Se7en is a name everyone comes across once they start getting into the Korean music scene. Those who still don't know who this man with the number in his name is:
Se7en dreamed of becoming a singer and entered the renowned hip-hop label YG Entertainment at the age of 15. He was trained to become one of Korea's most successful singers and debuted four years later.
After being active in Korea since 2003 and even trying his luck in Japan, pop sensation
Se7en is now ready to conquer the USA.
Se7en took the first step already in 2006 as the
YG Family celebrated their 10th Anniversary with 3 concerts in the USA. At this time no one was sure if he would really enter the US Market, but speculations started.
Early in 2007 it was announced that the singer would be featured in
Amerie's third studio album on the song
Take Control.
Amerie, a half-Korean Grammy nominated singer was a good choice, since she knows conversational Korean, which made
Se7en's initial steps in the USA easier. The song was only featured on Asian versions though.
In the same year it was made public that
Se7en's US debut song was going to be
This is my Year featuring
Fabulous. However the song leaked early and this was the beginning of
Se7en's US debut being pushed back.
2008 would be his year though.
Se7en started promoting his upcoming breakthrough in the US and toured through the country with album preview parties in New York, San Francisco, Hollywood and Seattle. Various songs were performed, among others
Lalala from his fourth Korean album
Se7olution was performed for the first time in English.
In summer 2008, his official YouTube account was opened, together with his official Myspace and, in September, the first footage of his stay in the US was revealed. The video showed the singer during a photo shoot, even posing in an orange Lamborghini in Laguna Beach and the fans got a first insight into what the man was preparing in the states.
Things got heated up at the end of 2008 and beginning of 2009. After announcing that
Se7en was working with
Darkchild and
Far East Movement, finally the release date of his first US single was made known. February 14th was planned to be the day on which the waiting people would hear
Girls featuring the successful female US rapper
Lil'Kim. But again time was needed to prepare things so a teaser of the music video was released on March 4th and the song followed finally on March 10th.
Also in March his
official website called on
Se7ens fans to participate on the "Win a date with Se7en Challenge". One had to register on a special site and play a fun game: Penalty kick. One always played against other fans and hat to either 'kick' or 'catch' the ball, thereby one could set a certain amount of points and play for it. The one who reached the highest points at the end of the challenge won a date with
Se7en, plus paid trip and different prizes from Verizon Wireless.
With this release and the challenge, his work was not complete. He began to promoting the single intensively, appearing at events such as the
HOT IMPORTS NIGHT event in California at the same booth as Korean-American model
Lisa Kim Fleming. Via his myspace page, he also set up a radio campaign to help promote the single across America. The campaign encoraged fans to contact radio stations to play the single, initially starting with the west coast and eventually moving across America.
In the meantime he has also become a member of twitter and opened an
account , on which he keep his followers up to date on where he is now, how playing golf was and what his latest meal was.
