Amber Liu (singer)

Amber Liu

Amber Liu in Los Angeles at the music festival KCON 2013
Born Amber Josephine Liu
(1992-09-18) September 18, 1992
Los Angeles, California, United States
Occupation
  • Rapper
  • singer
  • songwriter

Musical career

Genres
Instruments Vocals
Years active 2009–present
Labels
Associated acts
Website amber.smtown.com
Amber Liu
Traditional Chinese 劉逸雲[1]
Simplified Chinese 刘逸云
Hanyu Pinyin Liú Yìyún

Amber Josephine Liu[1] (born September 18, 1992), known professionally as Amber, is a Taiwanese American rapper and singer currently active in South Korea. She is a member of the South Korean girl group f(x). She debuted as a solo artist in February 2015 with the release of her EP, Beautiful.[2]

Early life

Amber was born on September 18, 1992 in Los Angeles, California.[3][4] Her parents are from Taiwan and her father has Teochew ancestry.[5] She has one older sister named Jackie.[6] She attended El Camino Real High School in Los Angeles prior to moving to South Korea to be a trainee under S.M. Entertainment.

Career

F(x)

Amber performing at Seoul Plaza

Amber was cast from S.M. Entertainment's Los Angeles global audition in 2008, where she and one male were selected to be trainees for SM Entertainment. After a year and a half of training, she debuted as a member of the South Korean girl group f(x) in September 2009.[7] During an episode of the group's reality show, Go f(x), Amber revealed that her parents initially had mixed feelings regarding her music career. She stated: "My dad was very cautious, at first ...but then my mom was always supportive from the beginning. I really thank her and she also convinced my dad".[6]

She has composed and written lyrics for some of the group's songs such as "Goodbye Summer" which was a track in their second studio album, Pink Tape,[8] and "Summer Lover" from their third studio album, Red Light. Aside from featured songs, Amber also worked with fellow group mates Luna and Krystal for the soundtrack of KBS drama God of Study, in a song called "Spread its Wings".

Solo activities

She frequently collaborated with other S.M. Entertainment artists. Label mate Yuri of Girls' Generation performed a cover of Ciara's song "1, 2 Step" at their first concert, Into the New World, held on December 19 and 20, 2009 in Seoul and featured Amber as a rapper and dancer. The song was then included in their first live album. In June 2010, she was featured in the lead track of Taiwanese singer, Danson Tang's third Mandarin studio album, The First Second. She performed the Korean and English rap parts of the song, and was also featured in the song's music video.[9] In 2013, she was featured in the Korean version of the title track of Henry's's debut album, called "1-4-3 (I Love You)".[10]

Amber has also made a career on television. From October 2011 to April 2012, Amber was part of the reality-variety show, Invincible Youth. She had to leave the show to prepare for her group's debut in Japan.[11] She has also hosted MBC's music show Show Champion with T-ara's Eunjung for a year, both of them stepped down as hosts on December 18, 2013.[12] On June 6, 2014, she became a host of the KBS show, A Song for You with Kangin of Super Junior and Yook Sungjae of BTOB.[13] She was also a host of We Got Married Global Edition.[14] In the same year, she appeared in a 9-episode travel reality series, One Fine Day, with singer Ailee, who is a close friend of hers. The show, which aired on MBC Music, followed a vacation trip they took and was filmed on Jeju Island.[15] On December 31, Amber was confirmed as a cast member for the second female soldier special of MBC's Real Men.[16]

Amber officially debuted as a solo artist, releasing her debut EP, Beautiful, on February 13, 2015. The title track, "Shake That Brass", featured Girls' Generation's Taeyeon.[17] A few days prior to the release of the album, a lyric video for the B-side track, "Beautiful", was released. The music video contained childhood photos of the singer, as well as photos since her debut as a member of f(x). Its lyrics tells the story of the difficulties she faced as she chased after her dreams of being an entertainer and how she liked herself the way she is.[18] Beautiful debuted at number 2 on Billboard's World Albums chart and number 19 on Heatseekers Albums. According to Jeff Benjamin of Billboard K-Town, this ranking shows Amber has a large international fanbase.[19]

As a part of SM Station project, Amber's solo single, "Borders", was released in March 2016. She participated in composing, lyrics writing and arrangement of the song. Written entirely in English, the hip hop track shares Amber's childhood experiences and gives a positive message not to give up on oneself against life difficulties.[20]

Personal life

Amber is a native speaker of English and additionally possesses fluency in Korean and Mandarin Chinese. She went to El Camino Real High School in Woodland Hills, California, where she played basketball. Basketball served as a large portion of her early childhood to her arrival in Korea. She was also a member of her school track team. She holds a black belt in Taekwondo.

Amber took a six-month hiatus from the group early in their career reportedly due to an ankle injury.

Discography

Further information: F(x) discography

EPs

Title Album details Peak chart positions Sales
KOR
[21]		 US Heat
[22]		 US World
[23]
Beautiful 2 19 2
"—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released in that region.

Singles

Title Year Peak chart positions Sales Album
KOR
[25]		 US World Digital
[26]
"Shake That Brass"
(featuring Taeyeon)		 2015 17 4 Beautiful
"Borders" 2016 — —
  • KOR: —
 SM Station
"Wave"
(With Luna featuring R3hab & XaviGi)		 — —
  • KOR: —
 TBA
"—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released in that region.

Other charted songs

Title Year Peak chart positions Album
KOR
[27]
"Beautiful" 2015 87 Beautiful
"I Just Wanna"
(featuring Eric Nam)		 63
"—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released in that region.

Collaborations

Year Album Song Artist
2010 KBS God of Study OST "Spread Its Wings" With Luna & Krystal
2010 The First Second "I'm Back" Duet with Danson Tang
2013 1-4-3 (I Love You) "1-4-3 (I Love You)" Duet with Henry
2015 VIVID "Letting go" Duet with Ailee

As songwriter

Year Album Song Artist Singer
2012 Electric Shock "Beautiful Stranger" f(x) Sung with Luna & Krystal
2013 Pink Tape "Goodbye Summer" f(x) Sung with Luna, Krystal & D.O. of Exo
2014 Red Light "Summer Lover" f(x) f(x)
2015 VIVID "Letting go" Ailee Duet with Ailee
2016 SM Station "Borders" Amber Amber

Filmography

TV Shows

Year Channel Show Notes
2011-2012 KBS Invincible Youth 2 Season Regular
2013 MBC Music Show Champion Host
2014 MBC We Got Married Global Edition Host
2014 KBS A Song For You 3 Host
2014 MBC Ailee&Amber One Fine Day Season Regular
2015 MBC Real Men Cast
JSBC: JSTV Top Fly Cast
KBS A Song For You 4 Host
KBS2 Happy Together Guest, Ep 395

Awards and nominations

Year Award Category Nominated work Result
2015 Mnet Asian Music Awards Best Dance Performance "Shake That Brass"[29] Nominated
MBC Entertainment Awards Best Female Newcomer Award[30] Real Men Won

References

  1. 1 2 Park Areum (November 13, 2011). "엠버 본명 알고보니 유일운 “주먹 좀 쓰는 형 이름?”". Newsen (in Korean). Retrieved April 12, 2016.
  2. ↑ "Amber of f(x) readies first solo single". Korea JoongAng Daily. February 5, 2015. Retrieved February 11, 2015.
  3. ↑ "Amber's profile" (in Korean). Amber Official Website. Retrieved April 12, 2016.
  4. ↑ Jeong Byung-ki (March 24, 2016). "New song from Amber coming out Friday". Korea JoongAng Daily. Retrieved April 12, 2016.
  5. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMTU3UL-Hu8&feature=youtu.be&t=1m6s
  6. 1 2 Go f(x) on MnetAmerica's official YouTube page Youtube.com (July 24, 2013). Retrieved on May 21, 2014.
  7. ↑ "SM Unmasks f(x) Members". allkpop.com. August 24, 2009.
  8. ↑ Oak, Jessica (July 30, 2013). "f(x) Stay Quirky With Sophomore LP 'Pink Tape'". Billboard. Retrieved February 11, 2015.
  9. ↑ "Danson I'm Back feat. f(x) Amber Music Video". June 8, 2010.
  10. ↑ "헨리 '1-4-3'으로 컴백, 에프엑스 엠버 피처링 지원사격". News.nate.com. Retrieved August 23, 2013.
  11. ↑ Carla Sunwoo (March 31, 2012). "Supermodel and female comic to take on the 'G8'". Korea JoongAng Daily. Retrieved February 11, 2015.
  12. ↑ Ho, Stewart (January 29, 2013). "T-ara's Ham Eun Jung and f(x)'s Amber Are the New MCs of MBC's 'Show Champion'". enewsWorld. Retrieved February 11, 2015.
  13. ↑ Jung Ji-won (June 9, 2014). "Kangin, Amber and Yook Sung Jae Selected to Host 'A Song For You'". Newsen. Retrieved February 11, 2015.
  14. ↑ f(x) Amber to host We Got Married Global Allkpop.com (February 23, 2014). Retrieved May 21, 2014
  15. ↑ "Ailee and f(x)'s Amber to Star in Their Own Reality Show "One Fine Day"". Soompi. December 15, 2014. Retrieved February 11, 2015.
  16. ↑ "Real Man's line up"
  17. ↑ Lee Woo-young (February 13, 2015). "Amber unveils first solo album". The Korea Herald. Retrieved February 25, 2015.
  18. ↑ Yoon Sang-Guen (February 9, 2015). "'f(x)'‘Amber' Begins Solo Activity with [Beautiful]…Releases Lyric Video". Star News. Translated by Cho Ah-Ra. Retrieved February 25, 2015.
  19. ↑ Benjamin, Jeff (February 19, 2015). "Amber's 'Beautiful' Solo Debut Swoops into World, Heatseekers Albums Charts". Billboard. Retrieved February 24, 2015.
  20. ↑ Woorim Ahn (March 23, 2016). "f(x)′s Amber to Release Solo Song on March 25". eNewsWorld.
  21. ↑ "Gaon Album Chart". Gaon Chart (in Korean). Korea Music Content Industry Association. Retrieved February 23, 2015.
  22. ↑ "Heatseekers Albums Chart". Billboard. Retrieved February 24, 2015.
  23. ↑ "World Albums Chart". Billboard. Retrieved February 24, 2015.
  24. ↑ 2015년 02월 Album Chart [February 2015 Album Chart]. Gaon Chart (in Korean). Korea Music Content Industry Association. Archived from the original on March 12, 2015. Retrieved March 11, 2015.
  25. ↑ "Gaon Digital Chart". Gaon Chart (in Korean). Korea Music Content Industry Association. Retrieved February 23, 2015.
  26. ↑ "World Digital Songs Chart". Billboard. Retrieved February 24, 2015.
  27. 1 2 Cumulative Sales for "Shake That Brass":
  28. ↑ "국내 대표 음악 차트 가온차트!". gaonchart.co.kr. Retrieved December 23, 2015.
  29. ↑ Mnet Asian Music Award for Best Dance Performance Solo Originally from Mwave (2015). Archived on December 9, 2015. Retrieved on December 9, 2015.
  30. ↑ f(x)'s Amber, BTOB's Sungjae, and more pick up rookie awards at '2015 MBC Entertainment Awards'

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Amber Liu (singer).
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Friday, April 29, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.