36
Chapter 3. Contemporary Korean Pop Music
Many new artists with unique characteristics debuted in 2001. In January, PSY made his debut with his first album <PSY from the Psycho World!> and the title song “Bird.” He also sampled the famous song “Venus,” originally sung by Dutch rock band Shocking Blue and later remade by the English female pop band Bananarama. In particular, his unique “bird pose” caught the public’s attention. However, four months later, the album was rated “R” due to its sensual pictures and lyrics. Also that year, Sung Sikyung made his debut with the album <Like the First Time>, which was released in April and achieved great commercial success with its four hit songs: “Like the First Time,” “The Road to Me,” “Smiling Angel,” and “Missing.” Later that year, he won the New Artist Award at the Golden Disk Awards. The year 2001 saw the release of numerous popular ballads, such as “Far Away” by Park Hyoshin, “Love has Left Again” by Lee Kichan, “Reason to Waiting” by Lim Changjung, “Already One Year” by Brown Eyes and “I Love You” by Position, “Fix My Makeup” by Wax, and “Please” by Lee Sora. In addition, J.Y. Park from JYP Entertainment released his sixth album, <Game>, with the title song “I Already Got a Girl” and rose high in the music charts. 
K-Pop Beyond Asia
37
3-3 2002: Dance and Vocal Artists The year 2002 was when BoA of S.M. Entertainment went mainstream with the release of her second album, <No. 1> and its title song of the same name. According to the data of the Music Industry Association of Korea, 540,000 copies of the album were sold within the year, making it the fourth best-selling album of 2002. The song “No. 1” is a light, Euro-popstyle dance song with lyrics that reflect BoA’s dream to be the best singer in the world. Kangta of S.M. Entertainment collaborated with BoA on some of the songs on this album, including “Waiting…” and “I…” The album also featured a song written by BoA called “Realize (Stay with Me).” <No. 1> still holds the record of the being the best-selling album of all time in Korea. S.M. Entertainment’s boy group SHINWHA was also popular in 2002 with the song “I Pray 4 U,” while S.E.S, a first-generation idol girl group, furthered its career with the song “U.” Meanwhile, Rain made his debut in 2002. A former backup dancer for J.Y. Park, Rain made his debut as a singer with his hit song “Bad Boy” from his first album <Rain> in May 2002. With his next hit song, “Instead of Saying Goodbye,” he won the New Artist Award at the SBS Music Awards, MBC Music Awards, and the 17th Golden Disk Awards in December 2002. Other songs of various genres that ranked high on the charts in 2002 were: “Again” by Jewelry, “Good Person” by Park Hyoshin, “If We Can Part Even thouth We Love” by Shin Seunghun, “Never Ending Story” by BooHwal, “Sad Dream” by Koyote, “Aloha” by COOL, and “Sweet Dream” by Jang Nara. Sung Sikyung also made waves with the hit song “We Make a Good Pair,” winning first prize at the MBC Music Camp and SBS Popular Songs.
1 BoA
1