[Video] SNSD Members Get in on Psy’s ‘Gangnam Style’ at ‘SNSD Diet LOOK Concert’

The SNSD members and their infamous leggy legs have also taken part in Psy’s Gangnam Style.

On September 1, the SNSD members held a special mini concert with a few lucky thousand at the Woori Finance Art Hall as part of the ‘SNSD Diet LOOK Concert’ for Yakult’s diet product, LOOK.

During the concert, the SNSD members performed a string of their hits including The Boys, Gee, Mr. Taxi and more and even held a ‘Yes’ or ‘No Q&A session time.

During this time SNSD’s Sooyoung was asked which singer she is most envious of currently, to which she responded Psy.

This immediately prompted the crowd to ask for them to do Psy’s ‘horse dance’ as Gangnam Style began being played on the speakers.

With just a little coercing by the fans and MC, some of the SNSD members got in right away on Gangnam Style’s ‘horse ride dance’ driving the crowd wild.

Watch an amateur footage of the incident from a fan cam below:

[Interview Part II] AOA’s Ideal Types, Secrets and Commercial Wishes

This dancing band group was named AOA, or Ace of Angels.

Honestly, their group name was why we thought at first that these members would give a boring interview, with stereotypical answers and calm, cute smiles.

In the interview held with enews at the CJ E&M Center, however, the eight members of AOA couldn’t stop laughing while talking about everything from their ideal types, secrets, sleeping habits and the commercials they wanted to shoot. It was an unexpected interview that turned their angel images upside down.

Ideal types?

The members were all in their late teens or early 20s, age groups that would make them very interested in love and relationships. Although they sang about love onstage, they said that they had to ‘learn’ about love through indirect mediums such as dramas or books.

When asked about their ideal types, they spilled forth a list of men as if they would love to start dating anyone right at that moment.

Youkyoung: “I’m actually pretty tough, and so I like cute men a lot. These days my ideal type is 1 Night, 2 Days and Bridal Mask’s Ju Won sunbaenim (senior). I hope men don’t get tied up by their macho images, and show more of their cute charms.”

Jimin: “My ideal type is a man who is cool, sexy yet kind, like Ha Jung Woo sunbaenim! I love the image he puts on in his pieces.”

Yuna: “I hope he’ll be a person who’s quiet yet still takes good care of me, and only softens up in front of me. I think I would fall for how he takes care of me though he acts like he doesn’t care. Jung Woo Sung sunbaenim, from the [jTBC] drama Padam Padam…The Sound of His and Her Heartbeats. I was attracted to the way he just threw things in others’ ways.”

Seolhyun: “A man who has a pretty and kind smile. Kim Jae Won sunbaenim.”

Choa: “It differs every time. He’s okay if his overall image is okay. I like styles that are neat and smart, like Choi Yoon (Kim Min Jong) in [SBS’] A Gentleman’s Dignity. I look at fashion more than looks. I used to love Ryu Jin sunbaenim a lot.”

Hyejeong: “A man who’s humorous and kind, a man who would be fun to be around. Gong Yoo sunbaenim.”

Chanmi: “I like people who have their own little worlds. It’s okay if he’s a bit unconcerned about me. A man who can join me in what I like. Um… like eating chocolate together! If he doesn’t like it, I won’t force it on him, but then I don’t think I would be with him in the first place.”

Sleeping habits?

The members then spilled what they witnessed at their home. What gathered the most attention were the girls’ sleeping habits. According to the members’ testimonies, some just moaned in their sleep, while others talked or even rapped.

ⓐ Seolhyun: Beginner-Moaning
“She moans in her sleep. We sometimes tease her, saying that’s why her angel title is Seolhyunari (Ari=Moaning).”

ⓑ Chanmi: Intermediate-Talking
“Sometimes when we’re sleeping we can hear a small voice, and that turns out to be Chanmi’s sleeping habit. She’s not loud, but she always surprises us with her conversational habit.”

ⓒ Jimin: Expert-Rapping
“She raps in her sleep. Her pronunciation is great, too. In the mornings she sits in a pretty pose and talks with us normally, then she falls asleep and five minutes before we have to go out she gets up and tells us off for not waking her up sooner.

When we tell her what happened before, she gets surprised and asks, ‘I really did that?’ We think at this rate she’ll soon start writing rap lines in her sleep.”

Outside of sleeping habits, there’s also a member that has to have everything she owns on her bed to feel secure. That’s the youngest member Chanmi, who was born in the year 1996. Chanmi’s love for her bed was severe enough to make her a worthy candidate for tvN’s Martian Virus as a ‘bed obsessed girl’.

Chanmi: “I want my stuff to be at arm distance whenever I reach out in my sleep. Why? Because it’s all mine. My cotton pads, ribbons, letters, diary, snacks and computer all wait on my bed. I do a lot of things in bed. I like watching movies while eating, and I do that in bed too."

"I bought a lunch tray so I can watch movies with my rice and side dishes on the tray. It’s not uncomfortable at all.”

Choa: “Chanmi and I use a bunk bed, and Chanmi uses the top bunk while I use the bottom bunk. Chanmi puts her lotion on up there and even styles her hair too. It’s amazing how she does it when she doesn’t have that much space because of the ceiling. I’m sometimes surprised by the snack bags and wet towels that drop down on me.”

Commercials?

Love calls for commercials bombard only the most successful celebrities. Commercial offers gauge how popular and trendy that star is at that time. It was a bit early to be talking on this subject for the rookie AOA, but everyone dreamed sweet dreams when asked about the commercials they want to shoot.

Chanmi: “I love chocolate so much, I want to be in a chocolate commercial. I also tear up often when I’m surprised, so I think I would go well with a mascara commercial that advertises mascara which doesn’t come off with tears.”

Hyejeong: “Soju commercials! The videos are always so pretty because the pretty sunbaes appear in them.”

Choa: “Cellphone commercials. They usually give off an urban and stylish air.”

Seolhyun: “Cosmetics! I was born with skin that remains clear without much care.”

Yuna: “Electronics, like refrigerators, so that I can appeal to mothers. I’m feminine, and I eat a lot.”

Mina: “Foods like chicken or pizza. I used to eat them a lot, but these days I can’t because I need to keep my body fit. If we shoot commercials for them, we can eat them a lot. How many can I eat? Um. I’ll try to eat 100.”

Jimin: “I want to shoot a clothing brand commercial. Sports clothing. I’m sure I can show off a good fit.”

Youkyoung: “Products related to music like MP3s or headphones. I wish it would be a commercial that wasn’t stereotypical.”

The eight AOA members had their own ways of thinking. This band, however, shared the determination to be good as both a dance group and a band. We look forward to the day they become big in the scene just like their seniors FT Island or CN Blue.

[Interview Part I] AOA Lands on Earth on Angel Wings and Guitars

K-Pop is now full of female singers who claim to be goddesses, but just when everyone thought the stream of goddesses was petering out, there landed a group of angels.

Many said worriedly that the angel concept, the team’s name AOA (Ace of Angels) and the group’s big back story was a bit overdone.

That AOA is from FNC Entertainment, which successfully debuted the bands FT Island and CN Blue and the female singer Juniel, was the only thing that had the public looking forward to the debut of this girl group.

As soon as the group was unveiled at its showcase held on July 30, however, the concerns changed to anticipation. The members were not only all beautiful, but could also play in a band just like any other professional band and perform in dance performances that didn’t fall behind other girl groups’.

The drummer Youkyoung was excluded from the dance versions to perfect the performances, and only appeared in the band versions. This is why the group was marketed as the first-ever 7+1 member group.

The members had to get through two years, or four years at the most, of dance practice, foreign language lessons and instrument practice from early in the morning to late in the night, but still they said they wished they had “more time.”

They poured in much more effort compared to other girl groups, and that effort helped them stand out as a different kind of group altogether.

“We think our band versions differentiate us from other girl groups. It was cool and funny to see two teams that had been preparing separately come together. In dance, we want to show off our individual charms while as a band we want to show off our musicality and our sincerity. Aren’t we biting off a bit more than we can chew, you say? If we weren’t going to be perfect, we wouldn’t have started in the first place. Both teams practiced and practiced again to perform in a perfect performance.”

The group’s first single album Angel’s Story tells the story of the angels who had fallen from heaven. Its first single cut Elvis portrayed the girls’ lovers as an Elvis, and talked cutely about how a girl falls in love.

The song was performed in two versions, dance and band; wouldn’t the group have gone through an identity crisis after trying to cover two different areas?

“Everyone wants to be good at both. We all became determined because we were sure we could do it, so we didn’t go through any identity crises. When we’re a dance team we’ll be cute and lovely, while as a girl band we’ll be charismatic and cool.”

The AOA members were, of course, taken aback by the initial angel concept set by their agency. The angel titles they were given outside of their real names—Seolhyunari (Seolhyun), Yunaria (Yuna), Choaya (Choa), Minaring (Mina), Hyejeonglinus (Hyejeong), Jiminel (Jimin), Chanmi T.T (Chanmi) and Y (Youkyoung)—were enough to get their fingers curling in embarrassment.

“It wasn’t easy for us to accept the angel concept, but now we’re used to it, and we even like it. We keep trying to work hard even when others can’t see us so that we can live up to our neat image. It also helps us show off some new images in a twist.

Like Seolhyun recently danced to Gangnam Style at the MBC radio show Shindong’s Shim Shim Tapa, we plan to continuously put on new and unexpected images.”

The group has officials and even the public looking forward to AOA’s future, and the reason is simple; it definitely stands out in the flood of girl groups.

They look forward not only to feats the group will put on in the early stages of its debut, but also to how it will turn out to be years later. The members of AOA, who hadn’t been active for even a month, answered confidently what they thought they would be like three years into the future.

“We think we’ll be even stronger than we are now. Though the structure may be the same, we think we’ll have filled in for the parts we lack in our music or skills. We’ve been studying composition, and maybe three years from now we’ll be able to promote a single we wrote ourselves. We also want to shoot more than 10 commercials. (Laugh) Ah! We also hope we can fulfill our dream of holding an exclusive concert.”

T-ara’s Comeback Teaser Tops Gom TV Music Video Chart

Despite the controversy surrounding the group, the teaser video for T-ara rose to the top of Gom TV’s music video chart.

A rep from T-ara’s agency Core Contents Media told enews on August 31, “The teaser for Sexy Love topped Gom TV’s music video chart. 65,000 people viewed the teaser in an instant.”

In the short teaser, T-ara showcased the new robot dance that was to be the point of their new performance. More attention seems to have been paid the group due to the debates still rampant among netizens regarding its comeback.

T-ara said through its agency, “We’ll work hard onstage with the thought that we’ll be repaying those who love T-ara’s music and apologizing toward everyone.”

The full music video for Sexy Love will be released on September 3.

G-Dragon Shoots Down Charts with ‘That XX’

G-Dragon’s That XX took over music charts despite its R rating.

That XX pulled down Gangnam Style, by G-Dragon’s label mate Psy, and continued the YG legacy of all-kills.

A rep from YG Entertainment said, “G-Dragon is the first singer to have a song that willingly got an R rating top the charts in an all-kill. Though this phenomenon we can see that, contrary to beliefs that G-Dragon or Big Bang’s fans will mostly be in their teens, there are actually a great number of fans in their 20s and 30s.”

That XX has been gathering issues with its surprising decisions. Even before it was put up for a ratings evaluation, it willingly took up an R rating, getting fans curious on what the ‘XX’ in the title could mean.

The song, however, turned out to be a mellow single played with an acoustic guitar. The lyrics are about how a man looks on as his love continues to believe in her boyfriend, although he continuously cheats on her, and is hurt by how she doesn’t look back at him.

G-Dragon appeared in the music video as the man who has a crush and also as the cheating boyfriend. Jennie Kim, member of YG’s upcoming girl group, also starred in the music video, making her first public debut.

Baek Cheong Gang to Cancel All Activities for September Due to Failing Health

Singer Baek Cheong Gang, first winner of The Great Birth, has announced a halt to all activities due to a decline in his health.

Thor Entertainment announced on August 31 that ‘Baek Cheong Gang will not be able to go through with his activities for September due to his bad health.’

On reports that the singer was fighting cancer, however, the agency said he did have an adenoma removed but was still waiting for the results to determine whether it was cancerous. It also added that it couldn’t reveal the exact name of the disease, the area of the infliction and future plans for surgery due to privacy reasons.

One source close to Baek Cheong Gang had told enews on August 31 that “Baek Cheong Gang currently has stage 3 rectal cancer and he recently told the people close to him about it.”

Yoon Kye Sang Says His Father Wants Him to Marry a Woman Like Kim Ha Neul

Yoon Kye Sang revealed that his father thinks of actress Kim Ha Neul as his daughter-in-law.

On the August 31 press conference of Olive’s Yoon Kye Sang’s One Table, Yoon stated, “My father is a fan of [Kim] Ha Neul.”

He also added, “My father tells me to meet someone like [Kim] Ha Neul. She’s a really good friend. We are close, but we haven’t been able to meet much because we’re both busy.”

Yoon Kye Sang went on to say, “I heard that she said I was a close friend of hers on Healing Camp. That’s how close we are. But we are definitely not lovers. If the press reports this in the wrong way, we won’t be that close anymore so please don’t misunderstand.”

The two became close when they starred in the film Six Years in Love