The popularity of the group is also the most important thing to determine whether they will survive in the entertainment industry or not. On the other hand, management also has its own schedule to keep each group under their auspices active. In this article, we are going to take a detailed look into a K-Pop girl group active from 2007 to 2012, namely Black Pearl, who were popular in South Korea and also entered the top music charts. Without waiting no longer, let’s check out all the interesting information about Black Pearl in this article below!
Black Pearl’s Profile
Black Pearl (Hangul: 블랙펄) is a four-member vocal group that debuted in Core Contents Media on July 16th, 2007. They were active under the title of the second generation and also had an official color, which was pearl black. In addition, the name Black Pearl suited this team which consisted of members who would show a deeper and more profound R&B music. The agency gave the name because Black Pearl literally translates to luxurious and elegant. Black Pearl was composed of 5 members at debuted including Nami (26 years old), Mika (24 years old), Yeong-joo (20 years old), Jung Min (25 years old), and Hwi-eun (17 years old). The eldest member, Nami, was a singer who participated in the soundtrack of the MBC drama Thanks for the Life that aired in 2004. The husky voice creates a soft and emotional tone. It is evaluated that she has an excellent understanding of songs by accumulating various music careers such as working in a rock band. She said, “I can’t forget the memories of singing on the beaches of Busan when I was in a band,” and “I want to find the sea again in the name of Black Pearl.” Mika, who was active as a member of a mixed group called M3, was an all-around entertainer who appeared as an actor in the MBC sitcom Nonstop 5 and the one-act drama If In Love Like Them. “Acting was a pleasant affair,” she said, with a bright and feminine voice. Young-joo, who participated in the MBC drama Which Star Did You Come From, has built up a career by featuring on several singers’ albums, and the youngest Hwi-eun was at the time in the second year of high school. Black Pearl started promoting their album in a unique way of releasing digital singles sequentially. Their plan was to release a new song every three weeks and release an album containing 14 songs after a certain period of time. Cho Young-soo, Kim Do-hoon, Min Myung-ki’s involvement in the release of the album with famous composers such as Han Sung-ho had not been decided yet. Although the age difference between the members was large, teamwork was not a problem for them. Nami and Hwi-eun, who said, “I’m in a dorm because I wasn’t allowed to go outside by the company,” are so close that they can’t feel the age difference of nine years between them. “Hwi-eun is mature and kind for her age, so it’s fun to live together,” Nami said, “Living together is my dependence.” Black Pearl were between SG Wannabe who were also under the same label and vocal training. SG Wannabe’s 4th album preparation period and Black Pearl’s debut album preparation period overlapped. “I have been able to catch myself while watching SG Wannabe, who has released 4 albums and is working hard on vocal practice,” they said. Confidence in singing skills is well evident in the thought of what kind of sound you want your fans to hear. Black Pearl said, “We want to sing a song that feels like the voice of the accompaniment is not following the accompaniment.” At the beginning of their activities, Black Pearl’s name was known to many people based on their good singing skills and a music video like a drama that was made by Mnet. Particularly, Black Pearl released a new song every three weeks after their debut song “What Can I Do, I Like You” (Hangul: 좋은걸 어떡해). Two months later, the digital single “Finally… It’s You” (Hangul: 결국…너잖아) was released in September 2007 and ranked 92nd on the 2007 Melon Annual Chart. Then, “Blue Moon” with Davichi & SeeYa as Color Pink was released in 2008 and became known to many people, and ranked well on the 26th Melon in 2008, but with the withdrawal of a member, the trend of the music industry changed from R&B to idol-centered K-Pop. At the time of release, many idols such as Wonder Girls, Girls’ Generation, and Kara dominated the charts. The popularity of Black Pearl was quite good because, from 2007–2008, they were able to enter the music charts and compete with several other K-Pop girl groups that were also gaining popularity at that time. In May 2008, Black Pearl created their very first unit, Color Pink, which consisted of Nami and Yeong-joo and added other idols that had already debuted in other groups to make a collaboration project, such as Davichi, Lee Bo-ram, and SeeYa’s Kim Yeon-ji. With this unit, they released a song titled “Blue Moon” and became a huge hit at that time because the girls were part of Core Contents Media at that time.
After debuting and releasing their first collaborative project with Color Pink, Black Pearl also released another song titled “Hateful Love” (Hangul: 미운 사랑) in November–December 2008. Different from the cheerful genre from before, Black Pearl came to sing a new genre song, which was a ballad, with music video nuances that were more mellow and darker than usual, like an illustration of a sad story of a woman who hates her partner because of the disappointment she has experienced. Beside that, “Hateful Love” is also part of the OST for the K-Drama East of Eden.
In 2010, Black Pearl underwent a line-up change because Mika had to leave the group for some reason and also announced that she wanted to start a clothing line that she would manage herself. Then another new member, Jung-min was added to the group.
In the same year, management released their next project with their 1st EP Gogossing, which was released on July 5th, 2010, with their successful hit song with the same title as the EP. “Gogossing” had a very fresh concept and a very catchy music video at the same time. As time goes by, girl groups also display different concepts in each comeback with cheerful and energetic themes so as to attract the attention of many fans. But after releasing “Gogossing”, which became a top hit in the middle of Black Pearl’s career, the members were busy with their individual schedules, such as performing and doing acting without any promotions as a whole group. At that time, Core Contents Media as their label management did not provide any official statements regarding Black Pearl and the girl group being inactive for 2 years.
Black Pearl Members’ Profiles
To get to know better the members of Black Pearl, let’s check out their profile information in the section below! Black Pearl’s Nami Real Name: Oh Na-mi (Hangul: 오나미) Stage Name: Nami (Hangul: 나미) Place and Date of Birth: Seoul, South Korea, October 24th, 1981 Star Sign: Scorpio Height: 165 cm (5’4.9″) Weight: 48 kg (105 lbs) Position in the group: Leader, Vocalist Official Sites:
Instagram (@blackpearlnami) Twitter (@pearlnami) Facebook (@Blackpearl Nami)
Black Pearl’s Jungmin Real Name: Lee Jung-min (Hangul: 이정민) Stage Name: Jung-min (Hangul: 정민) Date of Birth: February 15th, 1982 Star Sign: Aquarius Blood Type: B Position in the group: Vocalist Black Pearl’s Young-joo Real Name: Na Young-joo (Hangul: 나영주) Stage Name: Young-joo (Hangul: 영주) Date of Birth: April 11th, 1987 Star Sign: Aries Position in the group: Main Vocalist Black Pearl’s Hwieun Real Name: Kim Hwi-eun (Hangul: 김휘은) Stage Name: Hwi-eun (Hangul: 휘은) Date of Birth: September 15th, 1990 Star Sign: Virgo Blood Type: B Position in the group: Main Vocalist Official Sites:
Instagram (@hwieun_kim) Facebook (@lalahwi) YouTube channel (hwieun)
Black Pearl’s Mika (Former Member) Real Name: Woo Mi-jin (Hangul: 우미진) Stage Name: Mika (Hangul: 미카) Date of Birth: April 14th, 1983 Star Sign: Virgo Height: 166 cm (5’5″) Weight: 46 kg (101 lbs) Blood Type: A Position in the group: Vocalist Official Sites:
Instagram (@mika0414) Twitter (@mikka0414)