Today’s “Weekly Idol” is all about The Boss.
Also known as Dae Guk Nam Ah / DGNA / The Boys Of Super Space in Korea and Daikoku Danji in Japan, The Boss are a five member boy group who most consider to be “Kpop re-exported from Japan” because of the way they promoted themselves in Japan first before returning back to Korea.
The members consist of Mika, Karam, Hyunmin, Injun and Jay. Prior to their debut under Open World Entertainment in March 2010 with “Admiring Boy,” all five members were part of the group Xing alongside other notable names such as BEAST‘s Yong Jun Hyung and U-KISS‘s Kevin Woo and former member of said group Kim Kibum/Marumir.
From September 2010, The Boss in Japan spent a year promoting their Japanese songs and released a set of singles as part of their “Love Stories” concept before returning to Korea in October 2011 to promote their song “Lady.” They resumed Japanese promotions in 2012 and their Korean album album was delayed due to the arrest of CEO Jang Seok Woo for harassment charges. The band eventually signed onto POOM Entertainment and came back with a new single “Why Goodbye” and mini album “Chapter II.”
Popular songs
Their debut song Admiring Boy
[youtube id=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbpXnnBDalQ”]
Stumble, Stumble
[youtube id=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCEbwKSYg7Y”]
Nobody, Anybody
[youtube id=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sc5JDwX-r4o”]
Sad Story
[youtube id=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mM75JYqGtpw”]
Lady I recommend checking out this live acapella performance of the song too. Starts around 2:22 mark
[youtube id=”http://youtu.be/dStFugdaw-w”]
Why Goodbye
[youtube id=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XyFJb87v620″]
Love Parade [Japanese]
[youtube id=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xW7KiEwLCjE”].
Other songs in the ‘love’ series include Love Power (there’s also a special version of this song), Love Bingo and Love Days. **Warning, these MVs are extremely colourful and cute**
Why I chose The Boss as Weekly Idol
It all started from this Acapella of Bill Withers ‘s “Ain’t No Sunshine” at a press conference for the band’s first showcase in Malaysia. It had been a long time since I heard an Acapella properly and I was mesmerized right away that I had to find out more on this quintet.
The Boss remind me a little of the old TVXQ with their vocals and music style. You’ve got some sugary pop music you can bop along to happily (their Jpop songs and earlier tracks from their first label demonstrate this rather nicely) but when they slow things down to sing emotional ballads there is the occasional goosebump lurking e.g. Lady. Since their comeback, their music sound has become more mature compared to their cute debut but they still show they have slick choreography as well as strong vocal range.
