FIESTAR

Concept photo for "Apple Pie"

**FIESTAR** (피에스타) was a South Korean multinational girl group formed by LOEN Entertainment and signed under FAVE Entertainment. They made their debut as a six-member group with the release of their single album "Vista" on August 31, 2012.

The group officially disbanded on May 15, 2018 after four members' contracts expired on April 30 and they decided not to renew them.

## History

### Pre-debut

While many of the members took part in various activities before the group's formal debut, according to their agency, all of them had been training together for two years and the average training time among the members was 4 years.

Cao Lu was previously a solo singer in China after winning a 2004 CCTV sponsored singing contest. Her album, titled *Cat*, was released in 2005 under her former stage name, LuLu.

Yezi also became known as an underground rapper before becoming a trainee. She released various mixtapes on her social media and got high and positive praises from netizens before she was planned to become a member of FIESTAR.

Jei modeled for many online clothing stores and was a female lead for INFINITE's M/V for their song "Paradise", Bongshil Sister's "My Love" and as well as Taw's M/V for "Happy Hours (feat. Joo and the Lifestyle)". Jei replaced Joo on the promotions since Joo was diagnosed with a bump on her throat, Joo was luckily just fine after the promotions ended.

Linzy was trained at YG Entertainment and was intended to debut as a member of 2NE1. She was also one of the trainees to be originally scheduled to be in the company's new girl group, though the idea was scrapped in 2012, and the group disbanded even before they made their debut. She also recorded a song for the 2010 K-drama *Obstetrics and Gynecology*.

### 2012: Debut & "We Don't Stop"

LOEN Entertainment announced that they would be debuting a 6-member girl group with not only members from South Korea, but also from China (Cao Lu) and the United States (Cheska). After the reveal of their profiles, it was announced that they would be collaborating with label mate IU before debut. Their song "Sea of Moonlight" has ranked quite high on Korean music charts.

In August, FIESTAR's debut single "Vista" was announced. It was also revealed that they would be collaborating with hip-hop artist Tiger JK for a pre-release song titled "Wicked", which garnered lots of attention for its reggaeton influence. JYJ's Junsu made an appearance in the M/V for "Vista", along with Seungah from Sunny Hill. "Vista" ranked high on Korean charts, along with the other songs which all charted on the K-pop Billboard Hot 100, with 2 songs ranking up to the Top 10.

On November 1, Cheska revealed the girls were planning to comeback, which was later confirmed by LOEN following the release of the teaser image, along with the comeback date of November 9, 2012 with their second single album, *We Don't Stop*. "We Don't Stop" is revealed to be with the works of Hyuk Shin. The B-side for single, "Sweet Love", was released on November 5 and featured ballad singer  Kim Yeon-woo. The promotions followed on Music Bank on November 10, 2012.

The members had individual activities, like for example Jei appearing in TVN's love-reality show, *Romantic and Idol*, with AOA's Hyejeong, 4minute's Jihyun and other K-pop idols. Members Jei, Cheska and Yezi appeared alongside IU for the hilarious comedy show, *Gag Concert*. Linzy and Hyemi were in KBS's singing show *1000 Songs Challenge*. FIESTAR as a whole also appeared in *Weekly Idol* and *Dream Team 2*. They also group-made an endorsement with *HIM Magazine*.

### 2013: *A-HA!*, "Whoo!", "I Don't Know"

FIESTAR begun the new year by ending their promotions of "We Don't Stop" on *Simply K-pop*, and appearing on KBS' *1 vs. 100*. Cao Lu also was on *Dream Team 2*. They were on shows again during May 2013, appearing on various shows. The group as a whole appeared on SBS' *Ggurugi Life Inquiry*, KBS' *Family Love*, MBC Music's *All the K-pop* with only Cao Lu on the show *Stress Out*, along with SPICA. Jei also appeared on their brother group HISTORY's individual teasers of each 5 members, with the theme "Romantic Dating Tips". Member Linzy also joined the cast of the Korean musical rendition of the 2006-2008 musical movie hit, *High School Musical*— taking the role of Sharpay Evans, sharing the role with The Grace's Dana. The musical also shows a grand cast with SUPER JUNIOR's Ryeowook, FTISLAND's Jaejin, f(x)'s Luna, AOA's Choa and musical actress Oh So-yeon. The photoshoot begun on June 28, and the show begun on July 2 at Blue Square Samsung Card Hall.

On July 25, LOEN released a picture with Jei, Cheska, and Cao Lu holding up a book while looking at the camera, and told that FIESTAR will be making an educational program called *FIESTAR's A-HA! For the Global K-Pop Fan*, for international viewers who want to learn Korean. The first video is released on July 26, with their main topic, "Daebak" (which means "awesome" or is the equivalent of "wow!"), with Jei speaking Korean, Cheska in English, and Cao Lu translating it into Mandarin Chinese.

FIESTAR made a CF for Samsung's Zoom Camera feature for the Samsung Galaxy S4, with a commercial that was released on June 30. Jei had a pictorial on *SURE Magazine*, which hinted of a comeback somewhere beginning on the second half of 2013, and another album with the help of Eric Benét. Member Cheska also updated their fancafe, hinting of a comeback drawing near as well. Their comeback was announced on August 22 with a digital single, and is said to be with the works of Eric Benét. The digital single is titled "Whoo!", with a sneak peek 10-second audio clip released at the end of the group's *A-HA!* 5th lesson video. LOEN Entertainment announced that "Whoo!" will just be a pre-release single for their upcoming comeback. The song collaboration with Eric Benét is released on August 27, and featured latin R&B music, introducing a new sound from FIESTAR. The song ranked high on music charts, despite no live promotions.

In September, LOEN announced a major reorganization and created a multi-label system, splitting LOEN into two parts: LOEN Tree, which houses IU, HISTORY and SunnyHill; and Collabodadi, which owns Zia and FIESTAR. Few days after the creation of the multi-label system, their agency's Twitter released a statement that FIESTAR will indeed have a comeback in November 1, and on the same day will also release BTS videos of their music video for their third single. On FIESTAR's 12th episode of *A-HA!*, the whole six members released an audio teaser at the end of the video, and hinted more of the audio on FIESTAR's thirteenth episode and last of the Season 1 of *A-HA!*.

A few days later, on October 23, FIESTAR released a black-and-white teaser image of their third single, titled *Curious*. They also released another teaser on October 28, featuring the girls making a 'Shh!' pose, and on the same day, released the album jacket image and the tracklist for their third single, with the lead single entitled "I Don't Know". They announced that FIESTAR will be sporting the cutely sexy concept, doing a 90 degree change on their image, and said it will be still as powerful as their former singles. They released the video teaser on October 31, and on the same day, various celebrities released supporting messages to FIESTAR, featuring Clara, IU, Kim Suk Hoon, and the *Gag Concert* team. They released the full music video on November 1. The single ranked high on digital music charts despite the heavy competition with fellow artists. They made their first comeback stage on *Music Core* on November 2.

The group had their own TV reality show titled *Channel FIESTAR!*, broadcasted on SBS MTV. Their program features skits, activities, commercials, and the private lives of each member. The show's first episode aired on November 28.

### 2014: Cheska's withdrawal, "I Love Korea" & "One More"

On March 20, LOEN Entertainment announced that Cheska would be withdrawing from the group after a long conversation with the agency. They also announced that FIESTAR continuing as a five-member group with no additional members. Their comeback was scheduled for mid-July 2014 after being pushed back due to the Sewol ferry tragedy. On June 16, a cheering song for the 2014 Brazil World Cup titled "I Love Korea", a collaboration between The Friends and FIESTAR was released. Teasers for FIESTAR's comeback single "One More" were released on June 29, the music video was released on July 1 and the song was released on July 2.

### 2015: *Black Label* and Yezi's participation in *Unpretty Rapstar*

On February 16, it was announced that FIESTAR would be making a comeback in March with their first mini album *Black Label* composed of six songs, with most being co-written by Linzy and Yezi. The album was released on March 4, with the title track "You're Pitiful".

From September 11, Yezi was part of the cast of the show *Unpretty Rapstar*. She ended up as a semifinalist and garnered attention during her performance of the song "Crazy Dog", which saved her from being eliminated. The song was released on digital platforms on December 11.

### 2016: Yezi's solo debut, *A Delicate Sense* and "Apple Pie"

On January 21, Yezi made her solo debut with the release of her first maxi-single "Foresight Dream" including five songs; the title track "Cider", its instrumental, "Crazy Dog" and two brand new songs.

On February 28, Cao Lu teases for the group's comeback in March during an interview. Their second mini album *A Delicate Sense*, as well as the title track "Mirror" and its MV, was released on March 9.

On May 17, the group announced that their comeback with the digital single album "Apple Pie" on May 31.

### 2018: Disbandment

On May 15, 2018, after a year and a half of no activities, it was reported that the contracts of Linzy, Hyemi, Jei and Yezi all expired on April 30 and the members chose not to renew with the agency as they disbanded the same day.

Following their disbandment, Cao Lu, Jei and Linzy are currently pursing their careers as actresses while Hyemi and Yezi are actively promoting as soloists.

## References

1. ↑ Soompi: FIESTAR’s Contract With Agency Ends + Members Go Separate Ways
2. ↑ Soompi: FIESTAR Members Thank Fans In Handwritten Letters After Their Contracts End