their first album Discovery. After less-than-stellar sales of the first album, two of the singers were replaced. A year later, their second album, Again, was released, with much better results. Full of strong R&B ballads (as opposed to the sexy dance songs that were popular at that time), the album quickly yielded two high-charting singles — "Again" and "Tonight" — which started the group's rise to popularity. This was quickly followed by their third album Beloved, which had a very cutesy theme. Their first single "니가 참 좋아" ("I Really Like You") was very poppy and had Jewelry adopt a cutesy concept to match the song, with colorful outfits and perky dances. The title track, Be My Love, was also promoted. Even though album sales for Again and Beloved were great, the group was unhappy with their current image, and did not want to be known for only their cute and innocent songs.

Entry into Japan

After the success of their second album, Jewelry left for Japan to start on their career there in 2004 with their first single Kokoro ga Tomaranai under the independent label Giza Studio. After releasing a few materials there with mediocre sales, the group eventually left to return to their native country to release their fourth album.

Breakout album: Superstar

By the time their fourth album Superstar came out in the beginning of 2005, Jewelry has since shed their "cute image" concept. Following the trend in Korean pop, they became sexier and more womanly, which helped bring about their current level of success. The first single "Superstar" (written by Shinhwa member Lee Min Woo) was a driven rock song and surprisingly became a huge hit. They followed this up with the sexy R&B number "Passion", which also charted strongly. Both of these singles prominently featured "sexy" member Seo In-Young dance scantily-clad in short solos, which brought the group much press attention (both positive and negative). In 2006, Jewelry took a break from the Korean music industry in order to focus on Japan. During that time, member Ji-Hyun left to pursue an acting career.^[1] In early November, news also leaked out that another member, Cho Min-Ah, has also left, which forced their record company to look for a second replacement member. As Park Jung-Ah and Seo In-young had solo projects, a new album was not expected until mid-2007.^[2]

Group reconfiguration, return

In early 2008, Jewelry returned to the music scene with their new members Baby J and Eunjung with the release of their fifth album, Kitchi Island. Released on February 20, 2008, the album featured the single "One More Time", a cover of In-Grid's song, composed by Sannie Carlson (Whigfield). "One More Time" has mirrored the success of Jewelry's 2005 hit single, "Superstar" in South Korea, reaching the No. 1 spot on MBC's Music Core and KBS's Music Bank, two weeks after the song's debut.^[3][4][5] The single has also achieve success online, topping the charts of various music websites, including Melon, Dosirak, Bugs Music, M.Net.com, Muz and Juke On.^[6] "One More Time" became the most successful single of Jewelry to date, staying on the no.1 spot for 7 weeks in a row on MBC's Music Core and KBS's Music Bank.^[7][8] In spring of 2008, a second single, "모두 다 쉿" ("Everybody Shh!"), was released and promoted.

The group was awarded with a Daesang (대상, a "Top Award"), for highest digital sales in 2008.^[9]

2009

In early 2009, members Baby J and Eunjung returned to the Korean music market, under the name "Jewelry S", debuting as a sub-group. Their mini-album, Sweet Song was released in digital format on January 22, and the full single was made available on February 6. Baby J and Eunjung made their live comeback on M. Countdown on February 5, where they sang "들어봐" ("Listen") and the lead single from their mini-album, "데이트" ("Date"). The music video for "Date" features cameo appearances from Jewelry members Park Jung Ah and Seo In Young.

They released a new single in June 2009 titled "Super Star" with the song "Rally" which features rapper Nassun. The song is for MNet's talent competition, Superstar K, which is similar to American Idol and Britain's Got Talent. A music video was also released and features the group's performance of the song on Mnet's M! Countdown as well as scenes of Superstar K.

About a week prior to the album release, the song "Strong Girl" was released as a digital single. Their 6th album Sophisticated was released on the 27th of August and features the single "Vari2ty", the music video for the song was also released on the same day.

It was announced in December 2009 that members Seo In Young and Park Jung Ah would be leaving the group after completing promotional activities for Sophisticated and fully commit to their solo careers. Park stated that as an original member of Jewelry and being with the group for 10 years, it was time for her to depart. Korean media reports Superstar K top 10 contender Semi as highly likely to replace them.^[10][11][12]

A repackaged edition of their 6th album entitled "End And.." was released on December 17, 2009 with the single "Love Story". It was composed by the same producer of Davichi's hit song "Hate Though I Love You" and describes the feelings of Seo In Young and Park Jung Ah's departures.

2010–2011 Back It Up Album, Pass

On June 14, 2010, it was announced that Semi, one of the Top 10 finalists in Superstar K Season 1, would be joining Jewelry. On November 17, Star Empire Entertainment announced that they were planning on changing the group's name but later announced on December 15 Jewelry would retain their group name and would not change it; they also announced the group's comeback was delayed until January 2011.

On January 17, 2011, Jewelry released their comeback teaser with their new members. The teaser featured the group practicing their choreography and also had clips of the girls casually hanging out together. The group underwent a 180-degree change, shedding their cutesy image and changing into a more powerful 'locking' hip hop dance style and b-girls concept. It was revealed that the group would have their comeback release a digital single on January 27, 2011, entitled "Back It Up", produced by Outsidaz. Two days later on January 19, 2011, it was revealed that Jewelry's fourth member, Yewon, had joined Jewelry. Yewon was revealed by fans through a 'Jewelry Puzzle Game', which also revealed a 20-second teaser of "Back It Up". It was known that Yewon was a trainee under Star Empire Entertainment for five years and was born in 1989.

On January 27, 2011, "Back It Up", the digital single, was released. It was a 180-degree change of Jewelry, shedding their sexy image into a cute and more fun image. The single had a genre of swing and retro. The single reached a certain amount of success however it was not as successful as their previous single with the two members, Seo In Young and Park Jung Ah, One More Time which topped the charts for seven consecutive weeks. The band ended their promotions on the middle of March 2011 and had announced their upcoming comeback on mid May 2011.

On May 9, 2011, Jewelry's label, Star Empire Entertainment, shared some old videos of Jewelry rehearsing various songs before they made their comeback in January with two new members. Then after sharing videos of them, Star Empire announced that Jewelry was set to come back the next week however they have not yet set an official comeback date for the group. Then two days later, the company released a photo teaser of the four members which had a fantasy "elf" inspires concept. Then on May 13, 2011 they released their second batch of teaser photos. Then two days after, they released their digital single "Pass". The MV teaser was released a day after featuring Hwang Kwang Hee of boyband ZE:A.

Members

Yewon

• Birth Name: Kim Yewon
• Birthday: December 5, 1989
• Position: Main Vocalist
• Time With Band: 2011 to Present

Jooyeon "Baby J"

• Birth Name: Ha Jooyeon
• Birthday: July 16, 1986
• Position: Main Rapper, Main Dancer
• Time With Band: 2008 to Present

Eunjung

• Birth Name: Kim Eun Jung
• Birthday: November 28, 1986
• Position: Leader, Lead Vocalist
• Time With Band: 2008 to Present

Semi

• Birth Name: Park SeMi
• Birthday: October 8, 1990
• Position: Vocalist
• Time With Band: 2011 to Present

Former Members

Jung Ah

• Birth Name: Park Jung Ah
• Position: Leader, Lead Vocalist
• Time With Band 2001-2010

In Young "Elly"

• Birth Name: Seo In Young
• Position: Main Vocalist
• Time With Band 2002-2010

Minah

• Birth Name: Cho Min-Ah
• Position: Vocalist
• Time With Band 2002-2006

Jihyun

• Birth Name: Lee Jihyun
• Position: Vocalist
• Time With Band 2001-2006

Yoojin

• Birth Name: Jung YooJin
• Position: Vocalist
• Time With Band 2001-2002

Eunmi

• Birth Name: Jun EunMi
• Position: Vocalist
• Time With Band 2001-2002

Timeline

Term	Year	# Album	Current Members				Former Members
4	2011-	7th	Eunjung	Baby J	Semi	Yewon
3	2008—2010	6th					Park Jung Ah	Seo In Young
		5th
2	2002—2006	4th							Lee Ji Hyun	Cho Min Ah
		3rd
		2nd
1	2001	1st									Jung Yoo Jin	Jun Eun Mi

Discography

Korean albums

Year	Information
2001	Discovery
2002	Again
2003	Beloved
2005	Superstar
	Passion (Repackage)
2008	Kitchi Island
	Kitchi Island 2 (Repackage)
2009	Sophisticated
	End And... (Repackage)
2011	Back It Up Jewelry
	Pass - Jewelry

Japanese albums

Year	Information
2005	Jewelry First Released: March 9, 2005 Peak position: 73[13]

Japanese singles

Year	Title	Release date	Oricon peak position[13]
2004	"Mune Ippai no Kono Ai wo Dareyori Kimi ni"	June 16, 2004	35
	"Delight Sweet Life"	August 25, 2004	49
2005	"Shiro no Fantasy"	January 19, 2005	69
	"Superstar"	July 27, 2005	113

Awards

Years	Awards
2002	iTV Awards: New Generation Award (Best Rookie Award) KmTV Music Awards: Best Rookie Award
2003	M.net KM Music Festival: Best Female Group 14th Seoul Music Awards: Bonsang Award 18th Golden Disk Awards: Best Music Video Director Award KmTV Awards: Bonsang Award SBS Music Awards: Bonsang Award KBS Music Awards: Bonsang Award 20th Model Awards: Best Dressed (Singer Category) 10th Korean Entertainment Arts Awards: Best Female Singer
2005	12th Korean Entertainment Arts Awards: Best Female Group M.net KM Music Festival: Best Female Group 20th Golden Disk Awards: Popular M/V Award (Super Star) KBS Music Awards: Best Female Group SBS Music Awards: Bonsang Award
2008	M.net KM Music Festival: House/Electronic Music Award (One More Time) 23rd Golden Disk Awards: Digital Daesang Award Mnet 20’s Choice Awards: Hot Online Song (One More Time)

References

1. ^ Jewelry to choose new member through international audition. KBS News, April 7th, 2006.
2. ^ Jewelry to Come Back with New Members. KBS News Global, November 16, 2006. Retrieved November 16, 2006.
3. ^ 2년 만에 컴백한 ‘쥬얼리’ 2주 만에 ‘감격의 눈물’ 1위, Retrieved March 9, 2008.
4. ^ 쥬얼리, 컴백 2주 만에 공중파 1위…온오프라인 평정!, Retrieved March 9, 2008.
5. ^ ‘여자 세븐’ 메이다니 데뷔, ‘쇼 음악중심’ 강타.. 쥬얼리는 ‘눈물’, Retrieved March 9, 2008.
6. ^ 쥬얼리 앨범 발매 2주 만에 온라인 평정, 8 March 2008, Retrieved March 9, 2008.
7. ^ [1] 쥬얼리, '뮤뱅' 최초 7주 연속 1위 기염]
8. ^ [2] 쥬얼리, `쇼! 음악중심`서 7주 연속 1위
9. ^ Jin, Hyang-hui.추락하는 `골든 디스크 상`…10만장으로 `티격태격`? (Falling "Golden Disk Awards"...Bickering over 100,000?). Maeil Gyungjae. December 10, 2008. Retrieved December 10, 2008.
10. ^ (Korean) [http://www.gooddaysports.co.kr/news/?cset=star&bset=view&tot_code=47&code=11621 '박정아-서인영, 쥬얼리 탈퇴 선언...새 멤버 후보로 박세미 거론'
11. ^ (Korean) '쥬얼리' 박정아·서인영 팀 탈퇴…솔로 활동 날개짓 (Jewelry's Park Jung Ah & Seo In Young Leave Group...Attempting Solo Careers). The Chosun Ilbo. December 11, 2009. Retrieved December 10, 2009.
12. ^ (Korean) 박정아-서인영, 쥬얼리 떠난다 (Park Jung Ah—Seo In Young, Leaving Jewelry. Hankook Ilbo. December 11, 2009. Retrieved December 10, 2009.
13. ^ ^{a b} "JEWELRYのCD・DVDリリース情報、ＪＥＷＥＬＲＹのプロフィールならオリコン芸能人事典-ORICON STYLE" (in Japanese). Oricon. http://www.oricon.co.jp/prof/artist/333656/products/release/. Retrieved 2010-06-23. 

External links

• Jewelry - Official Fan Café (Korean)
• Jewelry's channel on YouTube

Awards and achievements
Preceded by Ivy with 이럴거면	23rd Golden Disk Awards Digital Releasing Daesang (Song of the Year) 2008 , with "One More Time"	Succeeded by Girls' Generation with "Tell Me Your Wish (Genie)"