Many of Korea’s top girl groups are singing and dancing in large packs these days.
A Pink,
Rainbow,
Nine Muses, and
quite a few others have debuted over the last few years with seven or
more members. Of the large groups, three have earned reputations as the
best of the best – gaining popularity through promotions in South Korea,
Japan and then all over the world. And interestingly enough, they’re
about to share something else in common: the number of ladies. How did
they arrive at so many?
Is there something special about nine idols together in a group?
Let’s start with the group that made the number famous: Girls’ Generation.
SM Entertainment, one of Korea’s “top three” agencies alongside
JYP and
YG, debuted
Girls’ Generation in 2007. At the time, nine was an unusually large
idol group – the second largest in SM next to brother group, Super
Junior. Most other groups of both sexes at the time were limited to
trios, quartets and quintets.
During an
interview on Radio Show
Ya Shim Man Man 2,
members Sooyoung, Yuri and Yoona revealed that the trainee competition
to join the group was fierce. Apparently, the original plan was for a
three-member group, but was extended to 10 after three extensive line-up
revisions. After the departure of Soyeon (who later debuted with
T-ARA), the final roster consisted of leader Taeyeon, Yuri, Sunny,
Tiffany, Sooyoung, Jessica, Hyoyeon, YoonA and Seohyun.
As of April 2012, Girls’ Generation introduced their first sub-group,
TaeTiSeo. Though the group name was drawn from the names of the first three members,
Taeyeon,
Tiffany and
Seohyun, according to
OSEN, representatives from SM stated that the members were interchangeable, so future promotions may include other members of GG.
Girls Generation and TaeTiSeo (Unit Group)
After School Debut Members
Pledis Entertainment
took an interesting approach to their first idol group, After School,
by declaring from the start that there would be an
“admission/graduation” system. New members would be “admitted” into
After School, and would “graduate” when it was time to move on to other
projects – making member changes appear more natural. Many idol groups
cut and add members, but not without much speculation and suggested
internal conflict. Announcing from debut that active members are
interchangeable took the bulk of negative pressure away from the agency
whenever they decided to add to or withdraw from After School’s
membership.
A.S. originally consisted of leader Kahi, Bekah, JungAh, Juyeon and
Soyoung in 2007, and admitted UEE, Raina, Nana, Lizzy and E-Young by
2011. Soyoung graduated in 2009 and Bekah graduated in 2011 respectively. Newest
member Gaeun was introduced on April 10 in Japan, and will bring the
group’s total active members to nine when she joins A.S. for their album
release this June. But in an interesting twist, After School’s capacity
may come back down to eight soon, as Pledis CEO Han Sung Soo announced
through an interview on May 2 that another graduation will take place (
StarNews). After School currently has three promoting sub-groups:
Orange Caramel,
After School Red and
After School Blue.
After School Current Photo and New Member Gaeun
After School Sub-Groups: Orange Caramel (Left), After School Red (Top), and After School Blue (Bottom)
T-ARA Debut Members
Core Contents Media
formed T-ARA in 2009 with members Eunjung, Hyomin, Jiyeon, Jiwon and
Jiae, though it is unclear whether they initially planned to add more.
After the departure of Jiwon and Jiae just before their official debut,
the group gained Boram, Q-ri, Soyeon and Hwayoung, bringing the current
total to seven. Although there have been no sub-groups announced for
T-ARA yet, several members have become popular personalities on variety
shows and even acted as leads in movies and television dramas.
CEO Kim Kwang Soo announced earlier this year that two more girls
would be added, bringing the total up to the 9 for this group as well.
His official statement not only confirmed the member addition, but also
served as a warning to members becoming comfortable in their top star
position.
“I’ve seen a portion of the celebrities I’ve created
become conceited and idle about three years after they’ve risen to
popularity. Although T-ARA is working hard, I have decided to make changes to show them that they must continue to try and work even harder onstage and offstage.” (Kim Kwang Soo,
Naver)
Current T-ARA to Add Two New Members
IS 9 THE MAGIC NUMBER?
Agencies with large groups are well aware of what comes with them –
uneven popularity among fans between members, issues of pay distribution
and visibility during off-promotion activities. Internal issues aside,
it does provide an agency with a larger pool of artists to work with;
side projects like sub-groups and acting in dramas and movies is much
easier to facilitate when audiences are already familiar with the talent
from their high-time in a popular group. Some members may even achieve
enough popularity and support to have a second solo career, returning to
the group only for group promotions.
It’s a bit of a reach to say that the number “9″ is specifically the
ticket to big success, but as far as we can tell, it seems to sit right
in the perfect range. There are enough members to spread out and break
down into solos or sub-groups as the agency sees fit, but not too many
that fans are put-off by the amount of names to remember and activities
to follow. With a wide enough range of personalities and talents, a
group of nine has a better chance of appealing to a wider range of
audiences.
All Image Credits to Respective Agencies.
What do you think? Do 9-member groups have a better chance at lifting off?
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