K-POP Group of The Week: Kiss of Life

 Hello all, I'm back again.

This week we will be talking about Kiss of Life (KIOF). They are a rookie girl group that debuted 11 months ago, they debuted on July 5, 2023, as a four-member group. Their careers are just starting but they have already done so much for being rookies. They received 7 Rookie rewards in 2023 when they hadn't even been a group for a year. The awards are as follow: 

• Korea Culture and Entertainment Awards: K-Pop Rookie
• Melon Music Awards: 1theK Global Icon
• Korean Wave Awards: K-Pop Rising Star
• Korea Best Brand Awards: Proud Korean Grand Prize: Composer – Belle
• SBS Inkigayo: Hot Stage Week1-Shhh and Hot Stage Week 2-Shhh
• KM Chart: Best Rookie (Female)

Fandom Name: Kissy

Fandom Community Name: Pending at this time

In the past couple of months, they have released what their official group logo and official light stick look like. Please see the pictures below.

And they have released a singles album and are in the process of promotions for their new digital single that comes out on 7/1/2024, "Sticky". They have been very busy in the past 11 months, and I love that for them. So, how did Kiss of Life come to be? Even though all of the members, except 1, were trainees they didn't really have a lot of time to prepare for their debut especially considering that they are a part of a very small company that only has 1 other group and 3 soloists under them, and the company is called S2 entertainment. The members are Julie, Natty, Belle and Haneul. The company formed this group with the idea in mind to create a group of adults to bring a new, refreshing, concept to K-Pop, their name literally means that they are breathing new life into the K-Pop Scene. They have appeared on multiple YouTube interview shows with other artists and continue to release original content on their official YouTube channel. They also recently had their first fan con "Key of Factory." This fan con occurred on May 18, 2024 at the Woonjung Green Campus Grand Hall, Sungshin Women's University. The grand hall was full of their fans and there was not a single empty chair or space on the floor for this meeting. the next big event that they have is the Waterbomb music festival. 

This is the time when I talk about the members a little bit more. Keep in mind that they are still a very new group so there may not be as much information about the members as other groups.

Julie: 

• Birth Name: Han Julie
• Born in Honolulu, Hawaii on March 29, 2004
• Moved to Korea when she was 13
• Position in group: Leader, Main Rapper, Main Dancer
• Representative Animals: Cat and Rabbit
• Has 1 older brother, Joseph Han, who is an established author
• Is ENFP and her representative color is red

Julie is the leader of Kiss of Life, and she is the oldest member. Julie used to be a ballet dancer and has a very charming personality. She really likes to eat snacks and go to the gym. She is always smiling but her face does not have any filter, if there's a change in mood you will immediately notice. She was a trainee for Black Label in 2017-2020 until she debuted with Kiss Of Life in 2023 under S2 Entertainment. She is definitely the mom of the group and is always showering her members with affection. 

Natty:

• Birth Name: Anatchaya Suputtipong
• Born in Bangkok, Thailand on May 30, 2002
• Moved to Korea when she was 10
• Position in Group: Main Dancer, Lead Rapper, Sub-vocalist
• Represented by: Black heart emoticon
• She originally debuted as a Soloist on May 7, 2020 with her single NINETEEN
• Is INFJ and her representative color is black

Natty it from Thailand and she is such a bubbly and preppy personality. She was a trainee for 10 years and originally tried to be a soloist, but she was not as successful as she wanted to be as one. Natty and Julie were friends from before they debuted as Kiss of Life and Natty is like the fun aunt of the group. Natty speaks Thai, Korean, Japanese and English. In my opinion, she gives off the cutest vibes when doing aegyo (acting cute for the camera/fans) compared to the other members. She has also made appearances in variety shows such as Idol School and Sixteen and almost debuted as a member of Twice (yes, she was a JYP trainee for a few years but didn't make it into JYP in the end). She was also an SM Entertainment trainee for a couple of months and knew Red Velvet as trainees. She signed with S2 Entertainment in July of 2022 and began training for her debut with Kiss of Life. 

Belle

• English Name: Anabelle Shim; Korean Name: Shim Hyewon
• Born in Seattle, Washington on March 19th, 2004
• Moved to Korea at around 9 years old
• Position in Group: Main Vocalist
• Representative Emoticon: Fairy emoticon
• She has an older brother name Dongheon
• Is ENFP and her representative color is pink

Our Princess Belle. She is the princess of the group and does not try to hide it and her personality is also that of a princess, so she is our princess through and through. Belle comes from a family of talent her dad also has had a career as a singer and her cousin is a R&B singer from South Korea, Cherry Coke. She was never a trainee and learned how to dance for the first time when she was preparing to debut with Kiss Of Life. Before debuting with Kiss of Life she was an established music composer for SM entertainment and was recruited to become a part of the idol group Kiss of Life, but she never originally wanted to become an idol. Belle is also quite the savage member, she is very good at telling it how it is, but politely. Belle has composed songs for PURPLE KISS and LE SSERAFIM and Miyeon (Member of (G)-Idle).

Haneul

• Birth Name: Won Haneul
• Born in Suwon, South Korea on May 25, 2005
• Position in Group: Lead Vocalist and Maknae
• Representative Emoticons: Butterfly and cloud
• She has an older brother name Hamin and an older sister
• Is ENTJ and is her representative color is blue

Haneul is our youngest member who acts very much like a grandmother when it comes to cooking and cleaning. Haneul can be very up front about how she feels about things or what she's thinking but also gets shy very easily. She plays sports and guitar and does not like to smoke or drink. In the group she has the name Boss Baby because of her organized personality and always knowing how exactly she wants things done. She cooks very well and was a trainee for just over a year and began training with S2 entertainment in the first half of 2022. In school she was student vice president and president. She has a more proper personality and likes to do arts and crafts like decorating bags and knitting. 

At the end here, I want to talk about their discography and list all of their releases in the past 11 months which is three albums and 1 single that will be released on July 1st. My favorite song is from their singles album and the song is called "Nothing."

• KISS OF LIFE (Debut album): July 5th, 2023
• Born to be XX: November 8, 2023
• Midas Touch (1st single album): April 3, 2024

Thank you for those who read to hear. KIOF is a really good group for still being rookies and I hope you give them a chance as all of their personalities are so amazing and genuine and their music is really good.