Boa Kwon (born November 5, 1986 in Guri, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea) is a South Korean singer, commonly known by her stage name BoA, and the letters of her first name have been backronymed to Beat of Angel. She has been active in both South Korea and Japan. Aside from Korean, she also speaks Japanese and conversational English.
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 218,114 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, the singer released her first mini-album Jumping into the World. After this album was released, 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 into the Japanese music industry soon after signing with Avex Trax. In 2001 she debuted with a Japanese version of ID; Peace B. The single reached #20 on the Oricon chart. ID; Peace B was followed by 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 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 chart in which the album 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. On the same day as the album's release, BoA's fifth single Every Heart-ミンナノキモチ- (minna no kimochi, everybody's feelings) was released. 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 572,000 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 her second studio album Valenti was released. It reached #1 on the charts with over 615,000 copies sold in its first week of release. It was number one on the Oricon Charts for 2 consecutive weeks. It has become her best-selling album, selling over 1,250,000 copies domestically (making her the highest and fastest selling Asian foreigner in Japanese history) and 1,400,000 copies worldwide. The album's subsequent live tour was sold out in Osaka and Nagoya within 15 minutes, while Tokyo sold out within a day.It had the fouth 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 340,000 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. This mini-album sold a disappointing 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, she 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 2 weeks and would go on to sell over 650,000 copies domestically and over 800,000 copies worldwide. The album's live tour became largely 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 202,000 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.
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 (Meri 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. Her live tour sold out once again. Best of Soul became the ninth highest selling album of 2005. 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 115,000 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), but it would only go on to sell 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, collected low debut sales again (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 number one 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.
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.
Her 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 since the singer debuted. The single eventually sold a disappointing 40,943 copies. The track was the ending theme to 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. Staying at #2 on the Oricon Weekly Charts, the single became 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 which made Winter Love the last "teenage" single from BoA.
BoA staged her first Christmas concert on December 7, 2006. She sang her own Christmas ballads ("Winter Love", "Last Christmas" and "Meri 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. Leaking on the Internet five days before its release date, the album debuted at the top of the Oricon Daily Album Charts. Made in Twenty (20) placed first in the Oricon Weekly Album Charts. The album, however, debuted with the lowest first-week sales of her career, at 182,009 copies. Her nationwide tour in Japan began on March 31, 2007 to promote her album.
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.
Post Made in Twenty (20) era
BoA released her 22nd Japanese single "Sweet Impact" on April 25, it hit #5 on its first day of release. The title song is currently being used as the CM song to a Fasio Cosmetics commercial featuring BoA herself. The cover (CD+DVD) of "Sweet Impact" drew controversy because of its similarity to a Vogue magazine cover featuring English model Kate Moss.
BoA will be releasing her 23rd Japanese single on September 19. Titled LOVE LETTER, the single is said to be a medium tempo ballad. Included on the single are the B-sides Diamond Heart and Beautiful Flowers. The single is said to have six tracks which include the previously mentioned songs plus a new version of each. The single will be available in the CD-only format and a limited edition CD+DVD version which will include the PV to LOVE LETTER. Love Letter PV was released on August 29, 2007.
It was reported that BoA's 6th Korean album would be out in June. It has already been more than two years since her last Korean album, Girls on Top, was released.
BoA's contract with Avex was to be expired in 2007, but she will be thinking of renewing it.
Worldwide career developments
BoA 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. More recently, she performed her song "No.1" before world leaders at the 2005 APEC conference in Busan, South Korea. In November 2006, BoA was featured on CNN International's TalkAsia, interviewed by correspondent Anjali Rao.
She has released several overseas versions of her albums in Taiwan and China already, so she is reasonably well known in both regions. She has already made appearance overseas through Levi's advertisements with Edison Chen in early 2006.
BoA performed at the Hollywood Bowl Korean Music Festival 2007 in Los Angeles in 5th May.
It was reported on July 26, 2007 by KBS that BoA would suspend her current Korean activities to enter the US Market.
Acting career
BoA made her debut in the film industry as a dubbing actress for the voice of Heather the Opossum in the Korean and Japanese versions of Over the Hedge, which was released on May 31, 2006 in Korea.
In 2005, BoA was offered a lead role in the successful drama, Goong. The role was later passed on to former Baby V.O.X member, Yoon Eun Hye due to a busy schedule.
On June 28, 2006 it was rumored that BoA may star in her first movie role alongside Chinese superstars, Jay Chou and Yao Ming, in the highly anticipated film, Kung Fu Dunk, due to be released in 2008. However SM Entertainment confirmed that she has refused the offer to star as the heroine in the upcoming film. Coincidentally, the role was once again offered on to actress Yoon Eun Hye, who later refused the deal due to a hectic schedule.
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