Promo: SPICA

[from left to right] Kim Boa, Park Narae, Park Joo Hyun, Yang Jiwon, & Kim Bo Hyung

Joining LOEN Entertainment and having some guidance by the iconic Lee Hyori, five talented females were brought together to form SPICA. Some of them were not a stranger to the kpop world. Park Joo Hyun was featured in a song, Kim Boa contributed to rookie group Infinite's vocal growth, Yang Jiwon was a former member of T-ara and Five Girls, and Kim Bo Hyung was a 2NE1 trainee. These experiences helped these girls build a fairly strong foundation for what's to come in the future. They debuted with "Potently" in January with their senior Lee Hyori featured in the music video. They also made a few appearances on radio programs showing off their strong vocal talent.

I first ran into this quintet while skimming EatYourKimchi's kpop chart and saw the music video for "Potently". Eventually after seeing the thumbnail so many times, I caved in and watched it. I do not regret my decision either. Sure, the girls weren't in the video at all, but I thought it was a somewhat good decision to hide their identities. It was a different approach of introducing these polished rookies to the world. You can easily engross yourself with the emotion and depth of the lyrics and delivery without being distracted by learning names or finding a bias, like most viewers would do. Perhaps Hyori benefited from this move as well. When I saw the teaser for "Russian Roulette", I was excited and I normally don't get attached so quickly to kpop groups upon debut. Once the full video was released, I was pleased, despite the predictable storyline. It was nice seeing these beautiful faces behind the equally beautiful voices. They're not your aegyo girl group with sexy dance moves, they simply deliver charming yet humble personalities and vocal talent that more than half of kpop females would kill for.