(1) All the T-ara women are singing their own parts on the recordings, and I can sometimes tell who is who. But they're not trying to develop individual vocal signifiers à la 2NE1. This doesn't mean they lack distinctive characteristics. But they often subordinate them.
(2) The three experts, whoever they are, know something, in that Hyorin turns out to be as good as advertised, utterly exquisite on "Alone," for instance. (Though if the experts are basing their judgment on her bravura turns during Immortal Song 2, those are actually some of her least moving performances. A discussion of such stuff is occurring right now on Koganbot.)
(3) I underestimated how much Soyeon contributes to the T-araness of the T-ara songs. The high-pitched cute-but-not-cutesy emotions are hers as much as Hyomin's, though Hyomin's wavering, which I suppose is vocal weakness, does seem more emblematically T-aratic. But Soyeon is the workhorse. Eunjung seems to have the most emotive talent, and she's strangely underused. On side projects and guest appearances, though, her singing doesn't come across as being full of personality. But there haven't been a lot of them, and in T-ara she's excellent at, e.g., delivering the yank of feeling of the "kiss me babies" of "Day By Day." (The vid is funny, though, in that at moments everyone's lip-syncing each other's parts. Oh yeah, and Hwayoung raps real well on that song. Sigh.) Jiyeon's restraint and lack of affect always has force, I'm not good at explaining why. Don't know if it's her, or if she's just lucky in her settings. Consistently.
UPDATE
(1) All the T-ara women are singing their own parts on the recordings, and I can sometimes tell who is who. But they're not trying to develop individual vocal signifiers à la 2NE1. This doesn't mean they lack distinctive characteristics. But they often subordinate them.
(2) The three experts, whoever they are, know something, in that Hyorin turns out to be as good as advertised, utterly exquisite on "Alone," for instance. (Though if the experts are basing their judgment on her bravura turns during Immortal Song 2, those are actually some of her least moving performances. A discussion of such stuff is occurring right now on Koganbot.)
(3) I underestimated how much Soyeon contributes to the T-araness of the T-ara songs. The high-pitched cute-but-not-cutesy emotions are hers as much as Hyomin's, though Hyomin's wavering, which I suppose is vocal weakness, does seem more emblematically T-aratic. But Soyeon is the workhorse. Eunjung seems to have the most emotive talent, and she's strangely underused. On side projects and guest appearances, though, her singing doesn't come across as being full of personality. But there haven't been a lot of them, and in T-ara she's excellent at, e.g., delivering the yank of feeling of the "kiss me babies" of "Day By Day." (The vid is funny, though, in that at moments everyone's lip-syncing each other's parts. Oh yeah, and Hwayoung raps real well on that song. Sigh.) Jiyeon's restraint and lack of affect always has force, I'm not good at explaining why. Don't know if it's her, or if she's just lucky in her settings. Consistently.