T-ara (
pron.: /tiˈɑːrə/;
Korean:
티아라, Japanese: ティアラ, often stylized as
T-ARA or
T♔ARA) is a
South Korean girl group
that debuted in 2009 under
Core Contents Media.
Before their debut, there was a high level of interest in the group; they were
called the "Super Rookies" and had been training for three years prior.
[1]
Originally
a five-member group composed of Jiae,
Jiwon,
Eunjung,
Hyomin, and
Jiyeon, they released their
first song "Joheun Saram" (좋은 사람, "Good Person") for the soundtrack of the
Korean drama
Cinderella
Man in April 2009. After Jiae and Jiwon withdrew from the group in June,
T-ara debuted as a six-member group with the addition of
Boram,
Soyeon, and
Qri in July 2009.
[2]
Their
debut studio album
Absolute First
Album was released in December 2009 and spawned several hit singles
including "
Geojitmal", "
TTL (Time to
Love)", "
TTL Listen 2", "
Bo
Peep Bo Peep", "Cheoeum Cheoreom" and "Neo Ttaemune Michyeo". The album was
followed by the group's first extended play,
Temptastic (2010), which
included the top-five singles "
Wae Ireoni" and "
Yayaya".
John Travolta
Wannabe (2011) produced "
Roly-Poly",
the
Gaon chart's number one
single of the year, which earned the group several awards and nominations as
well. In less than six months, the group released their third extended play
Black Eyes
(2011), which spawned three number one singles: "Cry Cry", "Uri Saranghaetjanha"
and "
Lovey-Dovey".
The lead single, "Cry Cry", became the group's first number one on the
Billboard
Korea K-Pop Hot
100.
In 2011, T-ara signed a $4.3 million contract with the company
J-ROCK for their Japanese debut, the highest out of all the girl groups debuting
in Japan.
[3] Their major
record label is
EMI Music Japan while
their management and promotional marketing takes place under J-ROCK.
[4] The group's
first single was a remake of their 2009 hit "
Bo Peep Bo Peep". It
ranked at number one on the
Oricon weekly charts with
49,712 copies sold,
[5] the first
time a debuting Korean girl group has done so in the charts' history.
[6] T-ara
released their debut Japanese studio album
Jewelry Box in 2012,
which peaked at number two on the
Oricon charts.
The group has added
three members to their lineup since debut:
Hwayoung in 2010,
Areum in
June 2012, and
Dani
was announced to be joining the group in December 2012 (although she has yet to
join the group). Hwayoung later departed the group in July 2012. T-ara uses a
rotating leader system in which a different member of the group is elected as
leader each year, in order to give both the group and the individual members the
opportunity to grow in a new direction.
[7]
Early
beginnings and pre-debut projects
The original five T-ara members
(Jiae,
Jiwon,
Eunjung,
Hyomin and
Jiyeon) were trained
together for three years under
Mnet Media.
[8] The
meaning behind the group's name, which is based on the word "
tiara", comes from the idea that
they will become the "queens of the music industry".
[9][10] In April
2009, they released their first song "Joheun Saram (Ver. 1)" (좋은 사람, "Good
Person") for the
Cinderella
Man soundtrack.
[8]
Jiyeon teamed up with labelmates
SeeYa and
Davichi for a collaboration
single titled "Yeoseong Shidae" (여성시대, "Women's Generation"), which was released
in May 2009.
[11]
In June
2009, Mnet Media announced that Jiae and Jiwon would be leaving T-ara due to
differences in music style. The first new member to be added to the group was
Boram, the
daughter of singer Jeon Young-rok and actress Lee Mi-young.
Soyeon, a
former trainee of Girls' Generation,
[12] and
Qri were added to T-ara
three weeks prior to debut. In early July 2009, the group was moved from Mnet
Media to its subsidiary company Core Contents Media.
[13]
