Sugar

Sugar was a four-member Korean girl pop group that employed the standard array of uptempo dancey tunes and slow ballads as well as the occasional rock song later on. Sugar were a part of the "Korean wave" of performers that broke through to Asian markets in the 2000s; the band had modest success in their native country, and a couple of hits in Japan, but ultimately faced the fate of all girl groups, splitting in a couple of years to leave its members to pursue (mostly unimpressive) solo careers. The band initially included Ahyoomee (or Ayumi), Soo Jin, Hye Seung (first known as Sae Byul), and Hwang Jung Eum, and debuted in 2001 with the song "Sweet Love," but only managed to get itself noticed in 2003, when it released the song "Tell Me Why" and the album of the same name. The girls had to fend off competition from similar Korean female pop acts M.I.L.K. and Shinvi, but those two never got past the debut album, despite being promoted by SM Entertainment, a major talent agency, while Sugar released their second Korean full-length, Shine, a couple of months after their first LP. Their good live skills, non-typical for a girl band, contributed to their rise, which also brought them to the Japanese market: in 2003, their songs "Take It Shake It" and "Real Identity" were featured in the anime series Kaleido Star. Ayumi's Japanese ancestry helped there, but the band failed to capitalize on the initial success, although not for the lack of trying: in 2004, they released three Japanese singles and the Japanese album Double Rainbow. All of those fared miserably in the charts, and Jung Eum opted to quit and focus on solo work (she was replaced by Haleen). Their Korean career fared no better: despite being signed to SM Entertainment, they failed to make a stir with either the 2004 EP Secret, or two 2005 singles and the album Sweet Lips, which proved to be their last Korean full-length. After the second Japanese album, Colors, Vol. 4: Wishes (2005), didn't even make it to Top 100, Soo Jin quit, and the rest of the band followed in 2006. Ahyoomee began a solo career, and Soo Jin moved into acting.