| This article, Craft, is property of Callioppy |
|---|
| “ |
Masters of sounds! It's Craft! |
” |
| —Craft | ||
Craft (기능 and クラフト) is a Korean/Japanese pop punk band based out of Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan. The group debuted in 2011 under Morph Entertainment Group. In 2023, the group moved to their self-founded sub-label Merge Studios.
Career[]
2010-2011: Debut[]
Craft as an idea was created by MORPH Japan in the summer of 2010, while bands are quite popular in Japan. Morph Japan connected with their Korean branch to put together a band to sell to both Japanese and Korean markets, as well as reach international groups of fans as well. On January 21st of 2011, Craft made their debut with their single ‘Satisfied?’ in Japan. The single was a fast chart climber and reached #5 in the Japanese music charts after only 4 weeks of promoting the single. They released their second single ‘Collide’ on April 8th. Collide quickly climbed the charts and reached #1 within 3 weeks of the single and accompanying music video being released. The group grew immensely in the few months and announced their first mini album would come out in August 2011.
On August 19th, their first mini album, ‘From Stardust’, was released. The mini album sold well with the title track ‘Rumble’ reaching number #10 on the charts. The group would often perform at small venues throughout the different wards of Tokyo. The fall of 2011, the group made their move to Seoul in order to prepare for their Korean debut in early 2011. During the stretch of creating music for the Korean fanbase, members Yuri & Chinami made a Youtube channel in order to connect with their fans back home. The channel ‘Yuyu Craft’ mainly posted little behind the scenes videos to keep domestic fans in the loop of overseas activities. Promotions and teasers for Craft’s Korean release began circulating in winter 2011.
2012-2015: Korean Debut & First Studio Album[]
2012: On their one year anniversary as a group, Craft made their Korean debut with their single ‘Ignite’. The single charted at #50 in Korea. They did some radio interviews during this time to try and gain a fanbase and draw attention to themselves. On March 30th 2012, they released their second Korean single ‘Focus’. Then on July 20th 2012, Craft released their first Korean mini album ‘Horizon’. The group did a small stage show for a week. In October of 2012, the band returned to Shibuya.
2013: Craft made a special video for their 2nd anniversary together. Craft began to focus on making their first full length album while performing around in Tokyo. On June 1st 2013, Craft put out their first full length album ‘Kaleidoscope’ which had 10 tracks. The album had huge success in Japan, the album reached #15 on the Japanese album charts. Then Craft went on a small tour around Japan from June 22nd-August 24th. In December, they released another Japanese single ‘Faceless’ which reached #3 and stayed at #3 for two weeks.
2014: Craft posted another celebratory video on their 3rd anniversary. On February 15th 2014, Craft released their 2nd mini album ‘Curiosity’. They also released a second mini-album called ‘Oddity’ on September 12th 2014.
2015: 4th Anniversary. Craft performed at Sakura Con on April 4th in Seattle, Washington. They released their 2nd full length Japanese album ‘Oracle’ on June 5th 2015. They then went on a small Asia tour from June 12th-August 21st. They released a Korean single on October 9th titled ‘Shift’. A second Korean single was released on December 18th ‘Two-Faced’.
2016-2019: Korea Comeback[]
2016: For their 5th anniversary, Craft kicked off the year with performances around Japan. They then announced for the next couple years, they’d be focusing their promotions in South Korea. February 19th, they released a Korean mini album ‘Amethyst’. Unlike previous attempts, this did well. This may have been due to more Korean bands being formed during this time, including Day6 & N.Flying. During this year, the group went on radio shows and made television appearances promoting their work. November 4th 2016, they released a second mini album ‘Lapis’.
2017: They celebrated their 6th anniversary by releasing their first full length Korean album ‘Hallucinations’. The title track ‘Lovestruck’ did quite well and gained the group a fanbase. During this time they also made a vlive account to connect with their Korean fanbase. On July 10th they released their single ‘Drop’. Craft then did 5 shows over a month period to promote their new music. They released another single ‘More Than This’ on November 24th.
2018: 7th anniversary. More promotional activities in South Korea in addition to releasing a mini album on April 6th titled ‘Dynamics Part One’. Craft returned to Japan in July of that year and released a Japanese mini album ‘Dynamics Part Two’ and spent the rest of the year promoting and performing in Japan.
2019: On their 8th anniversary, Craft announced they would be taking a break. They clarified this was not a break-up announcement but just allowing themselves time to relax and recoup. The most active members during the break were Yuri and Ji-won with both of them breaking out into the Korean drama market.
2020-2022: Tour & Hiatus[]
2020: 9th anniversary. No group activity, Craft still on break.
2021: On their tenth anniversary the band put out thank you notes to their fans as well as released a two disc full length album. One disc being Korean and the other being Japanese. They promoted for the first half of the year in South Korea and did several shows and the other half in Japan.
2022: 11th anniversary. On March 11th they released their first English single ‘Sleepwalking’. They then went on to perform at Coachella alongside many Korean & Japanese groups. In May, Craft announced they’d be doing their first North American tour from September-November. On August 20th, Craft released their studio album 'High Standards'. On September 8th, Craft made the announcement that they’d be going on a small hiatus in order to recoup and relax. It was also revealed that members Yuri and Ryuji got married and had a small ceremony with the other members attending.
2023-present: Formation of Merge Studios, Solo Careers, & Lineup Changes[]
2023: On April 27th 2023, it was announced that Craft had created "Merge Studios" which would be a subsidiary of Morph Entertainment. The label would now serve as Craft's main label and be run strictly by the band itself. The label was also announced to be the home of the upcoming project girl group former through the survival show "Carnival". The group Whimsy debuted on November 4th 2023 under their label.
2024: Jeon Jiwon would release his debut solo EP on November 2nd 2024 titled "SELF". Yukari has announced potential plans to venture into a solo career herself in the future. On November 24th it was announced CRAFT had two projects in the works, this being a Korean and Japanese compilation album of their biggest hits as well as new music coming in 2025, almost 3 years since their last release. On December 2nd, Yuri and Ryuji announced their departures from the band. Yuri will continue work as a songwriter and Ryuji will stay under Merge Studios as the band's main producer as well as the label's main producer. On December 7th, Cho Yoojin was announced as one of the band's new members.
2025: In June of 2025, the final new member was introduced, it was revealed to be Naya, former member of GALAXY. The group's original release was pushed back from a summer release to early fall.
Members[]
| Name | Position(s) | Color | Nationality | Year(s) Active | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jeong Ji-won | Leader, bassist, lead vocals | Korean | 2011-Present | ||
| Miyazaki Chinami | Main Vocalist, rhythm guitar | Japanese | 2011-Present | ||
| Sasaki Yukari | Lead Guitar, | Japanese | 2011-Present | ||
| Cho Yoojin | Drummer | TBA | Korean | 2024-present | |
| Naya | keyboard, synthesizer | HongKongese | 2025-present | ||
| Former | |||||
| Kim Yuri | drummer | Korean | 2011-2024 | ||
| Kojima Ryuji | Keyboardist, sub-vocalist | Japanese | 2011-2024 | ||
Discography[]
Filmography[]
- YuYu Craft (Youtube Channel) (2012-present)
Concert tours[]
- Craft Tour: Tokyo (June 22-August 24th 2013)
- Craft Tour: Southeast Asia/Japan (June 12-August 21 2015)
- Craft Tour: 2021 Japan & South Korea (2021)
- Craft Tour: North America (September 2nd-November 26th 2022)
Achievements[]
| Award Show | Catagory | Year | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| MBS Artist Awards | Artist Of The Year | 2021 | nominee |
| MBS Artist Awards | Album Of The Year Award (SUN:MOON) | 2021 | Won |
Trivia[]
- All members are songwriters
- All members are fluent in Japanese/Korean
- Ryuji & Chinami are childhood friends