K-pop girl group Kara to release music after seven years

Girl group Kara [RBW]
Second-generation K-pop girl group Kara will release new music after a seven-year hiatus, the group’s agency RBW said Monday.

According to RBW, Kara will release a new album in November and come back to the K-pop scene. After debuting in 2007, Kara was one of the most popular girl groups in the late 2000s โ€” when second-generation K-pop is said to have started โ€” and early 2010s.

The group is best known for hits โ€œPretty Girlโ€ (2008), โ€œHoneyโ€ (2008), โ€œMr.โ€ (2009), โ€œStepโ€ (2011) and โ€œPandoraโ€ (2012). Its megahit โ€œMr.โ€ was a major contributor to the rise of K-pop and Hallyu, or the Korean wave, in Japan, making Kara the first Korean girl group to host a standalone concert at the Tokyo Dome.

The upcoming album will be Karaโ€™s first music since its seventh EP โ€œIn Love,โ€ released in May 2015. It will also serve as Karaโ€™s 15th anniversary album.

โ€œSince we prepared this album for our fans who always sent us their unchanging love and support for a long time, we want them and us to enjoy the new album full of happy and bright energy, like a festival.”

The girl group currently consists of members Gyuri, Seungyeon and Youngji. Members Nicole and Jiyoung, who left the group in 2014, will join for the new release.

BY HALEY YANG [yang.hyunjoo@joongang.co.kr]