# Fiestar

Fiestar (Korean: 피에스타) is a South Korean girl group, composed of Cao Lu, Jei, Linzy, Hyemi and Yezi.
Fiestar began their career prior to debut by releasing a duet with label mate IU titled "Sea of Moonlight" in July 2012 for LOEN Entertainment's collective label album and later gained domestic success after entering the top ten of the Gaon Digital Chart. The group later officially debuted on August 31, 2012, with the single album "Vista".
Fiestar concluded their career in May 2018 after four members decided not to renew their contracts with the label.
On August 27, 2024, Fiestar announced they would reunite to release a single on August 31 to celebrate their 12th anniversary debut. Fiestar officially released their first independent single, "You're Pitiful", a remake versions from their first EP Black Label (2015).

## History
### Pre-debut

In July 2012, LOEN Entertainment announced it would be debuting a six-member girl group named Fiestar in August. The group members, who came from South Korea, China, and the United States, had trained together for two years and individually for an average of four years.
The oldest member, Cao Lu, had previously debuted as a soloist in China after winning a 2004 CCTV singing contest.
The group's leader, Jei, had modeled for online clothing stores and appeared in the music video for Infinite's 2011 single "Paradise".
Linzy had been a trainee under YG Entertainment and was reportedly intended to be a member of the group 2NE1. In 2010, she recorded a song for the Korean drama Obstetrics and Gynecology.
Cheska, who is Korean American, auditioned for JYP Entertainment in 2008, but did not join the company due to opposition from her parents. She was later discovered by Kim Chang-hwan, the producer behind Clon and Kim Gun-mo, who convinced her parents to let her come to South Korea.
Yezi started her career as a backup dancer for singers Park Mi-kyung [ko] and Hong Kyung-min.

### 2012–2013: Debut and further releases

Before their official debut, Fiestar released a duet with label mate IU for LOEN Entertainment's collective label album. The track was titled "Sea of Moonlight" and was a domestic chart success. They also collaborated with Tiger JK for the pre-release song "Wicked".
The group released their first official single, "Vista", on August 31, 2012. The tracks from the corresponding EP all charted on the K-pop Billboard Hot 100.
Fiestar's second single "We Don't Stop" was released on November 9, with the B-side track "Sweet Love" featuring ballad singer Kim Yeon-woo. Live promotions for the album began on Music Bank the following day. Alongside group promotions, Jei appeared in TVN's reality program Romantic and Idol, and alongside IU for the comedy show Gag Concert along with Jei, Cao Lu and Linzy. Vocalists Linzy and Hyemi appeared on KBS's 1000 Song Challenge, and the group as a whole made appearances on Weekly Idol and Dream Team 2. They also endorsed HIM Magazine.
In 2013, Linzy played Sharpay Evans in the CJE&M Korean musical adaptation of High School Musical, sharing the role with The Grace's Dana. The show began on July 2 at the Blue Square Samsung Card Hall. The same year, Fiestar also participated in a video series entitled "Fiestar's A-HA! For the Global K-Pop Fan" as well as endorsements for the Samsung Galaxy S4.
On August 27, a pre-release single, "Whoo!" featuring Eric Benét, was released online. Despite there being no live promotions for the single, it was a chart success.
In September, LOEN Entertainment created the sub-label Collabodadi, under which Fiestar would continue to release their music. On November 1, the group released the single "I Don't Know" on the EP Curious, making their stage comeback on Music Core the following day. Following promotions, the reality television show Channel FIESTAR! aired on SBS MTV.

### 2014–2015: Cheska's departure and Black Label

On March 20, 2014, LOEN Entertainment announced that Cheska would be leaving the group and would not be replaced by any new members, and Fiestar's comeback was scheduled for mid-July after being postponed due to the Sewol ferry tragedy.
On June 16, a single in collaboration between The Friends and Fiestar for the 2014 Brazil World Cup titled "I Love Korea" was released. On July 1, the music video for the single "One More" was released.
On March 4, 2015, Fiestar's first mini album, Black Label, was released with the title track "You're Pitiful". Six months after the album's release, on September 22, Collabodadi was dissolved, with LOEN Tree becoming the sole in-house label of LOEN Entertainment. Thus, Fiestar returned to LOEN Tree after a two-year run under Collabodadi.
On December 17, Cao Lu appeared on Radio Star as a guest along with rapper Jessi, Got7's Jackson, and Lena Park as part of the Outsiders special. She gained national attention for her appearance on the program and became the number one trending topic on Naver, with Fiestar also trending.

### 2016–2018: Last activities and disbandment

In March 2016, Fiestar released their second mini album A Delicate Sense. The album consists of six tracks, including lead single "Mirror". Notably, all the members also participated in the production.
On May 31, 2016, Fiestar returned with the digital single "Apple Pie".
On May 15, 2018, after a year of no group activities, it was announced that Fiestar had officially disbanded following the expiration of four of the members' contracts on April 30 and Cao Lu's contract would be expiring on May 31.
On May 29, 2018, former member Cheska announced via her Instagram that she was leaving Korea and quitting music. She thanked her fans for supporting her, but stated that she decided to walk away as "music was slowly killing [her]".

### 2024–present: Reunion

On August 27 it was reported that Fiestar would reunite with the release of a new song on August 31 to commemorate their 12th debut anniversary. On August 29, Fiestar appeared together on Cao Lu's YouTube channel and confirmed that they would reunite with the release of a remake of their 2015 single "You're Pitiful", their first independent release. Cao Lu also cited that the single's copyright was already bought by her. Their remake single "You're Pitiful" was officially released on August 31, with a new style which combined "UK Garage" and "Rage Pop" genres.

## "One More" controversy

Fiestar's single "One More" was banned from broadcast by MBC for its supposedly risqué lyrics. While the song had originally passed scrutiny from the three major broadcasting stations (KBS, MBC and SBS), backlash from public commentators forced the networks to review the song's content. While their representatives claimed that the song was innocuous, the group re-recorded the song and changed the lyrics. The controversy spawned from the lyrics prompted MBC to crack down further on songs with ambiguous or easily misconstrued lyrical content.

## Members

* Cao Lu (차오루)
* Jei (재이)
* Linzy (린지)
* Hyemi (혜미)
* Yezi (예지)

## Discography
### Extended plays

| Title | Album details | Peak positions | Sales |
| Title | Album details | KOR | Sales |
| Black Label | Released: March 4, 2015 Label: LOEN Entertainment Format: CD, digital download | 11 | KOR: 3,021 |
| A Delicate Sense | Released: March 9, 2016 Label: LOEN Entertainment Format: CD, digital download Track listing A Sip In Your Lips Mirror Mr. Black Thirst Come And Go Mirror (instr.) | 9 | KOR: 3,060 |

### Singles

| Title | Year | Peak chart positions | Peak chart positions | Peak chart positions | Sales | Album |
| Title | Year | KOR Gaon | KOR Gaon | KOR Hot | Sales | Album |
| Title | Year | Digital | Album | KOR Hot | Sales | Album |
| "Sea of Moonlight" (with IU) | 2012 | 12 | — | 10 | KOR: 1,004,426 | LOEN Tree Summer Story |
| "Vista" | 2012 | 27 | 9 | 28 | KOR (Phy.): 1,920 KOR: 350,922 | Vista (single) |
| "We Don't Stop" | 2012 | 66 | 21 | 58 | KOR (Phy.): 1,408 KOR: 107,083 | We Don't Stop (single) |
| "Whoo! " (with Eric Benét) | 2013 | 58 | — | 80 | KOR: 30,599 | Non-album single |
| "I Don't Know" | 2013 | 63 | 17 | 63 | KOR (Phy.): 1,629 KOR: 72,042 | Curious (single) |
| "One More" | 2014 | 51 | — | 57 | KOR: 73,668 | Non-album single |
| "You're Pitiful" | 2015 | 60 | — | — | KOR: 65,454 | Black Label |
| "Mirror" | 2016 | 80 | — | — | KOR: 47,100 | A Delicate Sense |
| "Apple Pie" | 2016 | 84 | — | — | KOR: 39,118 | Non-album singles |
| "You're Pitiful 2024 ver." | 2024 | TBA | — | — | — | Non-album singles |
| Note: The Billboard K-Pop Hot 100 was introduced in August 2011 and was discontinued in July 2014. |||||||

### Other charted songs

| Title | Year | Peak chart positions | Peak chart positions | Sales | Album |
| Title | Year | KOR Gaon | KOR Hot | Sales | Album |
| "Wicked" (feat. Tiger JK) | 2012 | 57 | 71 | KOR: 85,571 | Vista (single) |
| "Sweet Love" (feat. Kim Yeon-woo) | 2012 | 70 | — | KOR: 69,762 | We Don't Stop (single) |
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released in that region. ||||||

### Soundtrack appearances

| Title | Year | Album |
| "So Tight" | 2014 | My Lovely Girl OST Part 7 |
| "Miraculous Ladybug" | 2015 | Miraculous Ladybug OST |
| "Save Me Tarzan" | 2015 | Golden Tower OST Part 1 |
| "#Like" | 2016 | Centerpole OST |

### Other appearances

| Title | Year | Album |
| "Such A Woman" (by Zia) | 2014 | Such A Woman (repackage album) |

## Videography
### Music videos

| Year | Song title | Album | Released | Length | Director/Production House | Notes |
| 2012 | "Sea of Moonlight" (with IU) | LOEN Tree Summer Story | July 26 | 3:43 | Hwang Soo-ah (LOEN Entertainment In-house / Film Production Korea) | Special collaboration |
| 2012 | "Vista" | Vista | August 31 | 5:11 | Hwang Soo-ah (LOEN Entertainment In-house / Film Production Korea) | Debut music video. |
| 2012 | "Vista (Performance Ver.)" | Vista | September 4 | 3:34 | Hwang Soo-ah (LOEN Entertainment In-house / Film Production Korea) | |
| 2012 | "We Don't Stop" | We Don't Stop | November 8 | 3:40 | Jo Soo-hyun | |
| 2013 | "I Don't Know" | Curious | October 31 | 3:46 | Kim Young-jo, Yoo Jun-seok (Naive Creative Production) | |
| 2014 | "I Love Korea" | - | June 16 | 6:27 | | World Cup cheering song |
| 2014 | "One More" | One More (single) | July 1 | 3:18 | Seong Won-mo, Park Sang-woo (Digital Pedicure) | First official release without Cheska |
| 2015 | "You're Pitiful" | Black Label | March 4 | 3:57 | Lee Gi-baek (Tiger Cave Studio) | |
| 2016 | "Mirror" | A Delicate Sense | March 9 | 3:59 | Hong Won-ki (zanybros) | |
| 2016 | "Apple Pie" | Apple Pie (single) | May 30 | 4:05 | Hong Won-ki (zanybros) | |

## Awards and nominations

Year presented, name of the award ceremony, award category and the result of the nomination :
| Year | Awards | Category | Result |
| 2012 | 4th Annual Seoul Success Awards | Best Rookie of the Year | Won |
| 2012 | 2012 Arirang's Simply K-Pop Awards | Super Rookie Idol of the Year | Won |
| 2012 | All the Kpop - World-Class Rookie Awards | Rookie of the Year | Won |
| 2012 | All the Kpop - World-Class Rookie Awards | Knock-Out Award | Won |
| 2012 | 22nd Seoul Music Awards | Rookie of the Year Award | Nominated |
| 2012 | 22nd Seoul Music Awards | Popularity Award | Nominated |
| 2015 | 25th Seoul Music Awards | Bonsang Award | Nominated |
| 2015 | 25th Seoul Music Awards | Popularity Award | Nominated |