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]

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.)