How long did artists need to wait for their first award?

Each and every artist works long hours of endless schedules and performances in the hope that one day, their name will get called out as the winner, be it on a weekly music program or a music awards ceremony.

There’s no denying that all of them work their hardest, but there are many singers who just can’t seem to hit that #1 spot like they’ve always dreamed of. While there are artists who receive their trophy less than a month after debuting, other groups and singers must wait as long as 4 years to experience their precious moments.

An artist’s first-time win will be a memory that they will hold and treasure for life, no matter how long it took them to get there. There have been countless times when artists become so overwhelmed by their win that they’re unable to properly thank everyone due to their never-ending tears.

Sports Seoul analyzed deeper into what artists have said in their thank you speeches when they won their first ever award after debuting.

Four-member female group miss A was brought into sudden prominence in the music industry throughJYP Entertainment. Thanks to their catchy dance moves and natural charisma in their performances, it was only 20 days after their debut when miss A began to receive numerous awards and trophies on public music programs for their debut track, “Bad Girl Good Girl”.

If JYP Entertainment had miss A, then YG Entertainment had 2NE1. This group didn’t even need to wait a month before receiving their first #1 win on various music programs. 2NE1 had been simmering interest for being the “Female Big Bang”, and shortly after debut, the group received their first ‘Mutizen Award’ on SBS’s “Inkigayo” for their debut track, “Fire“, back in 2009. At the time of their win, the members thanked their CEO and colleagues, as they said, “We respect and thank CEO Yang Hyun Suk. We thank all of YG Family.”

Meanwhile, Cube Entertainment’s 4minute took exactly 100 days for them to win on a music TV show. When they first debuted in June of 2009 with their track “Hot Issue”, it was mostly memberHyunA who received the most attention, primarily due to her prior activities as a member of theWonder Girls. Nonetheless, the girls continued to work hard to show each of their true colors until finally, on September 26th of 2009, the group won their first “Mutizen Award” on SBS’s “Inkigayo” for their second title-track, “Muzik.”

Six-member group T-ara waited six months before winning their first award on KBS’s “Music Bank”. Having debuted in 2009, the idol group won with their hard-earned first “Music Bank” K-Chart win of 2010 with their first full album title trackadf, “Bo Peep Bo Peep.” At the time of their win, the members stated, “We will be working harder. We hope that everyone remains healthy in 2010, and we wish you a Happy New Year.”

When four-member girl group SECRET first debuted, they received a considerable amount of attention for living in a basement, and they were subsequently nicknamed the “Basement Idols”. After a year and four months though, the girl group finally received their first trophy for their third single, “Shy Boy“, last February on KBS’s “Music Bank”. Overwhelmed by their win, each member showed tears of happiness, leader Hyosung in particular, as they thanked their families, colleagues, and fans for their love and support.

Brown Eyed Girls entered the music industry with their powerful talents back in 2006. Many acknowledged the group for their talented singing skills, but for a long time, they were unable to gain enough popularity to raise them to the number one spot. Two years later, the group underwent a transformation in their music style and concepts, which subsequently led to Brown Eyed Girls earning their first #1 win with their 2008 track, “Love“. At the time of their win, the girls showed unstoppable tears of happiness.

SM Entertainment’s f(x) also recently won their first K-Chart award on KBS’s “Music Bank”. On April 29th, the group released their first full album called “Pinocchio“, and within only a week of promotions, f(x) managed to earn their #1 spot with their title track.

It’s not only girl groups who express their happiness through tears though. Male idol ballad group 2AMdebuted in the music industry in July of 2008 with their first single, “This Song”, and a year and 6 months later, the group was finally announced as the winner of SBS’s “Inkigayo” for their hit track, “Can’t Leave You Even If I Die”. As they had been promoting at the same time as explosively popularSNSD, 2AM members themselves hadn’t expected such a win, and subsequently became overjoyed with tears.

Ever since changing around their members from a four-member group to a five-member group shortly after their 2007 debut, KARA have been considered as one of the top girl groups of the nation. After a two year wait, the girls was finally able to receive their first ‘Mutizen Song Award” on SBS’s “Inkigayo” on March of 2009. Soon after their win, leader Park Gyuri wrote on her minihompy, “I’d always imagined what it would feel like to win 1st place, but now that it’s become reality, it feels like just a dream. We will continue to work together and work hard to share more happiness with everyone.”

In the latter half of 2010, 2AM’s lead vocalist Changmin and 8eight’s Lee Hyun coallaborated to form a new project group called “Homme” with producer Bang Shi Hyuk. It was during these promotions that Lee Hyun was able to win his first award three years since his debut with 8eight. During Homme’s win on KBS’s “Music Bank” for “Still Eating Well”, Lee Hyun expressed, “I now want to win 1st with 8eight.”

Singer K.Will is also another case of a ballad singer leap-frogging past popular idol groups to gain his first music show win. The talented singer debuted back in 2007, but had to wait a whopping four years to finally be acknowledged with a first place award for his title track, “My Heart is Beating”. He was congratulated by numerous singer colleagues on the day of his win on April 3rd, and later that evening the singer wrote on his Twitter, “It took exactly 10 years. This miracle day of deep gratitude.” K.Will’s “10 years” refers to his 7 years of training and 3 years of promotions.

Veteran idol group Jewelry has been maintaining a substantial fan base ever since their debut back in 2001. Although many of their songs such as “Tonight” and “I Really Like You” became great hits in the music industry, it took a total of four years before the group was acknowledged with their first 1st place award with their hit track “Super Star” from their 4th album in 2005.

How long did it take your favorite group to achieve the top spot? Or if they haven’t yet got there, how long do you think it’ll take?

KARA’s Hara endorses social commerce website, “We Make Price”

For the first time since her debut, KARA’s Good Hara has landed herself her very own individual endorsement deal with social commerce website, “We Make Price”!

Representatives of DSP Media commented, “Hara recently contracted with ‘We Make Price’ after receiving a deposit in the hundred million wons. This is her first time acting as a CF model away from KARA’s activities on her own.”

Hara attended her first solo CF recording at Paju on April 21st, and the CF for it was revealed today, so check it out below!

f(x)’s Sulli’s unique antennae hairstyle receives mixed reviews

On the April 30th broadcast of MBC’s “Music Core“, f(x)’s Sulli performed “Pinocchio” with a unique new hairstyle that has been receiving mixed reviews from netizens.

For the performance, Sulli had her hair tied in a strange antennae-like fashion that parted in three ways. The change in hairstyle definitely caught the attention of viewers, as after the broadcast, both positive and negative comments regarding the style came flooding in through the show’s message board.

Some netizens said, “The antennae hair is quite distracting,” and “I can’t seem to grasp what the concept is“, while others complimented, “Sulli’s hairstyle was cute,” and, “Three antennae… It’s cute since Sulli is doing it.”

So what do you think? Is this a hit or miss?

4Minute performed "Mirror Mirror" trot version

The girls appeared on Gag Concert.

Honestly i think Mirror Mirror sounds good as a trot song,the girls did well on the show,check out their performance here!

Victoria and Sulli unveiled "Smoothie King" CF

f(x)'s Victoria and Sulli unveiled the new CFs for beverage brand Smoothie King.

Victoria shows off her flexibility here again,Sulli is totally impressed with what her unnie can do!

RELIVE IT: Idols rock the Korean Music Festival 2011!

n the nine years that have passed since its inception, the Korean Music Festival has proven to be the premier event for K-pop lovers of all generations and backgrounds. With its star-studded history of k-pop idol headliners including TVXQ, Big Bang, SNSD (make that twice), Super Junior (also twice) and the Wonder Girls, there’s little room left to wonder why KMF has been perceived as some sort of rite of passage for artists to validate their successful statuses in the music industry.

For their ninth annual concert, Korea Times featured an all-star cast including Jay Park, 4minute, U-KISS, SECRET, SISTAR, G.NA, Baek Ji Young, K. Will, DJ D.O.C and many more.Yet before the doors of the famous Hollywood Bowl even opened, the premises of the venue were bustling with visitors throughout the daytime pre-concert festivities.

CHECK OUT THE PHOTO GALLERY HERE

As any allkpop reader or KMF attendee is bound to know, KMF 2011 saw the start-up of allkpop’s very first event booth. From the moment that staff set up shop that morning until the attendees began filtering into the bowl for the concert at dusk, the allkpop booth was packed with activity. We were so excited to see so many fans and readers turn out for the event — before we had even finished setting up our booth, over a hundred people had already lined up. With Arden Cho, One Way’s Chance, Clara C, Decipher, dumbfoundead, IAMMEDIC, IZ and Jennifer Chung at our booth, REXROWDEE at the turn tables and so many excited kpop fans, we can say without a doubt that the event was a success. While we were prepared to draw up something that was huge and admittedly a little scary for us, we couldn’t believe the massive response we got from the Korean music lover community.

After six hours of pre-concert festivities outside the venue, 17,000 people from across the continent (and for some hardcore fans, across the ocean!) streamed into Hollywood Bowl. After the American and Korean national anthems were performed, G.NA and DJ D.O.C’s Kim Chang Ryul opened the festival with welcome arms, greeting the cheering audience with English and Korean introductions.

“I see people from all over,” G.NA exclaimed as she looked into the crowd, listening as fans screamed the places they were traveling from. “Canada, Alaska, Seattle… Korea?!” she laughed incredulously, marveling at the irony of the last call-out.

An orchestra soon set up and Jay Park, U-KISS‘ Soohyun, Jung Sora and SISTAR’s Hyorin stepped onto the stage for a special collaboration performance, surprising fans with their early appearance. Their collab was then followed by solo performances. Jung Sora impressed with a dazzling silver dress and power pipes, and G.NA’s poured her heart into “I’ll Back Off So You Can Live Better” & “Black and White.” When U-KISS brought forth a triple threat delivery with “0330,” “Bingeul Bingeul” and “Man Man Ha Ni,” inspiring a mass exodus of KISS-ME’s to stream down the aisles to the front, as close as they could to the stage — quite reminiscent of the B2UTIES during B2ST’s performance in 2010.

When G.NA reemerged back on the stage later to resume her MC position, she reflected on her performance with her fellow host. “I was really nervous but they showed so much love,” she exclaimed when Kim Chang Ryul asked how she felt about performing in front of such an enormous international audience. She then turned to the audience, asking shyly, “How was G.NA?” only to be met with resounding cheers.

Next up was SISTAR, who performed “Push Push” and “How Dare You,” dressed in the racy black outfits right out of their latest music video. ”[It's our] first time in LA — really exciting and a little nervous… thank you guys,” maknae Da Som gushed after each member introduced herself. Baek Ji Young soon followed and was able to show off her versatility, bringing out the emotions with a “Secret Garden” OST ballad then pumping up the heavy bass for a special performance of “My Ear’s Candy” featuring K Will, whose raspy sexiness gave Taecyeon’s original feature a run for its money.

As dusk melted into evening, flashing lightsticks began flickering on one by one until the audience became a never ending sea of floating glittering red, green and blue lights — first gently bobbing side to side for a few ballad performances. But when DJ D.O.C stepped on stage to wrap up the first part of the festival, the calm sea of colors turned into a near-psychedelic LED light spasm as the trio kicked the energy up a notch (or three) with “Run to You” and “Bounce with Me.” The stage faded back to red with a glowing bokeh of sunset hues for the more laidback, Caribbean-esque “I Believe.”

Following a slew of Korean ads that signified the start of intermission, the legendary 1st Generation Jazz Band, which was literally the first generation of true jazz performers that introduced the genre to Korea fifty years ago, delighted the audience with spectacular clarinet, trumpet and piano performances. “What we just saw now,” G.NA exclaimed after the performance, “was the first generation of Korean jazz.”

The second half of the concert then launched as SECRET graced the stage in white peasant tops and high-waisted jean shorts, launching right into “Madonna.” Then, to match the sugary peppiness of their second track “Shy Boy,” bright pastel-color lines began streaking down the background as the lights arching over the stage turned into an enormous rainbow. Yes, a rainbow — the aegyo levels were shooting off the charts.

When it was time for headliner Jay Park to perform, he more than proved his stage charisma. Dressed in a simple white tee and jeans, he shook things up first with “Nothin on You” with a backdrop of moving stars. Jay Park brings so much happiness to the stage with his personable charm. Taking a swig of water after the first track, he cheekily introduced his album that dropped three days ago, “Take a Deeper Look,” then belted out the hook of lead track “Abandoned” on the spot. He then launched into the first-ever live performance of the song to fans’ delight. He didn’t stop there and performed “6′7″ and “Yeah x3,” raising the audience onto its feet with the infectious dance track. Jay Park exuded a presence from beginning to end, and it was obvious that he commanded the stage and knew it. In one word: his performance was a triumph.

The ladies of 4minute strode across the stage in gorgeous white outfits, and they immediately amplified the energy from Jay Park’s stage by diving into their performance of “Mirror Mirror.” They gave K-pop fans a run-through of their best songs – a medley featuring “Muzik” and “I Mine Me Mine”, and then an explosive performance of “Hot Issue.” We’re definitely not exaggerating when the entire stadium was screaming and dancing along with the girls to “Hot Issue”!

The last and final performance of KMF this year was with legendary rock-ballad singer, Kim Jang Hoon. This guy had the most vocal fan ever, as he screamed and stretched his arms out to the singer during the entirety of his performance. Kim Jang Hoon was the king of audience interaction, as he actually stepped off the stage and into the crowd, singing with perfect pitch as he allowed fans to rush up and hug him during the performance.

The highlight of his entire stage was when he invited a girl from the audience to join him as his ‘mic stand’. To explain, Kim Jang Hoon needed to play his harmonica for the song, “My Love By My Side”, which required that he needed something (or someone) to hold onto his mic. The singer eventually completed his entire run of songs with a series of taekwondo kicks and witticisms that were accompanied by a big show of fireworks.

Our media team has been working around the clock to develop 360 degree coverage for the Korean Music Festival. Now that the event has wrapped up, we’ll be releasing our photo and video coverage as well as exclusive content bit by bit throughout this week. Hopefully you’ve enjoyed your first taste of our RELIVE KMF 2011 series; stay tuned!

Check out some shoutouts from the artists of KMF 2011 below!