Chocolat (band)

Chocolat (Hangul: 쇼콜라, Syokolla), commonly stylized as ChoColat, was a South Korean girl group created by Paramount Music in 2011. The group's name stems from the idea that each member is reminiscent of a different type of chocolate. The name of the group was initially going to be "Chocolate", but there was already a group with that name, so Paramount Music decided to use the French word chocolat instead.^[1] The group consists of mixed race members. The group hasn't been active since 2013, and it is believed that they have unofficially disbanded.

Career

2011: Debut and I Like It

On August 2, 2011, Chocolat was revealed to the public by Paramount Music as the first mixed race group to debut in South Korea.^[2] Prior to their debut, their music had been described as electronic club music, a mix of the disco of T-ara's "Roly-Poly" and the club sounds of 2NE1's "I Am The Best".^[3] They have also said their role models are from girl group 2NE1.^[3]

The song "I Like It" was brought to the group at the last-minute by the Paramount's president with the thought that it better represented the group's image. At this point, the band had already recorded seven songs and were rehearsing another song for their debut.^[1] At first, the song was not well-liked, but public reception made them more comfortable with it.^[1]

The music video for "Syndrome" was released on August 16, prior to the release of the digital single.^[4] Following the digital release of the single on August 17, Chocolat had their debut performance on Mnet's M! Countdown on August 18, 2011,^[5][6] later performing on August 19, 2011 on KBS Music Bank, on August 20, 2011 on MBC Music Core and finally a week later on SBS Inkigayo, on September 4, 2011. The song peaked at number 68 on the Gaon Weekly Digital Singles Chart and was written by British songwriter group DWB (Paul Drew, Greig Watts, Pete Barringer).^[7][8][9] Before the debut, the group also had a cameo in the film Mr. Idol as "Korea's best group".^[10]

Later in the year, it was revealed that the group would be returning with an extended play in December. Promotions for "I Like It" began on December 3, 2011 at the music show K-pop Con. Due to severe illness, member Jaeyoon was unable to attend recording sessions for the title track and therefore had to miss the "I Like It" promotional period altogether.^[11] The EP contains a total of five songs, including the title track "I Like It", which is work of Girls' Generation's Genie's songwriters Anne Judith Wik, Robin Jenssen, Ronny Svendsen and Nermin Harambasic.^[12] Writer team DWB, having previously composed their debut single, composed the EP's track "In a Heartbeat" (너만을 보고 너만을 그리는) and "World Domination" (싫어 싫어).^[12] The EP was released on December 15, 2011, including their title track "I Like It", an English version of the single, and three other tracks, likely to have been amongst the seven previously recorded songs the group had prior to debuting.^[13] The EP reached 63 on the Gaon Weekly Albums Chart,^[14] while the title track went to number 81 on the digital singles chart.^[15]

2012: Endorsements and One More Day

On January 5, it was announced that Chocolat had been chosen as new models for NBA Korea.^[16] On January 21, through Twitter, member Tia announced that they wouldn't be going back home to celebrate the Korean New Year and would instead spend the holiday practicing for promotions for their follow-up single "One More Day".^[17][18] The track, from their I Like It EP, was penned by Korean-American songwriters Jenny Hyun and Jean T. Na, and was originally sung as a demo by Hyun and titled "Same Thing To Her".^[19] The first performance for "One More Day" was broadcast through KBS's Music Bank on February 3. The music video was then released on February 9, 2012,^[20] alongside the physical and digital single album,^[21] which included the title track, a B-side song titled "Get Up", as well as instrumentals of both songs.^[20] The music video shows the members performing a chair dance contrasting with the storyline involving the girls capturing the man who's deceived them and punishing him for what he's done. The single reached number 83 on the Gaon Weekly Digital Singles Chart.^[22] The song is scheduled to be used as a theme song for a movie currently being filmed in the United States.^[12]

2013: Black Tinkerbell and Unofficial Disbandment

On May 29, it was confirmed that Chocolat would be releasing new material in June. A week earlier the members had been reported to have been filming their upcoming music video for their comeback.^[23] The group has since been a four-membered unit, as their former main vocalist Jaeyoon continued her absence from activities. The new single, "Black Tinkerbell", is about the love of Peter Pan's fairy, Tinkerbell, who stays by his side although he has found a love of his own, Wendy. The track was composed by Kim Euisung, a member of the group Bring The Noiz, who was inspired to write the song for Chocolat after hearing people compare them to fairies. The song took almost two years to be written, and the recording took six months to be perfected.^[24][25][26] The single also includes a B-side, "All Night Long", composed by the DWB songwriting team.

On June 5, Chocolat performed a preview of "Black Tinkerbell" for the first time on Arirang TV's Afterschool Club.^[27] After a one-year-and-three-month hiatus, the group released the single and its music video on June 11, 2013 in South Korea.^[28] The first performance for "Black Tinkerbell" was broadcast through KBS's Music Show! Champion on June 13, followed by Music Bank on June 14.^[29] "Black Tinkerbell" reached number 81 on the Gaon charts.^[30]

Since the group hasn't been active for 3 years, it is likely they unofficially disbanded.

Members

Current members

• Choi Minji (최민지), better known by her stage name Min Soa (민소아), was the leader and a vocalist of the group. She was born in Korea on (1989-06-10) June 10, 1989. She was raised in Korea until the age of 17, when she moved to study abroad in Brisbane, Australia. Though having majored in art in college, her dreams of becoming a singer lead her to be introduced by a friend to her current CEO, to whom she sent a demo and through that, she was invited to join Chocolat as the oldest member.^[31]
• Juliane Alfieri was a vocalist of the group. She was born on (1993-12-12) December 12, 1993. Though born in Korea, she moved to Texas at the age of 6 and stayed there for 5 years before going back to Korea. Melanie's mother was the key connection between Juliane and her joining the group, since she was well acquainted with Juliane's mother, through which Juliane was able to audition and join the group.^[31] She is of Korean descent through her mother's side, and through her father's side, who was in the U.S. Armed Forces in Korea, she is of German and Italian descent.^[32]
• Tia Jasmine Hwang Cuevas was the main dancer and a vocalist of the group. She was born on (1997-03-15) March 15, 1997 in California. According to her parents, Tia moved to Japan when she was six months old but relocated to Korea at age 6. She moved back to Japan three years later, though she wasn't able to learn very much Japanese because her family lived in units. When she turned 12, Tia started dreaming of becoming a singer, which led her to meeting her current CEO and starting the girl group, Chocolat.^[31] Originally, Tia debuted in the music industry at the age of 8 as an English tutor on children TV shows in channels such as Arirang TV and KBS.^[33] Also, prior to her debut, she was in a photoshoot with fellow labelmate and guitarist of The Nuts, Ji Hyun-woo.^[34] Shortly after Chocolat's debut, Tia was appointed as a model for make-up brand Lioele.^[35] Tia is half Korean, through her mother's side and through her father, former soldier in the U.S. Armed Forces in Korea, she is of Puerto-Rican and German descent.^[32]
• Melanie Aurora Lee was the main vocalist (upon Jaeyoon's departure) and youngest member of the group. She was born on (1997-05-05) May 5, 1997 in South Korea. She moved to Hawaii when she was 8 years old, staying there for a year and a half before going back to Korea. She and Tia met in school together, learning that both their mothers had known each other^[1] for 30 years, after getting more acquainted, Melanie auditioned and joined the group with Tia. Her special skill is cheerleading.^[31] Through her mother's side, she is half Korean, and through her father's side, who was in the U.S. Armed Forces in Korea, she is of Italian and German descent.
• Lori Thomas was the newest member of Chocolat, joining the group in October 2013.^[36]

Former members

• Lee Eunjung (이은정), better known by her stage name Jaeyoon, was the main vocalist of the group. She was born on (1991-05-15) May 15, 1991 and raised in Korea. While in college, she auditioned after hearing about Chocolat on another audition, and passed to be given the role as the main vocalist of the group. Jaeyoon left the group in December 2011 due to problems with the company. Although rumors exist that Jaeyoon had been absent due to health reasons, she has since been seen now as a soloist jazz vocalist, officially marking her debut as an ex-member of Chocolat.^[37]

Discography

Extended plays

Digital singles

Videography

Filmography

• 2011: "Mr 아이돌 (Idol)" (cameo)

Awards and nominations

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Chocolat (band).

• Chocolat Daum Cafe
• Chocolat Naver Cafe