Amber Liu (singer)

Amber
Amber at KCON 2016 LA in July 2016
Native name 엠버
Born Amber Josephine Liu
(1992-09-18) September 18, 1992
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Nationality American
Other names Liu Yi-yun
Occupation
  • Singer
  • rapper
  • songwriter
  • composer
Musical career
Genres
Instruments
  • Vocals
  • rapping
  • guitar
  • drums
Years active 2009–present
Labels
Associated acts
Website amber.smtown.com
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese 劉逸雲[1]
Simplified Chinese 刘逸云
Hanyu Pinyin Liú Yìyún

Amber Josephine Liu[1] (born September 18, 1992), known professionally as Amber or Amber Liu, is an Taiwanese American singer, rapper, songwriter and composer based in South Korea. She is a member of the South Korean girl group f(x). She debuted as a solo artist in February 2015 with the release of her EP, Beautiful.[2]

Life and career

1992–2010: Early life and career beginnings

Amber was born on September 18, 1992 in Los Angeles, California.[3][4] Her parents are from Taiwan and her father has Teochew ancestry.[5] She has one older sister named Jackie.[6] She attended El Camino Real High School in Los Angeles. Amber was cast from SM Entertainment's Los Angeles global audition in 2008, where she and one male were selected to be trainees for SM Entertainment. After a year and a half of training, she debuted as a member of the South Korean girl group f(x) in September 2009.[7] During an episode of the group's reality show, Go f(x), Amber revealed that her parents initially had mixed feelings regarding her music career. She stated: "My dad was very cautious, at first ...but then my mom was always supportive from the beginning. I really thank her and she also convinced my dad".[6]

Amber performing at Seoul Plaza.

She has composed and written lyrics for some of the group's songs such as "Goodbye Summer" which was a track in their second studio album, Pink Tape,[8] and "Summer Lover" from their third studio album, Red Light. Aside from featured songs, Amber also worked with fellow group mates Luna and Krystal for the soundtrack of KBS drama God of Study, in a song called "Spread its Wings".

She frequently collaborated with other SM Entertainment artists. Label mate Yuri of Girls' Generation performed a cover of Ciara's song "1, 2 Step" at their first concert, Into the New World, held on December 19 and 20, 2009 in Seoul and featured Amber as a rapper and dancer. The song was then included in their first live album. In June 2010, she was featured in the lead track of Taiwanese singer, Danson Tang's third Mandarin studio album, The First Second. She performed the Korean and English rap parts of the song, and was also featured in the song's music video.[9]

2011–2014: Television roles

Amber has also made a career on television. From October 2011 to April 2012, Amber was part of the reality-variety show, Invincible Youth. She had to leave the show to prepare for her group's debut in Japan.[10] In 2013, she was featured in the Korean version of the title track of Henry's's debut album, called "1-4-3 (I Love You)".[11] She has hosted MBC's music show Show Champion with T-ara's Eunjung for a year, both of them stepped down as hosts on December 18, 2013.[12] On June 6, 2014, she became a host of the KBS show, A Song for You with Kangin of Super Junior and Yook Sungjae of BTOB.[13] She was also a host of We Got Married Global Edition.[14] In the same year, she appeared in a 9-episode travel reality series, One Fine Day, with singer Ailee, who is a close friend of hers. The show, which aired on MBC Music, followed a vacation trip they took and was filmed on Jeju Island.[15] On December 31, Amber was confirmed as a cast member for the second female soldier special of MBC's Real Men.[16]

2015–present: Solo debut

Amber Liu at the Jeju K-Pop Festival, in October 2015.

Amber officially debuted as a solo artist, releasing her debut EP, Beautiful, on February 13, 2015. The title track, "Shake That Brass", featured Girls' Generation's Taeyeon.[17] A few days prior to the release of the album, a lyric video for the B-side track, "Beautiful", was released. The music video contained childhood photos of the singer, as well as photos since her debut as a member of f(x). Its lyrics tells the story of the difficulties she faced as she chased after her dreams of being an entertainer and how she liked herself the way she is.[18] Beautiful debuted at number two on Billboard's World Albums chart and number 19 on Heatseekers Albums. According to Jeff Benjamin of Billboard K-Town, this ranking shows Amber has a large international fanbase.[19]

As a part of SM Station project, Amber's solo single, "Borders", was released in March 2016. She participated in composing, lyrics writing and arrangement of the song. Written entirely in English, the hip hop track shares Amber's childhood experiences and gives a positive message not to give up on oneself against life difficulties.[20]

On May 15, 2016 SM Entertainment posted a mysterious teaser for new song with the name "Crossing". On May 16, 2016 SM Entertainment announced that Amber was set to release a new digital single on May 18, 2016 titled "On My Own". On May 22, 2016 Amber announced the release of the third single on the Crossing series following "Borders" and "On My Own", on May 25, titled "Need to Feel Needed".[21]

On September 9, 2016 SM Entertainment published the official music video for "Breathe Again". This was Amber's first entirely English song and her first collaboration with Japanese DJ, Ksuke.[22]

On April 15, 2018, Amber released a solo mixtape in English, Rogue Rouge, with six tracks, free on SoundCloud. She also released a music video for one track, "Closed Doors", on YouTube, with plans to release a total of six videos.[23]

In July 2018, she has signed with Steel Wool Entertainment and also has been registered as Amber Liu. The agency will represent her plans to promote in the United States through singing, acting, as well as directing videos while her Korean activities still managed by SM Entertainment and SM wanted to actively and systematically promote Amber's United States activities cooperate with Steel Wool Entertainment.[24][25]

In September 2018, Amber released a single album White Noise + Lost At Sea, which includes two songs "White Noise" and "Lost At Sea".[26]

Discography

Extended plays

Title Album details Peak chart positions Sales
KOR
[27]		 US Heat
[28]		 US World
[29]
Beautiful 2192

Single albums

Title Album details Peak chart positions Sales
KOR US Heat US World
White Noise + Lost At Sea TBA

Singles

Title Year Peak chart positions Sales
KOR
[31]		 US
World
[32]
"Shake That Brass"
(featuring Taeyeon)		 2015 174
"Borders" 2016 205— N/A
"Wave"
(With Luna featuring R3hab & XaviGi)		 —5 N/A
"On My Own"
(featuring Gen Neo)		 —— N/A
"Need to Feel Needed" 300— N/A
Breathe Again
(featuring Ksuke)		 —— N/A
"Heartbeat"
(With Luna featuring Ferry Corsten & Kago Pengchi)		 —6 N/A
"White Noise" 2018 TBA
"—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released in that region.

Other charted songs

Title Year Peak chart positions Album
KOR
[33]
"Beautiful" 2015 87 Beautiful
"I Just Wanna"
(featuring Eric Nam)		 63

Collaborations

Year Album Song Artist
2010KBS God of Study OST"Spread Its Wings"With Luna & Krystal
The First Second"I'm Back"Duet with Danson Tang
The 1st Asia Tour Concert – Into the New World"1, 2 Step [Live]"Duet with Kwon Yuri
20131-4-3 (I Love You)"1-4-3 (I Love You)"Duet with Henry
2014"So Good"Featuring for Chad Future
2015VIVID"Letting Go"Duet with Ailee
"We Own The World""We Own The World"Featuring with Luna for Justin Oh (for Ultra Korea)
Two Yoo Project – Sugar Man Part.6 "Just a Love"Duet with Luna
2017Future Friends"Fantasy"Featuring for Superfruit
"Love Don't Hurt""Love Don't Hurt"Featuring for Shannon
2018"Lower""Lower"Duet with Luna

As songwriter

Year Album Song Artist Notes
2012 Electric Shock "Beautiful Stranger" Amber, Luna & Krystal
  • Lyrics
2013 Pink Tape "Goodbye Summer" Amber, Luna, Krystal & D.O. of Exo
  • Music with Gen Neo
2014 Red Light "Summer Lover" f(x)
  • Music with Sean Alexander
2015 Beautiful "Beautiful" Amber
  • Music
  • Lyrics with Jam Factory
"Shake That Brass" Amber ft. Taeyeon of Girls' Generation
  • Music with Courtney Woolsey and Nermin Harambasic * Jin Choi
  • Lyrics with Rhymer, V-Hawk, Lee Yoo-jin, Kang Ji-eun
"Love Run" Amber
  • Music with Sean Alexander
  • Lyrics with Jakops and Kim Min-ji
"Heights"
  • Music with Command Freaks
  • Lyrics with David Choi
"I Just Wanna" Amber ft. Eric Nam
  • Music with Gen Neo
  • Lyrics
VIVID "Letting go" Ailee ft. Amber
  • Music and Lyrics with Ailee
2016 (single) "Borders" Amber
  • Music and Lyrics
"On My Own"
"Need to Feel Needed"
"Breathe Again"
  • Music and Lyrics with Ksuke
2018 White Noise + Lost At Sea "White Noise"
  • Music and Lyrics with Darren Smith and Sean Alexander
"Lost At Sea"

Music videos

Year Music video Language Note
2015 "Shake That Brass" Korean
"Beautiful" Korean
2016 "Borders" English Co-directed
Amber & Luna – "Wave" Korean
"On My Own" English version and Korean version Directed
"Need To Feel Needed" English Directed
"Breathe Again" English
Amber and Luna – "Heartbeat" Korean
2018 "White Noise"[35]

Filmography

Television drama

Year Title Role Network Notes Ref.
2016EntourageJoey JungtvNAired November 4, 2016 – December 24, 2016

Television shows

Year Program Network Notes
2011–2012 Invincible Youth 2 KBS Regular cast; Episodes 1–18
2013 Show Champion MBC Music Host
2014 We Got Married Global Edition MBC Host
Ailee & Amber One Fine Day MBC Season Regular
2014–2015 A Song For You 3 KBS Host
2015 Real Men MBC Cast
Top Fly (TV Series) JSBC: Jiangsu Television Cast; Episodes 1–5
A Song For You 4 KBS Host
2016 We Got Married MBC Panelist

Concert tours

  • Gone Rogue Tour (2018)[36]

Awards and nominations

Year Award Category Nominated work Result
2015 Mnet Asian Music Awards Best Dance Performance "Shake That Brass"[37] Nominated
MBC Entertainment Awards Best Female Newcomer Award[38] Real Men Won

References

  1. 1 2 Park Areum (November 13, 2011). "엠버 본명 알고보니 유일운 "주먹 좀 쓰는 형 이름?"". Newsen (in Korean). Retrieved April 12, 2016.
  2. ↑ "Amber of f(x) readies first solo single". Korea JoongAng Daily. February 5, 2015. Retrieved February 11, 2015.
  3. ↑ "Amber's profile" (in Korean). Amber Official Website. Retrieved April 12, 2016.
  4. ↑ Jeong Byung-ki (March 24, 2016). "New song from Amber coming out Friday". Korea JoongAng Daily. Retrieved April 12, 2016.
  5. ↑ chilloutb0x (July 12, 2011). "[ENG SUB] 110517 Henry and Zhou Mi talked about Amber and Victoria" – via YouTube.
  6. 1 2 Go f(x) on MnetAmerica's official YouTube page Youtube.com (July 24, 2013). Retrieved on May 21, 2014.
  7. ↑ "SM Unmasks f(x) Members". allkpop.com. August 24, 2009. Archived from the original on July 27, 2011.
  8. ↑ Oak, Jessica (July 30, 2013). "f(x) Stay Quirky With Sophomore LP 'Pink Tape'". Billboard. Retrieved February 11, 2015.
  9. ↑ "Danson I'm Back feat. f(x) Amber Music Video". June 8, 2010.
  10. ↑ Carla Sunwoo (March 31, 2012). "Supermodel and female comic to take on the 'G8'". Korea JoongAng Daily. Retrieved February 11, 2015.
  11. ↑ "헨리 '1-4-3'으로 컴백, 에프엑스 엠버 피처링 지원사격". News.nate.com. Retrieved August 23, 2013.
  12. ↑ Ho, Stewart (January 29, 2013). "T-ara's Ham Eun Jung and f(x)'s Amber Are the New MCs of MBC's 'Show Champion'". enewsWorld. Retrieved February 11, 2015.
  13. ↑ Jung Ji-won (June 9, 2014). "Kangin, Amber and Yook Sung Jae Selected to Host 'A Song For You'". Newsen. Retrieved February 11, 2015.
  14. ↑ f(x) Amber to host We Got Married Global Allkpop.com (February 23, 2014). Retrieved May 21, 2014
  15. ↑ "Ailee and f(x)'s Amber to Star in Their Own Reality Show "One Fine Day"". Soompi. December 15, 2014. Retrieved February 11, 2015.
  16. ↑ ""Real Man's line up"". Archived from the original on January 13, 2015.
  17. ↑ Lee Woo-young (February 13, 2015). "Amber unveils first solo album". The Korea Herald. Retrieved February 25, 2015.
  18. ↑ Yoon Sang-Guen (February 9, 2015). "'f(x)Amber' Begins Solo Activity with [Beautiful]…Releases Lyric Video". Star News. Translated by Cho Ah-Ra. Retrieved February 25, 2015.
  19. ↑ Benjamin, Jeff (February 19, 2015). "Amber's 'Beautiful' Solo Debut Swoops into World, Heatseekers Albums Charts". Billboard. Retrieved February 24, 2015.
  20. ↑ Woorim Ahn (March 23, 2016). "f(x)′s Amber to Release Solo Song on March 25". eNewsWorld.
  21. ↑ "f(x)'s Amber To Release Third Single In "Crossing" Series - Soompi". www.soompi.com.
  22. ↑ "KSUKE×AMBER from f(x)コラボ作『BREATHE AGAIN』配信スタート！　ネオアジアMVも公開 - Ameba News [アメーバニュース]".
  23. ↑ "f(x)'s Amber's mixtape 'Rogue Rouge' + 'Closed Doors' MV dropped".
  24. ↑ https://m.entertain.naver.com/read?oid=311&aid=0000874895
  25. ↑ https://www.forbes.com/sites/stevebaltin/2018/07/09/exclusive-k-pop-superstar-amber-liu-on-making-her-big-u-s-push-this-year/#64d3314b3e08
  26. ↑ "f(x) 엠버, 싱글 'WHITE NOISE + LOST AT SEA' 21일 발표". Retrieved September 22, 2018.
  27. ↑ "Gaon Album Chart". Gaon Music Chart (in Korean). Archived from the original on August 27, 2015. Retrieved February 23, 2015.
  28. ↑ "Heatseekers Albums Chart". Billboard. Retrieved February 24, 2015.
  29. ↑ "World Albums Chart". Billboard. Retrieved February 24, 2015.
  30. ↑ 2015년 02월 Album Chart [February 2015 Album Chart]. Gaon Music Chart (in Korean). Archived from the original on March 12, 2015. Retrieved March 11, 2015.
  31. ↑ Gaon Digital Chart
    • "Gaon Digital Chart". Gaon Music Chart (in Korean). Archived from the original on March 9, 2017. Retrieved February 23, 2015.
    • "Borders – 2016년 13주차 Digital Chart". Gaon Music Chart (in Korean).
    • "Need To Feel Needed – 2016년 22주차 Digital Chart". Gaon Music Chart (in Korean).
  32. ↑ Billboard World Digital
    • "World Digital Songs Chart". Billboard. Retrieved February 24, 2015.
    • "Wave – World Digital Songs (May 28, 2016)". Billboard Charts.
  33. 1 2 Cumulative Sales for "Shake That Brass":
    • "2015년 08주차 Download Chart". Gaon Music Chart (in Korean). Retrieved February 23, 2015.
    • "2015년 09주차 Download Chart". Gaon Music Chart (in Korean). Retrieved February 25, 2015.
  34. ↑ "국내 대표 음악 차트 가온차트!". Gaon Music Chart (in Korean). Retrieved December 23, 2015.
  35. ↑ "AMBER 엠버 'White Noise' MV". Retrieved September 22, 2018.
  36. ↑ "Amber Talks Feeling 'Lost at Sea,' the 'White Noise' of Her Career, Importance of Language & #MeToo". Retrieved September 22, 2018.
  37. ↑ Mnet Asian Music Award for Best Dance Performance Solo Originally from Mwave (2015). Archived on December 9, 2015. Retrieved on December 9, 2015.
  38. ↑ "f(x)'s Amber, BTOB's Sungjae, and more pick up rookie awards at '2015 MBC Entertainment Awards' - allkpop.com".
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