Amber Liu (singer)

Amber Liu
Amber Liu in Los Angeles at the music festival KCON 2013
Born	Amber Josephine Liu (1992-09-18) September 18, 1992 Los Angeles, California, United States
Nationality	American
Occupation	Singer-songwriter rapper dancer
Musical career
Genres	K-pop
Instruments	Vocals rapping guitar drums
Years active	2009–present
Labels	S.M. Entertainment
Associated acts	f(x) SM Town
Website	amber.smtown.com

Amber Josephine Liu^[1] (simplified Chinese: 刘逸云; traditional Chinese: 劉逸雲; pinyin: Liú Yìyún; Korean: 엠버, 류일운; Japanese: アンバー, 劉逸雲; born September 18, 1992), known professionally as Amber, is an American rapper and singer currently active in South Korea. She is a member of the South Korean girl group f(x). She debuted as a solo artist in February 2015 with the release of her EP, Beautiful.^[2]

Early life

Amber was born on September 18, 1992 in Los Angeles, California.^[3][4] Her parents are from Taiwan and her father has Teochew ancestry.^[5] She has one older sister named Jackie.^[6] She attended El Camino Real High School in Los Angeles prior to moving to South Korea to be a trainee under S.M. Entertainment.

Career

F(x)

Amber performing at Seoul Plaza

Amber was cast from S.M. Entertainment's Los Angeles global audition in 2008, where she and one male were selected to be trainees for SM Entertainment. After a year and a half of training, she debuted as a member of the South Korean girl group f(x) in September 2009.^[7] During an episode of the group's reality show, Go f(x), Amber revealed that her parents initially had mixed feelings regarding her music career. She stated: "My dad was very cautious, at first ...but then my mom was always supportive from the beginning. I really thank her and she also convinced my dad".^[6]

She has composed and written lyrics for some of the group's songs such as "Goodbye Summer" which was a track in their second studio album, Pink Tape,^[8] and "Summer Lover" from their third studio album, Red Light. Aside from featured songs, Amber also worked with fellow group mates Luna and Krystal for the soundtrack of KBS drama God of Study, in a song called "Spread its Wings".

Solo activities

She frequently collaborated with other S.M. Entertainment artists. Label mate Yuri of Girls' Generation performed a cover of Ciara's song "1, 2 Step" at their first concert, Into the New World, held on December 19 and 20, 2009 in Seoul and featured Amber as a rapper and dancer. The song was then included in their first live album. In June 2010, she was featured in the lead track of Taiwanese singer, Danson Tang's third Mandarin studio album, The First Second. She performed the Korean and English rap parts of the song, and was also featured in the song's music video.^[9] In 2013, she was featured in the Korean version of the title track of Henry's's debut album, called "1-4-3 (I Love You)".^[10]

Amber has also made a career on television. From October 2011 to April 2012, Amber was part of the reality-variety show, Invincible Youth. She had to leave the show to prepare for her group's debut in Japan.^[11] She has also hosted MBC's music show Show Champion with T-ara's Eunjung for a year, both of them stepped down as hosts on December 18, 2013.^[12] On June 6, 2014, she became a host of the KBS show, A Song for You with Kangin of Super Junior and Yook Sungjae of BTOB.^[13] She was also a host of We Got Married Global Edition.^[14] In the same year, she appeared in a 9-episode travel reality series, One Fine Day, with singer Ailee, who is a close friend of hers. The show, which aired on MBC Music, followed a vacation trip they took and was filmed on Jeju Island.^[15] On December 31, Amber was confirmed as a cast member for the second female soldier special of MBC's Real Men.^[16]

Amber officially debuted as a solo artist, releasing her debut EP, Beautiful, on February 13, 2015. The title track, "Shake That Brass", featured Girls' Generation's Taeyeon.^[17] A few days prior to the release of the album, a lyric video for the B-side track, "Beautiful", was released. The music video contained childhood photos of the singer, as well as photos since her debut as a member of f(x). Its lyrics tells the story of the difficulties she faced as she chased after her dreams of being an entertainer and how she liked herself the way she is.^[18] Beautiful debuted at number 2 on Billboard's World Albums chart and number 19 on Heatseekers Albums. According to Jeff Benjamin of Billboard K-Town, this ranking shows Amber has a large international fanbase.^[19]

As a part of SM Station project, Amber's solo single, "Borders", was released in March 2016. She participated in composing, lyrics writing and arrangement of the song. Written entirely in English, the hip hop track shares Amber's childhood experiences and gives a positive message not to give up on oneself against life difficulties.^[20]

On May 15, 2016 SM Entertainment posted a mysterious teaser for new song with the name "Crossing". On May 16, 2016 SM Entertainment announced that Amber was set to release a new digital single on May 18, 2016 under the title "On My Own". On May 22, 2016 Amber announced the release of the third single on the Crossing series following "Borders" and "On My Own", on May 25, under the title "Need to Feel Needed".^[21]

On September 9, 2016 SM Entertainment published the official music video for "Breathe Again". This would be Amber's first entirely English song and her first collaboration with Japanese DJ, Ksuke.^[22]

Personal life

Amber is a native speaker of English and additionally possesses fluency in Korean and Mandarin Chinese. She went to El Camino Real High School in Woodland Hills, California, where she played basketball. Basketball served as a large portion of her early childhood to her arrival in Korea. She was also a member of her school track team. She holds a black belt in Taekwondo.

Amber took a six-month hiatus from the group early in their career reportedly due to an ankle injury.

Discography

EPs

Singles

Other charted songs

Collaborations

As songwriter

Music videos

Filmography

Television drama

Television shows

Awards and nominations

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Amber Liu (singer).

• Amber Liu on Instagram