T-ara debuted with a handful of singles, including a collaboration with the boy band Supernova, "TTL (Time to Love)," which became both bands' first chart-topper. Due to the popularity of "TTL," a second collaboration with Supernova spawned "TTL Listen 2," before the girls released their one and only full album (all their other releases in the Korean market are mini-albums), 'Absolute First Album.' This LP featured seven hit songs including "Good Person", "Lies", "TTL (Time to Love)", "TTL Listen 2", "Bo Peep Bo Peep", "Like The First Time", and "I Go Crazy Because of You," four of these being singles released earlier in the year. Over the course of their promotions, they won 5 music show awards; two on 'Music Bank' and three on 'Inkigayo.' Their repackage in early 2010 breathed new life into the album, and new lead singles gave them many more music show awards, as well as another number 1 hit. Both TTLs are my absolute faves on 'Absolute,' catchy and hook-filled, featuring brilliant attitude-laden rapping from both groups.
Over the course of their career, they released several mini-albums, by that time having attracted a significant fanbase. New albums generated new hits, including 3 chart toppers from their third mini-album and "Roly Poly", which was nominated for many awards and became the Gaon chart's number one single of the year. Each new promotion brought more awards and more wins on music shows. "Cry Cry" is a bold song, and the MV brought a darker, sexier image to the band.
In 2012, shortly after release of their fourth mini-album 'Day by Day,' a controversy nearly brought their career to a screeching halt and aroused the ire of fans. Member Hwayoung left the group, and extensive rumors of bullying exploded. Many websites and tweets purported to show photographic and video evidence of the bullying. The group suspended its activities, and their agency announced that their comeback would be postponed indefinitely. Various advertising contracts were not renewed, and photos of the members modeling for various products were replaced. Fans' outcries were fierce, and official statements released by CCM and its CEO fanned the flames even further. Regardless of the problems, no one can deny that "Day by Day" is an oustanding tune with honey vocals and cocksure raps melded seamlessly together. They released a post-apocalyptic drama version of the MV, too, that featured several songs from the album. The drama version is dripping with cheesy scorched-world cliches, including sword fights and leather-clad biker thugs. It's also a hell of a fun video.
Their last promotional cycle saw them bouncing back in a huge way. It is said that success is the best revenge and if so, their album 'Again' was sweet revenge indeed. Upon release, "Number Nine" immediately shot to number 1 on many real-time music charts. Danceable and earwormy, "Number Nine" became a fan favorite, and remains one of mine to this day. "I Know the Feeling" is a sad but catchy number and also charted extremely well. A repackage, 'Again 1977,' featured a remake of the Sand Pebbles' 1977 hit "What Should I Do." Titled "Do You Know Me?", it was split into two songs, actually: a slow ballad and a faster hook-filled club banger, both with same lyrics at different tempos. I love the girls' camaraderie in the middle part of the MV.
After members Jiyeon and Hyomin made their sizzling solo debuts, T-ara came together again for the album 'Sugar Free,' an EDM big room style single that is burning up the charts, and was number 1 at the time of writing. The album is epic and danceable; it's nice to see more EDM, especially from such a talented group. T-ara is a band that has gone through adversity and came out on top. T-ara was recently ranked #7 as the group with most #1 songs in the past decade according to Naver, and they deserve every accolade they get. But enough out of me; which version of T-ara do you guys prefer?
SEE ALSO: [Original Feature] Then and Now: KARA
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