Sweet Sorrow (band)

Sweet Sorrow (Korean: 스윗 소로우) is a South Korean male vocal group formed in 2002. Originally a quartet, its current members consist of In Ho-jin, Song Woo-jin and Kim Young-woo.^[1] In 2019, they joined with female vocal group The Barberettes and performed together under the name "SBSB" (스바스바).

Sweet Sorrow
Origin	South Korea
Genres	K-pop R&B a cappella
Years active	2002–present
Labels	Sweetsorrow Company
Members	In Ho-jin (ko) Song Woo-jin Kim Young-woo (singer) (ko)
Past members	Sung Jin-hwan (ko)

History

In Ho-jin, Song Woo-jin, Sung Jin-hwan and pianist Kim Young-woo first met around 1996 as students at Yonsei University and were all members of the university glee club.^[2] Together with four other friends, they formed their own eight-member a cappella group and received a positive response. The name "Sweet Sorrow" was taken from the quote "Parting is such sweet sorrow" in Romeo and Juliet and was conceived by Kim, an English literature major, as a reminder of the hardship they had gone through together. Only the four of them chose to pursue music professionally and debuted in 2002.^[3]

After a stint performing cover songs at college festivals and events, the quartet came to national prominence by winning the Daesang (Grand Prize) at the 16th Yoo Jae-ha Music Competition for their original song "Sweet Sorrow".^[4] They were signed by the company Mezoo Cultures and released their first album in 2005. They also came to prominence with a much larger audience for performing the soundtracks of popular television dramas and their appearances on the MBC singing competition Show Survival (쇼바이벌) and the KBS music program Immortal Songs: Singing the Legend.

In December 2017, Sung announced that he would be a hiatus for health reasons and later left permanently. Sweet Sorrow returned as a trio in 2019 with a new album. They also combined with The Barberettes to form a mixed group called "SBSB" and performed together on Immortal Songs.^[5]

Discography

Studio albums

Title	Album details	Peak chart positions	Sales
		KOR [6][7]
Sweet Sorrow	Released: November 15, 2005 Label: Mezoomusic Formats: CD, cassette	—	—N/a
Sweetics	Released: February 21, 2008 Label: Mezoomusic Formats: CD	5	KOR: 15,049[8]
Songs	Released: March 12, 2009 Label: Mezoomusic Formats: CD	—N/a	—N/a
Viva	Released: January 31, 2012 Label: Gem Cultures Formats: CD, digital download	8	KOR: 6,772[9]
"—" denotes release did not chart.

Extended plays

Title	Album details	Peak chart positions	Sales
		KOR [6][7]
For Lovers Only	Released: June 2, 2014 Label: Music&NEW Formats: CD, digital download	5	KOR: 2,794[10]
For Losers Only	Released: October 15, 2015 Label: Music&NEW Formats: CD, digital download	18	KOR: 1,433[11]
5th Part 1: New Day	Released: November 15, 2019 Label: Sweet Sorrow Company, Genie Formats: CD, digital download	38	—N/a

Singles

Title	Year	Peak chart positions	Sales	Album
		KOR [12]
"Small Room (ft. IU)"	2020	—	—N/a	Non-album single
"—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released in that region.

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Nominated work	Result
2012	MBC Entertainment Awards	Excellence Award in Radio		Won