Scatter_88mil

Actually....Hyomin's own scandal is just as big as Jiyeon and Soyeon's one, if not even worse. Having the past of an iljin is about the worst thing you can have for a background as an idol. I'd even argue it overshadows Soyeon and Eunjung's one by far in nature.

It's a rumor then? Nothing confirmed? Well, guess I wasted my time writing a long post then .____. @Shadi - that's what CCM always claims. Yet, nothing is heard about them after such claims are made - besides, suing the media itself in Korea is a pretty big ballsy move that has a LOT of consequences and risks.

"Eunjung, Hyomin, Jiyeon and Areum will appear similar with their promotions with T-ara, contrary to what most usual sub-units do. Their agency said, "We want to take this chance to familiarize the public with them individually." T-ara plan to appear on stage with a dance similar to the Village People's "YMCA" dance which became popular in the late 1990's that is easy to follow. The song will have an easy and gentle melody and dance their agency hinted. T-ara hope to make the dance a national trend. Their agency joked, "The song will hopefully be the second coming of 'Gangnam Style'." The other members, Qri, Boram and Soyeon, will stick to individual activities. T-ara will reunite in the summer and plan to reach over 150,000 fans in a Japanese Arena Tour. Last year, T-ara held a six city tour in Japan including two sold out performances in Tokyo's Budokan Arena. *** 1. I think it's pretty darn obvious that the public already has a very good idea who Jiyeon, Eunjung and Hyomin are since...I dunno, because they already got the most promotions during T-ara's whole lifetime as a group? - and on the worst side, Hyomin and Jiyeon's reputation in Korea is the worst of the entire group up to the point it's like a large permanent black stain on them. It's not going away anytime soon. If they're going to appear 'similar' to what T-ara as a group does, then it's either A) CCM's slowly taking the steps to moving the group when Soyeon, Qri and Boram's contracts expire or get kicked for whatever reason, or, B- Laziness and not being able to bother even coming up with something different for this subgroup. 2. There goes CCM again with its typical overhyping, just like it did with virtually the vast majority of T-ara's comebacks. It's old and really makes it look laughable - or just really hard to even take seriously. Not even YG would do something as specific as this when it comes to media play. National trend? Is this a joke? Last year for Day By Day before it was released, CCM claimed everything about the choreography would be super cool and all because it was Jonte who made it. I sure as hell don't remember people commenting how 'awesome' or memorable it was as opposed to Roly Poly's one, and even that's pretty much forgotten nowadays. 3. Good luck with reaching over 150k fans XD. That's probably the rough estimate of the total number of J-fans for SNSD and Kara - whose status and popularity in essence, dwarfs T-ara by miles. This is hardly any different than that idiotic statement (or rather, boast) from early last year when CCM said it'll give a 'free concert' if the Jewelry album reached 500k sales - which it never got even close to achieving half or even a quarter of that amount. In fact, it only achieved a little over 100k sold during 2012. 4. On the plus side, at least the three underdogs (okay, Soyeon probably isn't *that* much of an underdog but compared to other members, still one to a degree) are supposedly getting something of their own. But for all things considered and how CCM isn't so capable of keeping true to its promises or statements, Boram, Qri and Soyeon getting individual activities can only be proven once news of them being confirmed for specific activities comes out.

Ah my old man mentioned about this back in his trips in Vietnam. Really intriguing and quite...odd yet creative, he said.

Jeebus, Areum looks angry as Satan in that photo.

40k in the first day - have people already forgotten that the album was sold in multiple versions (specifically, 10 versions) and that chances are a good portion of fans bought more than one version for themselves? If it was sold in just one version, the sales probably would have been much lower on first day of sales - it's not Bunny Style the fans are after - it's the solo and duo/trio stuff from the members they're going for, so naturally more copies of the album would be available in stock. Here's something I found just recently that gives more nitpicks on first week sales. Bo PeepBo Peep 　yayaya　　Roly- Poly　　Lovey-Dovey　　バニスタ 　　　　9/28　　　　　11/30　　　12/2/29　　　12/5/23　　　13/3/20 ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 月　　---,---　　　---,---　　　---,---　　　---,---　　　---,--- 火　　*20,068　　　*12,623　　　*14,999　　　**7,876　　　*40,705 水　　**9,840　　　**7,026　　　*10,031　　　**3,786　　　　　　　　　　　　　 木　　**4,379　　　**3,221　　　**6,036　　　**2,057　　　　　　　 金　　**3,926　　　**2,333　　　**2,828　　　**1,759　　　　　 土　　**6,125　　　**2,607　　　**3,168　　　**1,905 日　　**3,526　　　**2,412　　　**2,548　　　**1,458 ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 計　　*47,864　　　*30,222　　　*39,610　　　*18,841　　　*40,705 None of their previous stuff was sold in multiple versions as opposed to their current one. Aside from all that, what really matters is how long T-ara can stay at the top of the chart - right now, KARA and SNSD - its two biggest rivals in Japan aren't even promoting there (unless you count SNSD's tour till April, which doesn't count since they didn't release a new song in Japanese as of now) so it shouldn't come as a surprise that the group has managed to reach up #2 at current. Hell, even that mediocre song from SNSD known as 'Flower Power' reached #5 on its release, and that wasn't even largely well-liked among the fandom either. And if past promotional patterns have shown, doesn't T-ara always tend to promoted more heavily in Japan during late winter/early spring as well?

@Eunjung4eva - yea, what Renar basically said. The point is that out of a total audience of 100k people, the number of those that became new fans is probably not very high as opposed to the number that actually watched the performances and simply moved on with their lives without giving the group much of a second thought. Most people in their late 20s to their 60s probably didn't care at all except think 'Oh well, that was a decent show....now back to what I was doing lalalala~' If we assume the original article was sourced from Newsen, then it can't be trusted at all since Newsen itself is basically on CCM's payroll to write pro-T-ara articles while making anti-KARA ones at the same time. Think of it this way - if you happen to be out shopping on a mall or a shopping street like Harajuku and see some idol group performing in the middle of the area, would you stop and mind your own business or watch by to see how it goes simply because so many others too are watching out of curiosity? Instinctively, chances are most people would be following the latter. While one can say T-ara is doing well on its own right, the horrible reality is that they're actually not very relevant in the Japanese music industry or even Japan as a whole. In fact, K-pop as a whole caters to a niche audience in Japan - and the same applies to SNSD and KARA to a degree. Most people didn't come around to follow T-ara. No, T-ara just happened to be where your average Joe and Jane tend to hang out in public. Of course that gets attention but it doesn't guarantee decisive successful results. As for the number of Queen/Diadems, even if the number of I-fans increased, T-ara effectively lost its homebase for profit (i.e. Korea, as with the majority of Kpop idol groups) - unless they try to go out like KARA in Japan (which is quite dubious), they're never going to be able to make themselves very relevant abroad. Which also goes to say - just how many of the Int'l and J-fans are actually active fans like their K-fan counterparts? How many of them are just casual fans? How many of them are just people with bare interest in the group? Plus assuming their contracts expire this year or the next, it may as well be CCM milking off cash from the group as much as possible till then without really giving much of a bother to T-ara's reputation. Of the vast majority of Kpop idol fandoms, it's the Korean fandoms that tend to be larger, supportive, active and more bigger cashcows - losing a massive portion of that is a crippling blow in both the short and long-term and quite frankly, T-ara doesn't have a fully suitable replacement/substitute to that, even in Japan.

From your logic, then that's like saying I'm a 'fan' of any other group I watch in some performance, which is absolute bullhonkey. Hell, maybe I'm a fan of that Christian contemporary music singer whose amazing performance I saw way back in 2011 too then. Right? Right? Regardless, it's idiotic to simply assume every member of the audience became a fan of theirs and only delusional people would believe such a thing. I don't know where you got your thing about 'international numbers are quite large in comparison' but the Diadem Forums alone here is the largest collection and that number alone is 37,327 as of now. Add that with the total number of J-fans, and the total number would be at best 100-150k, not including the number of K-fans still around. SNSD's fanbase in Japan alone is likely around that range and KARA's one is probably even bigger. It doesn't make any sense that T-ara's fanbase there could have caught up that quickly, especially since both KARA and SNSD have been promoting in Japan far longer than they have (in fact, far longer every year), not to mention more amount of effort was put in comparison.

That jacket (and the camouflage pattern) Soyeon is wearing really resembles what soldiers from the infamous Waffen-SS wore during World War 2 O__o. The only difference would be just the shade of colors but that aside, the whole thing looks really similar. And if not, it still heavily resembles what the current German Bundeswehr and the Japanese Self-Defense Forces wear for as standard issue uniforms.

I think more like 100,000 people that attended the performances. Not 100,000 fans. That is a huge starking difference. If we take into a look into the numbers here, the Diadems here alone number at nearly 40,000 and that's a combination of multiple countries around the world. The Korean fandom, even larger than that (and even then, was still large enough to keep Sexy Love from being a big whacking flop, as many people expected it would). I really doubt there could be 100,000 people even considered as fans of the group in Japan. Hell, even SNSD's J-fanbase alone there is probably around the 100-150k range, and that's being the second most popular K-girl group in Japan.

Slave-driven by KKS as usual *sighes*. What is this, some sort of desperate and quick strategy of getting more money from fans? So long as Kara and SNSD keep promoting there every year, that's pretty wishful thinking mate. T-ara may fill in 3rd place but there is a massive gap between them and the two mentioned groups who likely aren't going to be going anywhere in the near future, especially when DSP considers Japan it's main source of income while for SM, it's their second top priority after Korea.

Yea well, it wasn't in Soompi either. Doesn't really matter if AKP 'hats' T-ara, they would have published an article anyway since it attracts a lot of attention from the I-fans whether if it's good or bad news. That's the media *shrugs* Give it a couple more hours at the least. With the influx of articles regarding pretty trivial matters (though some are definitely serious), them writers probably have their hands full. Right now, people seem more bummed about Suzy having so many CFs or going crazy over BAP's supposed comeback.

I never said it was justified but judging from the circumstances back then, it does make some sense for the production company to drop her off, even though they didn't do it in a very professional manner (which is the part most Diadems/Queen's seem pissed about). On Eunjung's part, I think it would have been pretty darn stressful for her to cope up with the mental and physical trouble of both filming for a drama (note, Korean dramas film on a very tight schedule unlike US or British dramas in which everything is filmed and then broadcasted after) and T-ara's rep being put to dirt. Undeniably, T-ara are tough ones with all their endless schedules and all but the situation at that time was unlike any other (evident that Eunjung's own mother also mentioned her daughter lost quite a bit of weight due to the stress so imagine how worse it could have been when filming). In a way, for her own health, being cut from the drama probably did her some good - which goes to say that I don't personally understand why a lot of fans always want the members in dramas when they're very well aware of T-ara's situation (which makes it a bit hypocritical in a way but that's just me). The whole netizens being butthurt is basically public sentiment and if one looks deeper, K-netizens aren't always brash and crazy 24/7 either (for foreigners, the site netizenbuzz should show that just fine and on the bright side, it did finally wake the public up how much of a nutcase KKS is albeit at a heavy cost i.e. T-ara's own reputation). Which goes to say, international netizens can be just as bad as well (AKP being a particular example). Bottom line, Eunjung probably sensed that no side was a clear winner in the issue and decided it was best to move on before everyone else (i.e. fans, antis, the general public, CCM and the YeIn) - plus it's not as if she had a complete loss in her career from it either.

Beating a dead horse here, fellas. Honestly, the showbizz is crooked as hell (and Korea is no exception to this) and for all intents and purposes, I think it's best y'all now move on from this case. As much as how unjust Eunjung's case was, do note that it's also suicidal to cast an actress/actor who's in the midst of one of the biggest scandals in K-entertainment - and speaking of which, I saved a comment I saw from a forum regarding the whole 5 Fingers case a while back. Think this may be the time to show it now. "I sympathize with Eunjung. However, this is how the entertainment industry works. Actresses/actors are dropped left & right and replace all the time. In Korea, the T-ara backlash was greater than what you read on the internet. This was a big production. I understand they couldn't gamble with this, so they made the sad decision to let Eunjung go. People are forgetting that the casts & staffs livelihood were also at risk. Five Finger has already taken a big hit. There are no winners here. KKS & Eunjung needs to put down their ego and move on. The one I actually feel for the most here is Joon Ji Hoon. After much hard work getting back to the top, his comeback drama was overshadowed by T-ara's scandal." It's not like this company utterly smashed Eunjung's dream of becoming an actress into pieces permanently either. She can recover from this as time flies. As that comment says, there are no winners. While I disagree about Eunjung having such an 'ego', this drama wasn't all about Eunjung as a whole either.(think of the staff and other actors and actresses involved in the project). Either way, neither side really gained anything.

Shindong as an MC? O.o Lawdy hell, I'm well aware of Kim Shinyoung being a very capable MC on her own (along with Yoo Jaesuk and Kang Hodong), but Shindong? I'll buy earplugs Anyways, just a question - does Eunjung have any experience as an MC? From what I can tell, this is probably her very first time as an MC since her experience in major shows in TV seems quite limited (and it doesn't help T-ara's not very well known for variety, Soyeon being an exception). With the K-public still not so welcoming, the PDs are putting quite a bit of risk and everyone else will probably have very high expectations on her too. Eunjung's looking at a very potentially stressful situation there, guys and girls.

Well, compared to say, 2011 and early to mid 2012, I would argue there's a huge difference. Even if they did wrap up the year in good shape, their activities in Korea as a whole dwindled down pretty hard during the latter half of last year and for most Kpop idol groups, including even the bigger ones, Korea is still their main source of income and popularity. Losing that is a pretty huge loss, if not fatal should things go terrible. Not sure which live performances you're referring to but the ones done in Korean broadcasting shows are likely done by paying the latter to perform in them whereas the rest such as concerts and all are from fans - again, T-ara's fandom as a whole isn't big enough to sustain this in a long run (say, like a year or so) comparable to say Kara, SNSD or even Big Bang, which may explain the whole separate CD thing for this Japanese comeback, a method in attempting to get fans to buy as much as possible. Though the whole love/hate thing against CCM amongst fans has actually existed for quite a while - fans have continuously bought the albums and singles which in turn actually gives CCM money despite CCM's continuously astounding idiocy since 2011 and for most cases, profit from group promotions more likely goes to the company whereas the group gets only a tiny percentage while individual ones go to the members (whether it be shared or only to the member of a particular activity keeping it all). To put it short, with the amount of money earned, it's still very likely not enough for CCM's standards despite promotion activities supposedly cutting expenses (and even then, you still have to take into account the cost of logistics such as staff paychecks, accommodation, plane tickets, fuel for road transportation, food, paying broadcast companies or concert organizers and the list goes on - which again, are probably all used from the revenue T-ara brings in, not to mention KKS's own greedy and presumably lion's worth of share). Not even other idol groups have gone so far to do this separate CD plan and though KARA is an exception they're still miles ahead of T-ara's position in Japan.

Company's probably at hard financial times (and has been for quite a while I imagine) since T-ara's effectively slashed away from the K-market and likely to be so for a pretty long time. But yea, it does look like a pretty cheap gimmick (and as someone mentioned, probably a copy-move of what KARA did with their members' solo material). I mean heck, CCM's got SPEED promoting and Co-Ed to make a comeback soon despite both went through numerous member changes and a very long period of inactivity up to the point they're hardly any different to a typical rookie group that most people wouldn't really give much interest about. Seems like T-ara's revenue has fallen quite short overall. Wouldn't count too much on an MV though, assuming costs of producing one there are more expensive, which goes to say how terribly low-budget the Japanese version of LD looked. For their music, it *should* be more higher quality, somewhat. CCM's been relying far too much on Shinsadong Tiger for the majority of T-ara's big hits since 2009.

Thought this would eventually come about, since Korea's a no-go zone for them at the time being. Since it's all being released on March 20th, that's just 6 days away from my b-day and about two weeks before I'm off to basic training for 16 weeks lol. Plenty of time to see it up in 4shared Looking at the track list, it looks like the underdogs of the group (Boram and Qri) are finally actually getting something to do on their own rather than looking like backup dancers all the time and doing one-liners. Hopefully at least some of the stuff is worth listening to (assuming that Shinsadong Tiger or any other Korean producer isn't involved since this is being made in Japan - case example is SNSD in which their J-stuff is a lot worth praising than their Korean ones) because their debut album was honestly quite a letdown being full of remakes and only two original songs that felt rather empty and filler-ish. As robbe said - why on earth can't it be just in one CD for each editions?

I can't really expect it to believe it were completely false. From what I read in Netizenbuzz, this particular actress Yoon Eun Hye supposedly modelled for the brand Kenzo up to the point stocks even were completely sold out and was actually nicknamed Stitch quite a long time before (supposedly due to her two front teeth sticking out distinctively) - and actually got Kenzo brand items for free because they sponsored her as a result of helping them sell out a lot of their items. And frankly, at least from my experience with Korean girls, gossiping about someone negatively is very, very common (even friends do it to each other's backs) compared to those of other ethnicities I know - much more than talking about the cartoon on their shirts lol (even my mother laments Koreans are the most worst gossipers, especially among small communities and the K-idol community is also fairly small too, at least the ones that are relevant in public anyway). That sort of stuff would definitely spark jealousy among other celebrities and Soyeon can't be counted off as an exception. As for AKP...I won't even get down to that lol. If you can show me the link to that K-article, by all means it'd be appreciated and I'd be happy to translate lol. If it's from Newsen though, don't waste your breath because they're a media outlet known to be under CCM's payroll by punching out pro-T-ara articles while also putting out anti-KARA ones at the same time. Korean netizens can be plain crazy at times (and the same also applies to international fans, which Seoulbeats recently covered) though once in every while, you do get a few that actually know how to use their brains. Now that I think about it, there probably indeed are a few K-netizens that indeed may have specialized law enforcement or military background and training .___. If they can find out identities of people faster than even the police can, it does spark some degree of possibility. The private detective/investigator industry is pretty well-developed in Korea (heck, even my granddad was one himself a long time ago after leaving the police force) and offers a wide range of services so it may be possible some of those K-netizens are from such occupations operating on their own free will or in someone's payroll, though the latter may not be likely since PIs in Korea charge a huge sum of money for their work up to the point your typical anti can't pay it unless he/she is one heck of a rich person - and by that, someone who makes hundreds of thousands a year at least. Okay, now I'm going off-topic lol.

You make a pretty good point that the group probably should stay out of social media if they ever want to keep their careers going. This reminds me that SM's idols (or rather, SNSD only) tend not to have social medias themselves and even if they do, the ID usernames and all that are kept under lids very tightly (and heck, probably also change routinely) - and so far, tend to stay very scandal-free for the most part, save for Super Junior. Had T-ara simply followed Block B's way after their own scandal about their comments regarding the Thailand flood, things likely wouldn't have been as bad. And no, CCM's statements is still pretty laughable lol. It just doesn't sound as crazy as their previous ones in comparison hahaha. I think you're underestimating and overgeneralizing the netizen community in Korea there - a netizen is an citizen in an online community. Not solely a bunch of rapid whacks who spend their 24/7 in the computer, as what international fans seem to hold in view. First and foremost, everyone (including here) is a netizen. Secondly, netizens in Korea HAVE proven to have done some serious dig-ups that are worth taking consideration about - the recent one about revealing KEPA's staff is one of them and heck, there is a reason people joke that the Korean police should hire netizens. Thirdly, any netizen (or anti if you want to make things more narrowed) does have a life - as said, not everyone spends 24/7 on the computer. Koreans are known to work for very very long hours, the same applying to students in general. It's not like every single of them is that typical fatty loser who stays in their parents' basement or attic - that's a huge stereotype. In an opposite viewpoint based on your logic, people can easily say all fans have no life either, spending money and at times, unnecessary gifts for their idols or furiously/irrationally defending their bias.

^ It is wrong but there's a difference between that of an idol and a typical average Joe and Jane. Unfortunately, the agencies market such idols as 'perfect gods and goddesses' in the first place while the gullible public and fans eat it all up, hence creating the supposed belief idols are some divine beings or something like that - netizens become a byproduct of it as such. While I openly, if not fully disagree with CCM in pretty much every issue (if anything, it deserves such), Soyeon could have been more wise enough not to pull off such a risky move, assuming the chat wasn't set to private mode. If it was set in public, then she deserves some flak for not being careful with her words - even the slightest of seemingly insulting words can bring in heavy flak from others. It simply just shows again that CCM can't manage for crap. You see SNSD having no social network profiles but at the same time, they've been scandal-free and contact with friends and family is heavily kept under wraps to avoid anything potentially career-breaking. Furthermore, there's no conclusive evidence that 100% proves that chat was indeed edited simply because some 'insider' or 'tabloid journalist' said it. Why is Soyeon being bashed? Because people are gullible to a few dedicated crazies and that T-ara's already been in multiple controversies before, added with CCM's thickheaded excuses. There's no way many people in Korea would really open their hearts to T-ara when the group itself has a pretty pathetic company leading them, which has made things a lot worse. Even if they do, they can't put their trust in the group because again - CCM prevents full-out honesty from T-ara's own words, unlike groups such as Block B who actually sincerely apologized in front of the screen while Nickhun and Daesung simply kept low, the latter doing church work. Anyways, the real issue is simply this - WHO edited or/and leaked it to the press. It could have been anyone, hell maybe even Soyeon herself (in a subtle way of what, showing disobedience towards CCM? But chances of that probably aren't that high but hey, Soyeon's known to be more 'rebelling' in words, ain't she?). It's not exactly a simple black-and-white issue, much like other scandals that T-ara has gotten themselves into since last year.

@Eunjung4eva - wait, what was a mistake? @Renar - Lol, me joining the military isn't really related to my mindset regarding T-ara, at least not among my top reasons to enlist anyway though granted, their excessive work hours make me feel pretty chicken in comparison (and even then, the military here also has a 9 to 5 work hours except for deployments or field training exercises). But yea, to endure all the shadiness and corruption in the showbizz environment, a society that's easily gullible to such marketing from said industry as well as lies from a few whacks and crazy coopheads like KKS in high positions and leading even a union (that is assuming KEPA can even be considered as one), it's not something your average Joe or Jane would want to do unless he/she is willing to take some seriously immoral or devastating sacrifices (both physically and mentally) along the way. The tragedy is T-ara has had more internal handicaps than other comparable groups, mostly related to management and that it wasn't resolved and simply kept under the rug until everything went KABOOM last year.

@Renar - ah, I'll explain about the whole KKS in charge of CCM and KEPA and all that and so on. Junichi has described a good portion of what you're asking and I'll explain the rest. In Korea, in your typical work environment, it's expected of employees to not oppose their higher-ups at any cost unless they're seriously risking the chance of getting the boot (though this may not be the same case with those that are relatives or friends of said higher-ups), even if you're opposing for legitimate, valid and good reasons. Korea's still stuck with the whole ranking system and authority by years in the field or age rather than actual ability. In Korea, basically it's all about the more connections you have, the better your lifestyle gets. To put it very simply, nepotism and cronyism are very, very prevalent amongst Koreans, including Korean immigrants living overseas - even with the part-time jobs I got, most of them were simply because the employers were close business partners or associated with my dad. In the showbizz and amongst corporations and big agencies, it's much more prevalent and probably even more severe (case example - Samsung once got heavy flak for promoting more family relatives into high positions rather than professional and skilled managers a long time back). Aside from KKS's stupidity, keep in mind that the Korean public didn't really take much notice of him until the T-ara member additions were announced and that they are very, very gullible to the slightest of things - as evident by a lot of baseless rumors and flimsy evidence, not to mention the media outlets have more so than often been under CCM's payroll. Given KKS's position as CEO and head of KEPA (which both he probably got through blackmailing those above him, bribery or connections or even all three combined), in a matter of speaking no one lower than his 'rank' in both those organizations is ever going to risk their lives to defy him. That's why he gets away with so much crap he does, with only the public and agencies outside of KEPA having a bad image towards him (among those agencies, SM is probably THE most biggest opposition since JYJ joined CJ-M.Ent, which is part of the chaebol CJ Group that also owns Mnet) while those under his influence don't really do jack. It's pretty much a combination of both, to be honest. Koreans to have very, very high expectations and standards in general, which boils down to the Kpop industry trying to use idols to represent that Koreans and Korea as a whole are 'perfect people' (and this simply inflates/raises the expectations/standards of Korean society even further) while slamming down anyone that doesn't meet their standards (both agencies and Koreans as a whole), making themselves imperfect without even realizing they contradicted their own image. That's pretty much the most simplest way to describe it. Though ultimately, the Korean public pretty much fell victim to the way idols and celebrities as a whole are represented and marketed by the agencies, along with sects in the government that are very highly nationalist and vocal about their rather biased beliefs. Having lived in Korea myself and in a Western country too (New Zealand to be exact), I do actually agree with your criticism regarding Korea's society and social issues and typical attitudes, though I wouldn't say the public themselves are entirely to blame for. They're basically sheep, to put it simply.

Oh lol, that's alright haha. We all make a few typos here and there occasionally lol. And no, I'm not in your brain XD. I just...read and think too much on how T-ara could improve itself without having to suffer costly losses such as devastating scandals, crazy loonies and a delusional and retarded CEO .___. Though definitely full agree with your points there. Even if CCM promotes its other groups, it's more of a sign of desperation because T-ara's income isn't sufficient enough but even then, I doubt it'll promote them properly. CCM debuted Gangkiz and Co-Ed School (and its subgroups) because it thought T-ara's popularity and involvement could give a boost but it didn't really produce any kind of particular success and when KKS saw this (again, a huge flaw), he simply gave up and neglected on them. I'd even say CCM got very lucky with T-ara, rather than actual ability to manage the group properly. I swear, people should really buckle up for the worst to happen cuz I got a feeling the road is still gonna be bumpy for T-ara >__> Honestly, I actually predicted T-ara would end up in some really major crap since early last year but alas, the powder keg exploded in July, a lot sooner than expected :/

Lol, I don't flame people unless I'm absolutely certain they're incorrect and in a way, I do actually agree with you at certain points lol. Honestly, I think laying low is still the best option for them to take. Nickhun did that by avoiding public appearances for 6 months or so and has so far received very little flak as of current and the same applies to Daesung. However, at their current working rate and schedules they'll never be able to really pull off spectacular performances especially since they hadn't gotten so much as a decent break for a very, very long time. If they were to perform at 110% as you say, they need to lay off the steam in them, lay low for a long time and then prepare. Everything and everyone has their limits and the way I see it, T-ara had been overstretching themselves for far too long both mentally and physically, ultimately leading to one of the biggest scandals in Kpop and even now, they're not given much respite. I'm inclined to also add that T-ara could have become one of THE biggest girl groups in Kpop after SNSD and 2NE1 had it not been for CCM's ridiculously poor management, strategy and tactics, as well as KKS's idiocy and stubborn thickheaded attitude. I'm pretty sure the members are very well aware how bad their image is but the central problem is that they simply don't have the power to improve it since CCM's in charge of that. While I do agree that the members need to be much more careful regarding privacy due to the nature of their occupation, the most biggest problem to their woes as a whole is CCM itself. PR aside, CCM as a company itself needs to be restructured starting off by putting someone who's actually competent and not as much of a slave-driver as KKS. Bottom line - for what you say to work, T-ara needs to lay low first, replenish themselves and CCM to meet some radical changes whether it be Mnet finally giving KKS the boot, the company collapsing financially, some other company buying CCM and its assets off for itself or hell, maybe even KKS dying of some heart attack or traffic accident etc. Regardless however, there's still not enough info regarding this 'insider' or 'tabloid journalist' to make what he/she says seem entirely credible and trustworthy, and it merely splits people further and intensifies the debate between everyone. If such people were indeed taken as legitimate, then I would also easily agree with the one that claimed Soyeon was kicked out of SNSD because she seduced the group's manager during her trainee days there. Ultimately, what boils down is exactly who edited and/or leaked this to the press - it could be an anti-fan of T-ara or Soyeon herself (another subtle sign of rebellion against CCM...???) or someone in her or those two others' inner circle (or one of the two girls themselves) that decided to take it as an opportunity for whatever reason. It would highly depend if the convo was set to private or public - if the former is true, that narrows down suspects a lot. If not, then it could have been any anti not related to either of those three. As for the coincidence, the thing is however is that SPEED isn't exactly popular and many people don't really give much of a damn about them and were thought to have flopped and died since the last time they ever did anything was nearly a year ago. I would agree agencies that are outside of KEPA (which is surprise, surprise, led by none other than KKS himself and directors those from Cube, Woolim, Starship and TS Ent) such as SM, YG, JYP, DSP and Pledis probably laughed at CCM's idiotic way of handling T-ara and all that, the chances of a third party getting itself involved to somehow block out SPEED's promotions would be low, because as said above, many people don't care about SPEED and would automatically show disdain or disinterest towards it regardless. CCM itself had been dousing gasoline on itself long before a lot of people started hating against it, starting off with the debacle between KKS and Nam Gyuri in 2009 and it doesn't help all those previous issues before the Twitter scandal made the flames bigger (T-ara member additions, KKS threatening the members themselves, 5dolls' bully scandal and so forth). For all its' worth, every agency (or at least those outside KEPA) should be laughing at CCM because of how poorly it has handled itself and its groups for so long. Edit - if I were a conspiracy theorist, I probably would have believed for all that crap claiming Kpop's controlled/infiltrated by the Illuminati and all that kinda weird rubbish lol