Kiss
by Mmrobitussin
The group whose career was over faster than blinking, but left a mark that became a staple of Korean music for decades.
About Kiss
Years Active: 2001-2002, 2016
Label: J-Entercom
Members: Mini, Jini, Umji
Get to know the group
No, not the American rock band. That's cool, but we're talking about Korean pop. Kiss was a three-member, all female, Generation 1 group (groups that debuted between 1992-2002). Their amazing debut song charted super high in Korea and became a staple of Korean music for decades.
So does Kiss actually stand for anything? Yes, Kiss actually stands for Korea International Super Star. They actually became an international Super Star with their debut hit which we will go over a little later.
Know all the members
The members consist of Mini, Jini, and Umji. These three girls were the center of all Kpop for their 1.5 years they were active in 2001-2002. Mini and Umji were both from South Korea and Jini was from the United States.
Sadly due to their very short careers and the lack of great internet in 2001 (remember dial-up?), much of the information related to them have not made it to 2018. However, the one thing that did make it is their song.
Music that melts the heart
Their debut was probably one of the best that Kpop had ever seen up until that point. Kiss only ever came out with one album, "Kiss, The First Album". The title track was called, "Because I am a Girl" or 여자이니까.
"I'll always have love for you, because I am a girl."
This song was such a smash hit that in 2001, "Because I am a Girl" made to the top of the Korean music charts and became internationally known around the world. That, in itself, was quite the feat in 2001 since it was before the widespread use of sites like Youtube. At its peak, there were at least 10 fan-covered language versions of the song including the original Korean and English versions. The song itself was reproduced in languages such as Cantonese, Mandarin, Japanese, Tagalog, Vietnamese, French, Portuguese, Spanish, and many more. On the charts in Korea, "Because I am a Girl" knocked the top girl groups of the time like S.E.S. and Fin K.L. down on the music charts. That's the equivalent of a new girl group taking down the Spice Girls at the height of the Spice Girl fame.
In the style of music videos of the time, the video was more of a short 8-minute movie rather than watching Kpop idols dance on a stage. The video included Korean model and actress Goo Hye Jin and actor Shin Hyun Joon. Goo Hye Jin played a hairdresser who dreams of modeling and a photographer.
"Because I am a Girl" ended up playing a huge part in Korean culture and is still one of the most recognized songs even in 2018. Even as recently as 2016, the song is still being covered by major Korean artists and is still played in karaoke bars in South Korea. Below is a video of Korean pop duo DAVICHI singing "Because I am a Girl".
The end of Kiss
Unfortunately, Kiss disbanded as quickly as they started in 2002 for "undisclosed reasons" at the time. At that point, each member went their separate ways. Umji became an actress and got married. Jini returned to the United States and continued singing and writing songs. No information is known on the whereabouts of what happened to Mini after 2002. Presumably, she went back to normal life.
In 2016, Kiss came back together for the first time in 14 years to sing their hit song one more time on Sugar Man (Korean variety show). While fans in the international realm have long forgotten who Kiss was, the Korean audience knew the song immediately and it was widely talked about. At that time, they did an interview and it came out that the reason they broke up was because a members was caught dating.
While Korean pop has strict rules on dating, the breakup of Kiss was kind of seen as "The Spice Girls broke up because Posh Spice was caught dating." It was silly and irrelevant, but the company they worked for saw it as such a huge threat that they broke the group up despite the major debut success.
Kiss still stands as one of the one-hit wonders of Kpop, but they also never tried for a second hit either. For a lot of older Kpop fans, they were still the group that introduced them to Kpop and holds a special place in their hearts.
Culture Lesson
The infamous dating scandals
Dating scandals happen whenever a Kpop idol or public figure ends up dating someone, no matter who the significant other is. In Kpop, contracts generally state that new idols cannot date for the first 2-3 years after they debut. Ideally, it's to keep their heads in the game and get their popularity up without causing unwarranted publicity. While the plan makes sense, it also doesn't. Idols should work on their career, but if you stick a whole group of pretty, popular teenage girls in a room of same age handsome, popular teenage boys, what do you think is going to happen?
"They're human. They're also pretty and handsome. How could they not date? They should date."
Dating scandals almost always happen to all major groups at one time or another (with the exception of Sistar who never had one in 7 years). Most idols try to hide their relationships for privacy, protection of their significant other, or detriment to one or another party's careers. Everyone from stylists, managers, etc. play a role in helping idols maintain their relationships by being cupids and messengers. Celebrities like Super Junior's Shindong went as far as dressing up his non-celebrity girlfriend as a stylist so she could come to shoots and Super Junior activities with him. He also used a secret code to propose to her in Super Junior's 4th Album Bonamana. Which translated to: "Nari, let’s get married. This is a proposal, I’ll love you forever." Since then Nari and Shindong have broken up.
"B2B8, B4B9, B3A8, B3C6, B4B9,
A4A7B4, B5B6B2, B5B8, A2B8,
C3B7B3, B5B6B2, B5B8, B2C7B2, A4B7, B3A8,
A5B8, B4B8B3, B5A9, A2C6B4, A4A10,
B3A7B3, B3C6B7B2, B5B9"
Many times, idols can go about their relationships in secretly. However, sometimes the news comes out once the paparazzi catches wind or fans catch on. The news can come out nicely depending on who the two idols are or idol/non-idol. However, many of the times it goes south very quickly. The idol and their significant other generally pay heavily for dating. As soon as the news comes out, they will start to receive very malicious comments online and in-person. Hardcore fans feel a sense of betrayal when their biases aren't honest with them or start dating.
In some cases, dating scandals result in witchhunts on idols (ie. SHINee's Jonghyun and actress Shin Se-kyung, Infinite's L and Kim Do Yeon, EXO's Kai and f(x)'s' Krystal, SNSD's Taeyeon and Exo's Baekhyun, SNSD's Tiffany and 2PM's Nichhyun, etc.). Idols lose contracts, companies lose business, idols and their significant other's receive death threats, bomb threats, extreme hatred, etc. These all have occurred due to dating scandals (some as recently as last year). Some fans go as far as ignoring their idols or stop cheering for them when dating scandals break. In Taeyeon and Baekhyun's case, EXO-L's booed Baekhyun off stage during someone else's song. Yeah. Really. Idols have gone on camera crying and saying it's not fair that they're being treated this way for being in love and trying to be normal. However, this has not stopped crazy fans.
With bad, there is also good though. Some relationships are well received such as singer Rain and actress Kim Tae Hee, Big Bang's Taeyang and actress Min Hyorin, Big Bang's G-Dragon and Japanese model Kiko Mizuhara, actor Lee Minho and MissA's Suzy, Girls' Generation Sooyoung and actor Jung Kyung Ho, etc. Such relationships had some issues with fans, but not nearly as many as the ones above. Generally, they receive a little bit of backlash, but it dies down and is generally accepted.
"There are no boundaries or limits when it comes to love."
Either way, dating scandals are one of the ways that idols either learn to sink or swim. Those who continue to date and hold their heads up high to haters, generally work out well and the relationships continue their normal course. However, as soon as the entire public catches on to their relationship, most couples usually end up breaking up for one reason or another. It's sad, but it's the reality that Kpop idols have to deal with on a constant basis.
What did you learn?
Here is where I would normally ask you some questions... but as this is the tutorial, there aren't any. You can look at this instead... but you can't do anything with it! HAHA! 
Just continue on to the next page here!