Fin.K.L.
| Fin.K.L | |
|---|---|
| Origin | Seoul, South Korea |
| Genres | K-pop |
| Years active |
|
| Labels | DSP Media |
| Members | |
| Korean name | |
| Hangul | 핑클 |
|---|---|
| Revised Romanization | Pingkeul |
| McCune–Reischauer | P'ingk'ŭl |
Fin.K.L (Korean: 핑클) was a South Korean pop girl group that debuted in 1998. Their name stands for Fin Killing Liberty, and was intended to mean that the group stood against "the oppression of all freedom" ( means "end" in French). The group's name was selected by a poll of young people by the record company before the group's inception. This is the reason for the lack of clear meaning in Fin.K.L's English name, for the Korean name was selected first.
Fin.K.L was one of the most popular K-pop girl groups, selling for over 2.2 million albums along with S.E.S. Fin.K.L won numerous music awards. They had a comeback for a digital single in 2005.
The first member to be discovered for Fin.K.L was its lead singer, Ock Joo-hyun. She was discovered through a radio singing contest, which she won by singing Mariah Carey's "Hero". Ock told her friend Lee Jin about this group and encouraged her to join; Lee was selected after singing Eco's "Blessed Me" (Korean: 행복한 나를) for her audition. The next member to be selected was Sung Yuri, who was discovered while on a school field trip. As for the fourth member, Annie Lee (who formed Tashannie with Yoon Mi-rae) was accepted, but decided to depart after a few months. Lee Hyori, who was found while in a mall taking sticker pictures with friends, was brought into the group.
Fin.K.L debuted in 1998 with its first album Blue Rain. The trend of late 1990s K-pop was to have groups sing cute, catchy music, as evidenced by the success of SM Entertainment groups S.E.S. and H.O.T. In contrast, Fin.K.L's initial strength was in R&B ballads led by Ock Joo-hyun's vocals; this was shown by their first single "Blue Rain". Fin.K.L's next hit "To My Boyfriend" (Korean: 내 남자친구에게) was a more typical pop song and followed popular conventions at the time. (Yuki Hsu, a Taiwanese singer, sang a remake version of "To My Boyfriend" not long after the song's success in South Korea.) They capped off their first album activities with a third single, "Sad Tears" (Korean: 루비), which was a ballad about a lost love, and giving that love up for the good of everyone involved. The group also created a music video for a fourth single (which was eventually just left as a video and not promoted).
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