''Lupin'' (

Hangul The Korean alphabet, known as Hangul, . Hangul may also be written as following South Korea's standard Romanization. ( ) in South Korea and Chosŏn'gŭl in North Korea, is the modern official writing system for the Korean language. The let ...

: ) is the third Korean

extended play An extended play record, usually referred to as an EP, is a musical recording that contains more tracks than a single but fewer than an album or LP record.

(EP) by South Korean

girl group A girl group is a music act featuring several female singers who generally harmonize together. The term "girl group" is also used in a narrower sense in the United States to denote the wave of American female pop music singing groups, many of who ...

Kara Kara or KARA may refer to: Geography Localities * Kara, Chad, a sub-prefecture * Kára, Hungary, a village * Kara, Uttar Pradesh, India, a township * Kara, Iran, a village in Lorestan Province * Kara, Republic of Dagestan, a rural locality in Da ...

, released on February 17, 2010 by

DSP DSP may refer to: Computing * Digital signal processing, the mathematical manipulation of an information signal * Digital signal processor, a microprocessor designed for digital signal processing * Yamaha DSP-1, a proprietary digital signal ...

. The concept and artwork of the album is based on French writer Maurice Leblanc's fictional

gentleman thief A gentleman thief, gentleman burglar, lady thief, or phantom thief is a stock character in fiction. A gentleman or lady thief is characterised by impeccable manners, charm, courteousness, and the avoidance of physical force or intimidation to ...

Arsène Lupin Arsène Lupin (French pronunciation: ʁsɛn lypɛ̃ is a fictional gentleman thief and master of disguise created in 1905 by French writer Maurice Leblanc. The character was first introduced in a series of short stories serialized in the magazi ...

Background and concept

In early February, DSP Media announced that Kara would be coming back with "Lupin" and showing a darker, more mature concept.베일 벗기 시작한 카라 컴백, 어떨까 ‘괴도루팡 깜짝변신’
. '' Nate''. February 10, 2010. Retrieved February 22, 2010. The song was released to digital outlets on February 17, 2010 and topped various charts the following day.

Han Seung-yeon Han Seung-yeon (born July 24, 1988), better known mononymously as Seungyeon, is a South Korean singer and actress. She is best known as the main vocalist of the South Korean girl group Kara and for her role in ''Hello, My Twenties!''. Early li ...

noted that, although the group had a cute image with singles like " Pretty Girl" and "Mister", "Lupin" would allow the girls to portray a "chic" concept. Media reports noted that the group would be going up against

Girls' Generation Girls' Generation (), also known as SNSD, is a South Korean girl group formed by SM Entertainment. The group is composed of eight members: Taeyeon, Sunny, Tiffany, Hyoyeon, Yuri, Sooyoung, Yoona, and Seohyun. Originally a nine-piece ensembl ...

, who had made their comeback a few weeks earlier with " Oh!".카라 '루팡' M/V, 공개 2시간만에 차트 1위 (''Kara's "Lupin" Music Video Hits #1 Two Hours After Release'')
. ''Sports Seoul''. February 22, 2010. Retrieved February 22, 2010.

Promotion

Kara made their comeback in late February, starting with

Mnet M-Net (an abbreviation of Electronic Media Network) is a South African pay television channel established by Naspers in 1986. The channel broadcasts both local and international programming, including general entertainment, children's series, ...

's ''

M! Countdown ''M Countdown'' () is a South Korean music program broadcast by Mnet. The show features appearances by popular music artists who also perform live on stage. It is broadcast from CJ E&M Center Studio in Sangam-dong, Mapo District, Seoul. Bro ...

'' on February 25, 2010. The group then performed on all major network music shows over the weekend. On March 4, 2010, Kara won their first #1 award for "Lupin" on ''M! Countdown''. The following week, Kara won yet another #1 award on M! Countdown, making it their second consecutive win on the program. "Lupin" also gave Kara their first #1 win on ''

Music Bank Music Bank may refer to: * ''Music Bank'' (TV program), a South Korean music program by KBS **''Music Bank World Tour The ''Music Bank'' World Tour is a worldwide live concert tour of South Korean music show ''Music Bank'' by the Korean Broad ...

'' on March 12, 2010, making it the group's first win on the music show since their debut, and held onto the position for three consecutive weeks. The song also won the Mutizen award from ''Inkigayo''. "Lupin" is among a handful of Kara tracks featured in the arcade

music game A music video game, also commonly known as a music game, is a video game where the gameplay is meaningfully and often almost entirely oriented around the player's interactions with a musical score or individual songs. Music video games may take a ...

, ''

DJ Max Technika 3 ''DJMax Technika 3'' (Korean: 디제이맥스 테크니카3) is a music arcade game published and developed by Pentavision in South Korea, and is a sequel to the earlier ''DJMax Technika 2'' arcade game in the ''DJMax'' game series. Announcement T ...

''.

Music video

The music video was released on February 22, garnering more than 90,000 views in the first two hours. After the popularity of the group's "butt dance" with "Mister", netizens were curious to see the choreography of "Lupin"; as such, parts of the dance, including the "Emergency Exit" dance and the "Halla" dance, were highlighted by viewers.‘엉덩이춤’ 카라 새 비밀병기는 ‘비상구 춤’ 화제만발 (''"Butt Dance" Kara's New Secret Weapon is "Emergency Exit Dance", is Hot Topic of Conversation'')
. ''

Joins.com ''The JoongAng'', formally known as ''JoongAng Ilbo'', is a South Korean daily newspaper published in Seoul, South Korea. It is one of the three biggest newspapers in South Korea, and a newspaper of record for South Korea. The paper also publ ...

''/''Newsen''. February 23, 2010. Retrieved February 22, 2010. Other moves of interest were Goo Hara's hair flip.

Track listing

Charts

Album chart

Single chart

Other songs charted

Sales and certifications

Release history

References

{{Authority control 2010 EPs Dance-pop EPs Kara (South Korean band) EPs Korean-language EPs