S'porean member of SKarf leaving to lead new K-pop group

SINGAPORE - By the next Chinese New Year, she will be the leader of a new K-pop girl group.

Singaporean Ferlyn Wong, 22, is now part of K-pop girl group SKarf.

Her group mates include fellow Singaporean Natasha Low, 20, Koreans Jenny, 18, and JooA, 24, and Hana, 19, a Japanese who grew up in Korea.

Wong will leave SKarf soon to head the new group, likely a quintet, that has not been named. They will be marketed as the first-of-their-kind in Korea.

This K-pop girl group will sing Mandarin and Korean songs in the hope of cracking the wider Asian music market.

S'POREAN INPUT

The founder of SKarf and the new girl group is home-grown company Alpha Entertainment.

It will engage Singaporean songwriters and choreographers such as those who have worked with local star Stefanie Sun, to promote the new group.

SKarf, who made their debut in 2012, will continue to focus on K-pop and will likely recruit new members.

Both groups will be managed by iGlobal Star, while Alpha Entertainment will focus on marketing and promoting them.

Apart from Wong, the other four members of the new group will be from Singapore, Korea and other Asian countries.

And more members of SKarf may join them.

Auditions will be held here in the coming months to find local talent for the group.

Wong, who will be releasing a solo album by Christmas, told The New Paper: "As for going solo, I am very thankful to my company for this opportunity to go further as an artist.

"But at the same time, it is very stressful as the focus will be on me for this solo album.

"As for the new group, I hope I will be able to play my role as a leader well and to achieve that, I will keep on trying to improve myself."

She added: "With the spin-off group, there will definitely be fresh ideas and we look forward to giving K-pop fans better music and more entertaining performances."

Wong, who has been based in Seoul, South Korea, since she and Low were chosen from auditions here in 2010 to join SKarf, is back in Singapore for two months and loving it.

She admitted that because of work, she had not been able to celebrate the birthdays of her family and friends for the last four years.

"For the past two months, I have been spending quality time with my family and friends.

"Also, I've been able to satisfy my cravings for yummy local fare."

Chief executive of Alpha Entertainment Alan Chan said SKarf members have not been able to focus on their music careers because two of the members - Low and Hana - are tied up with hosting contracts in Korea till the end of next year.

FIERCE RIVALRY

Competition has also been fierce in the Korean music industry with each band fighting to be different from the others.

Said Mr Chan: "After this new girl group is formed, we will be looking to form a boy band.

"Our aim from Day One has always been to have as many Singaporeans in these groups as possible, but market them using the Korean training and marketing system.

"We have always wanted to create something different and be a leader rather than a follower.

"We strongly believe that Singapore has very good talent."

This article was first published on Sep 16, 2014.
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