Thoughts on T-ara's New LineUp

Hi all!!:))


It's been a long long time since I've posted and I'm here to announce my comeback!:DD Well, today's the topic will be on the new lineup change of T-ara, my favourite all-time number 1 KPop group. It was announced that T-ara will have their 8th member to join in their 2012 comeback in July and their 9th member (who is called Dani, 14 years old) to join in the later half of 2012.


When KKS first announced that T-ara, will experience lineup change and some of the current members would be even asked to leave, I was really, really agitated. Sure, T-ara may not be as popular as Girls Generation, but from being a fan of T-ara since early January 2011, I've seen their tremendous efforts. However, when KKS mentioned that some of the members may be changed if they are lazy, it seemed to me he was indirectly hinting to the members to work harder. LOL, he gives me an impression of a super sadist. O.o


1. BoRam - BoRam was T-ara's 2nd leader, leading T-ara in Why Are You Being Like This, YaYaYa and their mini-album, Temptastic. Despite being the leader during that time, she still received very less attention. In CryCry, she didn't even receive a solo part, but only a small solo dance part to prove her presence. In LoveyDovey, she only received half a line for her solo parts.


2. QRi - QRi had not been a chance to be T-ara's leader yet. In CryCry, she only received 2 spoken lines, "Hey, T-ara!" and "T-ara, Time to Love, Shh!". WTH is that?! I know her singing was weak but I could tell that she had improved.


3. SoYeon - Well, SoYeon was T-ara's 4th and current leader, leading T-ara in Lovey Dovey and in Japanese releases for Roly Poly and Lovey Dovey. She was also T-ara's lead vocal. 


4. EunJung - EunJung was T-ara's 1st leader, leading T-ara from Lies, Like the First Time, Bo Peep, I Go Crazy Because of You, I'm Really Hurt, TTL, TTL Listen 2, Absolute First Album till the addition of HwaYoung. She was also the longest serving leader, from 2009 to 2010. She was the reason why T-ara started the leader rotation system because she decided to give up her position as the leader as she felt really stressed. This showed how KKS had given T-ara so much stress. EunJung even got injured during the promotions for Why are you being like this, YaYaYa, and Lovey Dovey.


5. HyoMin - HyoMin was T-ara's 3rd leader, leading T-ara from Roly Poly, Cry Cry, their mini-albums - John Travolta Wannabe and Black Eyes. She also led T-ara in their Japanese releases of Bo Peep and YaYaYa. Being one of CCM's longest employee after EunJung, she was selected to lead T-ara for their debut in Japan.


6. HwaYoung - HwaYoung was T-ara's 7th member and joined in 2010, during Why Are You Being Like This. She was T-ara's lead rapper. Even till now, as much as I liked her, I felt that T-ara already had enough rappers (EunJung and HyoMin) and need not to add more.


7. JiYeon - JiYeon was the youngest member of T-ara until the addition of the 8th and 9th member in 2012. Being the lead visual, I felt that she had done quite a great job, which is why I felt that the addition of the new members were not necessary.


Well, after all my reasonings, the addition of the 2 new members seemed to be unnecessary. To me, they seemed like a internal threat to the current members of T-ara to urge them to work harder. I remember reading somewhere that T-ara only got less than 3 hours of sleep per day. 


KKS also mentioned that the addition of the members was to make the group more competitive. In order to make a group famous, the group has to be all-rounded. Take groups like SuperJunior, SMAP and Arashi. In the 3 groups, each group had members that host variety shows, that host their own radio shows, that act in dramas, that are strong in singing, that are good in rapping. Arashi even had a member that was a newscaster. If CCM focused on making T-ara an all-rounded group, things may improve. Giving members like HwaYoung, QRi and BoRam more attention, for example, to appear in variety shows more may rise their popularity.


 I had the thought that he was trying to make T-ara like AfterSchool. It also seems like he was placing too much attention on T-ara. What about Supernova, Davichi, Co-Ed School? The way he manages CCM explaines to me why the bands from CCM are quite underrated. Supernova, despite having really good looks, good voices and rappers, are underrated. Davichi, having 2 members of really strong vocals are also quite underated. SeeYa, a disbanded group, were also from CCM. Co-Ed School had been on a hiatus since 2010, their female subgroup had been on a hiatus since 2011, their male subgroup was announced, but had not been debuted. All I wanted to say was, KKS, please give T-ara a break and try to focus your marketing attention to the other groups.