| FTIsland | |
|---|---|
| Also known as | Five Treasure Island, FTI |
| Origin | South Korea |
| Genres | Pop Rock, Pop, R&B, Rock Ballad, Indie Rock |
| Years active | 2007–present |
| Labels | FNC Music/Mnet Media(Korea) AI Entertainment/Warner Music(Japan) |
| Associated acts | FT.Triple, A.N.Jell |
| Website | ftisland.com |
| Members | |
| Lee Hongki Lee Jae Jin Choi Jong Hun Choi Min Hwan Song Seung Hyun | |
| Past members | |
| Oh Won Bin | |
F.T. Island (Korean: 에프티 아일랜드), Five Treasure Island, or FTI, is a five-member South Korean band. The members are Choi Jong Hoon (Leader, guitar and keyboard), Lee Hong Ki (lead vocals), Lee Jae Jin (bass and vocals), Song Seung Hyun (guitar and vocals), and Choi Min Hwan (drums). Their debut album, titled "Cheerful Sensibility", was the sixth best-selling album in 2007. Their debut song 'Lovesick' stayed on top of K-Pop charts for 8 consecutive weeks. Oh Won Bin had been a member of the band up until the beginning of 2009.
Although F.T. Island's first album, Cheerful Sensibility, was scheduled to be released commercially in May 2007, the members appeared on the show "Wanna be my girlfriend?" (Korean: 두근두근 여친만들기) on the Korean television channel MNet. The band also performed on stage live at Rolling Hall and held their first official showcase at Live House Melon-AX, Gwangjang-dong in Seoul on May 27, 2007.
On June 7, 2007 the group performed their debut song Love Sick on the music television program M!Countdown; their debut album, Cheerful Sensibility, was released on the same day.
Cheerful Sensibility combined 13 songs that were loosely divided into two parts, “Emotional Chapter” and “F.T. Island Chapter”, according to the genre of the songs. The “Emotional Chapter” consists of rock ballads. The "F.T. Island Chapter" was produced by the Japanese composers who worked with the Japanese band, SMAP and is composed of a variety of pop rock songs.
Selling over 79,000 copies in 2007, it was the sixth best-selling album of the year. The album was re-released on December 3, 2007, titled The Refreshment, with three extra songs, a photobook, a stack of photocards, and a mixing program called Music 2.0 which allows one to adjust the levels of the instruments and vocals. This edition sold 25,724 copies in December 2007.
After debuting in Korea, FNC Music moved F.T. Island's activities overseas. On March 31, 2008, an autograph session in Malaysia at the Damansara Cineleisure was held, which was to be follow the next day by the group's first concert at the Sunway Lagoon Amphitheater. The performance was cancelled, and their first concert was held in Thailand instead, at the Royal Paragon Hall on April 12, 2008. The band performed songs from their album and showcased their individual talents in their solo performances.
F.T. Island's Japanese debut album, entitled Prologue of F.T. Island, was released on June 7, 2008, with the first single released being Soyogi . The album consists of 8 songs, 2 of which are newer versions of the original songs F.T. Island and Primadonna. The last track, Always Be Mine, is an English version of First Kiss from their debut album (though the lyrics are original). Music videos were also released for Soyogi and Friendship, displaying the band's professional and youthful sides, respectively.
After their promotional activities in Japan ended, the band returned to Korea to release their second Korean album Colorful Sensibility on August 27, 2008. A follow-up EP, Colorful Sensibility Part 2, was released on October 17, 2008.
On January 28, 2009, it was announced that Oh Won Bin would indeed be leaving the group, with FNC trainee Song Seung Hyun joining as a guitarist and backup vocalist. With the new lineup change, F.T. Island released the music video for their mini-album title song "Bad Woman." They also promoted it on SBS Inkigayo, and two days later, released the band's first Korean mini-album Jump Up.
In the months January and February, the boys started touring in Asia. The tour visited Japan, Thailand, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Philippines, and Singapore. Tickets were sold out quickly; representatives of the band believe it was due to the popularity of Lee Hong Ki starring in the drama, "You're Beautiful".
On April 20, FTIsland released their 4th major Japanese single Satisfaction with accompanying tracks, I want and Friends, in which Choi Jonghun participated in the composition of both songs. The single topped the Oricon Weekly Charts at 2nd place. They were positioned right after Johnny’s Kanjani8. Their title song “Satisfaction” was also selected to be the ending theme song of the current airing anime “Toriko”, generating high expectation from the public. Sumber: Wikipedia
