Artist Spotlight: THE ARK
By Sana Parvayz
If you’re sick of cute/sexy girl concept and those girly dance moves, which every other K-pop girl group does, then you need to dig out THE ARK. They are a rookie girl group under the management of Music K Entertainment who debuted on April 2015 with their single “The Light.” The concept and innovative logo of the group are inspired by the famous French heroine Joan Of Arc, who was a warrior and a military leader. Another term for an arc is a bow, so, ‘The ARK’ means the bow which would set a new direction in K-pop and would overcome hardships with ease.
THE ARK is a multicolor group which consists of five members and focuses on portraying various images of society.They are trying to depict what it is like to be a new icon which is not only independent, strong, and active, but also have a hidden delicate side to them. The group consists of Jeon Minju, Kim Yuna, Jung Yujin, Lee Halla, and Jane (Cheon Jaein). Before the formation of THE ARK, Minju was on “KpopStar season 2” and Yuna was on “Superstar K season 3.” Jane also auditioned for “The Voice Kids.” Later on, the entertainment company recruited them.
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Their debut single “The Light” is a contemporary R&B song with lyrical guitar riff that adds a groovy rhythm and hip-hop feel and was composed by Kim Tae Sung, who also composed “The Boys” by Girls’ Generation. This song expresses the strength for the loved ones and supports them in their difficult times. “The Light” shows the uniqueness of THE ARK as a group and their strong rapping, vocal, and performance abilities. Being a rookie group, they rapidly gained the attention of the audience. Their music video gained nearly two million views by the end of 2015.
During their pre-debut years, THE ARK covered the songs and dance choreography by various international and K-pop artists. One of the covers includes “Love The Way You Lie” by Rihanna and Eminem. This cover further proves their great singing abilities, as Yuna and Jane are good in English. So, they amazingly covered this song.
They have done various dance covers of EXO and BTS songs. Being five members, it is pretty hard to choreograph and cover those boy groups with fewer members. But they have done a great job and their dance covers were on pointe. Even, BTS complimented them on their dance cover of “Boy in Love.” This is one of their famous dance covers and got 1.7 million views on Youtube.
However, it was hard for the group to cover boy group dances and they often got ill during practice. But, they are really happy to show their charismatic side to the audience. Can you hear those fanchants?
Imagine a girl group with swag. Oh, there is no need to imagine it because The ARK has already got that and they are confidently portraying themselves as a different girl group. The powerful “INTRO” by the group really amazed the viewers and the elegant choreography for their song “The Light” perfectly shows the promising future for THE ARK.
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I love the concept and the whole persona of THE ARK. Hence, I am a huge fan and I wish them success for the future. I am definitely rooting for their upcoming projects. Ending this post on a happy note, here’s a wonderful live performance by The ARK.
So, what are your views about this new rookie group? Did you like the concept and the whole attire of the group? Do you think girl groups should stick with the cute/sexy concept only? Or they should do something out of the box.
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