Miss A
Miss A in Mnet 20's Choice Awards, August 2010
Background information
Origin	Seoul, South Korea
Genres	K-pop, pop, dance-pop, electropop, teen pop, Mandopop
Years active	2010–present
Labels	JYP Entertainment (2010-present)
Associated acts	Sisters, JYP Nation, Wonder Girls, 2pm
Website	Official website
Members
Fei Jia Min Suzy

Miss A (미쓰에이), commonly stylized as miss A, is a four member South Korean and Chinese girl group based in South Korea. They were formed by JYP Entertainment and are managed by AQ Entertainment. The group consists of Fei, Jia, Min and Suzy.

Fei and Jia are considered two of the four best recognized female celebrities of Chinese origin active in the South Korean entertainment scene, along with f(x)'s Victoria Song and fashion model Wei Sun.^[1]

History[link]

Pre-debut, JYP Sisters: Early activities in China[link]

Members Fei and Jia were selected in 2007 (Fei was scouted on her way to dance school, while Jia's school held auditions). Before their debut, members Fei and Jia appeared in 2PM's "My Color" music video. Suzy Bae was also a model for an online shopping center.^[2]

Originally, Miss A were a 5-member group in training in 2009. While still in training, the group flew to China where they appeared in numerous variety shows performing dance routines and songs to showcase themselves to the Chinese audience. As the group had no official name they were widely known to the Chinese audiences as JYP Sisters or simply as "Sisters (시스터즈)" and was dubbed by JYP as the "Chinese Wonder Girls". However the group had gone through several changes during this period, most notably the exit of member Lim who was re-grouped to join the Wonder Girls, while two other girls decided to withdraw from the group. JYPE then decided to group the two remaining girls, Fei and Jia with JYPE South Korean trainee 15-year old, Suzy Bae.^[3][4][5]

The girls began their first official promotional activities in China as a group by signing up with Samsung China and released a commercial song called "Love Again" for the Samsung Beat Festival. The song has a strong Korean team/influence behind it, as it was written by Korean composer, Super Changddai while the music video was directed by Hong Won Ki. Lee Min Young, a solo artist and a long-time JYPE trainee in America, also made a cameo appearance in the music video. She had auditioned when she was in the 6th grade, and traveled to the U.S., where she trained for 6 years, but came back in 2008 to continue activities in Korea. During her time in New York, she studied at the Repertory Company High School in Manhattan.^[6] It was later announced she would be joining the group under her stage name, Min, and will be debuting with the group in South Korea.^[7]

2010: Debut in South Korea with "Bad Girl Good Girl" and "Breathe"[link]

Miss A made their official debut in South Korea as a four-member group on June 30 with their single "Bad Girl Good Girl" which was taken from their debut mini-album called "Bad but Good". Their single topped various music charts and eventually earned the group their first Mutizen award on M.net M! Countdown and the following day Miss A became number #1 on KBS Music Bank. On August 1 they had their number #1 on SBS Inkigayo. The song went to #1 on M.net M! Countdown, KBS Music Bank and SBS Inkigayo for one week.^{[8][9][10][11][12]}

The group later on made their comeback with their first mini-album called "Step Up" on September 26. The group promoted "Breathe" as the lead single for the album and showed an "exotic and a doll-like transformation" that was completely different from their debut single's concept. They made their first comeback on M.net M! Countdown and the following day on KBS Music Bank, MBC Show! Music Core and SBS Inkigayo. The song went to #1 on M.net M! Countdown staying for one week.^[13][14][15]

2011: Solo activities, Comeback and Chinese debut[link]

Fei appeared in the music video of the song "I Only Love You" by Huh Gong. Jia appeared in M&D's music video for "Close Your Mouth". Min was a fixed student on KBS's variety show Oh! My School, also known as 100 Out of 100. And she starred in the movie Countdown as Jang Hyeon-ji. Suzy starred in Dream High as the main character Go Hye-mi. ^{[16][17][18][19][20]}

In May 2011, Miss A released "Love Alone", one of their song from their A Class album. "Love Alone" was utilised as a promotional song for Kim Yuna‘s ice show and Miss A performed the song at the oppening of “All That Skate Spring 2011”.^[21][22][23]

In July 2011, Miss A announced their comeback with their first full album called A Class which was released on July 18, 2011. A Class consists of a mix of previously released hits and four new tracks, including the single, "Good Bye Baby". The album has a total of 13 songs. They released their album digitally on July 18, 2011. They started promoting the title song "Good Bye Baby" on July 21, 2011 on Mnet's M! Countdown followed by KBS's Music Bank, MBC's Show! Music Core, and SBS's Inkigayo. On the following week of promotions they won all awards from the shows.^{[24][25][26][27][28]}

On September 30, Miss A debuted in Chinese with the release of a special edition of their first full album, containing a DVD with music videos, as well as Chinese versions of "Bad Girl Good Girl", "Breathe", "Goodbye Baby" and "Love Again". After the Chinese album release, its ranked first on several charts. "Good Bye Baby" ranked first on Taiwan's biggest music portal, ‘Ezpeer‘, alongside ‘A Class‘ topping their weekly Korea/Japan chart. On ‘G-MUSIC‘, the girls have ranked in third.^[29][30]

2012: Comeback with "Touch", Chinese mini-album of "Touch"[link]

Miss A announced their comeback in Korea with a new mini-album called Touch, that was released on February 20, 2012. The first music video teaser for their song "Touch", which featured their youngest member Suzy, was uploaded on their official YouTube channel on February 13. The second teaser featuring their rapper Jia was released on February 14. The third teaser featuring their elder member Fei was released on February 15. The final music video teaser featuring their 4th member Min was released on February 16. On February 19, 2012, the music video was uploaded to YouTube through Miss A's official channel and gained over one million views in one day.^{[31][32][33][34][35][36]}

Miss A's song Touch reached #1 on various Korean real-time music charts. Touch, the song and also the album got #2 on Gaon Chart Digital Singles and Physical Albums rankings for the 4th week of February. ^[37][38]

Miss A started their promotions for Touch on February 23 on M.net M! Countdown and on other music shows respectively. On February 29, miss A won the Champion Song on MBC MUSIC Show Champion with the song Touch. On March 1, Touch also went to #1 on M.net M! Countdown. On March 4 they won Mutizen on SBS Inkigayo with Touch. On March 7 Miss A won on jTBC Music On Top.^{[39][40][41][42]}

On March 22, popular Chinese video sharing site YinYueTai revealed miss A’s Chinese music video for “Touch”. On March 23, miss A released a Chinese version of the “Touch” album in Hong Kong and Taiwan. This album contains the Korean and Chinese version of “Touch” and also the music videos under the DVD version. After the release, "Touch" immediately topped Chinese online charts.^[43][44][45]

The group wrapped up their promotions for the album by performing "Over U", another song from the album, on each music program during their last week. April 12, 2012, members Fei and Jia made their acting debut on the Korean-Chinese drama 'Happy Noodle'.^[46][47] Min was featured in B1A4 member Baro song "Just Two Of Us" for B1A4 album Ignition. While Suzy was featured in "Before This Song Ends" for JJ Project's debut album Bounce. Suzy was confirmed for a role in the drama ‘Big’.^[48]

Members[link]

Trivia[link]

• Official Fanclub : Say A

Discography[link]

Videography[link]

Music Videos[link]

Filmography[link]

Drama[link]

Tours[link]

Concert participation[link]

• JYP Nation Team Play Concert (2010)
• JYP Nation in Japan (2011)
• Jakarta FantastiKpop Festival (2011)
• Kaohsiung Kpop Festival in Taiwan (Nov2011)
• K-Pop Music Fest in Sydney (2011)
• M LIVE by CJ, Most Amazing 2011 (2011)
• 2012 TTV Super Star (New Year's Eve Program) in Taipei Arena, Taiwan
• JYP Nation in Japan (2012)

Awards[link]

Wins on Music Programs[link]

miss A's wins on Korea's televised music shows:

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Miss A

• Miss A - Official website
• Miss A - Official Korean website (Korean)
• Korea Tourism Organization: Miss A

Demetri Martin
Demetri Martin at Northeastern University on April 11, 2007
Born	(1973-05-25) May 25, 1973 (age 39) New York City, New York, United States
Nationality	American
Years active	Since 2002
Genres	Observational comedy, surreal humor, musical comedy, wit/wordplay, sketch comedy
Subject(s)	Everyday Life, American Culture, Random Subjects
Influences	Steven Wright, Eddie Izzard, Emo Philips, Mitch Hedberg, Socrates
Notable works and roles	· Demetri Martin. Person.  · Correspondent on The Daily Show  · Himself/Various on Important Things with Demetri Martin  · Elliot Tiber in Taking Woodstock (2009)
Website	www.demetrimartin.com

Demetri Martin (born May 25, 1973) is an American comedian, actor, artist, musician, writer and humorist. Martin is best known for his work as a stand-up comedian, contributor on The Daily Show and for his Comedy Central show Important Things with Demetri Martin.

Early life[link]

Demetri Martin was born to a Greek American family^[1] in New York City, New York, and grew up in Toms River, New Jersey. He is the son of Lillian, a nutritionist, and Dean C. Martin, now deceased, a Greek Orthodox priest.^[2] Martin graduated from Yale University in 1995. Although he was accepted into Harvard Law School, he went to New York University School of Law after he received a full scholarship.^[3]

Career[link]

In 2001, Martin caught his first big break in stand-up comedy when he appeared on Comedy Central's stand-up showcase Premium Blend. At the 2003 Edinburgh Festival Fringe he won the Perrier award with his show If I....^[4] The show was turned into a British television special in 2004. From 2003 to 2004, Martin wrote for Late Night with Conan O'Brien.^[5] In 2004, Martin had his own Comedy Central Presents stand-up special. His special was divided into three parts. In the first, he performed in traditional stand-up comedy fashion. In the second segment, he used humorous drawings as visual aids, which would serve either as the punchline or a background. During the third segment, he played a guitar and put on a pseudo-play where he would strum his guitar while alternating between playing harmonica and talking; some of his comedian friends dressed as fairies and dragons acted according to the story he was telling, detailing the magical land where his jokes came from. Martin's mother and grandmother also appeared.

Since late 2005, he has been credited as a contributor on The Daily Show, on which he has appeared as the named "Senior Youth Correspondent" and on which he hosts a segment called "Trendspotting". He has used this segment to talk about so-called hip trends among youth such as hookahs, wine, guerilla marketing and Xbox 360. A piece about social networking featured his profile on MySpace.^[6] On March 22, 2007, Demetri made another appearance on The Daily Show, talking about the Viacom lawsuit against Google and YouTube.

He has recorded a comedy CD/DVD titled These Are Jokes, which was released on September 26, 2006. This album also features Saturday Night Live member Will Forte and stand-up comedian Leo Allen.

Martin returned to The Daily Show on March 22, 2006, as the new Youth Correspondent, calling his segment "Professional Important News with Demetri Martin". In 2007, he starred in a Fountains of Wayne music video for "Someone to Love" as Seth Shapiro, a character in the song. He also starred in the video for the Travis single "Selfish Jean", in which he wears multiple t-shirts with lyrics written on them.

On September 2, 2007, Martin appeared on the season finale of the HBO series Flight of the Conchords. He appeared as a keytar player named Demetri.^[7]

He also had a part in the movie The Rocker (2008) starring Rainn Wilson. Martin played the part of the videographer when the band in the movie was making their first music video.

In 2009, he hosted and starred in his own television show called Important Things With Demetri Martin on Comedy Central. Later in June, it was announced his show had been renewed for a second season.^[8] The second season premiered, again on Comedy Central, on February 4, 2010. Martin has stated that Important Things will not return for a third season.

Prior to completing work on his second season, Martin starred in the comedy-drama film Taking Woodstock (2009), directed by Ang Lee, which premiered at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival. In the film Martin plays Elliot Tiber, a closeted gay artist who has given up his ambitions in the city to move upstate and help his old-world Jewish family run their Catskill Mountains motel. The film is based on the book written by Tiber.

On April 25, 2011, Martin released his first book, titled This Is a Book by Demetri Martin.

Martin was slated to portray Paul DePodesta as Oakland Athletics assistant GM to Billy Beane in the 2011 movie Moneyball, however was dropped and Jonah Hill took his place in the movie.

Plans[link]

Martin sold his movie concept Will to DreamWorks; he is expected to play a key supporting role.^[9] He will play the lead in the film Moon People, a pitch that he sold to Columbia Pictures.

Martin also signed a blind script deal with CBS in October 2010 to produce, write, and star in his own television series.^[10]

After CBS was shown the pilot for the series, they decided not to air it.^[11]

On August 11, 2011, Fox ordered a presentation of a new animated show they might air.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] If I

If I is a Perrier Comedy Award-winning comedy one-man show written and performed by Demetri Martin at the 2003 Edinburgh Festival Fringe.^[12] It was also aired on British television as a special. The show is an autobiographical examination of Martin's life, as seen through various definitions of the word "if."

The title of the special comes from a lengthy palindromic poem that Martin wrote; the words "if I" are at the center of the poem.^[13]

Comedic style[link]

Martin is known for being an unconventional stand-up comic. He uses one-liners and drawings on a "large pad", as well as accompanying his jokes with music on either guitar, harmonica, piano, keyboard, glockenspiel, toy bells, ukulele, or tambourine, sometimes all at once.^[14] He has cited comedian Steven Wright as an important influence (both use deadpan one-liners in their acts) and he is also a fan of Bill Cosby.^[15]

Personal life[link]

According to a July 2011 interview on the WTF with Marc Maron podcast, Demetri had a short-lived marriage to a girl he knew from high school. They began dating after high school and got married when he was in NYU Law School and she was attending NYU Medical School. He was aged 25 and in the end of his marriage when his stand-up career began.^[3]

He is extremely allergic to nuts and peanuts.^[16]