We just caught SISTAR a couple months ago, and it feels like forever
since we last heard from the reigning Queen of K-pop, BoA, but both are
in preparations for their respective summer 2012 comebacks. Time to add
two more to the long list of releases and live performances happening
over the next couple months, including Big Bang, the Wonder Girls, T-ARA, 2NE1, Dal Shabet and others.
According to reps from Starship Entertainment,
SISTAR’s comeback single will bring back their bright energy from
earlier singles, and leave the broody image back in Las Vegas. “After
making a retro transformations with “Alone,”
the girls will be going back to show their characteristic charms this
summer. It’s a song that maximizes their uniqueness.” (via Star News)
This is a relatively quick turnaround for a comeback (we’d much
rather call it a followup), as SISTAR is still enjoying the view from
the top of the music charts with their latest EP, Alone, which was released about two months ago.
In contrast, it’s been nearly two years since “Hurricane Venus” and “Copy and Paste” from BoA’s last album Hurricane Venus, during which she was busy filming for her upcoming movie COBU 3D and judging reality music show K-Pop Star on behalf of SM Entertainment. She was originally slated for an early June comeback, but opted to push the date back in favor of making the new album the best it could be.
Despite some minor (okay, pretty major) complaints about the company, Pledis Entertainment
is still a fairly formidable force in K-pop. Sure they may have a bit
trouble in execution, but they know how to build hype, leading to
impressive comebacks and relevant debuts. I was thoroughly impressed
with most of After School‘s comebacks, and NU’EST‘s debut was handled pretty well. Sure, Pledis indulges in a lot of gimmicks, (the tap dancing, the graduation system, Ren‘s
entire image, etc.) but those gimmicks still manage to get attention
and stand out, something important in the vastness K-pop has become. But
as savvy Pledis is when it comes to building hype, I don’t know how
they (or any other company for that matter) can handle what they brought
upon themselves.
Pledis has just officially announced another group-in-the-making named Seventeen,
which will consist of 17 members with the average age of 17.
Before I
point out the major problems that group is going to go through in the
near future, I want to mention that Pledis has also officially announced
the debut of After School’s sister group Hello Venus, as well as the (possible) debut of another boy group, Tempest, which will feature the remaining Pledis Boys
not included in NU’EST. Tempest’s debut as a separate group is still
iffy as it is widely suspected that the Tempest boys will instead join
the roster of Seventeen (more on that later). So, in all, Pledis will
have to handle two or three debuts during th remainder of the year (a
total of three or four year-round), along
with After School’s Japanese promotions and whatever they want to do
with NU’EST (Sadly, Son Dambi moved her comeback to mid June). Pledis sure is reaching a bit too high in the sky with their current schedule, and there are definitely reasons why.
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