T-ara ( /tiˈɑːrə/ ; Korean : 티아라) is a South Korean girl group formed in 2009 by MBK Entertainment (formerly known as
Core Contents Media ). Their most well-known lineup featured
Boram, Qri, Soyeon , Eunjung , Hyomin and Jiyeon . T-ara's career is marked by hook-heavy dance-pop music, a result of their close partnership with composer Shinsadong Tiger. [1][2] A broad array of visual concepts have earned T-ara a "chameleon-like" reputation. [a][4]
T-ara
T-ara in 2017
From left to right: Qri , Hyomin , Jiyeon and Eunjung .
Background information
Also known as
Tiara
Origin
Seoul , South Korea
Genres
K-pop • Dance-pop • electropop
Years active
2009–present
Labels
MBK Entertainment EMI Music Japan
Banana Culture
Associated acts
T-ara N4 • QBS
Members
Qri
Eunjung
Hyomin
Jiyeon
Past members
Jiae
Jiwon
Hwayoung
Areum
Boram
Soyeon
The original five-membered group participated in the
Cinderella Man soundtrack with "Good Person" in April 2009. Following member withdrawals due to creative differences, the addition of Boram, Qri and Soyeon brought the group's official debut in July 2009 with the single " Lie ". [5] Their debut studio album Absolute First Album was released in December 2009 and spawned several hit songs including " TTL (Time to Love) ", " Bo Peep Bo Peep", and "You Drive Me Crazy".
T-ara gained nationwide recognition after releasing " Roly-Poly " in 2011, which went on to become the Gaon chart's best-selling single of the year. At the height of K-pop's mainstream popularity in Japan, T-ara signed onto management agency J-Rock for $4.7 million—reportedly the highest figure of any Korean girl group expanding into the territory at the time. [6] Both their debut single and studio album reached number one on the Oricon weekly charts and were subsequently certified Gold. T-ara's late-2011 Korean release Black Eyes spawned three back-to-back number ones: "Cry Cry", "We Were in Love" and " Lovey-Dovey ".
In 2012, accusations of internal discord resulted in member departures and a dip in domestic popularity for T-ara. The group's later material, both Korean and Japanese, was released to varying degrees of success before the group began focusing on promotional activities in China. T-ara gained immense popularity for their cover of Chopstick Brothers' " Little Apple " in 2014, which attracted the attention of Wang Sicong who signed the group onto his media firm, Banana Culture. T-ara is regarded as one of the most popular K-pop girl groups in China. [7][8] As of 2015, they have sold 36.18 million records, making them one of the best selling girl groups of all time . [9]
T-ara's final release as six members was tentatively scheduled for May 2017, ahead of Soyeon and Boram's expiring contracts; however, conflicts with their management delayed What's My Name? until June 2017, effectively without their involvement. Qri, Eunjung, Hyomin and Jiyeon had previously extended their terms with MBK Entertainment until December 2017. [10]
History
Edit
2009–2010: Formation and debut
Edit
The original pre-debut five T-ara members (Jiae, Jiwon ,
Eunjung , Hyomin and Jiyeon ) trained together for three years under Mnet Media . [11] The meaning behind the group's name, which is based on the word " tiara ", comes from the idea that they will become the "queens of the music industry". [12][13] In April 2009, they released their first song "Joheun Saram (Ver. 1)" (좋은 사람, "Good Person") for the
Cinderella Man soundtrack. [11] Jiyeon teamed up with labelmates SeeYa and Davichi for a collaboration single titled "Yeoseong Shidae" (여성시대, "Women's Generation"), which was released in May 2009. [14]
In June 2009, Mnet Media announced that Jiae and Jiwon would be leaving T-ara due to differences in music style. The first new member to be added to the group was Boram, the daughter of singer Jeon Young-rok and actress Lee Mi-young.
Soyeon , a former trainee of S.M. Entertainment who was supposed to be the leader of Girls' Generation , [15] and Qri were added to T-ara three weeks prior to debut. In early July 2009, the group was moved from Mnet Media to its subsidiary company Core Contents Media. [16]
T-ara made their debut on MBC 's Radio Star talk show on July 29, 2009. [17] Their first performance was on Mnet 's M Countdown music show on July 30, where they performed " Geojitmal" (거짓말, "Lies") and "Norabollae?" (놀아볼래?, "Wanna Play?") from their debut single. Their debut was looked upon negatively by webpostings, where people stated that it was lipsynched and commented that it seemed like an "elementary school" performance. [18] The group announced afterwards that future performances would be live. [19] In September 2009, Eunjung, Soyeon, Hyomin and Jiyeon collaborated with labelmates Kwangsu, Jihyuk, and Geonil of
Supernova for the single " TTL (Time to Love) ". It was released on September 15, 2009, and became both groups' first number one song as it topped many of the online charts. [20] T-ara and Supernova collaborated again for " TTL Listen 2 ", a sequel to "TTL (Time to Love)", which was released on October 9, 2009, and included all the members from both groups. [21]
T-ara performing at the Xbox 360 Invitational in 2009
T-ara released their debut studio album, Absolute First Album , on November 27, 2009. [22] In order to determine the album's title track, Core Contents Media held a survey in which the public had to choose between " Bo Peep Bo Peep" or "Cheoeum Cheoreom" (처음처럼, "Like the First Time"). 9,000 people took the survey on various music portals with 53% (4,770 people) choosing "Cheoeum Cheoreom" over "Bo Peep Bo Peep". [23] However, the latter was promoted on music shows instead for unknown reasons. "Bo Peep Bo Peep" peaked at number four on the Gaon chart, while "Cheoeum Cheoreom" peaked at number ten. [24] They held their comeback performance on Music Bank on December 4, 2009. At the 24th Golden Disk Awards , T-ara was awarded Rookie of the Year along with girl group 4minute . [25]
T-ara performing at the
Mnet 20's Choice Awards
in 2010
The group won their first-ever music show award with "Bo Peep Bo Peep" on the New Year's Day episode of Music Bank. [26] The song went on to win five awards in total: two on Music Bank and three on Inkigayo , earning them a "Triple Crown". Later in January 2010, the group announced promotions for their follow up single, "Cheoeum Cheoreom", which ended quickly as Soyeon was diagnosed with H1N1 .
[27] The same month, T-ara made a cameo appearance on the seventh and eight episodes of God of Study , in which Jiyeon played a main role. [28]
In February 2010, the group announced a re-release of their debut album under the title Breaking Heart. The two lead singles, "Neo Ttaemune Michyeo" (너 때문에 미쳐; "I Go Crazy Because of You") and "Naega Neomu Apa" (내가 너무 아파, "I'm Really Hurt"), were digitally released on February 23, 2010, and peaked at number one and number thirty-one on the Gaon chart, [29] respectively. T-ara held their comeback performance on the same day on M Countdown , and won several music awards for "Neo Ttaemune Michyeo" over the course of their promotions: two consecutive Mutizen wins on
Inkigayo [30] and one first place award on M Countdown . [31]
Breaking Heart was released physically on March 3, 2010, peaking at number two on the weekly Gaon chart and number thirty-five on the yearly chart; selling 40,695 copies. [32] After promotions for "Neo Ttaemune Michyeo" ended, T-ara performed "Naega Neomu Apa" on music shows until early April 2010. In June 2010, the group donated all the proceeds of the World Cup merchandise sold on their online clothing shop T-ara Dot Com to a charity for African children. [33] On July 16, 2010 T-ARA representatives announced the addition of Hwayoung Ryu as the seventh member of the group. The reason given was that with so many solo projects, they would be able to have a more complete lineup for T-ARA when individual members were filming or doing other appearances. They also stated that it would allow the members to undertake more solo activities, and would give them all some relief from their heavy schedules. [34]
In November 2010, The group starred in the third season of the reality show Hello Baby , in which they took care of Moon Mason and his two brothers. [35] T-ara released the digital download for " Wae Ireoni " (왜 이러니, "Why Are You Being Like This"), the lead single for their first extended play,
Temptastic , on November 23, 2010. [36] Temptastic was released in digital format on December 1, 2010, along with their second single, " Yayaya". The album's physical release was delayed until December 3 due to the bombardment of Yeonpyeong earlier in November 2010. [37] T-ara held their first comeback performance through Music Bank on December 3 and began promotions with their new seventh member, Hwayoung, and new leader, Boram, and received two consecutive wins for "Wae Ireoni" and "Yayaya" on M Countdown .
2011–2012: Breakthrough and "Bullying" controversy
Edit
T-ara performing " Roly-Poly " at the Cyworld Music Festival in 2011
T-ara's second EP John Travolta Wannabe was released on June 29, 2011. [38] It charted at number three on the Gaon Album Chart and has sold 30,116 copies as of 2011. [39][40] The EP's only single, " Roly-Poly ", peaked at number two on the Gaon Digital Chart and number one on the Korea K-Pop Hot 100 chart. [41][42] The single became a breakthrough success, becoming the top-grossing and highest-selling single of 2011 in South Korea with over four digital million units sold. [43] "Roly-Poly" was awarded Best Music Video at the 3rd Melon Music Awards [44] and Singer of the Year (July) at the 1st Gaon Chart Awards, and was nominated Best Dance Performance by a Female Group and Song of the Year at the 13th Mnet Asian Music Awards.
The group released a limited edition re-issue of John Travolta Wannabe , titled Roly-Poly in Copacabana , on August 2, 2011.
[45] The title track, "Roly-Poly in Copacabana", is a eurodance remix of "Roly-Poly", named after the song " Copacabana" which was popularized in the 80's in Jongno disco clubs. [45] The album peaked at number three, while the single peaked at number forty and forty-five on the Gaon and Billboard Korea K-Pop Hot 100 charts. The group began follow up promotions for the remixed single on Music Bank.
T-ara at the MTV Daum Music Fest in 2011
T-ara released their debut Japanese single " Bo Peep Bo Peep" on September 28, [46] which peaked at number one on the Oricon weekly singles chart with over 49.7 thousand copies sold, [46] making them the first non-Japanese girl group to rank at number one for a debut single in Oricon history. The single peaked at number one on the Billboard Japan Hot 100 , [47] and was certified Gold by the RIAJ for both full-length cellphone downloads and PC downloads. [48]
[49]
In November 2011, T-ara released their third extended play
Black Eyes which charted at number two on the Gaon charts.
[50] The album was preceded by the release of "Cry Cry", which peaked at number one on the Billboard Korea K-Pop Hot 100 and won two consecutive first-place awards on M Countdown . The music video for "Cry Cry" was noted for having a billion Korean won production budget and a thirty-minute drama story line. [51] The group released their second Japanese single, a remake of " Yayaya" from
