One of the girl groups that is among the 1st generation of the Hallyu Wave is Chakra (Hangul: 샤크라), a well-known group among Korean fans because they were also quite famous in the early 2000s. Let’s find out more about Chakra’s profile, career journey, debut era, stage performances, and their latest news in this article below!
Chakra’s Group Profile
Chakra was a sensational K-pop girl group that was sensational with its Indian-inspired dance music. They debuted in 1999 and disbanded in 2006. Their top singles include “To You,” “End,” “Bitter Sorrow,” “Come Back,” “Hey U,” and many more Chakra consisted of 4 original members including Eani, Hwangbo, Ryeowon, and Eun. Eani became the leader and later decided to leave the group and get married. Then, there was an additional member who joined in 2002, which was Bona.
Chakra’s Career Journey
Chakra’s concept was quite fresh. It was a group that was quite precarious in terms of sound balance. At that time, many groups were lip-syncing, so if it was just based on looks, a team could quickly be assembled through street casting and make a hasty debut in a month. Still, the groups at the time had one main vocalist who could sing well even though they lacked looks to cover their lack of skills. Chakra made a risky choice to select all four members based on their visuals only. Eun, Hwangbo, and Ryeowon were all ordinary girls who had no relationship with the entertainment industry from the beginning, but they were selected as members based on their appearance and atmosphere through street casting. At least an entertainment-related career had already taken Eani who was from Miss Korea 1997. With the overwhelming specifications, it was obvious that she was chosen as the visual of the group. However, at the beginning of her debut, she did not receive much attention because of the boyish concept, short cuts and unique makeup, being showed by Hwangbo and Ryeowon. Fortunately, Hwangbo, who was cast by Lee Sangmin for the reason that Lee Sangmin is talented and she looks like an Indian woman, surprisingly maintained her skills, so she took charge of the lead vocals and raps. Since Hwangbo was the only reliable member as a singer, Hwangbo sang most of the songs, and Eun and Ryeowon showed the distribution of the vocalist with only one or two verses. Besides, Eani was only in charge of the visuals using the superior specs of her background as Miss Korea and had virtually no function as a vocalist. Although Hwangbo was the group’s main vocalist, she was not at a level that could be said to be overwhelming compared to other groups. There was no sub-vocalist either. At least it got better after Eani and Bona came in, but Bona wasn’t good enough, so only Hwangbo’s voice could be heard in the group until the group disbanded. However, due to the production that showed Lee Sang-min’s skillful differentiation, he received attention relatively early and achieved great success. Unlike other girl groups, Chakra appeared with an exotic Indian-style concept and attracted attention. Considering the specificity of the concept alone, putting the skills aside, it can be compared to that of 2NE1 at the time of their debut, but considering the times, it can be said that it was a unique and rare concept that was brought by a girl group.
Chakra’s Debut Era
Chakra officially debuted on February 26, 2000, with a single titled “Han.” They started their debut performance that was aired on Music Camp on the same date as their debut date. If you look at Chakra’s performance in this video below, of course, you will be amazed by the different concept given by Chakra with the Indian-style debut concept which is very different from the trend in South Korea at that time.
Not only that but the choreography of Chakra’s “Han” also looks different from usual because they had dance moves that focused a lot on various hand movements. The 4 members of Chakra also seemed to really enjoy their performance by smiling at the camera and looking in sync with each other in this performance.
