T-ara Members History
T-ara (티아라) is a girl group from MBK Entertainment that is heavily promoted and they are signed to EMI Music Japan for their Japanese promotion. T-ara debuted in April 2009 and consist of 5 members group Jiae, Jiwon, Eunjung, Hyomin and Jiyeon. However, in June 2009 member Jiae and Jiwon left from the group because of differences in music style. The new members Boram, So Yeon, and Qri joined the group due of the two members leaving. T-ara re-debuted with 6 members on July 29th 2009. One year later on July 16th 2010, MBK Entertainment announced that a new member would join the group making a total of 7 members, Hwayoung. In April 2012 T-ara announced that they will gain two new members. Ahreum joined the group in July 2012 and Dani joined the group for their newest album promotion. But later it was announced that Dani will only be part of T-ara sub-unit group, T-ara N4. She later starred in the drama version of T-ara’s “Day by Day” music video. However, in August 2016, MBK Entertainment announced that she would not debut as a T-ara member because she was still a trainee and introduced the 18 year old Areum as the new youngest member. In July 2012, it was a very hard time for T-ara because of the bullying controversy between Hwayoung and the members and later their company announced that Hwayoung’s contract was terminated. In July 2013, Ahreum announced that she would leave the group to focus on her solo career. Boram and So Yeon didn’t extend their contract and left the group on May 15th 2017. The four other members contracts will end in December 2017.
T-ara Leader Changes from Debut, 2015, and 2017
Unlilke the other K-Pop groups who have a fixed leader, T-ara used a rotating system for the leader position. The first T-ara’s leader was Jiae. When she left the group in 2009, Eunjung become the leader. She led the group with top hits like the title track from their debut studio album “Bo Peep Bo Peep” and “I Go Crazy Because of You“. Boram followed to be the leader during the “YaYaYa” promotions in 2010. Hyomin became the leader during their song “Roly Poly” and also “Cry Cry” which was released in 2011. In December 2011, MBK Entertainment announced that T-ara’s fourth leader Hyomin would be passing her leader position to Soyeon. She led T-ara from 2012 until 2014 and Qri was then appointed as the new leader for T-ara. She announced the news during T-ara’s Budokan concert in Japan and officially replaced Soyeon in the leader position. Their company, MBK Entertainment thought that every member should have the opportunity to be a leader because as a leader, they get the opportunity to be actively involved in the decision making process for the group, for example attending meetings with producers, music video editing, help to determine concepts for comebacks, and overseeing the group’s schedule.
T-ara Leader Timeline
Jiae led T-ara before their debut and during their first debut in 2009. After that Eunjung replace her when they re-debuted until the end of 2010. Boram followed to lead T-ara from 2010 until the end of 2011. Hyomin had the shortest period of time to lead T-ara after re-debut. She led from 2011 until the middle of 2012. Soyeon then led the group from 2012 until the end of 2013. The last one is Qri, she led the group from 2014 until now.
