T-Ara

T-ara (Korean: 티아라; Korean pronunciation: [tʰiara]) is a South Korean girl group formed by Mnet Media in 2009. Before their debut, there was a high level of interest in the group as they were called "Super Rookies" and had been training for three years prior to debut.^[1] Originally a five-member group, they released their first song "Good Person" for the soundtrack of the Korean drama Cinderella Man in April 2009. In June 2009 members Jiwon and Jiae left the group, delaying the group's debut. The next month, T-ara regrouped to become a six-member group with the addition of Boram, Qri, and Soyeon, and released their debut single "거짓말" ("Lies").^[2] In July 2010, T-ara introduced a new member, Ryu Hwayoung, to become a seven-member group. ^[3]

Pre-debut

The original five T-ara members were trained for three years, and released their first song "좋은 사람" (Good Person) for the Korean drama Cinderella Man soundtrack. In early 2009, Jiyeon was in a collaboration with SeeYa and Davichi for project single called "여성시대" (Women's Generation).^{[citation needed]}

In June 2009, Core Contents Media announced that Ji-ae and Ji-won left due to differences in music style. Soyeon, Boram and Qri were added. The group's agency began to release promotional pictures in July 2009 in accordance with the new members. Afterward, T-ara released their debut single "거짓말" (Lies).

2009: Debut

T-ara made its debut on MBC's Radio Star talk show on July 28, 2009.^[4] The music video was released that day. Their first performance was on Mnet's M! Countdown show, where they performed "Lies" and "Wanna Play?". Their debut was looked upon negatively by netizens, who noted that it was lipsynched and commented that it seemed like an elementary school performance.^[5] The group announced afterward that future performances would be live.^[6] A few members of T-ara (Eunjung, Soyeon, Hyomin and Park Ji-Yeon) were in a project group with Supernova, a six member male group for the digital single, TTL (Time to Love).The single TTL became the girls first number 1 as it topped many of the online charts. On December 1, 2009, T-ara released their first full-length album, named Absolute First Album. This album had two singles, "Like The First Time" and both with music videos.

2010: Absolute Album, repackage, and Temptastic

On January 1, 2010, T-ara won their first ever award on the New Year's Day episode of Music Bank for their hit song ". Two days later, they won the Mutizen award on Inkigayo. T-ara also performed at a traditional New Year's festival version of the song. The following week, T-ara won their second consecutive Music Bank and Mutizen awards. The next week, T-Ara won their third consecutive mutizen award, thus winning the triple crown.

Later in the month, Core Contents Media announced that Eunjung and Hyomin would take part, alongside label mates, in project group, 'Wonder Woman'. Consequently, the group announced promotions for their follow up single, "Like The First Time" (Korean: "처음처럼").

In February, the group announce the release of a repackaged version of their debut album, entitled Breaking Heart. The music video for its lead single, "I Go Crazy Because of You" (Korean: "너 때문에 미쳐"), was released on February 24, 2010. The group commenced comeback performances with Mnet's M!Countdown. After promotions for "I Go Crazy Because of You", T-ara promoted the next single off the repackaged album titled "I'm Really Hurt".

On November 23, 2010 T-ara released a new music video for their song "Why Are You Being Like This". ^[7] The group will begin promotions with their new 7th member, Hwayoung, and a new leader, Boram and as they reveal their first comeback performance this coming December 3rd on KBS 2TV’s ‘Music Bank’! It was later officially revealed that the mini-album's title track would be titled "Yayaya". The music video and mini album premiered on Mnet on December 1, 2010. The mini-album Temptastic has received 70,000 pre-orders, showing T-ara's explosive popularity.

Super Junior

Super Junior (Korea: 슈퍼주니어), atau lebih dikenal dengan SJ atau SuJu (Korea: 슈주), merupakan sebuah grup musik R&B yang berasal dari Seoul, Korea Selatan. Anggotanya berjumlah 13 orang yaitu Leeteuk, Heechul, Han Geng, Yesung, Kang-In, Shindong, Sungmin, Eunhyuk, Donghae, Siwon, Ryeowook, Kibum, dan Kyuhyun. Album perdananya ialah SuperJunior05 (TWINS), dirilis pada tahun 2005.

Pre-debut

Sejak akhir 1990-an, agen bakat Korea dan label rekaman SM Entertainment telah mengadakan audisi tahunan untuk menemukan bakat-bakat baru yang melengkapi keberhasilan kelompok pop H.O.T, S.E.S, dan Shinhwa, yang semuanya diciptakan oleh pendiri SM, Soo-Man Lee, di pertengahan 1990-an. Leeteuk dan Eunhyuk adalah dua anggota pertama kelompok untuk direkrut pada tahun 2000 di bawah SM's Starlight Casting System di Seoul.

Pada tahun 2001, perusahaan pertama mereka di luar negeri mengadakan casting audisi dan menemukan Han Geng di Beijing, terpilih di antara tiga ribu pelamar.^[1] Pada tahun yang sama, Yesung ditemukan pada Seoul's casting system bersama temanya, Heechul, Sungmin dan Donghae juga dipilih untuk menjadi trainee setelah penampilan mereka dalam sebuah kontes yang disponsori SM. Pada tahun 2002, Kang-In dan Kim Heechul direkrut bersama dengan Kibum, yang ditemukan di Los Angeles. Siwon di-casting pada tahun 2003 dan Ryeowook pada tahun 2004, di mana yang terakhir ini ditemukan melalui Chinchin Youth Festival.^[2] Pada tahun 2005, Shindong dipilih.

Tidak lama setelah boy band TVXQ debut pada tahun 2003, berita tentang rencana Lee yang belum pernah terjadi sebelumnya yaitu membentuk boy band lain dengan cepat menyebar di Internet. Pada awal 2005, Lee mengkonfirmasi berita dan mengumumkan bahwa boy band yang terdiri dari dua belas anggota akan melakukan debut di dekat akhir tahun, mempromosikan kelompok bernyanyi ini untuk menjadi "The Gateway of Stardom Asia."^[3] Lee mengumumkan bahwa bahwa sebagian besar anggota dalam kelompok ini dipilih karena mereka telah berpengalaman tampil sebagai aktor, MC, model, dan host radio sebelum debut. Heechul dan Kibum telah berprofesi sebagai penghibur, dan sebagian besar anggota lain sudah membuat berbagai macam penampilan di televisi dan media.^[4][5][6] yang sangat terinspirasi oleh konsep rotasi gadis Jepang grup Morning Musume, kelompok ini juga akan mengalami perubahan line-up, dengan anggota-anggota baru menggantikan beberapa anggota lama yang dipilih setiap tahun untuk menjaga grup ini tetap muda dan memiliki berbagai talenta. Konsep ini kemudian baru diperkenalkan ke pasar K-pop.

Untuk sementara kelompok itu dikabarkan akan bernama O.V.E.R, singkatan dari "Obey the Voice for Each Rhythm" (Patuhilah Suara untuk Tiap Irama).^[7] Namun, sebelum nama ini diputuskan, SM hanya menyebut mereka sebagai Junior, yang berasal dari para anggota yang masih berusia muda ketika pertama kali menjadi SM trainee.^[7] After the members' showcased their different talents to the company at a picnic, the company finalized their concept name to Super Junior. The group thereafter became officially Super Junior 05, the first generation of Super Junior.^[2] Setelah para anggota memamerkan bakat mereka yang berbeda kepada perusahaan pada sebuah piknik. Kemudian perusahaan memutuskan meresmikan grup ini bernama Super Junior, generasi pertama dari Super Junior.^[2]

Super Junior 05 membuat pra-debut mereka di saluran Korea M-net pada 11 September 2005. Pada acara itu, mereka melakukan berbagai gaya tarian hip hop. Mereka menampilkan tarian B2K. Han Geng, Eunhyuk, dan Donghae juga melakukan tarian dari lagu Usher, Caught Up. Namun penampilan mereka tidak disiarkan di televisi, hingga akhirnya pada 16 Mei 2006 disiarkan pada sebuah segmen di acara Super Junior Show.

Album

• 2005 SuperJunior05 (TWINS)
• 2007 Don't Don
• 2009 Sorry Sorry
• 2010 Bonamana