page_title: T-ara
section_title: 2009–2010: Formation and debut
hierarchical_section_title: T-ara / History / 2009–2010: Formation and debut
caption_attribution_description: English: T-ara performing "I Go Crazy Because of You" at the Mnet 20's Choice Awards
context_page_description: T-ara is a South Korean girl group. They are one of the best-selling girl groups of all time. T-ara was formed in 2009. The group mainly makes dance-pop music. This is partly due to their partnership with composer Shinsadong Tiger, who has favored that genre. T-ara uses a wide variety of visual looks in their dance and performances.
  T-ara debuted in July 2009 with the single "Lies". Their first studio album was called the Absolute First Album. It was released in December 2009 and lead to several hit songs. These included "TTL", "Bo Peep Bo Peep", and "You Drive Me Crazy".
  In 2011, T-ara released the song "Roly-Poly". It became the best-selling single of the year on the Gaon chart in South Korea. The group also became popular in Japan. Later that year they signed a contract with agency J-Rock to manage their sales in Japan. The contract was for USD 4.7 million. This was the most any Korean girl group had made in a foreign market at the time. T-ara went on to make a Japanese studio album called Jewelry Box. This album reached number one on the Oricon weekly charts in Japan. Also in 2011, T-ara released the Korean album Black Eyes. It lead to three number ones songs in a row.
context_section_description: T-ara was formed by the record label Mnet Media, which is now known as Stone Music Entertainment. The original members of T-ara were Jiae, Jiwon, Eunjung, Hyomin and Jiyeon. They trained together for three years before their debut. The group's name is based on the word "tiara". The idea for the name was that they would be "queens of the music industry". Their first song came before their official debut as a group. It was "Joheun Saram" for the soundtrack of the Cinderella Man television show. One month before their official debut, Mnet Media changed some of the members of the group. Jiae and Jiwon left T-ara in early June 2009, and were replaced by Boram, Soyeon, and Qri. Then in early July 2009, T-ara was moved from Mnet Media to Core Contents Media. Core Contents Media is a subsidiary of Mnet Media, and is now known as MBK Entertainment.
  T-ara made their debut in July 2009 on the Radio Star talk show. Their first performance was on the M Countdown music show a few days later. It included the songs "Geojitmal" (or "Lies") and "Norabollae?". The performance had negative reviews by those who watched it. Some felt was that it was lip-synced and had an "elementary school" appearance. In response, the group decided that future performances would be live. In September 2009, T-ara made the song TTL "(Time to Love)" with the boy band Supernova. It became the first number one song for both groups and topped many online charts. A month later, T-ara and Supernova made the follow up song "TTL Listen 2".
  T-ara made their first studio album in November 2009, with the name Absolute First Album. Core Contents Media held a survey to have the public help choose which song would be the title track. The choices were "Bo Peep Bo Peep" and "Cheoeum Cheoreom" (처음처럼, "Like the First Time"). Of the 9,000 people who took the survey, 53% chose "Cheoeum Cheoreom". However, "Bo Peep Bo Peep" was chosen as the title track. It made it to number four on the Gaon chart. "Cheoeum Cheoreom" made it to number ten. T-ara performed these songs live on the Music Bank television show on 4 December 2009. At the 24th Golden Disk Awards, T-ara won Rookie of the Year along with girl group 4minute.
  The group won their first music show award with "Bo Peep Bo Peep" on the first day of 2010. The song went on to win five awards in total. T-ara intended to follow up with promotions for "Cheoeum Cheoreom" as well. But these had to be canceled in January 2010, as Soyeon got sick with H1N1. Later that month, T-ara had a cameo in two episodes of the television show God of Study.
  In February 2010, the group re-released their debut album under the title Breaking Heart. The digital release was on February 23. The two lead singles were "Neo Ttaemune Michyeo" (너 때문에 미쳐; "I Go Crazy Because of You") and "Naega Neomu Apa" (내가 너무 아파, "I'm Really Hurt"). Neo Ttaemune Michyeo made it to number one on the Gaon chart and "Naega Neomu Apa" made it to thirty-one. T-ara performed on the same day on M Countdown. They went on to win three awards for "Neo Ttaemune Michyeo". The physical release of the album was March 3. It made it to number two on the weekly Gaon chart and number thirty-five on the yearly chart. T-ara performed "Naega Neomu Apa" on music shows in March and early April 2010.
  In July 2010, T-ara added Hwayoung as a seventh member. The stated reason was to give other members some relief from their heavy schedules. It would also allow each member to be away for solo activities from time to time. In November 2010, the group starred in the third season of the reality show Hello Baby. Later that month, T-ara released "Wae Ireoni". It is the lead single for their first extended play, which is called Temptastic. Temptastic was released in December 2010, along with the single, "Yayaya". T-ara performed on Music Bank on December 3 with their new seventh member Hwayoung. They later won awards for "Wae Ireoni" and "Yayaya" on M Countdown.
caption: T-ara performing at the Mnet 20's Choice Awards in 2010
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