Posted by Jacques Peterson on 12/29/2012 at 12:32 AM News

The Popdust Files: brown eyed girls, ga-in, Jea, K-pop, Miryo, Narsha

The solo career of Brown Eyed Girls‘ vocalist, Jea, is already off to a strong start. Her new buzz single, “Let’s Hug,” featuring Jung Yeob of the R&B group, Brown Eyed Soul, has already topped multiple digital charts in the few hours since its release. It’s currently sitting just behind Girls’ Generation’s “Dancing Queen” and Lee Seung Gi’s “Return” on the Instiz iChart*, proving that Brown Eyed Girls are still one of K-pop’s top girl groups.

So far, Jea seems to be taking a similar promotional approach to the one used by her naughty bandmate, Narsha. Just like Jea, Narsha kicked off her solo promotions with a ballad buzz single, “I’m in Love,” and then returned with the bizarre “Bbi Ri Bba Bba.” We’ll have to wait until January 4th to hear Jea’s real single, “While You Were Asleep,” but knowing how Brown Eyed Girls’ operate, we’re expecting the unexpected.

It’ll be interesting to see how Jea’s solo album performs on the charts once it’s released. So far, all the Brown Eyed Girls’ solo projects have had some form of success. Ga-In’s has been the biggest, with the “Bloom” songstress now one of the top female soloists in K-pop, while Narsha and Miryo were both able to land a top ten hit each from their albums. Jea’s always been a bit overlooked in Brown Eyed Girls compared to her sexy bandmates, but if there’s one thing Korea loves, it’s big-voiced balladeers, so Jea could turn out to be the dark horse of BEG.

Check out the soulful, “Let’s Hug,” below.

*Update: “Let’s Hug” has now reached no. 1 on the Instiz iChart.