Welcome back girl group fans to another Confessions of an Uncle Fan. We're in the middle of the dog days of summer but as usual, the K-pop girl group scene is still in high gear with enough comebacks, teasers, and TV appearances to keep all fans busy. Let's check out what's going on this week.
The Anti-Sexy
I've talked about the way sex has permeated its way into K-pop (allkpop writer gracelim has covered the topic in much more detail here) and is now just a standard part of doing business. But while sex may be the new normal, there are still groups out there who are heading in the other direction and succeeding. Case in point is the popularity of Crayon Pop whose concept is about as far from "sexy" as you can get yet they are quickly gaining an ardent (and vocal) fan base. I have no problem with a girl doing her thing but I think fans may have seen enough barely covered butts and don't mind a group with a clever idea and a catchy song.
Lee Jung Hyun is Weird and I Love It
We'll take a more detailed look at Lee Jung Hyun's past work in tomorrow's Way Back Wednesday but her latest video for the song "V" proves that she is the queen of weird... but in a good way. The video goes with a stylized, 1970's horror film vibe complete with cryptic 'Halloween'-esque piano background music but the real kicker is that the director of the music video is none other than the famed director of 'Oldboy', Park Chan Wook (very interesting). As a fan of Lee Jung Hyun, I don't think the song is overly original but it's certainly weirdly entertaining.
KARA and the Contract
KARA's contract with DSP is about to end and fans are waiting for the quintet to make their next move. I think everyone remembers the drama surrounding the group and their company when four of the five members tried to end their contracts early because they felt they weren't being compensated properly. Even though they resolved it, there has to be some bad blood, no? If I were a fan, I would hope for the best but prepare for the worst.
Yubin + Instagram = How Have I Survived Until Now?
My favorite husky voiced Wonder Girls rapper is on the 'Gram and the world is a better place for it. You can follow her @Yubstagram88.
Girl Group Round-Up
A list of all the girl group appearances on variety shows (that I saw) this week.
Each week I will post a picture from Taeyeon's Instagram feed in the hopes that one day she'll post a picture of herself reading this column.
I mean, how can you not be a fan?
While filming her drama, Suzy was on the downlow but she's back with a vengeance on all the variety shows including next Monday's 'Healing Camp'. [insert smiley face]
Send your pics and videos to the Uncle Fan via Twitter @KpopUncleFan or email KpopUncleFan@gmail.com.
Love the new song. "A Pink already won on Show Champion."
-yoonaph
I finally got caught up with A Pink's new song and I'm a fan. They're another group that is going with a more cute, wholesome image and that's totally fine with me. I think I read on the site that they were being compared to 1st-gen idol group S.E.S and that's a fair comparison; although as much as I like Eunji (and now Naeun), no one beats Eugene.
I took your advice. "Watch 'All the K-pop', this way you can see GLAM (Zini) and Crayon Pop (Ellin) at the same time".
-heavenrise
So, this was the best recommendation I've received in a long time. I've never seen the show before and found the episodes you were talking about and I've decided that Ellin is officially awesome (see Top 5 Current Girl Groupers).
2 for 1 question. "I've never seen you talk about Kara, why?" and " Why no article on T-ara's successful concert at Budokan?"
-kkangji and ezequiel
As much as I love girl groups, I just can't keep up with their promotions in Japan. I don't listen to the Japanese singles and I don't follow their schedule over there. I hope they all do well of course, but even the Uncle Fan has limits.
Even though I'm about a month behind on all things A Pink, I thought it was only fair to feature their latest hit, "No No No" and that catchy twist dance thing they do. Don't forget that A Pink will be live on allkpop Live this Wednesday at 10:00 PM EST. Technology is awesome... wish we had this type of stuff 15 years ago.
That's it for me. Have a good week and see you next time for some more Confessions of an Uncle Fan.
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