Clazziquai Project
Clazziquai Project | |
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Background information | |
Origin | South Korea |
Genres | K-pop, J-pop, electropop, electronica, house, acid jazz, groove, lounge |
Years active | 2001–present |
Labels | Fluxus Music |
Members | |
Website | www |
Clazziquai Project (Hangul: 클래지콰이), also known as Clazziquai, is a South Korean experimental band that combines several genres including electronic music, acid jazz and house. The group's first short unofficial albums were released online in 2001, spreading its music through words of "netizens," who positively received the group's music. They remained underground until the release of their first album Instant Pig in 2004, selling over 80,000 copies. Since then, their music has been used in shows, commercials, and films.[1]
Clazziquai is known for their songs, "Be My Love" and "She Is", which were featured on the Korean drama My Lovely Samsoon, with the former becoming the show's theme song. The group won an award at the MNET KM Music Video Festival for "Best Soundtrack", and has also been the most nominated group at the Korean Popular Music Awards II(2회), winning "Artist of the Year" and "Best Pop". They have contributed to works by Japanese artists Fantastic Plastic Machine and M-Flo.
History
2001: Formation
DJ Clazzi, described as "a magician at synthesizing different sounds in music into creating one unique [sic] new genre".[2] graduated from Capilano College, and continued his study at Centre for Digital Imaging and Sound (CDIS). After his graduation, he worked as a web designer, uploading his music online during his leisure time. Eventually, Netizens discovered his music and were drawn to its experimental nature, which is the reason why Clazziquai was initially labeled a "project group"[3]
Korean-Canadian siblings Alex and Christina Chu were initially acquaintances with DJ Clazzi and participated vocally on the first three short and experimental albums released online, named "[gray]", "[red]", and "[retro]".[citation needed] Due to the positive attention received from Netizens, Clazziquai released their first official album, "Instant Pig".[4]
Alex's sister Christina later quit due to her work in Canada, and an artist named Horan stepped in to fill her spot. Despite this, she still occasionally contributes vocals to several songs. However, she has not been regarded as an official member, and only as an uncredited guest artist.[citation needed]
2004: Instant Pig
"Instant Pig" gained critical acclaim leading to over 5 songs from the album to be used in 6 television commercials.[5]
"Novabossa" was used as part of the soundtrack for the 2004 Korean film "How to Keep My Love" (내 남자의 로맨스) [citation needed]. Over 30 songs were mixed in the production process [citation needed].
The remixed English version of the song, in its side Japanese remix album ZBAM was released in 2005, & was later used as a song in a television commercial featuring David Beckham. Fantastic Plastic Machine praised Clazziquai as a new group to lead the "Hallyu".[1]
2005: Color Your Soul
In summer of 2005, Clazziquai's "Be My Love" and "She Is", were featured in the Korean hit television drama, My Lovely Samsoon. These two major theme songs also raised the ratings of the series up 50%.[6] Clazziquai had hoped then that people's imagination towards their music would not 'decrease as a result of their unexpected popularity'.[5]
In 2005, Clazziquai released their second album claiming it had a "raw, funkier feel presenting a combination of electronic music and [an] emphasized acoustic genre".[2] In one week, Clazziquai's second album charted #3 in the Kyobo Hot track list, as well as #5 in the Hanter Album chart list. [citation needed]
2007–2008: Love Child of the Century
In 2007, "Lover Boy" was released for Clazziquai's third album, followed by "Last Tango". As Alex's fame grew after becoming a main cast member for the popular Korean reality TV show We Got Married, so did the track "Romeo N Juliet", which was prominently featured in the series. A Remix album, Robotica, was released later in the year.
After the album's release, the members of Clazziquai grew busy with their own work, which started false rumors that Clazziquai could be disbanding.[7] Alex released his first solo album My Vintage Romance while Horan joined an acoustic music project group titled Ibadi (이바디) as their main vocalist, and released their debut album Story of Us.
In 2008, a video game for the PlayStation Portable featuring many Clazziquai songs titled DJ Max Portable Clazziquai Edition was released.
2009: Mucho Punk and Mucho Musica
In early 2009, Clazziquai released "Wizard of Oz" as part of a commercial for LG, claiming it would be part of the album later in the year. Their fourth album, Mucho Punk was released alongside a single release of "Love Again", which features American fashion model Jarah Mariano.
In concordance to Mucho Punk, Clazziquai released Japanese album, Mucho Musica and later plan to released a remix album, Mucho Mix, later in 2009.[8]
On January 17, 2012, member DJ Clazzi released his debut solo album titled Infant.
2013: Blessed
In February 2013, the group released a new fifth album, Blessed. The release also included MVs for their songs "Love Recipe" and "Sweetest Name".[9]
2014: Blink
In September 2014, Clazziquai released their sixth album, Blink.[10]
2016: Travellers
In September 2016, Clazziquai released their seventh album, Travellers.[11]
Members
- Kim Sung-hoon (김성훈), better known by his stage name DJ Clazzi (DJ 클래지) is in charge of composing, mixing and producing the group's songs.
- Choi Soo-jin (최수진), better known by her stage name Horan (호란) is the female vocalist for the group.
- Chu Hun-gon (추헌곤), better known by his stage name Alex (알렉스) is the male vocalist for the group.
Discography
Studio albums
Title | Album details | Peak chart positions |
Sales | |
---|---|---|---|---|
KOR [12] |
JPN [13] | |||
Instant Pig |
Track listing
|
— | — | — |
Color Your Soul |
Track listing
|
94 | ||
Love Child of the Century |
Track listing
|
72 | ||
Mucho Musica |
Track listing
|
158 | ||
Mucho Punk |
Track listing
|
158 | ||
Blessed |
Track listing
|
8 | — |
|
Blink |
Track listing
|
16 | — |
|
Travellers |
Track listing
|
16 | — |
|
"—" denotes releases that did not chart. |
Special albums
Title | Album details | Peak chart positions | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
KOR [12] |
JPN [13] | |||
Beat in Love |
Track listing
|
— | 188 | |
Metrotronics with DJMAX |
Track listing [ CD - TRACKS ]
[ DVD - TRACKS ]
|
— | ||
Taiwan Special Best Of Album 2013 |
Track listing
|
— | — | |
"—" denotes releases that did not chart. |
Remix albums
Title | Album details |
---|---|
Zbam |
Track listing
|
Pinch Your Soul |
Track listing
|
Robotica |
Track listing
|
Mucho Mix |
Track listing
|
Mucho Beat |
Track listing
|
Extended plays
Title | Album details |
---|---|
Love Mode |
|
Singles
Title | Year | Peak chart positions | Album |
---|---|---|---|
KOR [17] | |||
"Novabossa" | 2004 | — | Instant Pig |
"After Love" | |||
"Sweety" | |||
"Come to Me" | Zbam | ||
"Fill This Night" | 2005 | Color Your Soul | |
"Dancing" (춤) | |||
"Love Mode" | 2006 | Pinch Your Soul | |
"Lover Boy" | 2007 | Love Child of the Century | |
"Last Tango" | |||
"In the Middle of Life" (생의 한가운데) | |||
"Robotica" | Robotica | ||
"Beat In Love" | 2008 | Beat In Love | |
"Flea" | Metrotronics with DJMAX | ||
"Electronics" | |||
"The World of Oz" | 2009 | Mucho Musica | |
"Love Again" | Mucho Punk | ||
"Tell Yourself" | |||
"Ping" (핑) | Mucho Beat | ||
"La La La" | |||
"Can't Go On My Own" (함께라면) feat. Kim Jin-pyo |
2013 | 36 | Blessed |
"Sweetest Name" | 38 | ||
"Love Recipe" (러브 레시피) | 24 | ||
"Blessed" | — | ||
"Love Satellite" | 2014 | — | Blink |
"Madly" | — | ||
"Still I'm by Your Side" (내게 돌아와) | — | ||
"Call Me Back" (feat. Baechigi (배치기) |
— | ||
"Crave You" | — | ||
"Android" | — | ||
"I'm Curious" (#궁금해) | 2016 | — | Travellers |
"Speak of Love" (걱정남녀) | — | ||
"—" denotes releases that did not chart. |
Collaborations
Year | Title | Artist |
---|---|---|
2002 | "Coming At Me To Disco" | Yoo Hee-Yeol |
2004 | "Even Alone" (혼자라도) | Epik High |
2005 | "Today's Weather" (오늘의 날씨) | Yoon Jong Shin |
2006 | "Don't You Know?" | Fantastic Plastic Machine |
2007 | "Monologue" (독백) | Rhyme Bus |
"Calling You" | Ryohei Yamamoto | |
2008 | "Butterfly" | Loveholics |
Soundtrack appearances
Year | Title | Album |
---|---|---|
2003 | "Play Girl" | Good People OST |
2004 | "Nova Bossa" | Chocolate Post Office OST |
"By The Sea" (바다로) | Heong-bu Hurt His Head OST | |
2005 | "Be My Love" | My Lovely Sam Soon OST |
"Stepping Out" | April Snow OST | |
2010 | "Lazy Sunday Morning" | Le Petit Nicolas OST |
Awards and nominations
Years | Awards |
---|---|
2005 |
|
Year | Category | Work | Result |
---|---|---|---|
2004 | Best New Group Video | "Sweety"[18] | Nominated |
2005 | Best Mixed Group | "Fill This Night"[19] | Nominated |
Best OST | "She Is..." (My Lovely Sam Soon)[20] | Won | |
2007 | Best House & Electronic | "Lover Boy"[21] | Won |
Best Mixed Group | Won | ||
2009 | Best House & Electronic | "Love Again"[22] | Nominated |
Best Mixed Gender Group | Nominated |
References
- ^ a b Tak, Jin-hyun. Clazziquai, a new Hallyu Star "Sportainment", March 4, 2006.
- ^ a b Choi, Seung-hyun (2005-09-23). "푸근하고 정감있게 변신했죠". Chosun Ilbo.
- ^ "Horan goes straightforward. "호란은 직진한다"". Magazine T. 2006-12-26.
- ^ Lee, Jae-Won (2005-10-04). "클래지콰이 다채로운 리듬 '감칠맛'". Sports Korea.
- ^ a b Lee, Young Pyo. "Clazziquai comes back with 2nd album(2집으로 돌아온 클래지콰이)", "Seoul Newspaper(서울신문)", October 20, 2005.
- ^ Lee, Hye-Ri. "러브홀릭·클래지콰이 '삼순열풍'에 한 몫", "NoCut News", June 6, 2005.
- ^ "Horan and Alex go solo ("클래지콰이 '줄줄이 솔로'")". Hankooki News. 2008-03-22.
- ^ "Clazziquai will release another Japanese remix album". KoME World. 2009-09-03.
- ^ "Clazziquai Project reveals MV for "Love Recipe" + fifth album "Blessed"".
- ^ "Blink".
- ^ "On a journey with Clazziquai". The Korea Herald.
- ^ a b "Gaon Album Chart".
- ^ a b "Oricon Chart".
- ^ "2013년 03월 (March 2013) Album Chart" (in Korean).
- ^ "2014년 09월 (September 2014) Album Chart" (in Korean).
- ^ "2016년 09월 (September 2016) Album Chart" (in Korean).
- ^ "Gaon Digital Chart".
- ^ "2004 MKMF part 1". Mwave. Retrieved 2014-08-25.
- ^ "2005 MKMF part 1". Mwave. Retrieved 2014-08-28.
- ^ "2005 M.net Korean Music Festival Winners list". MAMA. Retrieved 2014-06-12.
- ^ "2007 Winners". Mnet official website. Retrieved 3 February 2014.
- ^ "2009 Mnet Asian Music Awards Part1". MAMA. Retrieved 2014-12-18.