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Mother Of God, Is This The End Of T-ara?
Jul. 30th, 2012 03:40 amI don't have enough information to have an opinion* (which doesn't mean I don't), but I'm fascinated by how quickly public opinion — at least as evidenced by the outpouring of complaints on comment threads — has coalesced around a story that people can't possibly know is true, at least not yet. E.g.,
This doesn't seem so outrageous to me, but on the 'Net it was taken to be three hotshot, bitchy, jealous members of the group bullying the young one.** And maybe people who follow these things more closely than I do have good reason to buy into this narrative, and to consider Jiyeon a bitch. Or maybe such people are just making things up. (Hwayoung didn't join T-ara until late 2010. There does seem to have been a diminution of Eunjung's mic time since then. Eunjung has, imo, the best voice in the group. She sings only a few lines in "Day By Day," just the refrain, but in those few lines she brings the crucial emotion of the song.)
( Counter narrative )
[This vid isn't on YouTube anymore, and in case Dailymotion kills it at some point, here's a link to this performance on mp3.zing. UPDATE: That's dead too; here's one on Vimeo and another on bilibili.]
( Eunjung and Hyomin had to memorize it really fast )
UPDATE (CORRECTIONS): Two mistakes in this write-up: (i) There seems to have actually been four members of T-ara who initially tweeted their disappointment: Hyomin, Jiyeon, Eunjung, and Soyeon. I'd said there were three. The allkpop article (which was translated and adapted from something called NewsPlus) only gives Hyomin's, Jiyeon's, and Eunjung's tweets, but shows a Webshot of a fourth by Soyeon, in Korean (the NewsPlus article is identical in this respect). Wikip adds Boram to the list, but the citation is to the allkpop article, which leaves her out. UPDATING THE UPDATE: Boram did tweet, but her tweet and Soyeon's weren't much more than general exhortations. (ii) The tweets came on Wednesday July 25, after the Budokan concert, but two days before the Music Bank show where Hwayoung was a last-second scratch. I'd initially thought they'd come after Music Bank. (Supposedly, with only a couple of others bands in the queue ahead of them at Music Bank, Hwayoung refused to or felt she couldn't perform. But I don't know enough to say that either of those are accurate interpretations of what happened. I don't think anyone who wasn't there knows. Maybe even the people who were there, including the principals, don't know.)
WTF? did not see this coming! i mean they are all bitches but srsly make the other members suffer as well for bullying her and shit but in return they make the victim leave the group!And
and BULLSHIT u prob asked ur staff to say all this shit u fucken piece of ass, "In deference to the complaints by T-ara's staff of 19 people (5 stylists, 7 hair & makeup, 5 on-site managers, 2 team managers), Hwayoung’s contract as an artist will be voided effective immediately with no conditions."
I call bullshit!!! They kicked her out because she wasn't the popular one and it's a mean girls thing the other members got bad attitudes...It's all bullshit...but I wish her the bestAnd
I don't believe a darn thing that ridiculous CEO says. Complaints from the staff to cover up the bullying by the members? Seriously? And why did he feel the need to list who the staff members were and how many of them were part of the 19 that supposedly complained against Hwayoung? It's unnecessary information.And
we apologize in saying that we could not forsake the arguments of the staff members. OH REALLY???!!... I didnt know staffs are more powerful then a CEO. CCM Please shut down your fucking company with all your lies and all your betraying all your artists.And
lol apparently its got to do with the staff. huh, thats funny, cause that is a obvious lie right there.And
Just read a article on CNN this week. South Korea #1 in bully related death (suicide). Read Seung-Min's story on CNN. The CEO should of been the adult in this situation. Ever heard of communication. As IDOLS they have so much influence. Bullying starts from the top (CEO) and works down (singers). It's all about $$$ for the CEO. All the K-pop groups are puppets!! They should all get together and fight the # issue in their country. BULLYING!!Hwayoung was just kicked out of T-ara. But the narrative had coalesced several days earlier: long-time members Jiyeon, Hyomin, and Eunjung had tweeted their disappointment about another member, saying she needed to show "determination." This was interpreted by Netizens as being aimed at Hwayoung, who, with a hurt leg, had failed to perform at one of the group's TV gigs, and at a concert had only partially participated. Hyomin: "The differences in levels of determination^^, Let us all have more determination. Fighting!!!" Jiyeon: "The differences in levels of determination ^^, Always be humble ^^ and sensible ^^ I applaud you, acting genius ^^" Eunjung: "A position can make or break a person, but determination can make a person too. Sigh, it's unfortunate. You have to know to take care of the people around you." (See article at allkpop. I don't vouch for these translations. Or the article.)
This doesn't seem so outrageous to me, but on the 'Net it was taken to be three hotshot, bitchy, jealous members of the group bullying the young one.** And maybe people who follow these things more closely than I do have good reason to buy into this narrative, and to consider Jiyeon a bitch. Or maybe such people are just making things up. (Hwayoung didn't join T-ara until late 2010. There does seem to have been a diminution of Eunjung's mic time since then. Eunjung has, imo, the best voice in the group. She sings only a few lines in "Day By Day," just the refrain, but in those few lines she brings the crucial emotion of the song.)
( Counter narrative )
[This vid isn't on YouTube anymore, and in case Dailymotion kills it at some point, here's a link to this performance on mp3.zing. UPDATE: That's dead too; here's one on Vimeo and another on bilibili.]
( Eunjung and Hyomin had to memorize it really fast )
UPDATE (CORRECTIONS): Two mistakes in this write-up: (i) There seems to have actually been four members of T-ara who initially tweeted their disappointment: Hyomin, Jiyeon, Eunjung, and Soyeon. I'd said there were three. The allkpop article (which was translated and adapted from something called NewsPlus) only gives Hyomin's, Jiyeon's, and Eunjung's tweets, but shows a Webshot of a fourth by Soyeon, in Korean (the NewsPlus article is identical in this respect). Wikip adds Boram to the list, but the citation is to the allkpop article, which leaves her out. UPDATING THE UPDATE: Boram did tweet, but her tweet and Soyeon's weren't much more than general exhortations. (ii) The tweets came on Wednesday July 25, after the Budokan concert, but two days before the Music Bank show where Hwayoung was a last-second scratch. I'd initially thought they'd come after Music Bank. (Supposedly, with only a couple of others bands in the queue ahead of them at Music Bank, Hwayoung refused to or felt she couldn't perform. But I don't know enough to say that either of those are accurate interpretations of what happened. I don't think anyone who wasn't there knows. Maybe even the people who were there, including the principals, don't know.)
