Seven-member girl group A Pink, though still only eight months into their career, are already making a splash. Eldest member Park Cho-rong, 21, and youngest Oh Hah-yeong, 16, are five years apart. They started enjoying some success with their debut single in April last year, and won the Best New Female Artist award at the 2011 Mnet Asian Music Awards.
Since November 2011 when they released their second single, they have been frequently appearing on TV shows.
They went through years of rigorous training at their entertainment factory. Hong Soon-young, a chief producer at KBS Radio, said, "They seem to have the strengths of FinKL and Girls' Generation, and the potential vocal abilities of teen singer IU." Son Han-seo, a producer at MBC Radio, said, "Because they have strong foundation in singing and dancing, expectations for their regular album are even bigger."
Their retro strategy helped them gain more recognition. They wanted to target those who feel nostalgic for the 1990s, when the K-pop scene was dominated by two popular girl groups FinKL and SES. "Other girl groups these days tend to highlight their dancing skills and sexy looks, but our concept was an innocent and pure image. I think that's why the audience felt comfortable with us," said Oh.
The members are confident that they will become a big name. "To boost our recognition, I think we have to build up our own musical repertoire. Frankly, we're now on the stage to find our path in music," said 17-year old Kim Nam-ju. Jeong Eun-jee says she admired Beyonce and Jennifer Hudson in the movie "Dreamgirls" and is still dreaming of me becoming a great singer like them.
All members love pink and they want to get straight A across the board. That's how the name of the group was conceived. There is another way that they want to distinguish themselves from the rest of girl groups in the K-pop scene: they use their real names.
"I never thought of using a name other than the one my parents gave me. We will do our best not to tarnish our names," said Park.
Source: Chosun
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