Old KARA and New KARA Popularity


Shin Jin Eun

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I can't find this kind of topic so I made it. If there is already topic like this just delete this topic ^^.

My first topic made ^^. So here it goes

At first, I want to say that I don't want to offend anyone with this question of mine ^^. When Kara is still 4 member group, they didn't get good popularity. Seungyeon even say that they didn't make an explosion at that time. But since they comeback as a 5 member group, everything change. From your point of view, why does that happen?

Personally I think because their cute concept when they become 5 member group. But to think about it again, they also become successful with Lupin which is nothing about cute. So, what do you guys think?

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first they comeback with Rock U...it is a cute concept...yeah at that time netizens still prefer cute concept like Gee...then they comeback with Pretty Girls and innocent and cute Honey...they won...after that they back with Wanna and Mister...Mister make Kara really popular with their buttdance and establish them as 2nd popular girl group in Korea...Lupin make Kara more popular...Lupin is most shocking Kara comeback....Lupin is a great song so i think because of that people love it...when Break It DSP didn't promote Kara well...so they overshadowed by Wonder Girls and SNSD...so that is my opinion...

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Nobody can replace Sung Hee, that's the reason that the cute concept is well compared to old KARA, personally I dislike that the groups for being mature needs to look more exhibicionist and leave the cute concept in the past, old KARA are very different, but I'm so sure that in the industry they can't live without this; cute, and after, "mature" ever sell.

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Girl groups weren't popular back in 2007. There were actually many girl groups that debuted that year, but most of them disbanded within a year. It wasn't until Wonder Girls' hit song "Tell Me" that people really started to obsess over girl groups. DSP also didn't market KARA correctly. They were called the second Fin.K.L., so obviously people would compare them with the original. But they were very different, and so didn't meet people's expectations. Furthermore, DSP weren't competitive enough while JYP and SM were pushing their girl groups hard.

The new KARA brought in two young, pretty faces. One of them just started high school. They went with the cute image so the new members would fit in better. By this time, girl groups are becoming hugely popular. So pretty much anything by girl groups are highly accepted. Of course it helps that they have very catchy songs and dances, and beautiful MVs to go with that.

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Well, this is a topic I like so I hope it doesn't get closed but, I would like to first say that popularity in Kpop is hard to come-by, especially for females groups since Kpop is a female dominated market and girls seem to prefer to see men dancing around on stage and (preferably) ripping off their shirts than they would like to see girls dancing around in cute outfits and doing cute dances, therefore, the majority of girl-groups are all competing for the attention of a select group of minority female fans who are willing to support and cheer for them. If that is unsuccessful they then have to appeal to the male audience in hopes that they will be willing to support them as "fanatically" (the word that "fan" derives from) as the historically over-zealous female fan-bases have for male idols. Which brings in the distinctions in popularity between KARA4 and KARA5; how willing were male fans to support them in these two periods and the circumstances that brought about these two seemingly drastic differences in support?

First lets start by establishing that popularity is relative to a variety of other things, so to say that KARA5 is more popular than KARA4 is a stretch. When KARA4 was active, they were at the peak of their popularity as we know it...we can't say they got more or less popular when they became KARA5 because KARA4 was ended with the departure of a very important member, and even then, in comparison to the other groups that were out, SNSD was no more or no less popular than Kara. The only group that could be considered "popular" would be the WG's and that's because they could be placed with male idol groups in terms of the support they received from female fans. KARA4 was as popular as a female idol group not-backed by female support and some casual male fans who were interested but not fanatic enough to make a big impact on their popularity relative to the rest of the K-pop world, could get at the time. WG's on the other hand, were as popular as a female-idol group could get WITH female support. Also being interested in idols at this early stage of the second "idol wave" is seen as immature and uncool for the over 20 crowd which blocks out more support for groups like KARA4 and SNSD. So considering that it was seen as un-cool for people over 20 to be interested in idol groups, and that the social stigma for males is even higer than it is for females. I would say that KARA4 were pretty popular considering their circumstances. Only when you compare them to the WG's does it seem like they were unpopular, and that comparison in-of itself is unfair for the reasons I listed previously. It honestly has nothing to do with promotions and more to do with the fact that Kara is split 79%-21% male to female fans over-all, DSP hasn't marketed in a way geared toward a male audience but the male audience is Kara's bread and butter.

So you see, it is hard to say that KARA5 is more popular because KARA5 isn't over, it is impossible to say when they are at the peak of their popularity until it dwindles. Currently they are both as popular as they could have been at that moment and are at this moment based on the outside factors that affect popularity. KARA5 numerically seems more popular but even still, their numbers have gone up in a natural manner along with all the other groups that they have debuted along with and the fact that idols are growing more popular overall in terms of being recognizable in everyday Korean society. They are also generally more popular with the Korean public but then again, girl-groups on the whole are more popular over-all. You might even say that KARA5 is LESS popular than KARA4 was because KARA4 had accumulated all the possible fans that they could have at that time, while it is uncertain whether or not KARA5 has hit their peak of fans or will hit their peak soon. Once KARA5 hit their peak then we can measure that success and truly say KARA5>KARA4 but until then, relative to the time and manner in which they have gained fans and publicity, it is, in my opinion hard to say, because even then, girl-groups weren't considered the powerhouse endorsers that they are now...In the end I think KARA5 will be overall more popular in relative to the era and the outside factors. Over-all KARA5 is as popular as they can be for the moment without female support. They will no-doubt grow more popular but without female support growing as huge as some of the other groups is a daunting task. I have faith that they can do it though.

sorry for the long post...I get carried away sometimes.

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  • 1 year later...

You're not the only one to ask this question. Kara4 not explode like SNSD did not explode in 2007. I think K-Pop was not as well known, but whatever.

SMEnt. has many artists and they must have passed the Kara in popularity in 2007. I think the return of Kara5 was explosive, because it is a concept cute and naive (in kara4 the rhythm was a more mature).

But I do not like Rock U. If I had known Kara5 at this time, I would have chosen another band to be a fan. The choreography is not so good, and the songs do not match them.

But anyway. They matured and brought more rhythms and styles that matched them, I think that is what has increased the popularity of KARA.

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  • 5 months later...

I'm actually shocked that Kara4 didn't blow-up because when I listen to their first album..its actually REALLY good...I actually wish they would perform some of their older songs

yes but the trend during that that time is like WG concept ...and KARA4 labeled as KARA4 so people is expecting much more but it did not turn out that way

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  • 2 months later...

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