Asian Americans Abroad: f(x)

(Lilian)

f(x) is a multi-national K-pop girl group who debuted on September 5, 2009 as "Asia's Pop Dance Group" under SM Entertainment. It is comprised of five girls- Chinese leader Victoria Song, Koreans Luna and Sulli, and more notably the two "American" members Krystal Jung and Amber Liu. The name for the group originates from the mathematical notation for function which stands for their aim to adapt to different situations. From left to right in the picture below, the members are Sulli, Amber, Krystal, Victoria, and Luna.

Krystal Jung is a native of San Francisco, California. She was scouted at just 5 years old by SM along with her sister Jessica when they were on a family vacation to Korea in 2000. Since then she has appeared in various commercials and music videos as a child actress before officially joining SM in 2006 to begin training. Sulli debuted as a child actress in 2005 while Luna was recruited in 2006 after her performance on Truth Game. Victoria was scouted at a Beijing dance competition in 2007, and Taiwanese-American member Amber joined two months later after being casted in SM's Global Auditions in LA.

Here is a timeline of their major musical releases:

September 5, 2009 - Debut digital single "LA chA TA"
October 8, 2009- LG promotion song "Chocolate Love" with label mates Girls' Generation
November 9, 2009- First digital single "Chu~"
January 2, 2010- Chinese cover of "Lollipop"
May 4, 2010- EP "Nu Abo" released with lead single "Nu Abo" topping charts
April 20, 2011- First album "Pinocchio" released winning 8 times on Korean music shows
June 14, 2011- Repackaged first album released under "Hot Summer"
June 10, 2012- Second EP "Electric Shock"
July 29, 2013- Second album "Pink Tape" released with lead single "Rum Pum Pum" to sweep the top of all Korean charts

f(x) is known for their electro-pop music that is different from most of the songs traditional K-pop churns out. It is for this reason that they are more popular overseas than in Korea. Their 2012 release "Electric Shock" gained massive response overseas and currently has over 59 million views on Youtube. In March 2013, f(x) had the honor to be the first K-pop group to perform at 2013 SXSW South By Southwest. Their second album "Pink Tape" also received critical acclaim for being quirky and experimental and was the only K-Pop album released in 2013 to be ranked as "The Best 40 albums of 2013" by American music channel Fuse TV. Considering K-pop's almost non existent influence on the U.S. music industry, this is considered a big achievement. The American members have also done collaborations other SM artists during their SM Town concerts all over the United States.

Here are two SM Town performances by Krystal with Jessica and Amber with Key from SHINEE and Kris from EXO singing American songs which really cater to their American fans.

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