page_title: BoA
section_title: Image and artistry
hierarchical_section_title: BoA / Image and artistry
caption_attribution_description: English: Magazine cover of KoreAm from May 2009, South Korean singer BoA
context_page_description: Kwon Bo-ah, known professionally as BoA, is a South Korean singer, songwriter, record producer and actress. BoA has been recognized as one of the most successful and influential Korean entertainers throughout her career, and is therefore commonly credited as the "Queen of K-pop."
  Born and raised in Gyeonggi-do, South Korea, she was discovered by SM Entertainment talent agents when she accompanied her older brother to a talent search in 1998 and was trained for two years. Since her debut in August 2000, BoA has released nineteen studio albums, including nine in Korean, nine in Japanese, and one in English. On television, she appeared as a judge on the reality competition show K-pop Star, as an actress on the television drama Listen to Love, as a host for the second season of Produce 101, and as a coach for the third season of The Voice of Korea.
  BoA's multilingual skills have contributed to her commercial success throughout Asia outside of South Korea such as China, Japan, Singapore and Taiwan.
context_section_description: BoA lists hip hop as her main musical influence, though she also enjoys R&B. Her favorite musicians are Whitney Houston, Michael Jackson, Justin Timberlake, and Ne-Yo; as a result, much of BoA's music is either dance-pop or R&B. Because she also sings ballads, she is often compared to Japanese singers Namie Amuro and Ayumi Hamasaki. Her debut album, ID; Peace B, contained urban pop, "slickly produced" ballads, and "upbeat dance tunes". As her career went on, she began experimenting with different styles: Valenti contained mostly ballads; Love and Honesty was an experiment with "harder" R&B and rock music. The Face was influenced by electropop and included "happy spring" songs ("Sweet Impact" and "Bad Drive"), a guitar-driven "groovy dance" song ("Lose Your Mind"), and ballads.  Because the composition and writing of BoA's songs is handled mostly by her staff, BoA has been criticized as being a "manufactured pop star". In response to such criticism, BoA said that "if one person were to force their own will on something, then things that should have gone right could easily go wrong" and that she is "not all that unhappy with the expression that [she is] a manufactured star. In a way, that is true. Because SM Entertainment created the environment and all the surrounding conditions, [she is] able to be successful in the way [she is] now." She later assumed creative control with The Face, while Kiss My Lips became her first entirely self-written, self-produced album.
  BoA has collaborated with high-profile artists. Among the Japanese artists she has performed with are the hip hop group M-Flo (for the single "The Love Bug"), pop singer Kumi Koda, and house DJ Mondo Grosso. She has performed with Western artists: the song "Flying Without Wings" from her album Next World was a collaboration with Irish band Westlife covering the original song; the Bratz single "Show Me What You Got" was performed with Howie D of the American band Backstreet Boys. She also worked with Akon, singing the song "Beautiful", which was featured on the Japanese release of his third album, Freedom. Other artists she has collaborated with are Soul'd Out, Dabo, Verbal (of M-Flo), Rah-D, Seamo, TVXQ, Yutaka Furakawa (of the band Doping Panda), and Crystal Kay (for her single After Love: First Boyfriend/Girlfriend). American rock band Weezer covered "Meri Kuri" on the Japanese version of their album Weezer.
caption: On the cover of KoreAm, May 2009
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