1Punch is a South Korean K-Pop duo, who was signed under the record labels, Brave Entertainment and D-Business Entertainment. The groups consists of one male rapper, Jung Jae Won (”1”) and a male vocalist, Samuel (”Punch”). One fact about Samuel – who is the maknae (the younger one) of the group – is that he was, previously, a former trainee in Pledis Entertainment but left due to personal reasons. Another curiosity about him is that he is actually half-Hispanic half-Korean, even though he was born in Los Angeles, California. He also names Chris Brown as his big musical influence. Even more interesting, he can speak four languages fluently. Meanwhile, Jung Jae Won is the leader, main rapper and the older one (Samuel’s hyung, which can be translated as ”older brother” from a male perspective) of 1Punch. ”Punch” writes his own raps and has an affection for fashion and different styles of music. He is known for using three microphones on stage aswell, although two of them aren’t on.
The average age for them was 17 (”1” is 20 years old, while ”Punch” is only 13 years old) and they both trained singing, rapping and dance for a long time before debuting. The duo is supposed to represent a homage/tribute to the famous Hip/Hop South Korean boygroups, Seo Taji & Boys and Deux. As explained by their producers, the aim of 1Punch is to please not only South Korea but other overseas countries.
The duo debuted in January 23, 2015, with the songs, ”Nightmare” and ”Turn Me Back”, respectively. The first one is an old-school Hip/Hop, which contains lyrics expressing their personality. The song is also an introduction of the duo in the music industry. The video is simple and contains scenes from streets to parking lots. The other title-track is an R&B-inspired song with an addictive beat, easy lyrics and a fun choreography to match. The boys are singing/rapping about wanting to go back in time to when they didn’t feel pain about love and relationships. The video is very influenced by New York in the 90’s with skyscrappers, yellow taxi cabs and graffiti all around. Both songs plus ”Ice Ice” were all released digitally on a single album titled, ”The Anthem”.
They are currently promoting their song, ”Turn Me Back”, on various music shows such as, KBS’ Music Bank and Mnet’s MCountdown, among others.
