Volume 2 2010 Chapter 171: CCM Trip (Part 1)
For the next two days, Kwon Eun-fei will go to the company for practice, so tutoring will of course be suspended.
Yi Haoyan did not go to school. He took a leave and went to CCM with Sun Enxi.
Although the last conversation at his aunt's house did not convince his uncle, since the Li family was behind it, Yi Haoyan didn't care.
If the sky falls, the Li family will be the first to bear it, because CJ belongs to their family.
This time I came here just to do my best and leave the rest to fate, to say what needs to be said and to remind this ambitious President Kim Kwang-soo.
The two arrived at CCM Company, Star Tower Building, 269-10, Nonhyeon-dong, Gangnam District.
Sister Eun Hee went directly to see Kim Kwang Soo. As the only daughter of the Sun family and the youngest director of CJ Entertainment, she has the qualifications in terms of both status and ability.
Yi Haoyan was a normal "fan" of T-ara, as Eun-hee's cousin, and was taken to visit the company and meet the members of T-ara.
He was lucky, all the members of T-ara were in the company today.
Because he learned about CJ Lee's plan through chatting with his uncle, he got a clear picture of the situation of T-ara through his cousin, which was the starting point of this plan.
After reading the information of these members, he was even less optimistic about CJ's plan to get involved in the content production field. At least not the girl group promoted by Kim Kwang Soo.
The six girls in the group have obvious advantages. Except for Jeon Bo-ram who is relatively short, the others have excellent looks and figures, and their average level even exceeds that of Girls' Generation and Wonder Girls.
But other than that, there are problems!
Let’s first look at the members’ basic idol skills.
Jeon Bo-ram was born into a family of entertainers. Her grandfather and mother were actors, and her grandmother and father were singers. Apart from her height, she has enough talent to be an idol. Unfortunately, her parents divorced early in her life, which resulted in her not receiving systematic idol training. She released an album before T-ara debuted, but the results were dismal, and she had no talent for singing.
Lee Joo-ri has a beautiful face and a good figure. She worked as a part-time model in her early years and formed a band in college. She had almost no stable experience as a trainee before her debut.
Park Ji-yeon, who had been working as a model before her debut, had also participated in TV dramas and had outstanding looks and figures. After winning the 2008 Smart Model Awards, she entered CCM for training and debuted in 2009, but she had almost no solid experience as a trainee.
Ham Eun-jung, a former child star, has been in CCM all her life. She is one of the few members who has stable experience as a trainee. However, looking at her experience, it is almost all about acting. I wonder what the quality of CCM's idol training is like.
Park Hyomin, a JYP trainee in her early years, joined CCM after Wonder Girls debuted. However, although she was training in JYP, she was not a full-time trainee under contract, and she often modeled for various products, so the quality of her training was difficult to guarantee.
Park So-yeon, the only one in the team who had a high-quality training experience, almost proved her ability as a member of Girls' Generation, but she immediately joined SM in 2007 and joined CCM in 2009. There was no training experience in the two years in between. She never put down her fists and never stopped singing songs. It is certain that the two-year gap had an impact on her ability.
From this point of view, the professionalism of the six members of T-ara, including Park So-yeon, as idols cannot be compared with Girls' Generation, whose average practice time is more than 5 years. The difference in basic skills is all-round, and although it cannot be said to be directly reflected on the stage, it is hard to say when it will burst out.
You know, Kim Kwang-soo is counting on T-ara to surpass Girls' Generation!
Whether an idol can become popular depends on whether his or her strengths are outstanding enough.
But whether a popular idol can reach the top is completely different from the standard.
The process of reaching the top is not about who has more advantages, but who has fewer disadvantages. Whether a group can reach the top is often not determined by how long its strengths are, but how to avoid exposing its weaknesses in the fierce and unscrupulous competition.
A typical example is the Wonder Girls who encountered the "silencing scandal". Even if they did not go to the United States, they would still lose to Girls' Generation because of this. This is the "short board effect".
In addition to professional skills, dealing with people and dealing with fans and the media are also basic skills for idols. Although they will not be reflected on the stage, the daily results will have an impact on the group's reputation.
In short, if you want to reach the top, being an idol means you have to be careful about everything.
In addition to the basic skills of each member, looking at the situation within the group, the problem is even bigger.
The age difference within T-ara is as high as 7 years. The oldest member, Jeon Bo-ram, was born in 1986, and the youngest, Park Ji-yeon, was born in 1993. The age difference within the team is too big.
Moreover, Jeon Bo-ram, as the eldest sister, is different from Victoria Song, an all-around captain with comprehensive strength, maturity and strong presence. This youngest sister in the team is average in dancing and singing, and has a weak sense of variety shows. She does not seem to have a strong sense of career. In short, she has no sense of presence in the team. This situation will lead to a problem. When problems arise in the team, she, as the eldest sister, does not have the ability to stabilize the morale of the troops.
In terms of the role positioning of the group members, Park So-yeon is the lead singer, because she is the only one in the team who can sing, and her singing skills cannot be compared with the strong singing skills of the five main singers of Girls' Generation.
The main dancer is a forced choice, Park Hyomin can barely qualify as one, and her dancing skills are not on the same level as Hyoyeon and Yuri.
Lee Joo-ri, the face of the group, is really beautiful! Although the other members are also very pretty, this sister probably can't handle other positioning besides the face of the group. As the second sister who was also born in 1986, she hardly speaks on the show and seems to have no ambition. The company gave her a setting of taking the "mysterious route", and CCM probably has no choice. This sister's personality also makes her unable to lead a team. Usually she's fine, but as long as there is a problem, she, as the second sister, can't play any role.
Yi Haoyan didn't want to look at the positioning of the other people because they were all similar and there was no difference.
And they also have a shortcoming, there is no member in the team who is strong in variety show skills, like Sooyoung and Sunny.
In South Korea, where variety shows are becoming more and more influential, idols' variety show skills are actually a very important tool for attracting fans. At present, it seems that Park Hyomin, who participated in "Youth Never Fades", does not have such ability for the time being, and the two members born in 1986 do not have such ability either. It depends on whether the remaining three members have talent in this area.
In addition, looking at the members' past experiences, Ham Eun-jung, Park Ji-yeon, and Park Hyo-min are all likely to go the acting route. Eun-jung is obviously trained as an actor. It is hard to say whether these people really like being idols or just want a stepping stone to become actors in the future. After all, CJ Entertainment is very strong in film and television resources. If the original intention is wrong, it will be difficult for the group to go far.
Finally, there are issues at the company level.
The previous questions all show that CCM is not on the same level as SM in terms of selecting people and operating idol groups.
But why would CJ support Kim Kwang-soo, and what is so special about CCM that makes them dare to shout out the slogan of surpassing Girls' Generation?
This uncle is quite capable.
Looking at the artists he has launched in the past, SeeYa and SG Wannabe, both are groups with good music. This president is obviously very good at selecting music and is able to obtain and identify good songs that meet market needs.
Good songs are so important to idols!
Wonder Girls was pushed to the top of Korea's girl group by Park Jin-young 's retro trilogy. With this example, it's no wonder CJ chose Kim Kwang-soo.
To be honest, even though Yi Haoyan is so pessimistic about T-ara, he has to admit that their songs are all good songs of high quality.
Their debut songs include "Lies", "Time To Love", "Just As Before" and "Bo Peep Bo Peep", which put them on the map as a top girl group. Both the music and the dance are of great quality, and coupled with the members' excellent looks and figures, it is indeed pleasing to the eye, and they deserve to be popular.
In particular, the MV of his debut song "Lies" left a deep impression on Yi Haoyan.
The content of the song is very simple, telling the story of a woman's complaint about her boyfriend who is full of lies. There are two versions of this song, a dance version and a lyrical version.
The two versions of the MV were linked to two TV dramas that were being broadcast at the time. This is the advantage of being backed by CJ, as it can use film and television resources to promote the songs.
The plot of the lyrical version of the MV is related to the campus suspense thriller "Soul" which was broadcast on August 5, 2009. Park Ji-yeon starred in this drama and the lyrical version of the MV.
The entire MV is in the typical Korean ghost movie style, with many close-ups of characters' faces, cold colors, many blurred images, and bloody crime scenes. In less than 4 minutes, a campus ghost story of love turning into hate is vividly expressed. Combined with the sad style of "Lies", the effect is very touching. Park Ji-yeon was only 16 years old at the time, and she was very expressive in front of the camera, and can be regarded as a very talented actor.
The dance version of the MV tells the story of a scumbag dating six girls. All the members of the group starred in it, and the male lead was Yu Seung-ho, who later starred in "God of Study".
"God of Study" is adapted from the Japanese manga "The Legend of College Entrance Examination: The Worst Student Enters Tokyo University". The audience of this drama is mainly students aged 10-20. Park Ji-yeon starred in this drama, and all members of T-ara also made cameo appearances. Of course, this is also a treatment that can only be obtained with the support of CJ. This drama was broadcasted in January 2010, with a total of 16 episodes, and the average ratings were over 20%, which is considered a popular drama.
The plot of the MV is about how Yoo Seung-ho was discovered dating six members of T-ara. The plot is simple, but the pictures are very pleasing to the eye.
There are six members and six styles of dress: pure, beautiful, ladylike, cute, wild, and dignified. There are all kinds of styles. Combined with the various matching styles of the male lead and the excellent looks of the members, the sense of substitution is full.
What male fan could resist the chance to date these six beauties? It's okay to be a scumbag!
Not only was the MV well shot, but the dance for the live performance was also very good. It was not difficult, and the movements were not complicated, but the rhythm was very strong, and it gave off a sense of dynamism, which matched the rhythm of the song very well. There were many cute movements in the dance, such as shrugging shoulders and swaying bodies, which looked very good when performed by these beautiful girls, and made people want to follow along.
Not to mention another song "Bo Peep Bo Peep", which Yi Haoyan was obsessed with and even tried to get his girlfriend to dance for him.
Therefore, Kim Kwang-soo has made great contributions to T-ara's popularity, and CJ has also provided strong support.
