[14.05.26]

[phucth91]

I advocate the fandoms should petition to the game developer and publisher companies in Korea to make specific T-ara skins in their RPG and FPS games, similar to Sudden Attack in 2012 :3

Just slap on some camo fatigues, combat boots, bulletproof vests, berets or field caps, sunglasses and utility belt or webbing, and it's all set >:-D

Where's Boram? I can't find her at all!!!

[HeraldC]

Where's Boram? I can't find her at all!!!

Gurl what are you talking about? She's third from right, sporting that fine lookin' boots and tight shorts. See? The one with the earring? (Best avatar out of all seven, though making her that tall isn't exactly canon. XD)

I think you need to redo that laser (´･_･`)/

JK

[Scatter_88mil]

@Uncle_fan - I strongly beg to differ there.

If you are a fan who feels obligated to point out the "sad truth" then you are not being supportive.

It's called being realistic.

Idol groups don't last forever, and this is an obvious fact that's been proven by history itself. There have been groups in the past in Korea whose fandoms were numerous times bigger and supportive than T-ara's and even SNSD's to a degree, but they disbanded and went their own ways. Some simply became a shadow of their former glory (i.e. Shinhwa, G.O.D and likely Buzz).

No, the T-ara we have loved in the beginning will not be back. A sweet and special thing has been crushed beneath the boot heel of the media in its ever desperate desire to find a story and sensationalize it. They are victims and if they want to survive in the industry in any form they will have to play a different hand. This is when we see the tenacity and character of these ladies. They refuse to give up. They take up the challenge of all of the nay-sayers who predict the rapid collapse of the hallyu wave and make every effort using any and every skill they have to keep it going through the rough times. No, kpop cannot always stay the same if it wants to survive. It has changed over the last several years so that it can remain active. Any art form will do that. It has to in order to survive. It is people like T-ara who will be the Lee Hyori of tomorrow. Because she didn't give up, she is bigger than ever. Because T-ara will not give up, they will become bigger than ever. Wishful thinking? No. Positive thinking. If the fans cannot be positive and supportive and willing to embrace new and different concepts, then how can these ladies be expected to survive? I firmly believe that their agenda is to divide and conquer and then regroup.

1) If CCM actually learnt how to do proper PR, then the media wouldn't have been going on a reporting spree and the catastrophe could actually have been better contained and had a smaller impact on T-ara's image. Blaming it all on the media is just plain ignorance and only breaking the tip of the iceberg.

2) Who's 'they'? You make it sound like the group endured it all out of their own sheer willpower without taking in the factor of management. In case you've forgotten or simply never knew, regardless if they wanted to give up or not, they were in absolutely no position to do anything out of their own choice. Kim Kwangsoo as early as 2011 had made it fairly clear that idols should never ever go up against their company regardless of reason, and is not afraid of making it extremely difficult for those who do so in a rather appalling manner - Nam Gyuri and Hwayoung are two major example.

Bluntly put, CCM has a gun put up right behind their heads 24/7. Seriously, there are way too many fans who literally either deny, fail to acknowledge or remain ignorant of this, while putting all the blame on the media and Korea's online community. It's rather distasteful whitewashing, at best and at worst, makes them no better than the other side, if not even more so by making everything so black-and-white.

T-ara doesn't have full power over what they want to decide in regards to their careers whether as a group or individual, as with many other idols.

3) Lee Hyori didn't grow bigger because she didn't 'give up'. She was already fairly well-known as early as her days in FinK.L. though today, is nowhere near as popular as she was back in her primal years. Just like many other older celebrities.

4) You're basically saying fans should be mindless drones that should accept and support everything the group does. If that's what you think fans should do, then it's no different to saying we should support CCM.

5) A fan is someone who stays with their celebrity because they simply like said celebrity in whatever way he/she interprets it to be. The definition of fan, is very debatable. As far as T-ara is concerned, there are fans who like them for their looks, fans who like them for their personalities, fans who like them for their music etc. It's all split, and the word 'fan' is what keeps them together in one spot as a community. Not a group that basically says 'T-ARA STRONG!!!!!!' all the time.

6) CCM obviously never really considered fans to be of much importance anyway. Back in 2012, there was quite a bit of worries/concerns that T-ara was being severely overworked, in poor health (in Boram's case, specifically) and the whole new member debate + KKS's public threats against the group. These concerns, were either flat-out ignored or met with a rather lackluster response, which pretty much says the company doesn't give a damn about our opinions so long as they can make a quick buck out of our wallets even if it means having to overwork the group to extremely unhealthy lengths (which they already have plenty of times).

If their agency can't even respect fans even if its valid concerns, then that makes supporting the group a little bit difficult, at least for me anyway.

7) Whether you like it or not, the Hallyu Wave cannot sustain on being more reliant on K-pop. It doesn't help that the music industry in Korea is utterly corrupted to the core along with the filming industry, yet the K-government is trying to export it as some kind of brand of perfect lala-land lollipop.

Secondly, contrary to what you claim, K-pop has been largely the same for the last several years. Ever since 2010 (if not 2009, arguably), the music industry's been badly over-saturated with cookie cutter idol groups that are basically knock-off versions of the more successful groups and has become extremely reliant on idol groups for revenue, and this shows absolutely no sign of slowing down anytime soon.

If anything, at its current rate, K-pop has already shot itself in the foot in the long-term. There are no potential successors of the mega- groups like SNSD, 2NE1, Big Bang, DBSK etc. and the 'mid-tier' groups like After-School, SECRET, SISTAR etc. either don't have large enough fandoms, labels with abundant resources or staying power to replace them once they disband.

[Vice_devil]

This article is too biased for me to take seriously. It makes T-ara seem like poor ignored victims of the korean public and this just isn't true. They're not ignored or disregarded, they're still fairly succesful and still have considerably more succes than a lot of other groups. Not as much as before, no, but it's not because the public is close minded and just simply unforgiving, it's because of their moronic management that screwed things up royally.

As far as I'm concerned the public has every right to doubt T-ara's image after the scandal. If you look at the girls' past knack for scandals and blunders, and at the agency's actions during the Hwayoung scandal skeptically it's impossible to not at least suspect there's something unpleasant about them. Heck, even a lot of their then die hard fans thought so, at least in the beginning.

Anyway I like the sound of this reverse 'Divide and conquer' thing that this writer thinks is going on, but I figured that while CCM might want to have the public stop associating the members with the name 'T-ara' so they can disassociate from their past blunders more, they probably want to do this more so people get used to them as soloists and to promote them easier when T-ara disbands(or to milk them of whatever the can until their contracts expire), not because they want to start a second season of T-ara. I suppose we'll have to see.

This article had a few funny things though. Like:

'The public disregards their music and closes their eyes to their popular dance choreography.' If it's so popular how is it disregarded?

'Looking through “tainted glasses” is very scary' Unless you have rose tainted glasses like the writer, then it's a blast! Also I thought the public was closing their eyes, what relevance do the glasses have then ?

Kind of wonder what sort of articles we can expect when Hyomin starts her own debut.

[Uncle fan]

@Mohawkian

1) If CCM actually learnt how to do proper PR, then the media wouldn't have been going on a reporting spree and the catastrophe could actually have been better contained and had a smaller impact on T-ara's image. Blaming it all on the media is just plain ignorance and only breaking the tip of the iceberg.

Is it not a given that CCM is the original root cause of the problems that T-ara has? I thought it was not necessary to mention. Of course they have been mismanaged.

But don't discount the impact the media has on the career of any artist. In America a career can be totally destroyed by one bad review. From what I've seen in Korea it is just as bad if not worse. Having been active in the arts for 30 years now I know what I speak of. I'm not disagreeing with your rather adamant opinions. I simply add that one must not discount the impact of a biased and uninformed media that will not hesitate to print any item regardless of verification and then never retract when the truth has been revealed.

As far as the rest of your reactions to my post, thank you. It is refreshing to know that there is a voice amongst the silence that will speak those opinions. But regardless, I will still keep hope and faith alive. Have a great day and keep fighting the good fight!

[CptFantasy]

I just checked on Mnet and T-ARA is now #5 on their Star Ranking.

http://mwave.interest.me/site/list.m

[Scatter_88mil]

@Uncle fan

It is necessary to mention when discussion becomes of what is the main player of T-ara's image downfall.

I don't disagree with you that the media has certain amount of influence, and there's plenty of examples of it playing a major role in breaking and making careers - I've mentioned myself that it is one of the two bigger players that effectively threw T-ara right at the trashcan for the sake of viewer ratings.

At that time however, what the media did during that scandal was openly report what CCM had stated in its disastrous PR press conferences more than anything else, considering KKS himself basically had reporters from every newspaper imaginable right in front of his eyes. Had the latter avoided that (or at least had someone with more tact doing it), the media wouldn't have been extremely active at the time. It doesn't help that the company's conferences at the time, by feeding the media, pretty much engaged in an extremely dirty mud-slinging campaign against Hwayoung and using T-ara as a shield to avoid public scrutiny (or rather, dampen it) against the company itself.

The media at the time was pretty much invited to play its part.

Using Newsen as a 'pro-T-ara' propaganda outlet didn't help things one bit either, as it was used to bash other idol groups at the time of T-ara promoting SL. Later on in 2013, the CCM itself goes to restrict the press in what it's allowed to write in respect to T-ara, and winded up antagonizing one outlet up to the point it actually resorted to open threats.

That being said, I rest my case on this.

[unclesam27]

I was dizzy reading your long opinion. LOL sorry. But CCM is the best in making K-POP Music.

For me (international fans), T-ara in the past and now is the same. What happened to T-ara is now a risk that they get for their mistakes (staff and members of T-ara).

Essentially, enjoy the appearance of T-ara's best while they still exist.

[phucth91]

Gurl what are you talking about? She's third from right, sporting that fine lookin' boots and tight shorts. See? The one with the earring? (Best avatar out of all seven, though making her that tall isn't exactly canon. XD)

I think you need to redo that laser (´･_･`)/

JK

I meant that haha. She's taller than Hwayoung hahaha.

[subtle_yuki]

I was skeptical of the title at first. But then I read the article and it made sense. Yes, now that they are doing solo activities, the public doesn't look at them as T-ara, they only see that single person and I think this is a good strategy. However I believe that the fault doesn't lie in T-ara but in the netizens for their selfish and narrow-minded thinking. It's like they've shut off their ears and are now hating on blind prejudice. Jiyeon getting a lot of endorsements now is a good thing and I also hope for better things to come along her way and the other members however I disagree with this being their last chance.

T-ara is strong. They've overcome so many hurdles and become who they are now and I firmly believe they will continue to do so always and always.

[Raf]

I don`t agre with the article. It is bunch of lies and hypocrytic and chauvinistic prejudice.

Author doesn`t estimate T-ara.

[hyunhung]

there's a rainbow always after the rain..

yes, they are starting over again but isn't there a saying "love is sweeter the second time around"..now is there second chance..

and i know they will make it there;to the top.. we'll just be there for them to support,always..

and if people will only be open minded and be considerate to see what's there beyond the face, the rumor, the mistakes and anything else that's keeping them blind to see what T-ARA is...- a group of people whose reaching for their dreams and they are willing to share their talents and hardwork with us.. isn't that amazing?...

T-ARA loves us.. they share what they have, they give what's there to give.. and in return we should believe in them.. and be proud as a Queen

[ChanChan]

Way to go Jiyeon! No matter what happen, I'll support them individually and as a group! T-ARA will be my #1 bias kgroup.

If ever (I hope not) they'll disband, I will live Kpop industry. Maybe you'll say its too much but that's how important they are to me.

Plus, though I like other Kgroups (GG,Infinite, EXO) still, they can't beat T-ARA in my heart

[용기123]

Gaon social chart today:

Good things are happening.

I'm sorry to ask,but how many times can I vote her on Gaonchart? is it per day or per week?

And I'm extremely happy for Jiyeon these days cause she got a lot of good stuff going on for her~

Hopefully that will last longer,for her and for other T-ara members too!!!!

[mia camille]

well i think it will be a good start for t-ara now.. especially now that jiyeon hitting the chart. second chance is good to show off what they got. they say people ignore them, well ignoring people will just give them a strong heart to fight for what's for them.

for now we must support t-ara until they comeback as t-ara.

fighting!! as all the QUEENS will say.

looking for the succeed of T-ARA...

[Soyeony]

This will be a good refreshing start for T-ara. Seeing how Jiyeon is doing and the attention T-ara is getting is fantastic.

I don't think T-ara are going to disband anytime soon. CCM is just taking a new strategy with them, hoping they will get them back to where they once were.

We can't really talk for T-ara, all we have to do is support them 100% and stay by their side through good and bad, they deserve it.

@Uncle_fan - I strongly beg to differ there.

It's called being realistic.

Hahah you're not being realistic you're just being plain negative and not supportive of the group at all. Like i sometimes wonder if you've ever supported T-ara.

[Scatter_88mil]

This will be a good refreshing start for T-ara. Seeing how Jiyeon is doing and the attention T-ara is getting is fantastic.

I don't think T-ara are going to disband anytime soon. CCM is just taking a new strategy with them, hoping they will get them back to where they once were.

We can't really talk for T-ara, all we have to do is support them 100% and stay by their side through good and bad, they deserve it.

Hahah you're not being realistic you're just being plain negative and not supportive of the group at all. Like i sometimes wonder if you've ever supported T-ara.

Do please tell me exactly where in my post is not being realistic, then we can start talking whether here or on PM.

Just because I'm not praising them all the time like some members here doesn't automatically mean I'm an unsupportive grumpy nutter of the sort. It's nothing new or even remotely surprising though, and I prefer to be honest about my opinions as well.

[Solin]

No matter what happen, I will continue to support T-ara because I like what they do as entertainers. What they do in real life doesn't really matter to me because I'm more into their talents and music. I wish people could let it go the Hwayoung scandal in the past and try to love T-ara again because these girls really deserve more than what they received during the past two years. They come with good songs but people ignore them. I'm just happy that at least Japan continue to support and love them.