2AM

2AM
is a four-member boy-band from Seoul,South Korea. They are managed by Park Jin-Young of JYP entertainment and produces albums under Cube Entertainment. The members are Jinwoon, Jokwon (the leader), Seoulong, and Changmin. 2AM is one of the two subgroups branched out from the eleven-member boy band One Day, the other being 2PM. They officially debuted on July 11,2008 on KBS's Music Bank, performing the song "This Song".

Along with the members of 2PM, 2AM appeared on the documentary Hot Blood Men, which documented their rigorous training program. Changmin was the only member of One Day to not appear in the documentary. 2AM's leader, Jokwon, holds the record as the longest trainee in JYP Entertainment, having completed 2567 days of training. 2AM made their debut performance on KBS Music Bank performing "This Song," which talks about a man who has nothing left to offer his love except for one song. 2AM's first single "This Song" came out on and debuts on KBS Music Bank on July 11, 2008. This single contains the title song, "This Song," "Not Because," and the follow-up song, "What Do I Do."

2PM

2PM
is a seven-member boy band from Seoul,South Korea . They are managed by Park Jin-Young of JYP. The members are Nichkhun, Jaebeom, Junsu, Taecyeon, Junho, Wooyoung, and Chansung. 2PM is one of the two subgroups branched out from the eleven-member boy band One Day, the other being 2AM. They debuted with the song "10 out of 10" which showcased their mix of acrobatic and b-boy dance style.

Before their debut, 2PM was featured on an documentary called Hot Blood that aired on Mnet, along with the members of 2AM. The show documented the rigorous training program of JYP trainees as well as the elimination of three of trainees from the group. 2PM debuted with their debut single "Hottest Time of the Day," and also released a music video for "10 out of 10." They made their official debut performance on Mnet M!Countdown, performing "10 out of 10", on September 4, 2008. They continued to perform "10 out of 10" on other music shows, including SBS Inkigayo and KBS Music Bank. They were paricularly known for their high energy during their performances and the subtle changes and improvisations to their choreography. On October 17th, 2008, 2PM officially started their promotion for "Only You," another song from "Hottest Time of the Day." Remixes of their music were showed to different music & variety shows. Their song "Only You," was remixed in to a winter version to fit the Christmas season on December 05, 2008. Along with their performances on music shows, 2PM has also appeared on many variety shows. Nichkhun was an MC on the very popular talk show Yashimmanman 2 before leaving to become a permanent guest on the variety show Star King. Also, 2PM were chosen to host the 3rd season of MBC Every1 Idol Army, the previous hosts being Super Junior and FT island.

U-Kiss

U-Kiss

is a 6-member Korean boy band under NH Media. They debuted in 2008 with a single album entitled “어리지 않아” (Not Young). Their first single is said to be a fusion of the typical kpop as well as a "dirty south" style which was entirely composed by the Brave Brothers.

U-Kiss is comprised of 6 boys – two of which came from or were former members of another group, Xing (Kevin and Kibum). They are a multi-lingual group allowing them to communicate with fans in Korean, English, French, Chinese, Japanese, Portuguese, and Spanish.

U-Kiss Stands For:
U- Ubiquitous
K- Korean
I- International (Idol)
S- Super
S- Star

This shows their intention of becoming an international group with the member's ability to converse with different languages. Alexander can converse in seven languages (Spanish, Portuguese, Japanese, Cantonese, Mandarin, Korean and English). He has a flair for languages. Eli is articulate in English, Korean and Mandarin and DongHo in Mandarin. Kevin is fluent in English and KiBum can speak Japanese. They are not only ready for Asia, but also for the US and Europe as well.

The newly formed 6-members boyband “U-Kiss” ( which stands for Ubiquitous Korean Idol or International Super Star) debuted under the label-company NH Media. The boys debuted in Japan on the 15th of August at the POWER OF ATAMIX with SS501 and PARAN. Later on they made their first performance in Korea on M!NET MCOUNTDOWN with their first single ‘Not Young’ on the 28th of August. Noticeable members in the group are Kevin Woo and Kim Kibum who used in Xing. The four other members names are Eli, Alexander, Shin Dong Ho and Shin Soo Hyun.

Group U-Kiss is back with their 2nd single album “Bring it back 2 Old School”. They are back with the 90's old school style and they had their comeback stage on SBS Inkigayo on 1st February. ‘I Like You’ the title song off their new single, it is a 80-90's old pop genre and their fashion style of their comeback will be luxury vintage which is popular amongst the young people those days. U-Kiss single album “Bring It Back to Old School” released online on 3rd February.

Other activities

• Kim KiBum and his brother HyungJoon both revealed that they both work together to compose songs.
• U-Kiss member, Kevin has been chosen as the new VJ for Arirang TV's music program ‘Pops In Seoul’ along with Isak because of his fluency in the English language.
• It has been announced that a reality show, titled All About U-Kiss, would be premiering on cable network MNet. The show will last 6 episodes, and is to feature the group in their daily lives, including the interaction between members.
  

Kara

Kara

is a girl group from South Korea. They are under Daesung entertainment (DSP). Kara comes from "chara", which means "sweet melody" in Greek.

After losing a member in 2008, Kara regrouped to become a 5-member girl group and eventually achieved its first #1 song with "Honey".
The group was scheduled to have their comeback in March 2008 with their second album. However, Kim Sunghee left the group suddenly due to parental pressure, as her participation in the group was contingent on the maintenance of her grades. She failed to pass her college entrance exam, and as a result, she was forced to leave the group. In response, DSP stated that the second album would be shelved and replaced by a mini-album to come in May; in addition, two members would join the group, chosen through public auditions, to be chronicled by music television station M.Net. However, this show was canceled the day it was supposed to air.

The two new members were eventually revealed to be Gu Ha Ra and Kang Ji-young. KARA's comeback as a 5-member group was on July 24, 2008 with "Rock U" on MCountdown. They made their comeback with the "cute" concept. The same month, their first EP was released. After promotions for the song ended, Kara digitally released "Good Day: Season 2", a remake of a song on their EP, on October 13, 2008. A music video of this song was released a few days after.

On November 29, 2008, DSP entertainment released a teaser video for their upcoming single, "Pretty Girl", which received over 10,000 hits in one day.During their first national performance on KBS's Music Bank, member Gu Ha Ra accidentally slipped due to falling confetti and cried for an hour backstage.Netizens made it a "hot issue", but Gu received comfort instead of criticism from the public.

After the release of "Pretty Girl", "Kara" become a popular search term on various Korean portal sites. Leader Park Gyu-ri attributed their popularity increase to their "pretty but natural" appeal, while media reports gave credit to the band finding their own identity and to older male fans, most notably singer Shin Hae-cheol.

Due to the hectic promotional schedule, a few of the group's members were taken to the hospital on December 19 after a KBS Music Bank rehearsal, but a DSP representative said that it was not serious.

At the end of January 2009, DSP entertainment announced that it would commence voting on January 28 at Kara's official website for the follow-up single to "Pretty Girl", which would end on February 2. By the deadline of February 2, "Honey" was the clear winner, with 60% of the votes. The group filmed a music video for the song, which was released on February 16. The song was also first performed on KBS's Music Bank program on February 13, 2009; a repackaged mini-album followed on February 19. "Honey" became the group's first #1 single when it topped the M.Net M Countdown show, beating out SNSD's "Gee" for the spot. The song became the "Mutizen" song on SBS's ("Popular Songs") music program.The song also won the "Mutizen" ("music netizen") award on SBS's ("Popular Songs") program.

KARA has so far recorded two songs for various soundtracks. The original group recording a song titled "Fighting" on the soundtrack for "Chasing a Mother from Kangnam", a drama that aired on SBS; the soundtrack was released on July 25, 2007. The second song was "Butterfly" on the soundtrack for the Naruto anime, which was released on September 29, 2008.

Big Bang

Big Bang
is a Korean musical group of five, with both vocals and rap styles. When they first debuted, they were considered to be the new face of the YG family, a pet name for their management company YG entertainment. Although their debut was somewhat successful, it was not until the release of "Lies"that the group gained success. Big Bang have been noted for their music as well as their fashionable clothing, becoming famous throughout the country in the process. They also write and produce their own music.

On February 8, 2007, Big Bang released their live concert album entitled The First / Real Life Concert, which sold almost 30,000 copies by the end of 2007. From May to July 2007, the group also held their first national tour concert in Korea, with the headline Want You, touring a total of five cities: Incheon, Daego, Changwon,Jeonju and Busan.

At the same time, Big Bang released the Japanese song "Number 1" from their album of the same name and introduced the song through Japanese radio programs and TV shows; the album peaked at #3 on the Japan's Oricon daily album chart.Towards the end of 2008, Big Bang released their Korean follow-up album,Remember , yielding the single "Sunset Glow", which peaked at number-one on various charts in Korea. At the end of 2008, Big Bang collected their second "Artist of the Year" from the 2008 M.NET KM Music Festival award ceremony.

The group is currently on a break, with all of them pursuing solo activities.

Wonder Girls

Wonder Girls

are a South Korean girl group. They are produced by song-writer Park Jin-Young and are signed to his talent agency,JYP entertainment. Each of the five original members were selected through auditions. Debuting in early 2007, they became popular in the fall of that year with the song "Tell Me".

Since then they have scored 3 consecutive #1 hit singles with "Tell Me", "So Hot", and "Nobody", and in 2008, won two Daesangs ("Artist of the Year" Awards).

At the 2008 M.Net MKMF Awards, the Wonder Girls won three awards, including "Song of the Year" and "Best Music Video" for "Nobody", and "Best Female Group". The group also won an award at the 2008 Golden Disk Awards for high digital sales.At the 18th Seoul Music Awards, the Wonder Girls won the Daesang ("Artist of the Year" award) for "Nobody", along two other awards.

The Wonder Girls have had several showcases in China shortly after their debut in 2007 and have been receiving Chinese language lessons.

In February 2008, the Wonder Girls joined their producer Park Jin-Young for his month-long concert tour through Korea and the United States (including New york city and Los Angeles ) as special guests, and took the opportunity to film the music video for "Wishing on a Star" while in New York City. Park had stated that the concerts were also meant to be a showcase for his other protégés, such as Min, G-Soul, and Lim Jeong Hee. On February 28, 2009, the Wonder Girls debuted their official MySpace Music account. The page confirmed that the group would debut in the United States, with the official release of "Nobody" on May 5, 2009.

SS501

SS501
is a South korean boy band under management of Daesung Entertainment, also known as DSP Entertainment. SS501 stands for Superstar and unison of its 5 members until eternity (symbolized by the 0) as 1.

Later in 2007, the group debuted in the Japanese market. A Japanese fanclub has been established with the name of "Triple S Japan"; it officially debuted on March 25,2007 , when SS501 will had first official meeting with the group. In Korea, their fan club members number around 41,700. The group had a Japanese single "Kokoro", which had multiple versions, including one with all members and five others featuring the members individually. The single debuted at #5 on the Oricon chart. A full album was released later in the year.

In 2008, SS501 returned to Korea with their single Deja Vu released on March 8,2008 . The title track was the first song to be promoted, and they started their comeback on music channel M.Net's M Countdown. After success with their single "Deja Vu", they began to promote their second single, "A Song Calling For You". They performed their Goodbye Stage on Music Bank on June 6th, 2008, to return to Japanese activities.

SS501 member Kim Hyun Joong was cast as the F4 member Hanazawa Rui in the Korean version of Hana Yori Dango, also known as Boys Over Flowers, which is scheduled to be broadcast via KBS 2TV in the first half of 2009 with a total of 24 episodes. According to an official from Group Eight, the production house in charge of the drama,Kim Hyun Joong was selected to play Rui, Ji Hoo (Korean ver.), because he was deemed suited for the character. The decision was based on his performance in the MBC program “We Got Married” where Kim Hyun Joong is being coupled with singer HwangBo.

Due to two of the members' busy schedules, Jungmin performing in a musical "Grease" and Hyun Joong filming a drama, SS501's album, originally due for release in late 2008, was to be pushed back to July 2009. Instead, a subgroup SS501 was formed. They initially wanted to use Triple S as their group name but gave up the idea because they think that they are 5 members always as 1 no matter what, so they continued to release a special project album U R Man (released on November 25,2008 ) under the name of SS501. Finishing their promotional activities for 'U R Man', they are currently promoting Because I am stupid, a song they sang for the OST of 'Boys Before Flowers'. This song is very well-received due to the success of the drama.

The original group, with all five members, is scheduled for a comeback in July 2009 and will have their Asia Tour starting at the same time. Asia Tour will include countries like Japan, China, Taiwan, Thailand, etc.

They will release their 2nd Japanese album in May 2009 titled "All My Love".

It was just noticed that member Kim Hyun Joong will go to America for a 6 month dance training in July.

TVXQ

TVXQ

an acronym for Tong Vfang Xien Qi are a South Korean boy band quintet formed under SM entertainment in 2003. In South Korea they are known as Dong Bang Shin Ki, they were later introduced in Japan as Tohoshinki under the Avex sub-label Rhythm Zone in 2005. Their name roughly translates as "Rising Gods of the East". Since their debut, TVXQ has become one of the most popular singing groups in East Asia, gaining great popularity in such countries as China,Singapore, Malaysia,Thailand, and other East Asian regions.

In 2008, with the release of their sixteenth Japanese single, "Purple Line", which debuted atop the Oricon, TVXQ became the fifth non-Japanese Asian artist and the first male foreign group to have a number-one single on the chart.With their twenty-third single, "Doushite Kimi o Suki ni Natte Shimattandaro", TVXQ set a new record, becoming the first non-Japanese Asian artist to have three singles debut atop the chart.In 2009, with the release their twenty-fifth single, "Bolero/Kiss the Baby/Wasurenaide", TVXQ broke their own record making them the first non-Japanese Asian artist to have five number-one singles.

In March, TVXQ released their twenty-sixth single "Survivor" which will be followed by their fourth Japanese album, The Secret Code , which will be released on March 25, 2009. "Survivor" debuted at #3 on the charts subsequently ending their number-one streak.

BoA

Boa Kwon
commonly known by her stage name BoA, which stands for Beat of Angel, is a Korean singer, active in both South Korea and Japan. Born and raised in Gyeonggi-do , South Korea, BoA was discovered by SM entertainment talent agents when she accompanied her older brother to a talent search. In 2000, after two years of training, she released ID; Peace B , her debut Korean album, under SM Entertainment. Two years later, she released her debut Japanese album,Listen to my Heart , under avex the label. On October 14, 2008, under SM Entertainment USA, a subdivision of SM Entertainment, BoA debuted in the United States with the single "Eat You Up" and released her debut English-language album,BoA on March 17, 2009.

BoA's multilingual skills have contributed to her commercial success in South Korea and Japan and her popularity throughout Asia. She is one of only two non-Japanese Asians who have had million-selling albums in Japan and is one of only two artists to have first six consecutive number-one studio albums on the Oricon Charts.

On September 2, 2008, SM Entertainment announced that BoA would make her American debut under a new subsidiary label, SM Entertainment USA. A press conference was held on September 10, 2008 at the Seoul Imperial Palace Hotel to clarify the details of her American debut. BoA's debut American single "Eat You Up" was released online on October 21, 2008; it reached the top positions on the online music charts in the United States. The physical single was to be released in stores on November 11, 2008, but SM instead released a promotional CD containing dance remixes of "Eat You Up". "Eat You Up" became a number-one Breakout on the Hot Dance Club Play chart. The remix of "Eat You Up" featuring rapper Flo RiDa was slated for release in late November and leak onto the internet in December. BoA performed "Eat You Up" as well as other songs at Youtube's Tokyo Live concert, and performed in New York City on December 3, 2008, as well as the Jingle Ball at the Anaheim Honda Center on December 6, 2008. She also performed the song "Look Who's Talking" at the event.

BoA released a triple-A-side single on February 18, 2009, "Eien/Universe/Believe in Love". Also, her second compilation album,Best&USA was released on March 18. The album will be released in a two-disc or one-disc edition. The former will contain one disc with Japanese songs and one with her debut American album; the latter contains fourteen Japanese songs and two songs from her American debut album. BoA's self-titled English Album was released on March 17.

Shinee

Shinee
is a contemporary R&B South Korean boy band. Formed by SM entertainment in 2008, they made their debut on May 25, 2008 on SBS's Popular Songs with their promotional single, "Nunan Neomu Yeppeo (Replay)" ("누난 너무 예뻐 (Replay)", lit. "Older Sister, You're So Pretty"). The group consists of Onew, Jonghyun, Key, Minho, and Taemin. In late May 2008 news articles started to surface online about SM Entertainment's new group, Shinee. The video for "Nunan Neomu Yeppeo (Replay)" was released on May 22, 2008, followed by the group's first mini album, Replay, the next day. Replay debuted at #10 on the Korean music charts and peaked at #8, selling 17,957 copies in the first half of 2008.
On June 7, 2008, Shinee participated in the Dream Concert in the Seoul Olympic Stadium along with other high profile Korean stars such as Epik High,Girls Generation TVXQ, and the Wondergirls . The group won their first award, Rookie of the Month, at the Cyworld Digital Music Award on June 22, 2008. Shinee took part in SM town live 08, which was held on August 18, 2008. They performed alongside labelmates BoA,cheon sang ji hee the grace , Girls' Generation,Super Junior and TVXQ. On August 23, 2008, Shinee attended MNet's 20's Choice Awards 2008, where they won the "Hot New Star" award. Shinee released their full debut album,The Shinee World, on August 28, 2008. The album debuted on the charts at #3, selling 30,000 copies.
The first single released from the album was "Love Like Oxygen, a cover of "Show the World" by Martin Hoberg Hedegaard, originally written by the Danish songwriting and production team of Thomas Troelsen,Remee and Lucas Secon. On September 18th, 2008, Shinee's "Sanso Gateun Neo (Love Like Oxygen)" was the #1 song on M! Countdown. A few days later, Shinee received the "Mutizen" award for the single on SBS's Popular Songs. Shinee participated in the "5th Asia Song Festival", where they received the "Best New Artist" award with Japanese girl group Berryz Kobo .
Shinee attended the 2008 Style Icon Awards on October 30, 2008, where they won the "Best Style Icon Award". On the same day, they released The Shinee World as a repackaged album under the name Amigo. Included on album were three new songs: "Forever or Never", a remix of "Sa. Gye. Han (Love Should Go On)" (사.계.한) and the promotional single "A.Mi.Go (Amigo)" (아.미.고). "A.Mi.Go" is a shortened version of the Korean phrase "Areumdaun Minyeorueljoahamyeon Gosaenghanda" (아름다운 미녀를 좋아하면 고생한다 lit. Heart Aches When You Fall In Love With a Beauty).
On November 15, 2008 Shinee won the "Best Male Rookie" award at the 10th annual MNET KM Music Festival, beating fellow newcomers U-Kiss,2PM,2AM and Mighty Mouth. At the 23rd Annual Golden Disk Awards, they performed a medley of their songs, "Nunan Neomu Yeppeo (Replay)", "Sanso Gateun Neo (Love Like Oxygen)" and "A.Mi.Go (Amigo)" and won the award for "YEPP Newcomer Album".
Shinee was the topic of a short-lived reality show , Shinee's YunHaNam, which was hosted by MNet. The show ran from August 8, 2008 to October 16, 2008, with a total of twelve episodes. Each episode featured the band members going on a date with an older woman, after which she would chose one member for a solo date. The group also recorded a song, "Stand By Me", for the Korean drama adaptation of popular manga series Boys Over Flower by Yoko Kamio . In addition to promoting Smart, Shinee recorded a song, "Blue Pink Song", to further promote their product.

Girls' Generation

Girls' Generation
is a South Korean nine-member girl-group formed by SM entertainment in 2007. The members include (in order of official announcement) Yoona, Tiffany, Yuri, Hyoyeon, Sooyoung, Seohyun, Taeyeon (the leader), Jessica, and Sunny. International Girls' Generation fans usually refer to the group as SNSD, the acronym of the group's Korean name So Nyeo Shi Dae. Many of the members had already pursued an entertainment career before Girls' Generation's debut through acting, DJ-ing, and modeling. Their official fanclub is known as S♡NE (소원) also one of the titles of a song from their first album. Girls' Generation sold 100,000 copies of their album in South Korea, being the first girl group to do so since 2002.

It was announced in September 2008 that Girls' Generation would be starring in a reality show on M.Net. Titled Factory Girl, the show chronicles the girls working as interns at Ella Korea . The program began airing on October 8, 2008. It was then announced that the group's first mini-album, Gee , would be released on January 7, 2009. A teaser video was released on January 2, 2009, with the first single "Gee" released to digital outlets on January 5. Interest in the song rose greatly after the digital release, topping Cyworld's hourly music chart on that day. The song also went #1 on all major digital music charts within two days.

The group began its comeback on January 10, 2009, on Show! Music Core. They sang their new single, "Gee", and "Him Nae/Way To Go", another track from the Gee mini-album which is a remake of the song Haptic Motion being used in the Anycall Haptic CFs, which is a mix of bubblegum pop and punk rock sound. Meanwhile, questions were raised when the group did not appear on KBS 's Music Bank with "Gee", even after winning #1 on the music chart show.

"Gee" is the record holder for the longest-running #1 on music portal M.Net (for 8 weeks), overcoming the previous record of 6 weeks set by the 'Wonder Girls "Nobody". They have also broke the record on KBS 's music show Music Bank by being #1 for 9 weeks, previously set by Jewelry's "One More Time, which had 7 wins.

Like the Wonder Girls' "So Hot" and "Nobody", and Lee Hyori's "U-Go-Girl", "Gee" was featured on perezhilton.com.

Their music video for 'Gee' has had over 1.5 million views on youtube.

Controversy

During the Dream Concert held on June 7 ,2008 in South Korea, a silent protest took place against them. This protest was conducted by three major fan clubs: E.L.F (Super Junior), Cassiopeia (TVXQ), and Triple S (SS501).

Super Junior

Super Junior

often referred to as SJ or SuJu (슈주), is a boy band from Seoul, South Korea, produced and managed by Lee Soo Man, the founder of SM Entertainment. The group initially debuted with twelve members in November 2005, but after Kyuhyun's addition in May 2006, they have since become to consist of thirteen members, becoming the largest boy band in the world.^[2] The members are Leeteuk (the leader), Heechul, Han Geng, Yesung, Kang-in, Shindong, Sungmin, Eunhyuk, Donghae, Siwon, Ryeowook, Kibum, and Kyuhyun. The Chinese member, Han Geng, was chosen among three thousand applicants through auditions held in China by SM Entertainment in 2001.
Super Junior has released and contributed in over 15 different kinds of records since 2005 with varying degrees of success. According to the Music Industry Association of Korea, their most successful album, Don't Don, was the second best-selling album of 2007. Over the years, the group has also been divided into several smaller sub groups, simultaneously targeting different music industries and audiences (specifically the trot industry for Super Junior-T and the Mandarin Chinese industry for Super Junior-M). In addition to their commercial success, Super Junior has earned four music awards from the M.NET/KM Music Festival, another four from the Golden Disk Awards, and is the second singing group to win Favorite Artist Korea at the MTV Asia Awards after jtL in 2003.
Since Super Junior's debut in South Korea, the group endeavored to share an equal share of influence across Asia. The group has paid many visits to countries outside of their homeland to promote their music, especially to China and Thailand.
Super Junior's third album, Sorry, Sorry, was released on March 12, 2009.^[43] Intitial preparations for the album started as early as July 2008 while Super Junior-Happy activities were still active.^[44] The title single off the album, "Sorry, Sorry" was digitally released on March 9, 2009.^[45] In less than a week after preorders were announced, over 150,000 copies were pre-ordered.^[46] Sorry, Sorry was their first album to debut at #1 on the Hanteo Charts, and it sold over 29,000 copies the first day, defeating Seo Taiji's record of 25,000.^[47] Promotions for the album started March 13 with the performance of "Sorry, Sorry" and "Why I like you" on Music Bank.

The Grace

The Grace

is a South Korean girl group formed by SM entertainment in 2005. It consists of four members that specialize in skills of singing, dancing, and acting. The quartet debuted in 2005 and since then, the group gained popularity in South Korea and a number of other Asian countries. Currently, much of their activity occurs in Japan, following the precedent of other Korean-turned-Japanese-celebrity pop stars such as BoA, who are also managed by SM Entertainment.

The Grace had long been known as TSZX prior to the promotion of their 3rd Korean single around the end of 2006, at which the group changed their name to The Grace to signal the change of the group's style to a more “graceful” one. TSZX was the romanization of the Mandarin chinese pronunciation, Tiān Shàng Zhì Xǐ. Their name was also simplified to CSJH, the romanization of the Korean pronunciation, Chun Sang Ji Hee. Both simplifications are still widely used to refer to the band despite the change in the official name. However, in Japan, the group is still officially known as Tenjōchiki, which is also abbreviated (albeit less frequently) as TJCK......

2008

During the first months of 2008, The Grace still promoted themselves in Japan, performing on various events in support of their first Japanese album. They held three concerts in April and May named Graceful Party Vol. 1. The last one, at Daikanyama UNIT in Tokyo, featured Here, a new song in collaboration with hip-hop group CLIFF EDGE.

Their sixth Japanese single, called Stand Up People, was released on July 23. It featured Dear friend, a mid-tempo ballad, and remixes of the title song and One More Time, OK?.

Their seventh single, Here, featured a collaboration between Tenjochiki and CLIFF EDGE. It was set to be released on October 22 only, but after the song leaked, it was offered for free download for a limited time. Here was chosen to be the theme song of both the drama and movie of "Homeless School Student", based on a Japanese best-seller book. The single was heavily promoted with Tenjochiki and CLIFF EDGE appearing in many shows and performances, including a special showcase on July 18 at Shinjuku Face. A second song and PV was released soon after, entitled Near. Here proved to be a commercial and critical success, with sales excelling 16,000, and the song reaching to #16 at the Oricon Charts. It remained in the top 50 for many weeks.

2009

Second Japanese Album

This album features soft, ballad harmonization and was released on 7 January, 2009. Their title track is 少しでいいから (Sukoshi De Ii Kara / A Bit of Good). It also featured their sixth and seventh singles Stand Up People and Here.