Amber Liu (singer)
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Amber | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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엠버 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Born | Amber Josephine Liu September 18, 1992 Los Angeles, California, U.S. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Nationality | American | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Other names | Liu Yi-yun | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Occupations |
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Musical career | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Genres | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Instrument | Vocals | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Years active | 2009–present | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Labels |
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Website | amber | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Chinese name | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Traditional Chinese | 劉逸雲[1] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Simplified Chinese | 刘逸云 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hanyu Pinyin | Liú Yìyún | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Amber Josephine Liu[1] (born September 18, 1992), known professionally as Amber or Amber Liu, is an American singer, rapper, and songwriter. She debuted as a member of the South Korean girl group f(x) in September 2009. In 2015, she became the first f(x) member to make a solo debut with the release of her first extended play Beautiful and has since further released solo singles.
In July 2018, Liu joined Steel Wool Entertainment following her Korean label SM Entertainment joint partnership with Steel Wool to manage her US activities. She later released the maxi singles "White Noise + Lost At Sea'" in September 2018 and "Countdown + Beautiful" in November 2018. In September 2019, she left SM Entertainment and exclusively signed with Steel Wool Entertainment prior to the release of her 2020 extended play X.
Life and career
1992–2010: Early life and career beginnings
Liu was born on September 18, 1992, in Los Angeles, California.[2][3] Her parents are from Taiwan and her father has Teochew ancestry.[4] She has one older sister named Jackie.[5] She attended El Camino Real High School in Los Angeles. Liu was cast from SM 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.[6] During an episode of the group's reality show, Go f(x), Liu 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".[5]
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,[7] and "Summer Lover" from their third studio album, Red Light. Aside from featured songs, she 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".
She frequently collaborated with other SM 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 Liu 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.[8]
2011–2014: Television roles
Liu has also made a career on television. From October 2011 to April 2012, she was part of the reality-variety show, Invincible Youth. She had to leave the show to prepare for her group's debut in Japan.[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] She has 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.[11] 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.[12] She was also a host of We Got Married Global Edition.[13] 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.[14] On December 31, Liu was confirmed as a cast member for the second female soldier special of MBC's Real Men.[15]
2015–present: Solo debut
Liu 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.[16] 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.[17] Beautiful debuted at number two 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.[18]
As a part of SM Station project, Liu'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 relates her childhood experiences and gives a message not to give up on oneself against life difficulties.[19]
Liu released digital single "On My Own" on May 18, 2016. On May 25, she released "Need to Feel Needed".[20] On September 9, 2016 SM Entertainment published the official music video for "Breathe Again". This was Liu's first entirely English song and her first collaboration with Japanese DJ, Ksuke.[21] On April 15, 2018, Liu released a solo mixtape in English, Rogue Rouge, with six tracks, free on SoundCloud. She also released a music video for one track, "Closed Doors", on YouTube, with plans to release a total of six videos.[22]
In July 2018, she signed with Steel Wool Entertainment and was also registered as her full name, Amber Liu. The agency represents and promotes her in the United States through singing, acting, as well as directing videos.[23] Liu is also signed with United Talent Agency to represent her worldwide activities.[24] In September 2018, Liu released a single album White Noise + Lost At Sea, which includes two songs "White Noise" and "Lost At Sea".[25]
On September 1, 2019, Liu announced her departure from SM Entertainment.[26] Five days later, she confirmed that she would continue forward with her Steel Wool Entertainment contract, and would release an album that she previously prepared with the label.[27] On September 12, Liu announced that she was releasing her second EP, X, with six tracks. It was later confirmed that she would drop one track each month until the album's release on January 10, 2020.[28]
Discography
Extended plays
Title | Album details | Peak chart positions | Sales | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
KOR [29] |
US Heat [30] |
US World [31] | |||
Beautiful |
|
2 | 19 | 2 |
|
X |
|
To be released |
Single albums
Title | Album details | Peak chart positions | Sales | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
KOR | US Heat | US World | |||
White Noise + Lost At Sea |
Track listing
|
— | — | — | — |
Countdown + Beautiful [33] |
Track listing
|
— | — | — |
Mixtapes
Title | Album details | Peak chart positions | Sales | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
KOR | US Heat | US World | |||
Rogue Rouge |
Track listing
|
— | — | — | — |
Singles
Title | Year | Peak chart positions | Sales | Album Title | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
KOR [34] |
US World [35] | ||||||
Korean | |||||||
"Shake That Brass" (featuring Taeyeon) |
2015 | 17 | 4 | Beautiful | |||
"Heartbeat" (With Luna featuring Ferry Corsten & Kago Pengchi) |
2016 | — | 6 | — | SM Station Season 1 | ||
"Wave" (With Luna featuring R3hab & XaviGi) |
— | 5 | |||||
English | |||||||
"Borders" | 2016 | 205 | — | — | SM Station Season 1 | ||
"On My Own" (featuring Gen Neo) |
— | 11 | Non-album single | ||||
"Need to Feel Needed" | 300 | — | |||||
Breathe Again (featuring Ksuke) |
— | — | |||||
"White Noise" | 2018 | — | — | White Noise+Lost at Sea | |||
"Countdown" (featuring LDN Noise) |
— | — | Countdown+Beautiful | ||||
"Hands Behind My Back" | 2019 | TBA | X | ||||
"No Other" | TBA | ||||||
"—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released in that region. |
Other charted songs
Title | Year | Peak chart positions | Album |
---|---|---|---|
KOR [36] | |||
"Beautiful" | 2015 | 87 | Beautiful |
"I Just Wanna" (featuring Eric Nam) |
63 |
Collaborations
Year | Album | Song[citation needed] | Artist |
---|---|---|---|
2010 | KBS God of Study OST | "Spread Its Wings" | With Luna & Krystal |
The First Second | "I'm Back" | Duet with Danson Tang | |
The 1st Asia Tour Concert – Into the New World | "1, 2 Step [Live]" | Duet with Kwon Yuri | |
2013 | 1-4-3 (I Love You) | "1-4-3 (I Love You)" | Duet with Henry |
2014 | "So Good" | Featuring for Chad Future | |
2015 | VIVID | "Letting Go" | Duet with Ailee |
"We Own The World" | "We Own The World" | Featuring with Luna for Justin Oh (for Ultra Korea) | |
Two Yoo Project – Sugar Man Part.6 | "Just a Love" | Duet with Luna | |
2017 | Future Friends | "Fantasy" | Featuring for Superfruit |
"Love Don't Hurt" | "Love Don't Hurt" | Featuring for Shannon | |
2018 | "Lower" | "Lower" | Duet with Luna |
Rogue Rouge | "Right Now" | Amber featuring Gen Neo |
As songwriter
Year | Album | Song[citation needed] | Artist | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
2012 | Electric Shock | "Beautiful Stranger" | Amber, Luna & Krystal |
|
2013 | Pink Tape | "Goodbye Summer" | Amber, Luna, Krystal & D.O. of Exo |
|
2014 | Red Light | "Summer Lover" | f(x) |
|
2015 | Beautiful | "Beautiful" | Amber |
|
"Shake That Brass" | Amber ft. Taeyeon of Girls' Generation |
| ||
"Love Run" | Amber |
| ||
"Heights" |
| |||
"I Just Wanna" | Amber ft. Eric Nam |
| ||
VIVID | "Letting go" | Ailee ft. Amber |
| |
2016 | (single) | "Borders" | Amber |
|
"On My Own" | ||||
"Need to Feel Needed" | ||||
"Breathe Again" |
| |||
2018 | White Noise + Lost At Sea | "White Noise" |
| |
"Lost At Sea" |
Music videos
Year | Music video[citation needed] | Language | Note |
---|---|---|---|
2015 | "Shake That Brass" | Korean | |
"Beautiful" | Korean | ||
2016 | "Borders" | English | Co-directed |
Amber & Luna – "Wave" | Korean | ||
"On My Own" | English version and Korean version | Directed | |
"Need To Feel Needed" | English | Directed | |
"Breathe Again" | English | ||
Amber and Luna – "Heartbeat" | Korean | ||
2018 | "White Noise"[38] |
Filmography
Television drama
Year | Title | Role | Network | Notes | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
2016 | Entourage | Joey Jung | tvN | Aired November 4, 2016 – December 24, 2016 | [citation needed] |
Television shows
Year | Program[citation needed] | Network | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
2011–2012 | Invincible Youth 2 | KBS | Regular cast; Episodes 1–18 |
2013 | Show Champion | MBC Music | Host |
2014 | We Got Married Global Edition | MBC | Host |
Ailee & Amber One Fine Day | MBC | Season Regular | |
2014–2015 | A Song For You 3 | KBS | Host |
2015 | Real Men | MBC | Cast |
Top Fly (TV Series) | JSBC: Jiangsu Television | Cast; Episodes 1–5 | |
A Song For You 4 | KBS | Host | |
2016 | We Got Married | MBC | Panelist |
Concert tours
- Gone Rogue Tour (2018)[39]
- Tour X (2020)
Awards and nominations
Year | Award | Category | Nominated work | Result |
---|---|---|---|---|
2015 | Mnet Asian Music Awards | Best Dance Performance | "Shake That Brass"[40] | Nominated |
MBC Entertainment Awards | Best Female Newcomer Award[41] | Real Men | Won |
References
- ^ a b Park Areum (November 13, 2011). "엠버 본명 알고보니 유일운 "주먹 좀 쓰는 형 이름?"". Newsen (in Korean). Retrieved April 12, 2016.
- ^ "Amber's profile" (in Korean). Amber Official Website. Retrieved April 12, 2016.
- ^ Jeong Byung-ki (March 24, 2016). "New song from Amber coming out Friday". Korea JoongAng Daily. Retrieved April 12, 2016.
- ^ chilloutb0x (July 12, 2011). "[ENG SUB] 110517 Henry and Zhou Mi talked about Amber and Victoria" – via YouTube.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ a b Go f(x) on MnetAmerica's official YouTube page Youtube.com (July 24, 2013). Retrieved on May 21, 2014.
- ^ "SM Unmasks f(x) Members". allkpop.com. August 24, 2009. Archived from the original on July 27, 2011.
- ^ Oak, Jessica (July 30, 2013). "f(x) Stay Quirky With Sophomore LP 'Pink Tape'". Billboard. Retrieved February 11, 2015.
- ^ "Danson I'm Back feat. f(x) Amber Music Video". June 8, 2010.
- ^ Carla Sunwoo (March 31, 2012). "Supermodel and female comic to take on the 'G8'". Korea JoongAng Daily. Retrieved February 11, 2015.
- ^ "헨리 '1-4-3'으로 컴백, 에프엑스 엠버 피처링 지원사격". News.nate.com. Retrieved August 23, 2013.
- ^ 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.
- ^ Jung Ji-won (June 9, 2014). "Kangin, Amber and Yook Sung Jae Selected to Host 'A Song For You'". Newsen. Retrieved February 11, 2015.
- ^ f(x) Amber to host We Got Married Global Allkpop.com (February 23, 2014). Retrieved May 21, 2014
- ^ "Ailee and f(x)'s Amber to Star in Their Own Reality Show "One Fine Day"". Soompi. December 15, 2014. Retrieved February 11, 2015.
- ^ ""Real Man's line up"". Archived from the original on January 13, 2015.
- ^ Lee Woo-young (February 13, 2015). "Amber unveils first solo album". The Korea Herald. Retrieved February 25, 2015.
- ^ 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.
- ^ Benjamin, Jeff (February 19, 2015). "Amber's 'Beautiful' Solo Debut Swoops into World, Heatseekers Albums Charts". Billboard. Retrieved February 24, 2015.
- ^ Woorim Ahn (March 23, 2016). "f(x)′s Amber to Release Solo Song on March 25". eNewsWorld.
- ^ "f(x)'s Amber To Release Third Single In "Crossing" Series – Soompi". www.soompi.com.
- ^ "KSUKE×AMBER from f(x)コラボ作『BREATHE AGAIN』配信スタート! ネオアジアMVも公開 – Ameba News [アメーバニュース]".
- ^ "f(x)'s Amber's mixtape 'Rogue Rouge' + 'Closed Doors' MV dropped".
- ^ Baltin, Steve (July 9, 2018). "Exclusive: K-Pop Superstar Amber Liu On Making Her Big U.S. Push This Year". Forbes. Retrieved September 20, 2019.
- ^ "Amber Liu – UTA Music". United Talent Agency. Retrieved February 2, 2019.
- ^ "f(x) 엠버, 싱글 'WHITE NOISE + LOST AT SEA' 21일 발표". Retrieved September 22, 2018.
- ^ "'에프엑스' 엠버, SM과 계약 종료…"미유, 영원히 사랑해"". dispatch.co.kr (in Korean). September 1, 2019. Retrieved September 1, 2019.
- ^ "엠버, SM 떠나 美 스틸울과 함께 새로운 도전 시작". entertain.naver.com. September 6, 2019. Retrieved September 20, 2019.
- ^ a b "[공식입장] f(x) 출신 엠버, 美 엔터와 전속계약…오늘 새 앨범". news.nate.com/ (in Korean). September 20, 2019. Retrieved September 21, 2019.
- ^ "Gaon Album Chart". Gaon Music Chart (in Korean). Archived from the original on August 27, 2015. Retrieved February 23, 2015.
- ^ "Heatseekers Albums Chart". Billboard. Retrieved February 24, 2015.
- ^ "World Albums Chart". Billboard. Retrieved February 24, 2015.
- ^ 2015년 02월 Album Chart [February 2015 Album Chart]. Gaon Music Chart (in Korean). Archived from the original on March 12, 2015. Retrieved March 11, 2015.
- ^ "f(x) 엠버, 30일 새 자작곡 'Countdown' 깜짝 공개 [공식입장]". Retrieved November 29, 2018.
- ^ Gaon Digital Chart
- "Gaon Digital Chart". Gaon Music Chart (in Korean). Archived from the original on March 9, 2017. Retrieved February 23, 2015.
- "Borders – 2016년 13주차 Digital Chart". Gaon Music Chart (in Korean).
- "Need To Feel Needed – 2016년 22주차 Digital Chart". Gaon Music Chart (in Korean).
- ^ Billboard World Digital
- "World Digital Songs Chart". Billboard. Retrieved February 24, 2015.
- "Wave – World Digital Songs (May 28, 2016)". Billboard Charts.
- "On My Own – World Digital Songs (June 04, 2016)". Billboard Charts.
- ^ a b Cumulative Sales for "Shake That Brass":
- "2015년 08주차 Download Chart". Gaon Music Chart (in Korean). Retrieved February 23, 2015.
- "2015년 09주차 Download Chart". Gaon Music Chart (in Korean). Retrieved February 25, 2015.
- ^ "국내 대표 음악 차트 가온차트!". Gaon Music Chart (in Korean). Retrieved December 23, 2015.
- ^ "AMBER 엠버 'White Noise' MV". Retrieved September 22, 2018.
- ^ "Amber Talks Feeling 'Lost at Sea,' the 'White Noise' of Her Career, Importance of Language & #MeToo". Retrieved September 22, 2018.
- ^ Mnet Asian Music Award for Best Dance Performance Solo Originally from Mwave (2015). Archived on December 9, 2015. Retrieved on December 9, 2015.
- ^ "f(x)'s Amber, BTOB's Sungjae, and more pick up rookie awards at '2015 MBC Entertainment Awards' - allkpop.com".
External links
- 1992 births
- Living people
- 21st-century women singers
- American dance musicians
- American dancers of Taiwanese descent
- American expatriates in South Korea
- American female dancers
- American female guitarists
- American female pop singers
- American female rappers
- American female singer-songwriters
- American female taekwondo practitioners
- American hip hop singers
- American people of Teochew descent
- American rappers of East Asian descent
- American television actresses
- American television hosts
- Women in hip hop music
- Dancers from California
- F(x) (band) members
- Guitarists from Los Angeles
- Korean-language singers of the United States
- K-pop singers
- People from Woodland Hills, Los Angeles
- Rappers from Los Angeles
- SM Entertainment artists
- Songwriters from California
- Television personalities from California
- West Coast hip hop musicians
- 21st-century American rappers
- Women television presenters
- American women in electronic music