Jewelry Box is the second studio album and first Japanese release by the South-Korean girl group T-ara. The album was a commercial success peaking at 2 on the official Oricon weekly albums and earning a Gold certification from RIAJ. To promote the album, a tour was held beginning in July 2012, drawing 40,000 spectators.
Release and promotion
The album was announced on March 6, 2012, with a June release date, with a planned release in June, coinciding with the announcement of the group's live Japanese tour ~T-ara Japan Tour 2012: Jewelry Box~.[1] The album was released in three versions: Diamond, Sapphire, and Pearl.The Diamond edition features special jewelry box-style packaging, the Sapphire edition is packaged in a digipak and the Pearl edition comes in a standard jewel case. The Diamond and Sapphire editions include a 100-page and 32-page photo book, respectively. Each edition also contains one random trading card out of eight possible types.
Jewelry Box debuted at number two on the Oricon Albums Chart, with first-week sales of 57,102 in Japan.[3] In its second week, the album dropped to number seven selling 14,276 copies.[4] The album remained in the top twenty during its third and fourth weeks and fell to the top thirty in its fifth week. It ranked at number six on the Oricon Monthly Albums Chart, selling 86,530 copies.[5] After a month of sales, the album was certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of Japan for shipments exceeding 100,000 copies.[6]
Singles
Four singles have been released prior to the album, with the last released two weeks before the release of Jewelry Box. The group's debut Japanese single, "Bo Peep Bo Peep", was released on September 28, 2011.[7] The music video for the song premiered four weeks prior to the release of the single on September 1, 2011, on the Japanese cable television network Space Shower TV.[8] The single debuted at number one on Oricon's Weekly Singles chart with 49,712 copies sold, setting a record as the first Korean girl group to debut at the top position.[9] The song has also reached number one on the Billboard Japan Hot 100.[10]
"Yayaya" was announced on October 14, 2011,[11] and was released on November 30, 2011.[7] The single debuted at number seven on Oricon's Weekly Singles chart with 31,801 copies sold. It also peaked at number six on the Billboard Japan Hot 100. At the time, the group was actively promoting in both Korea and Japan, promoting their third Korean extended play Black Eyes alongside the promotion of "Yayaya".
"Roly-Poly" was released on February 29, 2012,[7] with the music video premiering a month earlier on January 20. Initially, Japanese fans expressed concerns about the lack of promotional activities for "Roly-Poly", as the Korean version of the song was included as the b-side for their last single, "Yayaya", T-ara's Korean agency Core Contents Media announced that "It isn't definite that we do not plan to have activities for "Roly-Poly" in Japan, we only added in the Korean version as a b-side for now. We have still only in the early stages and have yet to pick out a song that will come after "Yayaya"."[12] However, a promo flyer for T-ara's third single being "Roly-Poly" was uploaded to the internet on December 20, with their official Japanese website confirming the single on the same day.[11] A short music video was also produced for one of the b-sides, the Japanese version of "Lies" titled "コジンマル～嘘～". "Roly-Poly" debuted at number three on Oricon's Weekly Singles chart, selling 41,285 copies, and peaking at number five on the Billboard Japan Hot 100.
"Lovey-Dovey", the fourth and final single for Jewelry Box, was released on May 23, 2012.[11]
The T-ara Japan Tour 2012: Jewelry Box (stylized as T-ARA JAPAN TOUR 2012～Jewelry Box～) was the group's first nationwide concert tour in Japan, organized to promote their debut Japanese studio album, Jewelry Box. The tour commenced on June 19, 2012, at the Aichi Prefectural Arts Theater in Nagoya, Japan and concluded on July 26 at the Nippon Budokan in Tokyo, Japan, which was completely sold out.[13] The tour's final concert on July 26 was broadcast by Sky Perfect TV on September 29, 2012.[14] A special edition of the Japanese magazine HallyuPia was released, documenting key moments of the tour. It includes fan reactions to the concerts and provides a detailed report on the events held across Japan. This edition offers an extensive overview of the tour's activities and the surrounding events..[15]
This tour marked T-ara as the first Korean girl group to perform at Nippon Budokan.[16]
Setlists
Set list in Nagoya and Osaka
Main Set Act 1
"Lovey-Dovey" (Japanese ver.)
"T-ARATiC MAGiC MUSiC"
"YAYAYA" (Japanese ver.)
"Apple is A" (Japanese ver.)
Act 2
"コジンマル～嘘～ (Lies)" (Japanese ver.)
"私がとても痛くて (I'm Really Hurt)" (Japanese ver.)
"ウェイロニ (Why Are You Being Like This)" (Japanese ver.)
"会いたかった (I Wanted to Meet You)" (Boram, Qri & Hwayoung)
"ORION" (Soyeon's solo)
"Freakum Dress" (Jiyeon, Eunjung & Hyomin)
Act 3
"あなたのせいで狂いそう (I Go Crazy Because Of You)" (Japanese ver.)
"Cry Cry" (Japanese ver.)
"Till The World Ends"
"初めてのように (Like The First Time)" (Japanese ver.)
"Bye Bye" (Japanese ver.)
"T.T.L (Time To Love)" (Japanese ver.)
"Bo Peep Bo Peep" (Japanese ver.)
"Roly-Poly" (Japanese ver.)
Encore
Nagoya
"Lovey-Dovey" (Japanese ver.)
"Roly-Poly" (Japanese ver.)
"Bo Peep Bo Peep" (Japanese ver.)
Osaka
"Roly-Poly" (Japanese ver.)
"YAYAYA" (Japanese ver.)
"Lovey-Dovey" (Japanese ver.)
Set list in Fukuoka, Sendai & Sapporo
Main Set Act 1
"Roly-Poly" (Japanese ver.)
"ウェイロニ (Why Are You Being Like This)" (Japanese ver.)
^"티아라, 걸그룹 첫 부도칸 공연..2만명 환호" [T-ara's first Budokan performance ... 20,000 cheers]. entertain.naver.com (in Korean). July 27, 2012. Retrieved March 9, 2022.
