ON THEIR very first Manila visit, K-pop idol group Boys Republic held a series of mall shows over the weekend. Fans trooped to Lucky Chinatown and Venice Piazza malls on Jan. 10 and to Eastwood Mall on Jan. 11 to watch Sung Jun, Sun Woo, Min Su, Su Woong, and One Junn perform on stage.
(back) Sun Woo, and Sung Jun
As the first K-pop act signed under Universal Music label, Boys Republic introduced their brand of music to the local scene when they performed their hits such as “Party Rock,” “Video Game,” “Dress Up,” and “The Real One,” the title track of their newest album, Real Talk. At the mall shows, the group also got a chance to meet members of their fan club, the Filipino Royal Family.
“This is our first time in the Philippines. We are quite nervous but we are excited to show how good we are,” said One Junn. Aside from Manila, Boys Republic also wants to visit Cebu, according to Su Woong.
For future projects, Sun Woo said that the group is interested to work with stars like G-Dragon, g.o.d., Shinhwa, and IU.
On June 5, 2013, Boys Republic debuted in Korea and immediately released their first single “Party Rock,” which peaked at no. 1 on the iTunes single charts in Indonesia, Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand. After their successful debut, the group made a comeback with their first album, IDENTITY on Oct. 8 with lyric contributions from their group leader, One Junn. Its title song “You Are Special” reached no. 1 on KKBOX Chart in Malaysia.
On Nov. 12, 2014, the boys returned with the release of their second album entitled Real Talk. The album has seven tracks including their previous hits, “Video Game” and “Dress Up.”