T-ara

**T-ara** () is a South Korean girl group that is one of the best-selling girl groups of all time. T-ara was formed in 2009. The group makes mainly dance-pop music, partly because of its partnership with the composer Shinsadong Tiger, who favors that genre. T-ara uses a wide variety of visual looks in its dance and performances.

T-ara  in July 2009 with the single "Lies." Their first studio album was called the *Absolute First Album*. It was released in December 2009 and led to several hit songs, which included "TTL (Time to Love)," "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, it signed a contract with agency J-Rock to manage its sales in Japan for US$4.7 million, the most that 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*, which topped the *Oricon* weekly charts in Japan. Also in 2011, T-ara released the Korean album *Black Eyes*, which led to three number ones songs in a row: "Cry Cry," "We Were in Love," and "Lovey-Dovey."

In 2012, T-ara lost popularity. Its members are reported to have disagreements and problems with one another. Soon, Hwayoung left T-ara. Areum did the same a year later. After those issues, T-ara's albums and songs had a mixed success in South Korea. As a result, T-ara changed its focus to China. In 2014, it made a cover of the Chopstick Brothers' song "Little Apple." After focusing on China, T-ara became one of the most popular K-pop groups in the country.

In 2017, the contracts of Soyeon and Boram were set to expire. On the other hand, Qri, Eunjung, Hyomin and Jiyeon had extended their contracts, which would reduce the members of the group from six to four. T-ara had intended to make one more album as a six-member group. However, a conflict with their management lead to a delay, and it did not happen. T-ara's next release was as a four-member group, the EP called ''What's My Name?'', which was released in June 2017.

## History
### 2009–2010: Formation and debut
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 "." The idea for the name was that they would be "queens of the music industry." The first song came before the official debut as a group and was "Joheun Saram" for the soundtrack of the *Cinderella Man* television show. Then, in early July 2009, T-ara was moved from Mnet Media to Core Contents Media. Core Contents Media is a  of Mnet Media and is now known as MBK Entertainment.

T-ara made its debut in July 2009 on the *Radio Star* talk show. The first performance was on the *M Countdown* music show a few days later, which included the songs "Geojitmal" (or "Lies") and "Norabollae?" The performance had negative reviews by those who watched it. Some felt was that it had been 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 and reached number four on the *Gaon* chart. "Cheoeum Cheoreom" made it to number ten. T-ara performed those 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 the girl group 4Minute.

The group won its 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 they had to be canceled in January 2010, as Soyeon was sick with H1N1. Later that month, T-ara had a cameo appearance in two episodes of the television show *God of Study*.

In February 2010, the group re-released its 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") was 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* and went on to win three awards for "Neo Ttaemune Michyeo." The album was physical release on March 3, which reached number two on the weekly *Gaon* chart and number thirty-five on its 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 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," the lead single for the first extended play, titled *Temptastic*. *Temptastic* was released in December 2010, along with the single "Yayaya." T-ara performed on *Music Bank* on December 3 with the new member, Hwayoung. It later won awards for "Wae Ireoni" and "Yayaya" on *M Countdown*.

### 2011–2012: Increased popularity
T-ara made its second extended play (or EP) in June 2011, titled *John Travolta Wannabe*. It reached number three on the Gaon Album Chart. The EP's single, "Roly-Poly," reached number two on the Gaon Digital Chart and number one on the Korea K-Pop Hot 100 chart. It became the highest-selling song of 2011 in South Korea. "Roly-Poly" won for Best Music Video at the 3rd Melon Music Awards. T-ara also won for Singer of the Year at the 1st Gaon Chart Awards and was nominated for Best Dance Performance by a Female Group and Song of the Year at the 13th Mnet Asian Music Awards.

In August 2011, T-ara made a limited edition re-issue of *John Travolta Wannabe*, titled *Roly-Poly in Copacabana*. The title track is a eurodance remix of "Roly-Poly." It was given the name "Roly-Poly in Copacabana" after the song "Copacabana," which was popular in the 1980s disco clubs. which reached number one on the *Oricon* weekly chart.

In November 2011, T-ara made its third EP, *Black Eyes*, which reached number two on the *Gaon* charts. The album followed the release of the song "Cry Cry," which reached number one on the Billboard Korea K-Pop Hot 100. "Cry Cry" also won two first-place awards on *M Countdown*. The music video for "Cry Cry" had a billion Korean won budget and a thirty-minute drama story line. The group made their second Japanese song, a remake of "Yayaya" from their *Temptastic* EP, in November. It made it to number seven on the *Oricon* charts and number six on the Billboard Japan Hot 100.

In December 2011, the group held a three-day concert tour in Tokyo, Nagoya, and Osaka. By the end of the year, T-ara had become the second most popular girl group in Korea. Also in December, T-ara made a ballad with Davichi called "Uri Saranghaetjanha" (우리 사랑했잖아, "We Were in Love"). It was later included on T-ara's *Funky Town* re-release album and reached number one on the *Gaon* chart and number two on the Billboard Korea K-Pop Hot 100. Both groups performed the song on SBS's *Inkigayo* television show.

T-ara re-released *Black Eyes* under the title *Funky Town* in January 2012. The album reached number one on the *Gaon* weekly chart and number two on the monthly chart. "Lovey-Dovey" was the second single from the album and reached number one on both the *Gaon* and the *Billboard Korea* charts.

In February 2012, Forbes Korea listed T-ara as number 17 in its list of "Top 40 Power Celebrities." In April, Core Contents Media announced that it would add two members to T-ara. Areum joined T-ara in June 2012, bringing the group to eight members. The second new member was to be Dani, who was 14 years old at the time. While she starred in T-ara's "Day by Day" music video, she did not end up becoming a member.

T-ara made their first Japanese studio album in June 2012 with the title *Jewelry Box*. It reached to number two on the *Oricon* weekly albums chart, with over 57,000 copies sold. Following the album release, T-ara held a concert tour in Japan.

In July 2012, T-ara released their fourth extended play (EP), titled *Day by Day*. It reached to number five on the *Gaon* chart. The title track, also called "Day by Day," was released as a single the same day and reached to number two on the *Gaon* chart. On July 7, T-ara performed "Day by Day" live on *Music Core* with a 70-person orchestra, the first time that Areum performed with the group.

### "Bullying" rumors and return to activity
In late July 2012, T-ara held a concert in Japan. Hwayoung performed only one song because of a leg injury. Afterwards, one member of T-ara tweeted a message about showing . Laterm four of the other members agreed with her. Then, Hwayoung and her twin sister, Hyoyoung, tweeted about a "bad person," which led to  of conflict within the group. Some  that Hwayoung was being bullied. Soon, Core Contents Media ended Hwayoung's contract, and she left T-ara. The stated reason was that Hwayoung's actions were harming teamwork. The group stated that the rumors were not true but confirmed a conflict between Hwayoung and the others. The rumors caused the group to put all activity on hold for a time. Its scheduled performances were postponed without a new date planned.

In September, T-ara resumed its activity as a group. That month, it released *Mirage*, which was a re-issue of their *Day by Day* EP with additional songs. Two of the songs from the EP were also released as singles on the same day: "Sexy Love" and "Najgwa Bam (Love All)" (낮과 밤, "Day and Night"). "Sexy Love" made it to number four on the *Gaon* charts and to number three on the Billboard Korea K-pop Hot 100 charts. While the new EP and song were a success, the group’s popularity suffered a drop because of the bullying rumors.

Later in September, T-ara made a Japanese version of "Day by Day." In October, T-ara released a greatest hits album in Japan and stated that was to celebrate the first anniversary of its since their Japanese debut. Also in October, T-ara made a Japanese version of "Sexy Love" and traveled to Japan to promote it.

### 2013–2014: Sub-groups, *Again*, and *And & End*
In March 2013, T-ara released its sixth Japanese single, titled "Bunny Style!" That was is first song made just for the Japanese market and was released in ten different editions. Each included a different second song, along with "Bunny Style!" Seven of them had a solo song by one of the T-ara members. Three of them had a song performed by a sub-group (a smaller group formed from members within T-ara). To promote the single, T-ara held special concerts in 10 Japanese cities.

In April, T-ara formed a sub-group with its members Eunjung, Hyomin, Jiyeon, and Areum. It was given the name T-ara N4. The sub-group made the song "Jeon Won Diary."

In July 2013, T-ara performed at the Nippon Budokan to celebrate the release of the second Japanese album, *Treasure Box*. The album was announced for August 2013. At the concert, it was announced that Qri would be the new leader of T-ara. T-ara later released the music video "Painkiller" as a digital single. The song was made with T-ara, Davichi, See Ya, 5dolls and SPEED. Jiyeon appeared as the main character in the music video. Also in July, Core Contents Media stated that Areum would be leaving the group "towards the beginning of next year."

In August, T-ara released the music video "Bikini," featuring Davichi and Skull. T-ara then held a concert in Mongolia, along with Davichi, SPEED, and The SeeYa. In October, T-ara performed in Korea for the first time since the bullying rumors and included the new song "Number 9," along with "Sexy Love." Four days later, it released "Number Nine" as part of a mini-album with the title *Again*.

In December, T-ara performed in Korea with the song "Do You Know Me." It also released a repackaged album, titled *Again 1977*, whcih contains the most popular songs from *Again*. The group also released a ballad version of "Do You Know Me." Later in the month, T-ara released a Christmas song, "Hide & Seek." By the end of 2013, T-ara was ranked seventh by the number of top songs in the past decade.

T-ara planned to make China a focus in 2014, with five scheduled concerts and held the first of them in January, in Chengdu. In February, T-ara held a concert in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, along  with SPEED. In March, T-ara performed in Japan and released the singles "Lead The Way" and "LA'booN." It also made its third Japanese album and gave it the title *Gossip Girls*.

In September 2014, T-ara made its sixth mini-album with the title *And & End* and released it along, with two music videos, for the title track, "Sugar Free." The song was inspired by EDM and is part of the big room subgenre of electro house music. On September 24, a remix album was released. called *EDM CLUB Sugar Free Edition*. It included an English version of "Sugar Free," which was the first song T-ara recorded in English.

In October 13, T-ara signed a contract with the Chinese record label Longzhen Culture Development. The contract was worth 5 billion South korean won (about $4.8 million). In November, T-ara made a cover version of the Chopstick Brothers' song "Little Apple." It is partly in Korean and partly in Chinese, and includes the Chopstick Brothers for the chorus. This music video had ́8 million views within the first two days.

In December, T-ara held a small concert in Seoul, its first concert in 2014 in Korea. Later in the month, T-ara closed out the year with a concert in Shanghai.

### 2015–2016: *So Good* and *Remember*
T-ara held a concert in Korea in early January of 2015. Soon, the group went to Vietnam to perform. On January 9, it arrived at the airport but had problems entering the country. That forced the concert to be rescheduled and would take place on October 10.

In February 2015, MBK Entertainment formed a project group, known as TS. It included Eunjung and Soyeon as well as members of other groups. TS made a winter single, "Don't Forget Me." In March 2015, T-ara was announced as the main performer for Malaysia's Sultan Of Johor Coronation celebrations in Johor Bahru. The group appeared at the event along with Sistar, and The Black Eyed Peas' Taboo.

In June 2015, T-ara began a China tour, called the **Great China Tour**. The tour started with Nanjing, Beijing and Hefei. The group performed 22 songs. The next concert on their Great China Tour was held in Guangzhou on December 19.

On July 17, 2015, MBK Entertainment announced that T-ara would be part of the summer performance lineup in the first week of August. In August, T-ara's made their seventh extended play (EP), with the title *So Good*. The title was track "So Crazy." The EP was composed by Brave Brothers.

In October 2015, the website "Insider Monkey" published a list of 16 best selling girl groups of all time.  T-ara was number ten on the list with a total of 36.18 million sales. Later that month, T-ara appeared on the Chinese variety show *The Brain*.

In June 2016, T-ara performed at the *Dream Concert 2016*, with a remix of "Be Peep Bo Peep," "Roly Poly," and "So Crazy."

On September 9, T-ara performed then songs for the IASGO in Seoul. Then, on September 11, it flew to Japan for a concert at the Tokyo Dome City Hall. T-ara performed seven songs and talked to the fans. T-ara performed twice during the day, as the event was divided into two parts: one in the afternoon and the other in the evening. At the concert, T-ara performed their song "Memories" live for the first time. On September 17, T-ara held its last concert in the Great China Tour at the Mercedes-Benz Arena in Shanghai. Also in September 2016, the Dong-a Ilbo newspaper listed "Roly-Poly" as the 14th favorite song of the past 20 years.

On October 1, 2016, T-ara performed at the Busan One Asia Festival. It also held a concert on October 4 and performed eight different songs.
T-ara flew to Jeju for a concert the next day and performed five songs.

In November 2016, T-ara made their eighth extended play (EP), with the title *Remember*. The lead single of the EP was "Tiamo." Their music video for "Tiamo" was voted the number one music video of the year on Fuse.

### 2017–2018: End of the *bullying* rumors, ''What's My Name?'', and trademark issues
In February 2017, Hwayoung and her twin sister, Hyoyoung, spoke about the bullying scandal on a reality show. Hwayoung used the opportunity to state how hard it was for her, and her only support was her sister. That brought the rumors back to public attention. Soon, a former staff member claimed that it had really been the twins who had "bullied" the other members and released texts that  to show Hyoyoung threatening Areum with physical harm. Other staff members also came forward with evidence that Hwayoung had treated the other members and staff badly. They also claimed that she had faked how severe her injury was to get more sympathy. Hwayoung at first tried to deny that but later admitted that the texts were real. That put an end to the bullying rumors about other members of T-ara.

In March 2017, MBK Entertainment announced Soyeon and Boram would end their contracts in a few months. They also stated that T-ara would make one more album as a six member group. However, a conflict with their management led to a delay, and it did not happen. Instead, the release was rescheduled for after Soyeon and Boram had departed. T-ara's last performance as six-member group was in Taiwan on May 13, 2017.

T-ara made their ninth extended play (EP) as a four-member group, with Qri, Hyomin, Jiyeon, and Eunjung. The title is ''What's My Name?* and it was released on June 14, 2017. T-ara won first place on *The Show* on June 20. This was their first win on a music show in five years.

In July 2017, T-ara made the song "My Love" for the television drama *Greatest One-Shot''.

On November 4, the group held a concert in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Part of the ticket  were donated to charity. On November 24, the group performed with B.A.P, Rain, Kim Jong-kook and Haha for K-Pop Music Wave 2017 in Penang, Malaysia.

On January 3, 2018, Hyomin announced that she, Jiyeon, Eunjung, and Qri would not renew their contracts with MBK Entertainment. The record label later confirmed that the group had left the company. MBK later confirmed that they had filed for a trademark on the name "T-ara." In January 2018, Hyomin, Jiyeon, Eunjung, and Qri filed for the rejection of MBK's trademark request. In August 2018, MBK's trademark request was denied. That allowed Hyomin, Jiyeon, Eunjung, and Qri to continue using the group name. They later stated that they  to stay together as a group.

In an interview in October 2019, Jiyeon stated that they hope to appear again as group. However, she also said that it may not be right away but only after time had passed.

## Member timeline
Jiae and Jiwon left the group in 2009, before its official . Boram, Qri, and Soyeon were soon added soon and before the official debut. Hwayoung joined the group on July 26, 2010. Areum joined T-ara in early 2012.

Hwayoung had her contract ended in mid-2012 and had to leave the group. Then, Areum left in July 2012. T-ara continued as a six-member group until Soyeon and Boram left in 2017. The remaining four members were Qri, Hyomin, Jiyeon, and Eunjung.

ImageSize   = width:600 height:280
PlotArea   = width:500 height:200 left:75 bottom:60
Alignbars   = justify
DateFormat   = mm/dd/yyyy
Period   = from:2009 till:12/31/2019
TimeAxis   = orientation:horizontal format:mm/dd/yyyy

Colors =
 id:pre-debut value:rgb(1,0,0) legend:Pre-debut

Legend = orientation:horizontal position:bottom
ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:1 start:2009 gridcolor:black

PlotData =
 color:orange width:7 textcolor:black align:left anchor:from
 bar:Jiae      from:start till:06/01/2009 Color:pre-debut
 bar:Jiwon     from:start till:06/01/2009 Color:pre-debut
 bar:Eunjung   from:start till:end
 bar:Eunjung   from:start till:07/28/2009 Color:pre-debut
 bar:Hyomin    from:start till:end
 bar:Hyomin    from:start till:07/28/2009 Color:pre-debut
 bar:Jiyeon    from:start till:end
 bar:Jiyeon    from:start till:07/28/2009 Color:pre-debut
 bar:Boram     from:07/28/2009 till:05/15/2017
 bar:Boram     from:07/06/2009 till:07/28/2009  Color:pre-debut
 bar:Soyeon    from:07/28/2009 till:05/15/2017
 bar:Soyeon    from:07/03/2009 till:07/28/2009  Color:pre-debut
 bar:Qri       from:07/28/2009 till:end
 bar:Qri       from:07/03/2009 till:07/28/2009  Color:pre-debut
 bar:Hwayoung  from:07/01/2010 till:07/30/2012 Color:blue
 bar:Areum     from:06/14/2012 till:07/10/2013 Color:green

### Leader timeline

ImageSize   = width:600 height:150
PlotArea   = width:500 height:90 left:75 bottom:60
Alignbars  = justify
DateFormat = mm/dd/yyyy
Period     = from:2009 till:12/31/2019
TimeAxis   = orientation:horizontal format:yyyy

Colors =
  id:Pre-debut value:rgb(1,0,0) legend:Pre-debut

Legend = orientation:horizontal position:bottom
ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:1 start:2009 gridcolor:black

PlotData =
  color:orange width:10 textcolor:black align:left anchor:from
  bar:Jiae    from:start till:06/03/2009 Color:Pre-debut
  bar:Eunjung from:06/03/2009 till:06/13/2010
  bar:Eunjung from:06/03/2009 till:07/28/2009 Color:Pre-debut
  bar:Boram   from:06/13/2010 till:06/04/2011
  bar:Hyomin  from:06/04/2011 till:12/31/2011
  bar:Soyeon  from:01/01/2012 till:07/12/2013
  bar:Qri     from:07/13/2013 till:end

## Sub-groups
On several occasions T-ara formed sub-groups (or sub-units). Thet were smaller girl groups formed with a few members of T-ara. The first sub-groups of T-ara were formed in March 2013 when "Bunny Style!" was released. They made a few of the songs that were included with "Bunny Style!" in special editions. As the sub-groups had no activity apart from T-ara, they had no official names. The first official sub-groups came a few months later.

### T-ara N4
On April 12, 2013, Core Contents Media announced a sub-group called **T-ara N4**. Its members were Jiyeon, Eunjung, Hyomin, and Areum. The group's first song, "Jeon Won Diary," was inspired by a 1980s drama show. It is a "funky and intense" dance song with elements of hip-hop. T-ara N4 released the song, the extended play (EP) of the same name, and a music video on April 29, 2013.

### QBS
A Japanese sub-group called **QBS** was announced in May 2013. Its members were Qri, Boram, and Soyeon. QBS focused on the Japanese market. It released their first single "Kaze no You ni" on June 26, 2013,  which was written and composed by Takanori Fukuta. QBS held a live show at the Sunshine City Fountain Square in Ikebukuro, Tokyo on June 10, 2013. During the show, the group performed "Kaze no Yō ni." Boram and Qri also sang their song "Shabontama no Yukue," and Soyeon sang her song "Love Poem."

## Advertising
In October 2009, the group signed a contract to make a commercial for Nonghyup Apples and made the song "Apple Song" for the commercial. It was later included on the group's first studio album *Absolute First Album* under the name "Apple is A." In 2010, the group modeled for Mentholatum Korea, Tedin Water Parks, and Olympus cameras. T-ara was chosen to model for Tedin Waterpark again in 2011.

In 2011, T-ara starred in commercials for Spris, iRiver, Windysoft, Look Optical, Shin Ramyun, and Crown Mountain. T-ara also launched the café franchise called Cafe Page One. The name was taken from the cafe that Eunjung's character ran in the drama *Coffee House*. When it was opened on July 1, 2011, the members of T-ara were present to greet the customers. The same year, T-ara was chosen as models for cosmetics brand Tony Moly. The group modeled for the brand in South Korea, China, Japan, and other Asian countries. T-ara also signed a contract with online shopping mall Hi-Mart.

In February 2012, T-ara became models for the chicken franchise Brilliant Chicken.

In early 2015, T-ara signed a US$1 million contract with the Chinese clothing brand Celucasn. In November, T-ara made a Chinese version of "Cry Cry" to be the theme song for the game "World of Warships." The group also became the face of the mobile game "Dream of the Three Kingdoms." The same month, T-ara was made brand ambassadors of the partnership between Hankyung Media Group and Sina Weibo.

In 2016, the group became brand ambassadors in Vietnam for Pantech Korea.

## Charitable giving
T-ara held a charity event on December 14, 2013, in Cafenne, which is a cafe run by Eunjung's mother. The group sold its old clothing, stage costumes, and similar items from Davichi, Ha Seokjin, Hwang Jungeum and Son Hojun. T-ara made 12.5 million won (about US$12,000) from the sale, which was donated to the "Hope Windmill" campaign, which was  by the Red Cross. T-ara said, "We are able to end the year with a warm heart thanks to the many people who took part in the charity event and we give thanks to those who helped T-ara take the steps necessary for it."

## List of albums
### Studio albums
**Absolute First Album* (2009)
**Jewelry Box* (2012)
**Treasure Box* (2013)
**Gossip Girls* (2014)

## Concerts
### Tours
## Books
* *Sparkle* (2012) Tokyo: Gentosha, 2012. . 
* *T-ara Private Book* (2013) Tokyo: Kodansha, 2013. .

## Music videos and television
## Awards and nominations
## References
## Other websites
*