Hey girls, step aside because there’s a new group in town! Meet MASKOT!
A little introduction…
Meet the girls of MASKOT (Mask-Of-Thetis), set to debut from GBK Entertainment. They’re a triple threat in the industry; they can sing, dance and act and have even been dubbed by the Korean media as one of the most anticipated girl groups to debut. Producer Hot Kumara, who is the teacher of Sinsa-dong Tiger (the man behind the string of k-pop hits for BEAST, 4minute, T-ARA, etc.), has already spoken very highly of the girls’ potential to leave an impression in the industry. It doesn’t stop there; MASKOT has been selected as the girl group that will become the new top idol group in South Korea to succeed in the ranks of Girls Generation, T-ARA and Wonder Girls. How’s that for a start?
If the girls look familiar to you then don’t be surprised because they have already been in dramas, musicals, photo-shoots and have even made appearances overseas. With an average age of 19.4, the girls have powerful vocals, striking dance moves, impressive acting abilities and can even write compositions themselves! What can’t they do?
The Members
Haeri Lee
18 years old
171cm/50kg
Victoria University of Wellington
English, Japanese, Mandarin, Korean, French
Piano, Composition, Writing Lyrics
Haeri entered the showbiz in 1996 with the Korean children’s’ TV programmes, Haeri moved with her family to New Zealand in 1997 and entered the biggest model and talent agency ‘VMA model and talent,’ and was part of numerous amounts of performances, musicals (Hairspray, Moulin Rouge, Jesus Christ Superstar etc.), photo shoots (Total girl, Fashionistar), drama (The Caucasian Chalk circle, In the lap of the gods) and catwalks (Designer Sammy Hunt, KMS California.)
In 2008 she was awarded a scholarship for her bright future in the performing arts area.
She was also part of a rock band ‘The Perfect Sunshine’ as the lead vocalist, part of the dance crew ‘The Rising-’ The Rising was ranked third place in the 2008 national Hip-hop dance off.
In 2009 she was part of the Korea-Japan ‘Tokyo girls’ TV project, 2010 entered the MBC Campus song Festival with her own composed song.
In all of her middle school and high school years, Haeri acted as the prefect, being the head leader among all her colleagues. In 2007 she was awarded the Best Young Debater award from the national government, 2009 was awarded 1st place in the national Japanese debating competition.
Haeri has always been ranked top 2% of NZ in regards of her school grades which allowed her to be picked up by Victoria University of Wellington at the age of sixteen. Haeri was granted a four year scholarship, and with full support majored in International Relations, Political science and Japanese; her GPA was A in 2010, and was also awarded Gold in the 1st Wellington Japanese speech competition, University division.
Rei Lee
18 years old
167cm/46kg
Kyung In Womens University
Korean
Singing, Guitar, Dance
Rei has been the leader of her high school percussion team, and for three years have performed as part of the team. For her efforts and performance she also got awarded a certificate from the Major of Kyungu. In 2010, on her high school graduation, she was rewarded another certificate from the governor of Kyungju for her commitment to performing arts.
Rei has also performed as an MC during her three years of high school being part of the Kyungju Teenage Festival and other major festivals; her MC skills are even complimented today while performing as part of MASKOT.
In 2010, she was also rewarded 1st prize in the Kyungju Indi-Rock festival.
After graduating high school, she was part of the music video for a Korean band named ‘Norajo’ and also performed as their backup dancer.
Mina Oh
22 years old
164cm/46kg.
-
Korean.
Squash, Singing, Reading
Mina was part of the Korea-Japan TV project ‘Tokyo girls’ and was complimented on her exceptional singing skills.
She had studied the traditional Korean dance and ballet for six years, which allowed her to win bronze in the Korean Art Group’s Dance awards and first in the E-sung Dance competition.
In the past she was awarded first place in the ‘Bucheon’s children beauty pageant,’ and also made it to the final auditions to an Ice Cream commercial.
She had been under the famous composer, Lee Min Soo- the producer of Brown-eyed-girls, for a year as a trainee.
Mina is now a reporter on MBC (Korean National Television) ‘야구 읽어주는 남자- The Man who reads baseball.’
Ai Jin
16 years old
171cm/47kg.
-
Korean. Mandarin
Nail art, Acting, Sewing
Ai has lived in China for five years so is completely fluent in Mandarin.On top of that, Ai has a lot of experience as she modeled for different Photographers and modeled for an internet shopping mall.She has also learnt acting professionally for two years at an acting academy.
Sophia Hong
23 years old
165cm/46kg
Danguk University
Korean.
Shopping. Pilates
Sophia is now majoring in performing arts at Donguk University. She has acted as part of the musical Fame, and performed in the dramas Romeo and Juliet, The foolish Bride etc. In 2009 she has performed in the ‘Hi Seoul Festival’ as part of a dance team.This year she took part in the LG U+ commercial, and Orica Jewellery.
Want more?
Unfortunately, MASKOT is not set to debut until later this year but thanks to our friends at Aus2One, they have supplied us a video footages of MASKOT rehearsing their debut song so you can be the first of your friends to get a taste of this upcoming group! Be sure to follow MASKOT on Facebook for more updates on the group and check back on hellokpop for more exclusives as we follow the rise of this kpop group!
Leave your impressions of the group in the comments below and let’s keep an eye out for one of the most promising groups of 2012.
Source: GBK Entertainment, Aus2One
