Clazziquai Project (), also known as Clazziquai, is a South Korean electropop band that combines several genres including electronic music, acid jazz and house. The band's first short unofficial albums were released online in 2001, spreading its music through words of "netizens," who positively received the band's music. They remained underground until the release of their first album Instant Pig in 2004, selling over 80,000 copies. Since then, their music has been used in shows, commercials, and films.Tak, Jin-hyun. Clazziquai, a new Hallyu Star "Sportainment", March 4, 2006.
Clazziquai is known for their songs, "Be My Love" and "She Is", which were featured on the Korean drama My Lovely Samsoon, with the former becoming the show's theme song. The band won an award at the MNET KM Music Video Festival for "Best Soundtrack", and has also been the most nominated band at the Korean Popular Music Awards II(2회), winning "Artist of the Year" and "Best Pop". They have contributed to works by Japanese artists Fantastic Plastic Machine and M-Flo.
History
2001: Formation DJ Clazzi, described as "a magician at synthesizing different sounds in music into creating one unique [sic] new genre". graduated from Capilano College, and continued his study at Centre for Digital Imaging and Sound (CDIS). After his graduation, he worked as a web designer, uploading his music online during his leisure time. DJ Clazzi's music became popular on Korean social media, with the experimental nature of his music being well received by Korean netizens, which is the reason why Clazziquai was initially labeled a "project group".
Korean-Canadian siblings Alex and Christina Chu were initially acquaintances with DJ Clazzi and participated vocally on the first three short and experimental albums released online, named gray, red, and retro.
Christina Chu left the official line up and Horan stepped in to fill her spot. Chu occasionally contributes her vocals to the band, although she is often an uncredited guest artist.
2004–2006: Instant Pig and Color Your Soul Clazziquai released their first studio album, Instant Pig, in May 2004, with 80,000 copies sold. The album received critical acclaim, which led to more than five songs from the album being used in six television commercials. The remixed English version of the song, "Come To Me", in its remix album Zbam was released in November 2004, and was later used as a song in a television commercial featuring David Beckham. Fantastic Plastic Machine praised Clazziquai as a new band to lead the "Hallyu".
In 2005, Clazziquai's "Be My Love" and "She Is", were featured in the South Korean hit television drama, My Lovely Samsoon. These two major theme songs also raised the ratings of the series up 50%. Clazziquai had hoped then that people's imagination towards their music would not 'decrease as a result of their unexpected popularity'. In September 2005, Clazziquai released their second album, Color Your Soul claiming it had a "raw, funkier feel presenting a combination of electronic music and [an] emphasized acoustic genre". A remix album entitled Pinch Your Soul was released early the following year.
2007–2009: Love Child of the Century and Mucho Punk In June 2007, Clazziquai's third album, Love Child of the Century, was released. A remix album, Robotica, was released later in the year. After the album's release, the members of Clazziquai grew busy with their own work, which started false rumors that Clazziquai could be disbanding.
In 2008, a video game for the PlayStation Portable featuring many Clazziquai songs titled DJMax Portable Clazziquai Edition was released. These songs were later released as part of the special album Metrotronics.
In July 2009, Clazziquai released their fourth album, Mucho Punk, featuring the single "Wizard of OZ" which had been featured in an LG commercial that year. In concordance to Mucho Punk, Clazziquai released Japanese album, Mucho Musica, and later released a remix album, Mucho Mix. The remix version of the original album was released in South Korea later in the year as Mucho Beat.
2012–2018: Blessed, Blink and Travellers In December 2012, Clazziquai released the single, "Can't Go On My Own", as part of the Can We Get Married? OST. In February 2013, the band released their fifth album, Blessed, making it into the top ten of Gaon's weekly album chart. They later held three 'Be Blessed' concerts throughout May and June.
In September 2014, Clazziquai released their sixth album, Blink. They held a concert shortly after the release to celebrate their tenth anniversary as a band. In mid 2015, they held a concert at the Understage in Seoul.
In September 2016, Clazziquai released their seventh album, Travellers. After the album's release the band held a concert at the Blue Square in Seoul.
2019-present: Recent activities and CZQ
On September 10, 2019, the band released a brand new single called What If featuring Kim Soo-young. In the accompanying press release, it was mentioned that Clazziquai will continue the collaboration project with various singers starting with the respective single. Throughout 2023, seven new singles were released, summing up the CZQ album out on May 17, 2024. All songs feature guests on vocals, a first since the group's inception.
Members DJ Clazzi (DJ 클래지) — Leader, composition, production, vocals Alex (알렉스) — Vocals Horan (호란) — Vocals
Discography
Studio albums Title Album detailsPeak chart positions SalesKORRIAKRecording Industry Association of Korea monthly chart positions:
Instant Pig: Color Your Soul: Love Child of the Century: KORGaonJPN Instant PigReleased: May 14, 2004 Label: Fluxus Music, K&C Music Formats: CD, cassette, digital download 13 rowspan="4" — KOR: 84,105Cumulative sales of Instant Pig:
Color Your SoulReleased: September 22, 2005 Label: Fluxus Music, K&C Music Formats: CD, cassette, digital download 8 94 KOR: 65,532Cumulative sales of Color Your Soul:
Love Child of the CenturyReleased: June 7, 2007 Label: Fluxus Music, K&C Music Formats: CD, CD+DVD, digital download 1 72 KOR: 39,963Cumulative sales of Love Child of the Century: Mucho PunkReleased: July 14, 2009 Label: Fluxus Music, K&C Music Formats: CD, digital download rowspan="4" — BlessedReleased: February 5, 2013 Label: Fluxus Music, K&C Music Formats: CD, digital download 8 — KOR: 6,269 BlinkReleased: September 18, 2014 Label: Fluxus Music, KT Music Formats: CD, digital download 16 —KOR: 1,844 TravellersReleased: September 20, 2016 Label: Fluxus Music, K&C Music Formats: CD, digital download 16 —KOR: 1,236 CZQReleased: May 17, 2024 Label: A2Z Entertainment Formats: LP, digital download — — —"—" denotes releases that did not chart.
Remix albums Title Album details ZbamReleased: November 25, 2004 Label: Fluxus Music, K&C Music Formats: CD, digital download Pinch Your SoulReleased: March 9, 2006 Label: Fluxus Music, K&C Music Formats: CD, digital download RoboticaReleased: December 11, 2007 Label: Fluxus Music, K&C Music Formats: CD, digital download Mucho BeatReleased: November 26, 2009 Label: Fluxus Music, K&C Music Formats: CD, digital download
Special albums Title Album details Peakchartpositions JPN Love ModeReleased: August 16, 2006 (JPN) Label: Fluxus Music, Avex Formats: CD, digital download 112 Beat in LoveReleased: August 13, 2008 (JPN) Label: Fluxus Music, Rhythm Republic Formats: CD, digital download 188 MetrotronicsReleased: October 23, 2008 (KOR) Label: Fluxus Music, K&C Music Formats: CD, digital download Mucho MusicaReleased: July 1, 2009 (JPN) Label: Fluxus Music, Universal Music Japan Formats: CD, digital download 158 Mucho MixReleased: October 28, 2009 (JPN) Label: Fluxus Music, Universal Music Japan Formats: CD, digital download — Taiwan Special Best Of Album 2013Released: October 23, 2013 (TWN) Label: Fluxus Music, Avex Taiwan Formats: CD, digital download "—" denotes releases that did not chart.
Singles Title Year Peakchartpositions Sales Album KOR "Sweety" 2004 rowspan="11" rowspan="11" Instant Pig "Come to Me" Zbam "Fill This Night" 2005 Color Your Soul "Hold Your Tears" (춤) "Love Mode"feat. Tablo 2006 Pinch Your Soul "Lover Boy" 2007 Love Child of the Century "Robotica" Robotica "Flea" 2008 Metrotronics "Wizard Of OZ" 2009 Mucho Punk "Love Again" "Ping" (핑) Mucho Beat "Can't Go On My Own" (함께라면)feat. Kim Jin-pyo 2012 36KOR: 218,809+ Blessed "Sweetest Name" 2013 38KOR: 157,564+Cumulative sales of "Sweetest Name": "Love Recipe" (러브 레시피) 24KOR: 312,448+Cumulative sales of "Love Recipe": "Love Satellite" 2014 52KOR: 77,041+ Blink "Madly" 84KOR: 42,310+Cumulative sales of "Madly": "Still I'm by Your Side" (내게 돌아와) —KOR: 19,027+ "I'm Curious" (#궁금해) 2016 — rowspan="6" Travellers "Speak of Love" (걱정남녀) — "What If" (feat. 김수영) 2019 — rowspan="6" "Take Back" (feat. 홍다혜) — "Beautiful Thing" (feat. Jaeyeon and Kim Suyoung) 2023 — "Baby" (feat. 재연 and 임세주) — "Static" (feat. JAEMAN and Kei) — "Lost Highway" (feat. 윌콕스 and 진효정) —"—" denotes releases that did not chart.
Soundtrack appearances Year Title Album 2003 "Play Girl" Good People OST 2004 "Nova Bossa" Chocolate Post Office OST "By The Sea" (바다로) Heong-bu Hurt His Head OST 2005 "Be My Love" My Lovely Sam Soon OST "She Is" "Stepping Out" April Snow OST 2009 "Wizard of OZ" LGT 'OZ' CF 2010 "Lazy Sunday Morning" Le Petit Nicolas OST 2012 "Can't Go On My Own" (함께라면) Can We Get Married? OST
Awards and nominations YearsAwards2005Korean Music Awards: "Artist of the Year" Korean Music Awards: "Best Pop"
Mnet Asian Music Awards Year Category Work Result 2004 Best New Group Video "Sweety""2004 MKMF part 1" . Mwave. Retrieved 2014-08-25. 2005 Best Mixed Group "Fill This Night""2005 MKMF part 1" . Mwave. Retrieved 2014-08-28. Best OST"She Is..." (My Lovely Sam Soon)"2005 M.net Korean Music Festival Winners list" . MAMA. Retrieved 2014-06-12. 2007 Best House & Electronic "Lover Boy"Best Mixed Group 2009 Best House & Electronic "Love Again""2009 Mnet Asian Music Awards Part1" . MAMA. Retrieved 2014-12-18. Best Mixed Gender Group
References
External links