Boa Kwan ( Kwon ) Picture Gallery

보아 이미지

Boa

Boa (보아) Kwan Taking down the veil of "ShinBi"

The debut of BoA Kwan ( Kwon 보아 ) ,began as a fan club was created as a result of circulating rumors for the creation of a new girl group to be released by SM, called "ShinBi" or "Barbie". An unofficial fan club for this supposed group began to be created between the netizens. As the number of members in this "fan club" began to grow between the Chollian, Hitel, and Unitel sites, very specific profiles of the group members began to come out, too. This was how big it got between the netizens, proving how much curiosity there was. But the new album that the "ShinBi" fan club was eagerly looking forward to was neither that of "ShinBi" or "Barbie". In the end, when the veil of ShinBi was uncovered, the person we found was the 13 year old Boa Kwon ( 보아 ).

The Story of BoA's (Kwon 보아 ) Birth

SM's idea three years ago was to begin to make a huge star who would represent Asia. Their plan was to make a star who would use the Korean music industry as a stepping stone into Asia, and then into the world, in order to spread Korea's prestige abroad. At that time, the mainstream of the entertainment world was taken over by 13~16 year old female idol stars. The Japanese representative of an idol group, SPEED, was also composed of s around 15 years of age. With that point given, it was obvious that it would be most favorable for our country to put out a [young] who would go abroad. Also, [SM] figured that they needed at least 2~3 years in order to completely finish the casting and training of this future stars, so they concentrated first on casting. They asked all of the candidates they met at national contests and talent shows, and even those who came to the studio to audition, if they had a younger sibling. And if they did, they went as far as to call those siblings in for auditioning. Through this never-ending effort to find their future star, the jewel that they found was BoA Kwon ( 보아 ). At that time, Kwon Boa's older brother had come to the studio for an audition. The answer to the question "Do you have a younger sibling" was the one and only 5th grader named Kwon BoA. At the time, she was 11 years old. BoA Kwon has trained ever since that young age for this day. The fact that she sang at the audition that she had through her older brother was what guided her into becoming a future star. The dancing and singing that the young elementary student did at the audition showed plenty of potential to be a star. BoA's talent and passion, and her skills, although not yet fine tuned, were extraordinary in spite of her young age. The company did however worry about how well she could do at such a young age, but they couldn't just let this opportunity pass them by. As soon as SM found BoA Kwon, they quickly met with her parents to persuade them into permitting her training. BoA Kwon also showed her parents her strong interest in making her dream of becoming a singer come true. But in the beginning, her parents strongly opposed. Her brothers understood why their parents opposed this decision so strongly; BoA Kwon was bringing home very high grades, and they just wanted her to keep studying, not become a singer. But the company who had already found BoA's talents could not let go of her so easily. In the end, SM was able to persuade her parents with the certainty of her success, and BoA gained the opportunity of a lifetime to live out her dreams.

The road to making a world star....

As soon as the permission of the parents were received, the company immediately began a very focused training period to making a world star. The first thing that BoA Kwon needed to learn was neither dancing or singing, but foreign languages. She was given a private tutor who taught her both English and Japanese. This was something that Kwon Boa absolutely needed to learn in order to go abroad with her future music. BoA 보아 was even sent to Japan during her vacations in order to receive extra focused lessons. It may have been because of her young age, but her ability to learn these new languages was extraordinary. Also, after her graduation from elementary school, her start in the International middle school was delayed for six months in order to go to Tokyo, Japan once again. This time, not only did she learn Japanese, but she also received vocal and dance lessons. On top of that, she was only allowed to speak Japanese during her stay there. In order to pick up fine tuned pronunciations, she stayed with and was taught by NHK's GuMiKo. This intense training has given Kwon Boa the ability to speak Japanese almost perfectly, and also understand and converse in English.

When (who manages one of Japan's top entertainers, Yungsung Akanemi) saw BoA Kwon 보아, they took upon themselves the responsibility of her dance and vocal training. As a result, they introduced one of the top instructors to Kwon Boa (보아 ) . Sakuma, who had been recognized as Japan's best dancer, gave BoA Kwon ( 보아 ) dance lessons, and Japan's top hip hop dancer Kazeu personally came to Korea to choreograph BoA's debut album. Sakuma even praised BoA 보아 saying "When compared to the Japanese dancers who do nothing but dance, her skills are right up at that level. And among the female singers who do both singing and dancing, there is no one who has the skills that BoA Kwan 보아 has. There has been no one this young who can dance so well."
BoA has released albums in both South Korea and Japan, and her recording company, SM Entertainment, is positioning her as a cross-cultural star in Asia. She has released eight full length albums, three ".5" albums and nineteen singles in South Korea and Japan. Her albums have also been released as "overseas versions" throughout Asia. Six million copies of her albums have been sold to date. She can speak native-level Korean, plus fluent Japanese and conversational English and Chinese.

BoA broke records in both Korea and Japan with her smash hits, including "No. 1," "Valenti," and "Listen to My Heart". She has made strides in music and acting with chart-breaking albums released in both Japanese and Korean (BoA accounts for over 75% of musical exports from Korea), as well as being a cover model for huge companies such as Shiseido, Honda, KDDI: Au, Calpis, and recently the Japanese division of Gap. BoA has also become a cross-cultural icon, bridging historical tensions between the nations of Korea and Japan. BoA was awarded "Most Influential Asian Artist" and "Favorite Artist Korea" Prizes at MTV Asia Awards held in Singapore on February, 2004. Her songs are now popular even in Taiwan, PRC and some Southeast Asian countries. She has appeared on numerous magazine covers and some commercials, including KOSE, MISSHA, Lipton, Ting, Pantech & Curitel, Elite, Lotte, Maybelline, and Wired XYZ. BoA also appeared in the Korean Music Festival held in the Sydney Opera House on June 21, 2004 and in the Volvo "Hallyu" Concert in Universal City, California (outside of Los Angeles) on June 11, 2005. Most recently, she performed at the 2005 APEC conference in Busan, South Korea.

Girls on Top

In 2005 BoA released her highly anticipated fifth album, Girls on Top. It topped the charts and so far has sold approximately 115,000 copies. Although the sales were disappointing to many, one should note that Korean album sales have dropped by over 50% from 2004 alone, so sales of over 100,000 copies are very respectable. The album also hit #1 in Taiwan, showcasing BoA's popularity outside of South Korea and Japan.

Capitalizing on the success of Best of Soul, BoA's 15th single Do the Motion hit #1 on the Oricon chart, making her only the fifth non-Japanese singer to have a single hit #1 and the first in over 21 years. In September BoA went on to release her 16th single, make a secret (#4), which would end up as a flop, selling barely 50,000 copies. Her 17th single, 抱きしめる (Dakishimeru), was released on November 23, 2005 and although it is still charting, appears to be following the same disappointing sales path as make a secret. Her 18th single (and probably last before her next full studio album), Everlasting, will be January 18, 2006 and will most likely be a ballad. Due to the release date of her 18th single, her next full studio Japanese album will most likely be released in either February or March of 2006

BoA celebrated the five year anniversary of her Korean debut with fans on August 25, 2005 and to advertise for the special event, a new limited edition "MOTO" repackaging for the Girls on Top album was released. Also, it is rumoured that BoA's sixth Korean album may be pushed back from the expected release of summer 2006 as far as early 2007 due to BoA's entrance into the Chinese market next year.
BoA is planning on entering the Chinese market sometime in 2006 (most likely in the summer after her fourth Japanese live tour). She has released several overseas versions of her albums in Taiwan and China already so she is reasonably well known in both countries (e.g Girls on Top hit #1 in Taiwan in September 2005).