You might also like: SPICA’s Jiwon Revealed Her Stories After Disbandment On KBS ‘The Unit’ Then, what has been going on with SPICA nowadays? Let’s take a more detailed look at SPICA’s debut era, comeback stages, and their greatest singles throughout times, in this article below, to get to know SPICA better!
Music Videos
On January 12th, 2012, SPICA made their debut by releasing the “Doggedly” (Hangul: 독하게) music video with a gloomy nuance and featuring SPICA’s extraordinary concepts and singing skills. Their debut single was actually released on January 10th, 2012, where “Doggedly” (Hangul: 독하게) was made by the music producer team, RUZIO, and has an acoustic guitar as the main instrument. This song also seems to give a new music genre in the South Korean entertainment industry because it has a groovy rhythm with a very addictive melody. Beside that, Lee Hyori appeared in the “Doggedly” music video and showed the emotions of a woman that is really fragile because of her relationship.
On February 8th, 2012, SPICA released their 2nd music video titled “Russian Roulette”. SPICA quickly became a rookie group that caught people’s eye. They did not follow the trend of Korean girl groups showing aegyo (cute) style with electronic pop music. This girl group preferred to launch songs that could show the quality of their vocals. Apart from that, they presented quite a provocative yet fresh music video. The five members of SPICA were dressed up in a strong style with European-style clothes, combined with red and blonde hair colors of two of the members. In addition, a Russian pistol supported the concept recorded in the title “Russian Roulette”.
On March 28th, 2012, SPICA released the music video for their newest single, “Painkiller”. From the concept of the music video, we can see the members who are on a side of a city street then they dance along to the song that has a slow tempo with the amazing vocal quality of the members. Apart from the singing skills of each member, SPICA also provided a new concept of a girl group with a catchy fashion style, make-up, and hairstyle, in this music video. “Painkiller” is a song produced by Marcan Entertainment who has created the best singles for Korean singers, such as Lee Hyori, Girls’ Generation, Super Junior, DBSK, SHINee, and many more.
On September 19th, 2012, SPICA released their latest music video of that era with a single titled “I’ll Be There”. In this music video, we can see the first scene which shows a girl wearing a red dress, boots, and red umbrella, pensive on a dark street. The girl held a flashlight and highlighted something, she started to smile when she saw SPICA’s writing, then the music video scene changed to a white indoor studio where SPICA members were performing with a fresh fashion concept wearing white t-shirts and ripped jeans just like urban Hip-Hop style. “I’ll Be There” was made by composers Arco and Da-un Jeon and this song has a dance pop genre with funky rhythms just like in the 90s era.
On November 21st, 2012, SPICA released the music video for their next single, “Lonely”. The “Lonely” music video is dominated by velvet clothing, which was trending in the 80s, such as a fitted turtleneck top combined with a high slit A-line skirt and heels on the dance set, and a long-sleeved red dress with a collar accent. SPICA also look innocent and they also wear natural make-up while the hair is left loose without a lot of color highlights. “Lonely” also had an upbeat tempo like most of the K-Pop songs released at the time. This song is also made by SWEETUNE who decided to work again with SPICA after making SPICA’s debut album, Russian Roulette. “Lonely” gives a picture of a woman who shows a perspective in solitude about her relationship with her lover.
On August 28th, 2013, SPICA released their latest music video at the time with a single titled “Tonight”. The song is their 3rd single after debut, with a music video and song genre that is very different from most K-Pop idol groups of the era. SPICA released “Tonight” with an arrangement of foreign songs and was produced with a focus on the rock beat that is faithful to the basics. It is a song made with a groove that you want to dance to, with a simple chord progression, a sophisticated melody, a trendy rhythm pattern, a chorus, and an 8-bit basic rock. The lyrics were written by Lee Hyori and Kim BoA, a member of SPICA, and they hold the meaning of forgetting the hard days and flying again.
On January 27th, 2014, SPICA released another music video for their single titled “You Don’t Love Me”. With a new concept, SPICA are here for fans to introduce their very fresh concept, which is a retro style. The members look beautiful and elegant with a song that is completely different in terms of musical genre. “You Don’t Love Me”, written and composed by singer Lee Hyo-ri, with the vibes of the 60s and 70s, is a song inspired by Soul music, with repetitive and witty lyrics. This song lets you feel SPICA’s charming vocals a little differently and has the meaning that a woman can give you everything, but men are disappointed with the way that rational choices always precede love.
On September 12th, 2014, girl group SPICA released a digital single, “Give Your Love”, under the new subunit, SPICA.S. The S of SPICA.S, the first unit group of the SPICA Project Part 1., stands for ‘Special’, meaning that it will show a little more special appearance in all respects. “Give Your Love” is a collaboration between hitmaker Brave Brothers and Brave Sound Producer Star Wars and Lee Hyori, a pop number that funkily wraps the tango rhythm that permeates the whole song with a groovy organ and brass sound. It is a song that depicts the change of feelings that often occurs at the end of a relationship. It is a song that pinpoints a man who speaks empty love like a habit without saying goodbye.
On November 5th, 2014, SPICA released the music video for their newest single, “Ghost”. This was SPICA’s first comeback after undergoing their schedule without Kim Boa and joining promotions with the SPICA.S subunit the previous summer. “Ghost” is a song composed by SWEETUNE, a composer and producer who has worked with SPICA several times. “Ghost” tells of the loneliness that always comes to haunt them even though they have tried to escape from it. Like the song title, “Ghost” represents a feeling that someone often feels that they don’t exist in real life and a story where a woman is chosen as an affair with her lover.
On August 25th, 2016, SPICA released the music video for “Secret Time” which is the last music video for the girl group with 5 members. The title song, “Secret Time”, was written by member Boa Kim, and composed by Swedish producers Andreas Oberg, Pontus Frisk, and Graciela Chin A Loi. Among them, Andreas Oberg is a famous producer who has made hits in Korea, such as Girls’ Generation TTS’s “Dear Santa”, SHINee’s “Romance”, and VIXX’s “B.O.D.Y.” “Secret Time” is a pop and R&B dance song genre where you can feel both the outstanding singing ability and the ‘girl crush’ image of SPICA with a strong impact. In particular, the colorful harmony of the members who can feel the creation of R&B is impressive.
Stage Performances
SPICA made their official stage debut by performing “Russian Roulette”. SPICA were present as a rookie idol group performing “Russian Roulette” in one of the episodes broadcast by MBC’s Music Core, on February 2nd, 2012. SPICA appeared by showing their singing abilities live on stage as well as simple choreography that nevertheless still looked awesome with their performance as a whole. SPICA made their comeback stage on April 22nd, 2012, that was aired on SBS’s Inkigayo with another single, “Painkiller”. SPICA members’ melodious voices sounded very clear as they sang for this performance. The fans who came chanting their fan chants were also heard very clearly giving support to SPICA with their newest song of the era, which was “Painkiller”. The members also looked very beautiful with casual streetwear in white and black nuances.
Later on, SPICA also appeared on their comeback stage with “I’ll Be There” which was broadcast on Mnet’s M Countdown with a playful and energetic performance. In this performance, we can see SPICA with a very new and fresh concept. “I’ll Be There” is arguably a song that can show another side of the cheerful SPICA with 90s vibes that are very cheerful and perfectly match the voice character of SPICA members which are strong and also sound melodious.
On December 4th, 2012, SPICA were present on their comeback stage that took place on MBC’s Show Champion with “Lonely” as their new song of the era. It seems that this is the first time that SPICA have done without holding a mic and it makes the vocal quality of the members singing live unclear. The comeback stage for “Lonely” featured their sexy and sensual choreography points. But they could make a good performance even though the sound quality in this performance was a bit off.
On September 6th, 2014, SPICA launched their comeback stage with their newest song of the era, which is “Tonight”. This song has a very different genre and comes back with a very fresh concept between the competition in the K-Pop industry at that time with an ordinary genre. SPICA performed with an upbeat tempo song with “Tonight” at that time. The tone they achieve also sounds very fitting and is never false when making a performance. Beside that, their comeback stage with “Tonight”, which was broadcast on MBC’s Show Champion, looked very cheerful and girly with a bohemian style and also some back dancers who enlivened their performance.
On February 5th, 2014, SPICA held their comeback stage by performing “You Don’t Love Me” as their newest song at the time. With the 80s concept and the fashion and genre of vintage style, SPICA really pulled off their comeback with another fresh concept as well. The K-Pop industry seems to be given a new touch with SPICA’s comeback with “You Don’t Love Me” because they are able to display their talents well even with new music genres and also look very beautiful in this era even though they carry the old fashion style.
On September 17th, 2014, SPICA came up with their newest project, which is with SPICA.S with their debut single, “Give Your Love”, which was broadcast on MBC’s Show Champion. With the instrumental sounding sensual, SPICA.S with 4 members could still give a good performance with a slow song and appear as mature women in this subunit project.
On August 25th, 2016, SPICA came up with their latest single and held their comeback stage on Mnet’s M Countdown. The boisterous voices of fans who attended their comeback stage gave support for SPICA with their latest comeback with “Secret Time”. SPICA was a girl group known for the vocal abilities of the members, whose characters are very strong and they always performed live. Here, we can also see the aura of SPICA which is very cool and can be said to be a K-Pop star with high quality.
