Hwayoung Triumphant

[koganbot]

Long-promised T-ara posts are still in the promissory stage, but as a stop-gap here's a vid I planned to embed back in early February 'cept I wanted to include everything about Hwayoung's dancing and rapping and T-ara's rapping in general not to mention her fashion and their fashion, the result being nothing got posted or embedded. This is "Lovey-Dovey," first show up after the Hwayoung wardrobe malfunction (coverings slipped, so see-through upper blouse revealed more than it should have; Hwayoung wasn't aware during the performance and it wasn't all that noticeable except concerned Netizens helpfully made sure that everyone noticed; offstage she was mortified and in tears, was too upset to go back onstage when T-ara was awarded a first). So four days afterwards here she is decidedly unabashed and unsubdued, even more flamboyant and glowing and in joy than before (Hwayoung's the one in yellow with dark diamonds; her dance and rap are 2:30–2:45; she certainly has the crowd on her side).

"T-ara - Lovey Dovey (Music On Top 120202) Live HD" (Watch on YouTube)

Hwayoung is the second-youngest member of T-ara and was added last, sixteen months after their debut; "Roly-Poly" and "Lovey-Dovey" are the first T-ara tracks to really give her a spotlight, and on "Lovey-Dovey" she's got the most important dance, the one that's set apart.

(The show was unusual in that Eunjung was out with a broken kneecap and Jiyeon away for some other reason, so the other five had the stage to their selves, Hyomin and Qri and Boram ably covering for the missing two. This was one of the performances that got me thinking about Hyomin's vocals as especially embodying the T-ara sound, cute in a way that's strong rather than ingratiating [Hyomin's the one in gold pants and red shirt with a cartoon character on it].)

For group shuffle dancing, I can't think of an act I'd rather watch than T-ara.

A month earlier, at full strength:

"Live HD 720p 120105 T ara Lovey Dovey Comeback stage" (Watch on YouTube)

Comments

[askbask.livejournal.com]

I think she's been actively annoying in terms of musical contributions on two key tracks: Why Are You Being Like This ('knaaawk knaawwk' and roly-poly: 'I like like this'). All in all I've had a hard time understanding why she was added and why they needed another member at all (and apparently the crazy dude is doing more stuff with member changes come april 7), but that's not to say I don't think she's got something, when she does it right and not wrong.

I was going to embed the Co-Ed male sub unit SPEED's version of Lovey Dovey (another failed attempt at making anything related to that group popular - it peaked at #145 on Gaon), just to show how cool she can be, because she stars in it for no reason at all, but turns out that's actually her twin Hyoyoung. I'm embedding it anyway. Maybe she's the better twin. She also performed (danced) this song live with the group.

I like-uh like-uh dis, I like-uh like-uh dat

[koganbot]

Her raps on "Roly-Poly" and "Why Are You Being Like This?" are my two favorite things she's done! Definitely push the envelope on behalf of T-ara, take what's in T-ara and ramp it further. I imagine if she were writing words to match that voice, she'd be a female Ad-Rock.

But that's going to be a future post, in which I'll embed some things you'll find torture. (Of course, you've yourself to blame, since it was your comment about T-ara being exceptionally good — and distinct — as girl-group rappers, a talk-style that has what you call "exciting speed and compactness," that got me thinking how T-ara's raps really are special to T-ara, extend what's going on in the rest of the music rather than being merely hip-hop interludes or breaks. But as I said, that's to come later.)

An answer to the question, "Why did they add her?" Well, those two raps in particular are the ones where she's not just a weaker Eunjung, so she's doing something no one else is doing. But I think her dancing may have had lots to do with it too. Or maybe Mnet wanted both her and Hyoyoung but didn't want them both in the same group, so the question was, "OK, where do we put Hwayoung?"

I hadn't realized it wasn't Hwayoung in the SPEED by T-ara vid. The track is terrific for 40 seconds, with the vintage pushy house bass and the quasi-dissonant orchestra; falls dead once SPEED start singing. Too bad, 'cause briefly I thought I was hearing something new for K-pop.

[koganbot]

Damned if I know why they'd make member or concept changes NOW, when the group is atop the commercial heap — unless there's member dissent or some want out. We'll have to wait, I guess.

[askbask.livejournal.com]

Might just be KKS creating PR for PR's sake, and nothing comes out of it, or they're doing sub-units, or he doesn't know what to do with the 5Dolls girls and wants them to be 'T-ara B', but the way he pitches it makes him sound like an asshole as always. He seems like a guy who's paranoid and believes things have to happen all the time.

I guess I just find those lines a bit sloppy or something and that doesn't gel with what I identified as T-ara's strengths. Maybe I haven't caught her personality coming through because of that initial 'why would I want this jarring voice taking mic time away from Eunjung'. Of course she doesn't always sound like that.

[koganbot]

Or maybe they wanted to give more singing time to Eunjung (and to Hyomin, for that matter). Or maybe adding a member is the guy's way of telling the other members "No one's irreplaceable."

(I haven't read much about agency and group rules and procedures in K-pop, but I recall a few things that gave the impression that, though the T-ara women feel overworked, they're not afraid to speak their minds, so may not be worried about specific retaliation and are not subjected to mickey-mouse rules such as "No boyfriends" and such. But that was based on just a couple of comments I don't remember well, or where I saw them.)

[koganbot]

Here's the SPEED video (ft. Hyoyoung) that askbask embedded:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSaPmPwfCBs