KaRA ProFiLE

Kara Lovers a.k.a Kamilia!!

This is your KARA profile..

I made it for you..^^ even though there are so many other blog or website about them, but I still want to share with you all..enjoy..^^

Kara (카라, often stylized as KARA) is a girl group from South Korea signed with Daesung Entertainment (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 members were brought in; as such, the group consists of five members: Park Gyuri, Han Seung-yeon, Goo Hara, Nicole and Kang Jiyoung. The five-member band achieved their first number one song with "Honey". Other successful singles include "Pretty Girl", "Wanna", "Mister", and "Lupin."

The group has released two full-length albums — The First Blooming and Revolution — along with various EPs. Kara has won various awards, including the Best Dance Award at the M.net Asian Music Awards and Best Female Singer at the 16th Korean Entertainment Arts Awards.

Kara began to promote internationally in various Asian countries as of 2009.

DEBUT

Kara had their debut performance on March 29, 2007 with "Break It" on M! Countdown.^{[citation needed]} Their first album was The First Blooming, with which Kara presented a mature, independent, "strong-female" image. They made two music videos from this album: "Break It" and "If U Wanna". Because of their similarity to Fin.K.L and the fact that both were signed to the same company, the two were often compared; in response, Kara stated that they regarded the comparison as beneficial and inspiring. The album won the Best Newcomer Music Award in May 2007.^{[citation needed]} Despite the initial interest, Kara was largely overshadowed in both album sales and popularity by other hit girl groups that debuted the same year, notably the Wonder Girls and Girls' Generation. Years later, Seungyeon would admit that the album wasn't of as big success as she and the group would have liked.  Seungyeon would go on to participate in many variety shows on TV at the time in order to keep Kara as a group recognizable to the public.

New members

The group intended their comeback in March 2008 with their second album. However, Kim Sung-hee left the group suddenly due to parental pressure, as her participation in the group was contingent on the maintenance of her grades. She failed to pass her college entrance exam, and was forced to leave the group. In response, DSP stated that the second album would be shelved and replaced by a mini-album to come in May; in addition, two members would join the group, chosen through public auditions, to be chronicled by music television station M.Net.(the documentary however never aired due to it being cancelled the last minute)

The two new members were eventually revealed to be Goo Hara and Kang Jiyoung. Kara's comeback as a 5-member group was on July 24, 2008 with "Rock U" on M! Countdown, which showcased a "cute" and "playful" music style. Afterwards, Kara released their first EP and digitally released "Good Day: Season 2", a remake of a song on their EP, on October 13, 2008. A music video of this song was released later.

"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, while the EP was released on December 4. The mini-album is supposed to have 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 Goo Hara accidentally slipped due to falling confetti and let out a scream; due to her embarrassment, she cried for an hour backstage. Netizens made it a "hot issue", but Goo Hara received comfort instead of criticism from the public.

"Pretty Girl" became a successful single for the group. Leader Park Gyuri attributed their popularity increase to their "pretty but natural" appeal, while media reports gave credit to the band finding their own identity and to older male fans, most notably singer Shin Hae-cheol.

Due to the hectic promotional schedule, a few of the group's members were taken to the hospital on December 19 after a KBS Music Bank rehearsal, but a DSP representative said that it was not serious.

"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 would end on February 2. By the deadline of February 2, "Honey" was the clear winner, with 60% of the votes. The group filmed a music video for the song, which was released on February 16. The song was also first performed 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 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

It was revealed in June 2009 that the group would return in late July, with their concept to be "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. The song quickly charted on various digital music charts. The music video was released on July 29, with the full album, Revolution, available online as of 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 a "butt dance" that is featured prominently in the choreography. Due to the popularity of the song, Kara's overall popularity increased, with numerous advertisement requests coming in for the group; they had more advertisements in October 2009 than the previous two years. Ironically, while "Wanna" was the title song of the album, "Mister" ended up being the more popular song of the two among the general public ("Mister" would later become their title song for the debut album in Japan).

"Wanna" also became a #1 single for the girls, as it won the "Mutizen Song" award on August 30, 2009 from Inkigayo.

During promotions for Revolution, the group also performed internationally, including Bangkok's Parc Paragon.

2010: "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 displayed a more mature, dark and mysterious Kara. The next day, the album jacket was unveiled with the concept named "Stealer" and the title track "Lupin", which became #1 on several online music charts after its release. The teaser video was released on February 12 on Naver; the mini-album followed on February 17. Kara had their 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 for the music show since their debut, holding onto the position for three consecutive weeks. The song also won the Mutizen award from Inkigayo.

End of 2010: "Jumping"

After about 9 months hiatus in Korean Music Entertainment, it has been announced that Kara will be promoting their track "Jumping" in Korea and Japan at the same time. Kara would be releasing it as a 2nd Japanese single and it would also be their title track for their fourth Korean mini album which would be released by November 17, 2010. Despite promoting the song at the same time, Kara would be showing 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 first #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.

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" (Stars Falling From the Sky).

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.

Solo work and releases

Nicole wrote the rap lyrics for KARA's first album, the song "Let It Go" from their 2nd album and for their third mini-album Lupin. She featured in Sunha's song "끈" ("String") in 2008. In April 2009, Nicole also sang a duet called "Happy and" with former Noel member Kang Kyun-seong.

Park Gyuri featured in a duet titled "Day After" with Hong Kyung Min on his 10th album Special Edition, released on February 4, 2010.

Han became part of the "Dream Team Girl Group" for Samsung's Anycall called "4Tomorrow". Their first digital single "Dugeunduguen Tomorrow" (Korean: "두근두근 Tomorrow", "BeatBeat Tomorrow") was released on October 6, 2009, and the official music video was released on October 12, starring actor Lee Dong Gun, who will also star in each member's individual drama version of the video. Han's version was released on October 26, 2009. Han also made a guest appearance on rapper Nassun's single "Nolleowa" (Korean: "놀러와", "Come to Play"), which was released in March 2009, and appeared on the soundtrack for the movie Welcome to my House, releasing her first solo song "Gijeok" (Korean: "기적", "Miracle").

In July 2010, Nicole was reported to collaborate with comedian Park Myungsoo with a single titled "고래" ("Whale"), a follow-up song to his 2009 hit "Cold Noodles" duet with SNSD's Jessica. The song is to be released on July 20, 2010.

Commercial activities

With the group's popularity, they were able to endorse a wide range of products in Korea and other Asian countries. 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.

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. 

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 popularity

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.

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. Their appearance with popular J-pop girl group, AKB48 became the biggest topic of the year's festival because of the rising competition between Korean and Japanese groups. Kara was also confirmed as a participant of the Seoul Tokyo Music Festival 2010 with leader Gyuri as one of the MCs.

Japan activities and debut

Kara released Kara Premium Box for Japan on April 28, 2010, which is a compilation of their past Korean albums from The First Blooming to Revolution. The box also contains a special DVD and Japanese versions of their hits "Pretty Girl", "Honey", and "Wanna". On the first day of release, the album was ranked at number 7 in the ORICON daily chart.

Their first promotional tour in Japan on February 2010 would have over 3,000 fans registered, exceeding the capacity of the venue, which resulted in a second showcase to accommodate more fans. The group also gained a lot of attention before the showcase due to Hitori Gekidan (劇団 ひとり, Gekidan Hitori^?), a famous Japanese entertainer who admitted his admiration for the girl group. 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.

In 2010, Kara signed with Universal Music Japan and announced that they will officially debut in Japan by August with "Mister". On July 15, 2010, Universal Music Japan released the MV teaser of "Mister" stating that their single will be released on August 11.

1st Japanese single, "Mister"

Upon release, Kara's "Mister" debut single exceeded expectations as it ranked #5 in the Oricon daily chart. The girl group also held a surprise performance in Shibuya109 in Tokyo on the same day but due to the explosive response from 3,000 fans, Shibuya Management had to cancel the rest of the show segments for security reasons. "Mister" was ranked #1 on Japan iTunes as most downloaded video and song. Kara had a hand-shaking event for 10,000 fans in Tokyo on August 14, 2010. On August 17, 2010 it was announced by Oricon Style that Kara’s single debut album "Mister" ranked #5 in the weekly singles making them the first ever Korean girl group to do so. Oricon Style reported the girls’ success as, “First time in 29 years and 8 months since a foreign girl group has entered the top 10 with their debut album.”  "Mister" is also scheduled to be performed on TV Asahi's program "Music Station" for the first time on October 15th, showing off the popular "butt dance". On October 20, 2010 the single was given a gold certification by the Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ) for selling more than 100,000 copies including digital downloads.

 

  

1st Japanese compilation album, "Best 2007-2010"

On September 29, 2010, Kara released their first Japanese album "Kara Best 2007-2010." The album is a compilation of their selected Korean tracks since they debuted. The songs are entirely sung in Korean. Kara ranked #2 in the Oricon Daily Chart on the 1st day of release, selling 18,223 copies. This ranking also marked the best that any Korean female girl group has been able to achieve for a full album in the Japanese market. Apart from that, this album was also the most downloaded album in Japan's iTunes Store Pop. It also has been announced on their official Japanese website on October 1st that this "Kara Best 2007-2010" album will include a bonus. The bonus is that the group will give a photograph to the applicants to show their gratitude. Also, among those applicants, 10 will be chosen via lottery to attend a meet & greet session on October 15th. On October 5, 2010, the Oricon has announced that Kara's Best album ranked #2 in the weekly ranking, selling 51,000 copies, making Kara the first Korean girl group album to enter Top 10 in history. In addition, this album exceeded the ranking of Iconiq's Change Myself, Justin Bieber's My World, and Kesha's Animal to become the highest ranked album among newcomers this year.  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. Kara "Best 2007-2010" ranked #7 in the Oricon Album Monthly Chart for October.

 

2nd Japanese single "Jumpin'"

On September 29, 2010, it was revealed that Kara will be releasing their second single entitled "Jumpin'" on November 10, 2010. "Jumpin'" was also chosen as the new theme song for Fuji TV's Saturday morning news and information program, Mezamashi Saturday. On October 13, Kara's album covers were revealed adding to the anticipation of the single release. The members showed a strong feminine and sexy look with all the 3 versions of the single album. Universal Music Japan revealed Kara's PV teaser for "Jumpin'" on October 25, 2010. It was also revealed that the song and concept for "Jumpin'" was inspired by the anime movie, "The Girl Who Leapt Through Time".

First Japanese album, "Girl's Talk"

Kara released their first Japanese album on November 24, 2010. The album was released in 3 versions and contained ten tracks including "Mister" and "Jumping," as well as Japanese version of "Lupin". Girl's Talk 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. Subsequently, Girl's Talk was certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ) for shipping over 100 000 copies.

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 where she played the girlfriend of Kang Ho Dong's brother. 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.

Collaborations

• "Ggoom" - Sunha (Feat. Nicole) (2008)
• "Happy And" - Kang Kyun-Sung (Feat. Nicole) (2009)
• "Nolleowa" - Nassun (Feat. Han Seungyeon) (2009)
• "Nunibushyeo" - JUMPER (Feat. Kang Jiyoung) (2009)
• "Dugeunduguen Tomorrow" - 4Tomorrow (Feat. Han Seungyeon) (2009)
• "Day After" - Hong Kyung Min (Feat. Park Gyuri) (2010)
• "Bingeul Bingeul" - No Brain (Feat. Han Seungyeon, Park Gyuri & Nicole) (2010)
• "Gorae" - Park Myungsoo (Feat. Nicole) (2010)

PRoFiLe

Name: 박규리 Park Gyuri

Date of birth: May 21, 1988

Height: 162cm

Extra Information:

◊ She came up with the group name KARA

◊ Is Leader of Kara

◊ Her nickname "Mirror Princess" is because she likes to look in the mirror a lotS

◊ Her nickname "Shikshin" means 'Goddess of Food'

◊ Her nickname "Gyul" was given to her by Sunghee

◊ She likes to tease the maknaes Jiyoung and Nicole

Name: 한승연 Han Seung Yeon

Date of birth: July 24, 1988

Height: 160cm

Extra Information:

◊ Is called "Haem" or "Ham" by Sunghee because she looks like a hamster

◊ She has the face of a 'Choding' (which means elementary student)

◊ Attended a school in Tenafly, New Jersey

◊ Re-took her college entrance examinations because she wasn't satisfied with her previous marks

◊ Loves to make random sounds

◊ Loves anime, and downloads them when she feels stressed

◊ Attended the same dance school as Hyori and Hyoyeon (SNSD)

Name: 정니콜 Jung Nicole

Date of birth: October 7, 1991

Height: 164cm

Extra Information:

◊ Fluent in English, and knows how to speak Spanish as well

◊ Born in Glendale, CA (USA)

◊ She wrote most of the rap lyrics for KARA's first album & for "Honey" and "Let It Go" from KARA's Revolution album

◊ Hates to cry in front of people as she is the strongest (emotionally) member of KARA

◊ She is very good friends with SNSD members; Hyoyeon, Tiffany, Sunny and Seohyun

◊ She is a Twilight and Harry Potter fan girl

◊ Lee Hyori is her idol

Name: 구하라 Goo Hara

Date of birth: January 13, 1991

Height: 164cm

Extra Information:

◊ Auditioned for SME and JYPE

◊ She is from "Kwangju" the same hometown as Big Bang's Seungri and Wonder Girls' Sunmi

◊ Has known Sunmi ever since from a young age

◊ She is very competitive and participated in track & field in Elementry school

◊ Postponed schooling to concentrate on Kara

◊ According to members, she eats the most but does not seem to ever gain weight

◊ Fans call her "Koala" because the pronunciation is very similar to her name

◊ Top 3 idols she'd like to date: 2PM's Taecyeon & Junho and 2AM's Jokwon.

Name: 강지영 Kang Jiyoung

Date of birth: January 18, 1994

Height: 166cm

Extra Information:

◊ She is a big fan of Daesung from Big Bang

◊ Her audition song was SNSD - Kissing You

◊ Fans say she resembles a turtle, a cute turtle

◊ Introduced to DSP by a relative

◊ She was a last minute replacement when a new member chose to leave

◊ Was at the 2007 Dream Concert as a DBSK fan girl

Here are some illustration..^^

credits : wikipedia

             nandbabyjun

             dsplove.wordpress.com
             and many others.. thank you..^^