SA Entertainment

**SA Entertainment Inc.** (Korean: SA 엔터테인먼트) is a South Korean entertainment company established in 2019 by **Biggu**. Coming from small beginnings with groups such as **Eclipse 6** and **Happiness**, the company is beginning to establish itself with rising groups **Night Girls** and **HCL3**.

## **History**

### **2019: Formation and first-generation artists**

SA Entertainment was founded in early 2019 by Biggu, a former employee of an unknown entertainment company. He left his position as a chairperson and formed his own company following significant staff changes at his previous company.

A few months after its founding, SA's first boy group **Eclipse 6** debuted, with its first girl group following a few months later, **Happiness**. The boy group only lasted a few months before disbanding under unknown circumstances, while the girl group went on to promote until mid-2020 before its ultimate disbandment under grounds that members wanted to go their separate ways.

On September 28, 2019, SA Entertainment debuted their first second-generation artist, **Night Girls** (formerly *Nuit Blanche*).

### **2020: Second-generation artists and financial issues**

The company was slowly expanding and gaining public attention, however in January of 2020 following the release of Happiness's first collaboration mini album "KINGDOM", the company started having financial problems.

In an attempt to save the company from bankruptcy, the second-generation boy group **HCL3** was debuted on April 10, 2020. However, it was not until the release of Night Girls' first EP "Fierce" and the company's signing under **Epic Music Labels** that they began their financial recovery.

### **2021: Copyright scandal, music festivals and survival shows**

At the end of January 2021 just after HCL3 finished promotions for "Love Dynamite: Search", both F3Ns (**O3ME** fandom) and Scientists (HCL3 fandom) began a fanwar on SNS, each fandom claiming the other group copied theirs. SA Entertainment were the first to release a statement in which they explained that the group name was derived from the members' names and that the album trilogy concept was not the first and would not be the last to occur in the industry. **JTB Entertainment** originally threatened the company with a lawsuit, which SA requested a dismissal order for. The original agreement between both companies would be that HCL3 would go on a one year hiatus (January 29, 2021 to January 28, 2022) while O3ME would keep promoting. Eventually, JTB corrected their request to have HCL3 only go on a three month hiatus (January 29, 2021 to April 30, 2021). On June 26, 2021, HCL3 finished promotions for their final trilogy single, "Love Dynamite: Free".

After the end of HCL3 promotions for their album trilogy, SA Entertainment announced they would be sending 4 female trainees to the new **Line Entertainment** survival show, **Diamond in the Rough**. The survival show would consist of 68 female trainees who will compete to win a spot in a new girl group managed by the aforementioned company. The debut group will consist of 9 female trainees who have captivated both the audience and the judges and they will promote as a group for 1 year. The SA Entertainment trainees who were sent to compete are Kanon Ueda, Yuzuki Kudo, Youngmi Seo and Soomin Yoon.

Current SA Entertainment Trainee Ranks in DITR (Episode 5)
 *Yuzuki Kudo* | #4
 *Youngmi Seo* | #23
 *Soomin Yoon* | #66

Almost an entire year after Happiness' disbandment and not hearing much news from the company or herself, former member Sonia Jang was revealed to be joining the **Lemon Labels** survival show, **After the Nightfall** (stylized all in caps). The show consists of 30 trainees, each participating in 5 rounds of judging. Round 1 is auditions, round 2 is song performing, round 3 is skill showcasing, round 4 is performing of an original work and round 5 is the finale. Each trainee was given a rank from F to A in the first round, and eleminations start at round 2. The number of members in the final lineup is yet to be revealed.

In round 1, Sonia performed *Is this bad b\*\*\*\*\*\* number?* (Or. by Jeon Soyeon, BIBI & Lee Youngji). She started off strong with a grade of A and received praise from judges, claiming she was the best rapper on the show and that she was fully ready to debut.

Current SA Entertainment Trainee Ranks in AFTER THE NIGHTFALL (Episode

### **2023 (RP): Who Europe Likes (WEL) 2023**

In partnership with **Adonai Entertainment** and various other participating artists, both HCL3 and Night Girls from SA were sent to perform at the **Who Europe Likes** 2023 music festival. Night Girls performed on the Italy stage alongside groups **CXC**, **LunaBerry** and **Flora**. HCL3 performed their song *Love Yourself* from their third trilogy single, "Love Dynamite: Free" on the Poland stage.

## **Partnerships**

### **Epic Music Labels**

SA Entertainment has been under the Epic Music Labels (Epic Music Entertainment) since September 23, 2020. Epic Music helps SA Entertainment artists distribute their music to a broader audience both in Korea and internationally.

## **Current Artists**

### **Groups**

* Night Girls (2019-present)
* HCL3 (2020-present)

## **Former Artists**

### **Groups**

* Eclipse 6 (2019-2019)
* Happiness (2019-2020)