Kim Bo Kyung was a contestant on Superstar K2 (the competition that Huh Gak won) but didn’t get very far - voted out before the top 10, her sob story nevertheless touched enough people to gain her a single release of her signature song Because of You, a cover of her heroine Kelly Clarkson’s popular hit.

Earlier this year came Kim’s first mini-album the FIRST DAY which proved to be a huge surprise for me. To my ears, it was stylistically closer to the kind of Jpop female singer-songwriter music I favour - bright & breezy in parts, heartfelt & as opposed to the copycat r’n’b rubbish that most Kpop artists churn out these days. The material chosen proved a perfect fit for Kim’s husky, powerhouse vocals and lead promo track 하루하루 (Day by Day) is probably amongst my top 10 favourite songs of the year - check out one of her live performances for a taste of what she has to offer.

After that ballad she did for the City Hunter soundtrack, we’ve now got a second mini-album from Bo Kyung. GroWing carries on in a similar vein to the FIRST DAY with its mix of power pop tunes & ballads which is all good and fine if they weren’t taking the whole Kelly Clarkson thing a wee bit too far by ripping out entire pages from the Idol singer’s songwriting book. 아파 (It Hurts) is still a mighty fine song though.

So, maybe a slight step backward with GroWing then but Kim still offers plenty of promise - let’s hope she’s afforded more time to make the next release something truly special.