[2014.07.02] Recruitment of New KARA Member Raises Concerns


steprider

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Another view from within Korea.


 


Rough translation from mnews:


 


Titled "Recruitment of new KARA member raises concerns"


Subtitled: "Domestic fans alienated... selection process lax"


 


The report starts by recapping the formation of KARA and the departure of Nicole and Jiyoung...


 


Towards the end, it says: "Throughout the entire process, the domestic fans were marginalised. The KARA project was first announced in Japan. The recruitment of the new member Youngji was also announced through the official home page of the Japanese company Universal Music Japan, which also unveiled the upcoming activities and schedules of KARA. Only press releases were issued in Korea with no details found on the company website.


 


The selection process was also lax. The KARA project went through 6 rounds. From the beginning till the selection of the new member, it took only one month. And the amount of exposure and awareness of the program was poor. The recruitment of a new member for a top girl group such as KARA was lacking in many parts. On this, a source in the music industry commented: in their hurry to fill the void left by the departed members, the company shows a lack of strategy and planning."


 


Original article: mnews


Translated with help from C-Kamilias and google translate.  smile.png


 


I'm not familiar with the credibility or readership of this online news site. So read it with a pinch of salt.


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I would leave here my thought,

does it really whether there were (lets say) 1M people aware of Kara Project or 2M people? Would that change anything? Is it about "Korean news should be before Japanese new", like from children arguing? Come on ;) I see it as kinda negative buzz

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Well, korean kamilia acted... in a dissapointing way, when the KARA Project was announced, DSP wasn't going to push it into them. Also, when it comes to KARA (and strategy and planning), Universal Japan > DSP, so... 

 

And Gyul, Seungyeon and Hara's contracts time is running out, I'm glad the project was just a month to keep KARA going for the rest of the year!

 

(BTW, 'Kara new member' is still trending on Naver, and it was reported in Japan's morning news/newspapers/online reports, so while the show might have had less attention at first, Youngji being the winner --and a charming beauty-- got quite a lot of expossure) 

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Thank you so much for translating this. You're the best! 

I couldn't help but agree with this article. As a Kamilia, I have accepted Nicole and Jiyoung's leave wholeheartedly and I am highly anticipating their debut. 

HOWEVER, DSP made a huge mistake by doing the KARA Project thing a couple of months after Jiyoung and Nicole left. Their absence is still very fresh in our minds, so of course fans will be upset. Also, like the article stated, why choose a member this quick under lax conditions for a veteran group? We don't know if KARA3 had a say in this or not either. 

 

I just want to say that I don't hate Youngji nor am I against her (I think that she's really cute), but debuting her under these circumstances now in about ONE month is a bad idea. She's not ready. Seeing all of her performances really showed her inexperience. This August comeback should only be for Gyuri, Seungyeon, and Hara so she can work on her Japanese, singing, dancing and e.t.c. 

With all of this said, I am really thankful that Gyuri, Seungyeon, and Hara decided to stay and if it takes another member for them to go on, then I will find it in my heart to accept it.

 

[sorry for this big block of text. If you stayed this long for my drabble then you deserve some random but adorable KH gifs lol]

 

:wakeup:  :noooo:  :shy:  :admire2:  :sushi:  :sexy:  :complacent:  :catwalk:  :devious:  :VxmQu:  :gemsorry:  :hungry:  :gemflower:  :energetic:  :phew:  :gemhoho:

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why gave credit to this c-kamilia when he only tried to mess up the situation, when he only translated or reported the most "interesting" section to his community?

Edited by red4summer
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For me the biggest questions relate to what Hammie, Gyuri and Hara think of the Baby Kara process and of Young Ji as the new Kara member.  Their absence from view even in the final live show or at its very end to welcome the winner was ominous.

 

Also, if DSP doesn't want Koreans to see Kara as primarily a Japanese-export group (which may reduce future K-pop awards to Kara), then the question is what DSP could have done to have been seen as treating Korean fans at least on par with Japanese fans.  It is unfortunate that the global popularity vote seems to be primarily a Japanese vote and seems to have swung the final results away from the winner as adjudged by the experts.

 

Nevertheless, I am a fan of both Young Ji and So Min.  My preference was to admit both to Kara, IF the members of Kara would have been happy with that.

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^

did we see any banners in japan? or any local supporting messages/efforts for the project?

dsp still sees kara in korea, it's just that fans choose to run the company.

Edited by red4summer
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Though every point made in the article was on point, I have to disagree. 
I think dsp did the best they can with this show. 

Let's just face it, although dsp is the producer of very famous groups like fin.k.l, sechskies, ss501, and kara they are NOT rich like SM/YG/JYP. 
(though they are prob pretty well off at the same time)

But they don't really have the luxury to spend so much money on all these trainees who won't even be debuting in the first place. The show like, "who is next," is waaaay different than baby kara project. 

And I want to borrow what JYP said before about YG's thought's about this show.

DSP probably already selected these girls after a very long discussion, debate, and research. I'm sure baby kara members went through previous test to even take part in this "Kara project." DSP was confident that whoever ends up winning, WHOEVER the audience chooses, any of these girls would be good candidates as 3rd generation Kara. 

I remember so many people were protesting about this project in the first place and i felt lots of burning anger. I think they just wanted to quietly go through this without so much hype.  

Because hype is a double edge sword really.   

Just. I hope Kara does well. I hope all baby kara candidates don't give up their dreams and continue onwards. They are all talented. 

Edited by eseul
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For me the biggest questions relate to what Hammie, Gyuri and Hara think of the Baby Kara process and of Young Ji as the new Kara member.  Their absence from view even in the final live show or at its very end to welcome the winner was ominous.

 

I agree with you, I was disappointed that KARA wasn't there.

I remember when I was so excited about this show not bc of the trainees,

Bc I thought KARA would be there for each episode, guess not haha!  :gemhoho: 

I woke up when the show was almost done bc I just wanted to know who the new member would be,

And I was literally spazzing bc I was waiting for KARA to come out,

Then ... show ended without them, HAHAHAHA it hurts,

I was waiting for them huhu  :gemcry: 

I believe KARA are mature and understanding about these things,

And I expect Kamilias to be as well, I'm trying myself keke~

It didn't matter to me who the new member would be, I will still support them!

KARA3 + Youngji Hwaiting!  :gemheart:  

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Goo Hara posted on her Instagram: 

"If everything could go the way we wanted, then the world would be filled with people who think they're the only important ones and only think of themselves. Just like everything that happens has a foundation, it also has a flow, and there's always a situation and circumstance." 

She would know how it feels to be rejected.

Just think about this before any of you deny your support for Young Ji. 

Edited by nightvisiongoggles
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I agree with the article ^^

Only one month to choose the new member :/

Plus after the fresh departure of Nicole and Ji Young !!  

Ummmm...

Yeah Im happy that they will soon comeback and with 4 member but I'm just afraid that she won't be ready, not for the next single but for the 3rd Japan Tour which begin in october !!

Seeing her personality in KARA project, I'm afraid that only 4months to learn all about KARA and how to be on stage for many concert >.< Plus, japanese can't be enough !  

The only thing I can say to her is to wish her good luck  ;)

Edited by Lili
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I just want to say that I don't hate Youngji nor am I against her (I think that she's really cute), but debuting her under these circumstances now in about ONE month is a bad idea. She's not ready. Seeing all of her performances really showed her inexperience. This August comeback should only be for Gyuri, Seungyeon, and Hara so she can work on her Japanese, singing, dancing and e.t.c.

My thoughts really on the whole thing. Youngji might be fine as a KARA member, and I think she could get prepared enough for a Korean comeback in about a ~two month time span, but her Japanese skills are definitely not ready for her to join the group for Japanese promotions at this point. This was why I was under the impression that the August comeback would be for Korea only, because it makes the most sense to do when including a new member. The Japanese comeback in the same month should only be for Gyuri, Seungyeon and Hara.

As for the process being "lax", DSP picked girls out of their trainee roster, three of which have already debuted in Japan. A "lax" choice would have been auditioning new people altogether and having those people be the candidates for KARA, at which point the idea of KARA Project would have been laughable at best. Picking trainees they already had with the company was the better route to go overall, my only issue is that I wish expert votes had a little more weight to them than they did in the overall vote count as opposed to the fans getting the large majority of the votes.

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Are you kidding me? I swear some people just want to kick up a firestorm for the sake of kicking up a fuss.

 

Poor awareness locally? Remind me what channel it was broadcasted on. Oh yeah, that's right. MBC Music. Last I checked, that was a Korean channel. I couldn't find this out on BBC News and it wasn't on NHK nor Nippon or any other Japanese channel. Deciding to complain more than a month later when a new member has been selected about there being poor exposure when there was SO much exposure on the DSP Youtube Channel along with 17249017490187490 other Korean and non-korean online news sources that fans all OVER the world are talking about it... You have the audacity to say that coverage was poor? If you're blaming poor exposure when I've heard about it here in the UK and managed to follow it, then seriously, you just suck at keeping up with news. That's not an exposure problem, that's a 'you've-got-your-head-stuck-under-a-rock' problem.

 

As for the audition being lax, if you're saying that, then you're really ill-aware of the selection process in the first place. Dubious got it all laid out - some were trainees picked from the company. These weren't girls they just picked up from the streets, they were girls who had already undergone prior training and other initial tests before being chosen for the project. Again, the reporter is ill-informed and is not even remotely aware of the process. As for the one month - one month is actually ample time to see potential. Just look at the votes - Youngji wins two weeks and comes in the top 3 all other times. The strongest members were pretty much decided by the first two episodes. Continuing it for another month or two would likely only yield the same results.

 

You can argue that the voting is skewed, but I'm not sure a perfect balance is easy to find anyway - do you put emphasis on the fan votes, because they're the ones cheering the members on? But then it becomes a popularity contest and not a test of skill. Do you give emphasis to the expert votes, because they know how to tell ability? But then it ignores fan preferences. Though I can't say the voting percentages were the best, I think they did their job.

 

As for her debuting with KARA as early as August... That might be a bit early, especially if it's Japan and not Korea. However, since I suspect that since they are singing in Korean and not Japanese, I think she'll manage. It's concerning that KARA-3 does not appear to have had any interaction with Baby Kara (a mistake, in my opinion). In any case, we can just give her our support, so even if she might not do the best as an actual member right now, there's plenty more room for her to grow.

Edited by ZiLong
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For me the biggest questions relate to what Hammie, Gyuri and Hara think of the Baby Kara process and of Young Ji as the new Kara member.  Their absence from view even in the final live show or at its very end to welcome the winner was ominous.  

 

Guys, KARA was behind the scenes. It is confirmed, stated, said by DSP and KARA themselves, they voted too they just didn't show up. But, I have a feeling some videos will show up anyways, so yeah.

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I strongly agree with this article. DSP is absolutely lack of stategy and planning. Those 7 lovely girls have a lot of potential. Instead of competing each other, why form a new group? KARA is already an established group. Meaning, they're dominating in Hallyu wave for seven years! Imagine that.

And on the other hand, the reality show gained a lot of audiences due to curiosity. If I were the CEO, leave KARA3 alone and debut the seven girls as soon as possible,as simple as that.

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why gave credit to this c-kamilia when he only tried to mess up the situation, when he only translated or reported the most "interesting" section to his community?

I consider myself a hardcore Kamilia. Every night I scour the net looking for the latest KARA news. I read them all, positive and negative, but I tend to pay more attention to the negative, especially if it's not written by some emotional fan or troll but some proper news reporter. For one thing, I like to know why anyone has anything negative to say about KARA. I can read and then disagree, or agree. But I read.

I translated this not to give credit to this C-Kamilia. I don't know him, nor do I know his trait. Obviously you know him better.

My purpose was to show that there is a different view out there about KARA, to this community. I find many of the reports here overwhelmingly positive or supportive about the KARA project. I think it does not reflect all the sentiments out there in the world. Is this community aware there are other views, especially views from Korea?

Do we want to hear other views, to get a sense what KARA is really facing out there, or do we just want to hear positive news?

Like it or not, Korea is KARA's base. There's where they live. That's where their friends and families live. I care enough about KARA to care about whether they are getting enough love back home. Us international fans, we can only do so much from a distance.

If this is not reflective of the views in Korea and there are other positive articles from Korea, please share them. 

I have my own views about the KARA project, but I get the sense anything less than cheering is not welcome here.

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I consider myself a hardcore Kamilia. Every night I scour the net looking for the latest KARA news. I read them all, positive and negative, but I tend to pay more attention to the negative, especially if it's not written by some emotional fan or troll but some proper news reporter. For one thing, I like to know why anyone has anything negative to say about KARA. I can read and then disagree, or agree. But I read.

I translated this not to give credit to this C-Kamilia. I don't know him, nor do I know his trait. Obviously you know him better.

My purpose was to show that there is a different view out there about KARA, to this community. I find many of the reports here overwhelmingly positive or supportive about the KARA project. I think it does not reflect all the sentiments out there in the world. Is this community aware there are other views, especially views from Korea?

Do we want to hear other views, to get a sense what KARA is really facing out there, or do we just want to hear positive news?

Like it or not, Korea is KARA's base. There's where they live. That's where their friends and families live. I care enough about KARA to care about whether they are getting enough love back home. Us international fans, we can only do so much from a distance.

If this is not reflective of the views in Korea and there are other positive articles from Korea, please share them. 

I have my own views about the KARA project, but I get the sense anything less than cheering is not welcome here.

That's the problem with fandom, sometimes we tend to shut ourselves off from the harshness of the world, preferring to stay within our safe bubbles and ignoring any opposing views.       

However, that article sounded like nitpicking to me. I'd like to hear objective criticism, not sourgraping.

They felt left out because they antagonized the project right from the start, of course DSP wouldn't force the Korean fanbase if they didn't want anything to do with it. Heck, I even think that the Japan gig was just to show to those resistant K-Kamilias how receptive the Japanese were of this change. DSP offered them the chance to choose who they want, they refused and even campaigned for other K-Kamilias to boycott the show, then when the Japanese came in droves to support Young Ji, they cried unfair?

I can only scratch my head.

Edited by nightvisiongoggles
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I totally agree with ZiLong.

Saying that DSP did something wrong is just saying " I'm sad because of XYZ, but let me just show my anger for no reason"

Also, I feel like there's one of the two:

some Korean Kamilias don't deserve Kara, let just them go

or Korean Kamilias have 100% different mind from my mind and I dont understand them a bit

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I didn't read the whole article, because I can't read Korean, but the conclusion it reaches as far as I'm concerned is just way off the mark.

 

Yes, there are things that DSP could perhaps do better, but by the large, what they did wasn't wrong, either. There are also many factors that the author simply isn't aware of and that, as a newswriter, is appalling. I'm just a simple fanboy and I know more than the article says.

 

I'm a bit unique in the way I think, so I can definitely understand if people disagree with me, though. I wouldn't say anything short of cheering isn't allowed either. On week 3 of the KARA Project (I think), there was a lot of criticism thrown there about the KARA Babies and even in this thread, there's a whole lot of agreement that DSP messed up somehow.

 

But you just got to keep in mind that at the end of the day, Kamilia will want to support KARA, because that's who we are. That's all there is to it.

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Yeah that's why it's always KARA or BabyKara got upset, I think DSP took all the responsibility in this case......
I still don't understand, after so many incidents, why DSP just can't wake up and think well before do anything?......
Our KARA and also those BK are just someone who really innocent, but they have to take up those burden of DSP........

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I consider myself a hardcore Kamilia. Every night I scour the net looking for the latest KARA news. I read them all, positive and negative, but I tend to pay more attention to the negative, especially if it's not written by some emotional fan or troll but some proper news reporter. For one thing, I like to know why anyone has anything negative to say about KARA. I can read and then disagree, or agree. But I read.

I translated this not to give credit to this C-Kamilia. I don't know him, nor do I know his trait. Obviously you know him better.

My purpose was to show that there is a different view out there about KARA, to this community. I find many of the reports here overwhelmingly positive or supportive about the KARA project. I think it does not reflect all the sentiments out there in the world. Is this community aware there are other views, especially views from Korea?

Do we want to hear other views, to get a sense what KARA is really facing out there, or do we just want to hear positive news?

Like it or not, Korea is KARA's base. There's where they live. That's where their friends and families live. I care enough about KARA to care about whether they are getting enough love back home. Us international fans, we can only do so much from a distance.

If this is not reflective of the views in Korea and there are other positive articles from Korea, please share them. 

I have my own views about the KARA project, but I get the sense anything less than cheering is not welcome here.

You might be a silent reader in "this community" but may I know have you been to the official KARA Project Thread regularly and read all posts?

If not, how do you know "all the sentiments out there in the world" weren't mentioned in "this community"?

If yes, do you know why "this community" is still having this "different view"? Or do you know why only the "overwhelmingly positive or supportive" news are heard in "this community"?

Because we are Kamilia too. Though we are part of a family, we care for KARA differently because we put KARA before our needs.

Please, we share nothing in common but let's have this basic mutual understanding that we should not bother with one and other unless necessary.

Thanks for the hardcore sharing.

*My view does not represent the whole of Karaholic.

Edited by red4summer
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I think we should not worry that much. I prefer having a small show through which fans can give their opinion like KARA project rather than having nothing. Some groups have new member even without a selecting process so we can be glad that DSP has decided to give us a voice in building this new chapter of KARA. The best to do is to stay positive and present for supporting KARA.  

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It's been a big transition in KARA. First, learning of Nicole (forced) departure, then Jiyoung's leave, and weeks after, news of replacement followed by refutation and then notice of this show. Then, a series of girls who are called "baby KARA" with the winner who didn't compete in the first 2 shows and was certainly not the best but end up "winning" to be part of the group without us observing any interactions with the KARA member and therefore knowing if it's going to be a good fit...Wow, It's been seriously a rollercoaster and the person who determines all isn't us but DSP. Although many say, let us all trust that things will work out, I just can't fanthom to have fans' emotions to be played like that and for us to continue with a rollercoaster like this. Yes, we have a choice of ceasing to care about KARA as well as the option of not welcoming at all this new addition, and many others. I decided that I will just support the remaining KARA members (not baby KARA) and although she'll be part of this "new" KARA, I think it's asking a bit much to accept or conform with how things are. I'm just done with trying to understand the incomprehensible. I'll just continue with my goddess worship and block everything else.

Yes, we have options and we can freely express them here and it be fine.

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It's been a big transition in KARA. First, learning of Nicole (forced) departure, then Jiyoung's leave, and weeks after, news of replacement followed by refutation and then notice of this show. Then, a series of girls who are called "baby KARA" with the winner who didn't compete in the first 2 shows and was certainly not the best but end up "winning" to be part of the group without us observing any interactions with the KARA member and therefore knowing if it's going to be a good fit...Wow, It's been seriously a rollercoaster and the person who determines all isn't us but DSP. Although many say, let us all trust that things will work out, I just can't fanthom to have fans' emotions to be played like that and for us to continue with a rollercoaster like this. Yes, we have a choice of ceasing to care about KARA as well as the option of not welcoming at all this new addition, and many others. I decided that I will just support the remaining KARA members (not baby KARA) and although she'll be part of this "new" KARA, I think it's asking a bit much to accept or conform with how things are. I'm just done with trying to understand the incomprehensible. I'll just continue with my goddess worship and block everything else.

Yes, we have options and we can freely express them here and it be fine.

I can respect this, like you I've been trying to understand the mess DSP has 'orchestrated', but like most people here have said, all we can do is trust that the situation will work out for the best. And after all, despite their faux pas, people at DSP seem to know potential stars when they see them.

Most of the time, small changes can ruin a group, while big changes generate more interest and increase the fanbase. This reminds me of the rock band Journey (for lack of a better K-Pop example)... after the frontman Steve Perry left, they struggled for years to find someone who can sustain the group, and when they eventually got Arnel Pineda, a fellow Filipino who was just completely out of the radar, fans were divided. Those against the new guy left, others stayed, and eventually the band became popular again and the fanbase grew. Of course Pineda will never be able to match Perry's legacy, but the fact that he revived interest in the decades-old band is something in itself.

And to a similar extent, this was what Hara and Jiyoung did to KARA when they replaced Sunghee. Yeah, they weren't that popular then, but if they were already a big hit then, the uproar would most likely be the same as what we're seeing now. Hara's voice was terrible when they started out, Jiyoung was just a pretty face... over time, they never disappointed us and gave KARA so much, so I can trust  that Young Ji would, as she said, do her best not to ruin the group.

We sure can't make this any easier for us, but the best thing we can do right now is to just believe that everything will be better in due time. 

 

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