Brown Eyed Girls (; ) are a South Korean girl group. The group is composed of four members: JeA, Miryo, Narsha, and Gain. They debuted as an R&B/ballad vocal group with "Come Closer (다가와서)" in 2006 through the release of their debut album Your Story.
They rose to popularity in 2008 with "L.O.V.E" and their retro-dance number "How Come" and cemented their position in the K-pop world in 2009 with "Abracadabra", with its electronica-based genre, pioneering (albeit controversial) concept, along with its iconic and now globally recognized dance entitled 'The Arrogant Dance (시건방춤)'—successfully ingraining themselves into modern popular culture.
The group started their venture into the Japanese music market with the release of a Japanese version of their massively successful 3rd Korean album, Sound-G, in late 2010, with full promotions being held throughout early 2011 under Sony Music Japan, where they gained moderate success. They returned to Korea in late 2011, to garner further success and critical acclaim with their fourth album and its lead single "Sixth Sense". Other than promoting as a group, all of the members have released solo albums.
Career
2006: Formation and early years JeA was responsible for the group's creation and was actively involved in the selection of the other members, choosing Miryo, who was active as a member of hip-hop group Honey Family. Narsha was chosen when JeA remembered her as a "talented singer" from her school days, and Ga-in was selected by the three members after she was eliminated from the reality competition series Let's Coke Play! Battle Shinhwa!. They performed several small-scale concerts before making their debut, and were tentatively called "Crescendo" and "Dark Angel".
On March 2, 2006, after three years of formal training, Brown Eyed Girls released their debut album Your Story, simultaneously with its lead single "Come Closer". Debuting as a "faceless group" they did not appear on any visual media and chose to not even appear in their own music video. Though the album was not a commercial success it was later re-released to include "Hold The Line". This song became a hit, further boosting the band's popularity. "Hold the Line" was disclosed across the world because it was included in the list of songs from the game Pump It Up.
After a short break, the group went back into the studio to work on their second album Leave Ms. Kim (), which included their R&B single "You Got Me Fooled" (). Subsequent singles were "Oasis" () featuring Lee Jae Hoon and "It's Mine" (), a collaboration with fellow group SeeYa. During the break between their debut and second albums, Brown Eyed Girls released their first digital single entitled "I Am a Summer" (), which was later included in their second LP.
The first two albums contained typical R&B ballads which had been very popular in the K-pop scene. However, their commercial success was relatively higher with the two singles between the first and second albums. Moreover, the second album containing "You Got Me Fooled" () was released at nearly the same time as Wonder Girls' "Tell Me" which was a nationwide success in Korea. Therefore, their second album was once again a commercial disappointment. At the same time, the general K-pop scene was changing from R&B ballads to dance music.
2008: With L.O.V.E. and My Style mini albums
In January 2008, Brown Eyed Girls came back with their first mini-album "With L.O.V.E." Their single, "L.O.V.E", was a departure from the B.E.G. sound that people had come to know but it became an instant success. With it, Brown Eyed Girls scored their first No. 1 song and also one of the top hit songs in the first half of 2008. "Love Action" was the second single taken from the mini album. With L.O.V.E. also marked the group's second digital album (after "I Am a Summer"), though it was released in conventional CD format as well. After the release of their first mini-album, they achieved commercial success. "L.O.V.E" was composed by Saint-Binary and Min-Soo Lee.
Looking to strengthen their success, Brown Eyed Girls returned again in September and released their second mini-album My Style. The title song "How Come" was a retro-style dance song that took advantage of the growing popularity of dance music.
2009–2010: Sound G, Japanese debut and solo activities On July 20, 2009, Brown Eyed Girls released their third full-length album, the double-disc Sound G. Even though "Candy Man" was the first song unveiled from the album, the first heavily promoted single was "Abracadabra," which was composed by Ji-nu and Lee Min-soo. The release of this album also saw a shift in the image of the group, as the members redefined themselves as independent and mature city girls. The music video for the lead single sparked controversy. As the group sported a substantially more provocative style, criticism arose over the suggestive and erotic themes that the video presented. They later released a "stage version" of the video, which focused only on the choreography. Nevertheless, even with all the controversies they took the Kpop world by storm, snagging awards at music shows and year end music awards. The sexy hip dance featured in the music video became a national fad, with fellow celebrities frequently parodying it.
The group next released the repackaged edition album entitled Sign that included the lead single of the same name, with "Drunk On Sleep," and a remix of "Abracadabra." The quartet had been readying for their Japan debut since signing with major record label Sony Music Japan International. In August 2010, the group re-released Sound G in Japanese, which marked the beginning of their Japanese promotions. After the success of the album, the members concentrated more on their individual activities, juggling them with their overseas schedules. In July, Narsha released her first solo albumNARSHA to certain success, In August, JeA collaborated with Rattpoom, a Thai singer, on his song "Face to Face". Later in October, Gain also started solo activities with her debut album Step 2/4 which featured a strong interpolation of tango music, featuring "Irreversible" as the lead single. On October 31, she had her first win (Mutizen song) on Inkigayo. In December, JeA released a ballad single "Because You Sting" featuring G.O. of MBLAQ.
Aside from their group and solo activities, Brown Eyed Girls also took part in variety shows and sitcoms. Ga-in appeared on We Got Married with 2AM's Jo Kwon beginning in September 2009. The couple was very popular in Korea and still is one of the most recognized virtual couples in the country. Their virtual marriage came to an end after 15 months in January 2011. She made her acting debut as the female lead Gaumji in the MBC daily sitcom All My Love. However, owing to scheduling conflicts, her role in the sitcom ended in May 2011. Narsha has appeared on Invincible Youth (also known as G7) since October 2009. She is known on the show as "Sung In Dol" (Adult idol) due to her age difference with the other cast members and her funny, but naughty reactions on the show. She was also one of the fixed cast members in SBS's variety show Heroes. In April 2010, she DJed on Volume Up on KBS Cool FM. Due to Brown Eyed Girls' overseas promotions Narsha decided to leave the show, with her last broadcast on December 28, 2010. The group ended the year with a concert entitled "Hot Winter Party" held in the Ax-Korea Hall in Seoul.
2011: Japanese promotions and return to Korea with Sixth Sense On January 17, 2011, the group released a Japanese music video for "Sign". The group started their promotions in Japan in early 2011. Brown Eyed Girls originally planned to hold a concert in Japan in April but due to the Tōhoku earthquake in March, the concert was postponed to September instead. The band's first Japanese concert at C.C Lemon Hall in Shibuya took place on September 12. There, they unveiled one of the songs from their fourth album An Inconvenient Truth, which was composed by JeA and KZ. On September 6, NegaNetwork released an official comeback date, marking the end of their two-year hiatus. The group was expected to release the single "Hot Shot" on September 16, followed by their fourth album and music video Sixth Sense on September 23.
Representatives of their agency, NegaNetwork, stated that the concept for this album was to be “freedom of expression through music experienced via the sixth sense".
This album focuses not only on their singing and performance. The members hope to convey their thoughts to the public through music. Their title track is an expression of the limitations of experiencing music with only five senses, and it asks people to feel it instead with their sixth sense. The song itself is very free in style.
They kicked off their promotional cycle officially with a double stage performance of "Hot Shot" and "Sixth Sense" on September 24 on Music Core. and grabbed the top spot on M! Countdown and Inkigayo. They also broke the jinx of going into a slump after a big hit, as the release was even more popular and received higher digital sales than their famed song "Abracadabra". The band concluded their promotions for "Sixth Sense" after a month, but immediately followed it with the release of a repackage of their fourth studio album. On November 4, Brown Eyed Girls released their repackaged album and followed up promotions for it with their ballad song 'Cleansing Cream'. They officially concluded their promotional activities on November 18 with a final performance on KBS's Music Bank.
2012: Solo activities, digital single and Tonight 37.2 °C
The members branched out to solo activities once again. Starting with Miryo, releasing her self- produced solo album, MIRYO a.k.a. JOHONEY on February 1. She had a rocky start with two of the songs from her album banned in broadcasting stations. Namely, “Revenger,” which according to SBS officials has lyrics depicting violence and the lead single "Dirty" for the lyrics of the song, containing the word, “cross-eyed” which could be perceived as a derogatory term for the disabled thus forcing Miryo to change the lyrics to be able to perform on music shows.
On TV, Narsha made her acting debut with MBC's drama Light and Shadow playing the role of an aspiring singer Lee Jung Ja and followed by Ooh La La Couple as a goddess. The other members participated on reality programs. Gain became a CEO of a public relations company called ‘Mental Breakdown' particularly for the show, OnStyle's Launch My Life – Ga In's Fashion King. Miryo was cast for Mnet's hip-hop program Show Me the Money, collaborating with a rookie rapper to compete against other contestants for the top spot. JeA also became a fixed member of Immortal Songs 2, but she later left the show due to her solo album promotions and was replaced by Narsha which later on left the show also due to her musical When A Man Loves.
On July 17, Brown Eyed Girls released their digital single "The Original" of the hybrid soul genre – the genre the girls originally debuted with. It has two tracks, "Come with Me" and the single "A Midsummer Night's Dream", intended to be a gift to fans who were still supporting the group despite it not being active. It was produced and composed by JeA. No promotional activities were done. Gain released her second mini-album on October 5 Talk About S with the lead single "Bloom". The song won the top spot on M! Countdown. JeA also pre-released the track "Let's Hug" on December 28 from her upcoming solo album. Before the year ended, fans of Brown Eyed Girls were finally able to see all four members up on stage together once again for their 19+ Rated ‘Tonight 37.2 °C‘ concert.
2013: Black Box and sub-unit M&N