4minute’s HyunA had everyone talking when she dropped her super hot MV for “Bubble Pop!”
The sexy star whipped out a flirtatious performance which also included her “Attention” intro for her ‘Music Bank‘ comeback that left fans screaming for more.
Check out her performance below. (“Bubble bubble bubble POP!!“)
Fans can’t wait for the upcoming episode of ‘We Got Married‘, thanks to a new photo featuring T-ara’s Eunjung and actor Lee Jang Woo.
On July 9th, ’We Got Married’ will treat viewers to Eunjung and Lee Jang Woo’s ‘honeymoon’ episode. The virtual couple took off for Malaysia last month for the recording of their episode.
On last week’s broadcast, Eunjung surprised her husband with a surprise birthday party. While the couple is known for their laid-back living situation, they’ll be treated to a life of luxury during their honeymoon by staying at a hotel suite in Cherating.
A representative from MBC revealed on the 8th that Lee Jang Woo said something romantic to Eunjung from all the honeymoon excitement, which apparently led the two to wrestle one another.
Track List:
01 Roly-Poly
02 진짜 진짜 좋아해
03 Ya Ya Ya (Remix Ver.)
04 왜 이러니 (Remix Ver.)
05 Ma Boo (Remix Ver.)
06 몰라요 (Remix Ver.)
07 괜찮아요 (Remix Ver.)
Kpop girl group T-ara is a peculiar set of ladies. Made up of seven members – Boram, Eunjung, Hwayoung, Hyomin, Jiyeon, Qri, and Soyeon – T-ara’s trajectory in K-pop has been, more or less, an interesting one.
T-ara debuted in 2009, making their foray into the music industry with their first single – and to this day, one of their strongest – “Lies“. T-ara didn’t make much of a splash at first, but when they joined hands with boy-band Supernova in September of the same year, they really started to gain recognition for their music.
Both groups saw their popularity skyrocket with the smash-hit collabo, “TTL“. Its dark overtones and smooth blend of voices made this song very likable, and it went on to spawn two other versions: the electronic “TTL 2” and the Japanese CF version, “TTL 3“.
In December 2009, T-ara dropped their first full-length album, appropriately titled ‘Absolute First Album‘. To put it together, T-ara gathered their hits and sprinkled them among a batch of new songs. One of which being T-ara’s most recognizable single, “Bo Peep Bo Peep“. It wasn’t until this point that T-ara went from standing as just another girl group, to being (what I like to call) the queens of theearworm.
T-ara exist because their songs never quit. The magic is found in the hands of their songwriters/producers, who have shamelessly cooked up outrageous hooks, mostly driven by meaningless noise and gibberish, and have rarely held back from dousing T-ara in downpours of vocal processing. The outcome: eye-crossing songs with sharp talons, ready to claw their way into your head and peck away at your sanity.
Brutal? Considering such singles as “I Go Crazy Because of You” – the overdone, over-reaching knockoff of Britney Spears‘ “Womanizer” – and “YaYaYa” – T-ara’s most eyebrow-raising, cringe-worthy release yet – there’s really no other way of putting it.
But because T-ara are manufactured pop starlets, they also had the luck of handing over glowing tunes worthy of batting an eyelash (most of which came from their first full album, where they had adopted an audacious electro-pop style with high levels of appeal). Case in point: Bo Peep Bo Peep’s accompanying lead single, “Like The Beginning“, their repackaged single “I’m Really Hurt“, the sassy-meets-redundancy-done-right “One & One“, and of course, their true first song, “Good Person“.
It’s not a compelling collection of songs, but T-ara have followed all of the trends to a T, cooing through auto-tune and embracing every style in the books. And to guarantee their music sticks, they’ve willingly hummed, squealed, yelled, and yawned quirky hooks ad nauseam.
Which finally brings us to “Roly Poly“.
Seeing as how several groups have stepped into a time machine (tapping into retro concepts and the like), it comes as no surprise that T-ara have opted to jive to disco this season.
“Roly Poly” is the cliché take on the disco era. In true T-ara form, the song’s main lure is the relentless “roly poly, roly roly poly” line, accompanied by a thumping instrumental that’s made for a head-bobbing good time.
The song teases with T-ara’s best take on ‘rap’ near the end; vocally, “Roly Poly” doesn’t do much other than the usual 1-2 octave setup. The second song on this mini-album, “진짜 진짜 좋아해” – which is nothing more than a rehash of T-ara’s previous songs with a ‘disco’-like production - fails to offer any as well. Although, there is one point where a member attempts a high note, she manages to sound completely out of tune instead. But it’s not fair to knock them down for not having vocal talent, because they don’t have much and that’s not what these songs ask for.
T-ara is always there to give you what’s popular at the time, but they do it by delivering it in a contrived way with an insane amount of noise that overwhelms the senses – that’s the basic gist of what happened with ‘John Travolta Wannabe’. T-ara are experts at babbling melodies that later worm their way into your subconscious. You become as much of a robot as they are to their own songs, and in a weird way, that’s what’s expected.
Once upon a time, T-ara were a promising group in K-pop. Now, all that T-ara seems to be is a barometer of the next trend, which they can then twist to rattle our brains with their next spin of nonsense.
Overall Rating: 2.9/5What are your thoughts on T-ara’s new mini-album?
Get ready, because we want to send you to Korea!
The Korean Cultural Service NY (KCSNY director Woo Sung Lee) in collaboration with English based, Korean pop culture news website allkpop.com (6Theory Media CEO Johnny Noh) will host the New York K-POP Contest on July 29th, 2011, at the Naumburg Bandshell in Central Park for the Second Annual “Korea Day” festival. The New York K-POP Contest will be an opportunity for US residents to participate and showcase their skills in singing and/or dancing, to their favorite K-POP song! And even if you don’t participate, make sure to come out that day to enjoy the “Korea Day” festivities and show!
Preliminary entries for the first round of the New York K-POP Contest will be received and judged for two weeks from July 7th, 2011 (Thursday) to July 21st (Thursday). From the first round, eight selected participants (and/or teams) will be chosen to compete on July 29th, 2011 at the Naumburg Bandshell in Central Park (bet 66th & 72nd Street).
First place contest winner(s) will be awarded one round-trip airfare ticket to Korea to be eligible to participate in the Korean International K-POP contest held this coming November, while second and third place winners will collectively receive other desirable products.
Director Woo Sung Lee of the Korean Cultural Service NY states, “the New York K-POP contest is to bring the rising popularity and trend of K-POP in South Asia, Europe, and other international countries back to New York,” and projects that “the contest’s focus on American fans to showcase K-POP skills will be an excellent medium to raise awareness about K-POP to Americans.”
Entry categories are for singing, dancing, and/or singing and dancing with no limitations in terms of each category’s genre (e.g. pop, ballad, rock, etc.). Any non-Korean resident within the United States is eligible to apply, selected applicants will be responsible for their own transportation to the NY event.
Prospective applicants should upload their performance clip on Youtube and send the Youtube link to youngchoi@koreanculture.org with an application by July 21st, 2011. Please make sure your video is set as “Unlisted”.
You can download the application form here and view more information at www.koreanculture.org.
For more information please contact the KCSNY’s Young Hwan Choi at youngchoi@koreanculture.org or via phone: 212-759-9550 Ext. 210.
The Gaon Chart is the national chart of South Korea and is intended to be the equivalent of Oricon inJapan and Billboard in the United States.
Check out the chart rankings for the final week of June down below !
Gaon Chart National Digital Singles Ranking
1. 2NE1 – “I’m The Best” – 69,165,960 Points
2. 2PM – “Hands Up” – 49,675,205 Points
3. T-ara – “Roly Poly” – 47,462,531 Points
4. f(x) – “Hot Summer” – 42,522,110 Points
5. CNBLUE – “You’ve Fallen For Me” – 29,969,547 Points
6. SECRET – “Starllight Moonlight” – 29,251,788 Points
7. 8eight – “Cover Those Lips” – 29,136,536 Points
8. Rainbow – “Sweet Dream” – 27,317,928 Points
9. IU & Yuna Kim – “Ice Flower” ft Kim Se Hwang – 26,467,495 Points
10. HyunA – “A Bitter Day” ft. Yong Junhyung & G.NA – 25,360,430 Points
Gaon Chart National Physical Albums Ranking
1. 2PM – “Hands Up’”
2. T-ara – “Roly Poly’”
3. Min Kyung Hoon – “2nd Album – Excursion”
4. G-Dragon – “1st Album – Heartbreaker”
5. Rainbow – “SO女 Repackage Album”
6. MBLAQ – “BLAQ Style”
7. B2ST – “Fiction and Fact”
8. Block B - “New Kids On The Block”
9. CNBLUE – “FIRST STEP”
10. Kim Hyun Joong – “Break Down (EP)”
