''Rock U'' (also known as ''Kara 1st Mini Album'') is the first
extended play
An extended play (EP) is a Sound recording and reproduction, musical recording that contains more tracks than a Single (music), single but fewer than an album. Contemporary EPs generally contain up to eight tracks and have a playing time of 1 ...
by
South Korea
South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...
n
girl group
A girl group is a music act featuring two or more women in music, female singers who generally vocal harmony, harmonize together. The term "girl group" is also used in a narrower sense in the United States to denote the wave of American female p ...
Kara
Kara or KARA may refer to:
Geography Localities
* Kara, Chad, a sub-prefecture
* Kára, Hungary, a village
* Kara, Uttar Pradesh, India, a township
* Kara, Iran, a village in Lorestan Province
* Kara, Republic of Dagestan, a rural locality in ...
. It was released on July 25, 2008. ''Rock U'' was released as the lead single.
This was also the first album to feature the two new members of the group;
Goo Hara
Goo Hara (; ; January 3, 1991 – November 24, 2019), also known mononymously as Hara, was a South Korean singer and actress. She was a member of the K-pop girl group Kara, and had also appeared in television dramas including '' City Hunter'' ...
and
Kang Jiyoung, following the departure of former member Kim Sunghee. The release also showed a big transition from the group's original "strong female" image to a "cute and natural" appeal, shifting from the R&B sound of their debut to bubblegum pop.
History
After a 10-month hiatus, Kara returned with 2 new members: 17-year-old Goo Hara and 14-year-old Kang Jiyoung. They replaced Kim Sunghee, who left for educational purposes. The song was promoted in music shows,
KBS's ''
Music Bank'',
MBC's ''Show! Music Core'',
SBS's ''
Inkigayo
''Inkigayo'' (; English title: ''The Music Trend'', previously ''Popular Song'') is a South Korean music program broadcast by SBS. It airs live every Sunday. The show features some of the latest and most popular artists who perform on stage. ...
'' and Mnet's ''M! Countdown''. A new version of the song "Good Day" called "
Good Day: Season 2" was released on October 13, 2008 as a digital single. A
remix
A remix, also sometimes called reorchestration or rework, is a piece of media which has been altered or contorted from its original state by adding, removing, or changing pieces of the item. A song, piece of artwork, book, poem, or photograph ca ...
version of the song "What's This" entered in the
special edition
The terms special edition, limited edition, and variants such as deluxe edition, collector's edition or expanded edition are used as a marketing incentive for various kinds of products, originally published products related to the arts, such as b ...
of the group's second EP "
Pretty Girl".
Chart performance
The
Gaon Music Chart
The Circle Chart (), previously known as the Gaon Music Chart or the Gaon Chart (), tabulates the relative weekly popularity of songs and albums in South Korea. Founded in 2010, it is produced by the Korea Music Content Association and sponsored ...
was launched in February 2010 as the official chart for South Korea. The album entered at number 81 for the second week of 2010 on the
Gaon Album Chart
The Circle Album Chart, previously known as the Gaon Album Chart, is a record chart ranking the 100 most popular albums, extended plays and single albums in South Koreabased on their Record sales, physical sales. It is a part of the Circle Chart, ...
and peaked at number 8 for the week ending July 3, 2010.
The album spent four non-consecutive weeks in the Top 10 in 2010 and became the group's second Top 10 album on the chart.
Track listing
Charts
Release history
References
{{Authority control
2008 EPs
Kara (South Korean group) EPs
Korean-language EPs
2000s Korean-language albums