New girl group ‘Piggy Dolls’ debuts with “Trend”

Another girl group has debuted in the industry, but this time with a twist: all three members of “Piggy Dolls” are of rubenesque proportions, with the combined weight exceeding 200kg. Comprised of Park Ji Eun, Kim Min Sun, and Lee Jiyeon, the group debuted on January 6th with their mini-album, “Piggy Style,” on various music sites.

Their title track “TREND” is especially fascinating in that it features lyrics expressing their personal feelings on their image.  “I’m always confident, I don’t care about anything else, what’s wrong with my body?  My face is unique.”

The group expressed, “We think our team name fits well with our members.  As you can see, we really are ‘piggy dolls.’ (laughter)”

Min Sun continued, “All three of us naturally gain a lot of weight. We like eating so we eat.  We can eat about 20kg of rice in three weeks.”

When asked about their reasons for debuting in an industry dominated by thin idols, Jiyeon answered, “People these days tend to favor thin and pretty people. We just wanted to show everyone that people who have weight like us can be just as confident. We want to break the stereotypes of girl groups as only being skinny. Hopefully our debut can console women who have been hurt because to their weight.”

However, the group acknowledged the painful reality they’re facing against in the competition against other girl groups. Fortunately, they’ve got weapons to battle their way to the top: talent.

Min Sun elaborated, “Since we’re big, we sound different… Thin people have thinner voices, and in comparison, our voices sound a lot more rich and powerful.”

At the mention of pure talent not being enough to last in today’s industry, Ji Eun added, “You can consider our concept somewhere between Big Mama and 2NE1.  We have the vocal talent of Big Mama, and the performance style of 2NE1. With both styles, we’ll be trying our best to perfect both.”

Throughout the interview, the girls were noted for their confident and open thoughts, leading the reporter to ask where their confidence stemmed from.  Jiyeon answered, “It’s our vocal talent.  I hope people stop thinking that just because we’re big, we’re going to be less talented than other idol groups.  We’ll show everyone that we’re good at dancing and singing.”

To conclude the interview, Piggy Dolls showed their determination as rookies by stating, “Our goal is to captivate the audience with our own charms, especially on stage. Our long-term goal is to rank first on the U.S Billboard chart.  You may be thinking that our goal is too far-fetched, but we fully believe that you need to aim high in order to succeed faster.  Please give us your love, as we’ll be Piggy Dolls that tries our best.”

Wanna check the video ? Just click HERE !

GD&TOP’s “Don’t Go Home” banned on MBC

Big Bang’s GD&TOP were hit with another ban, this time from MBC for their track, “Don’t Go Home“. The broadcasting network blacklisted the song on January 5th under the reason that the song was ‘unfit for public broadcast.’

This is the second ban this week for the duo, as it follows the ban of “Knock Out” from all three public broadcasting networks.

YG Entertainment representatives spoke with Star News and revealed, “We expected ‘Knock Out’ to be banned from the three networks, so we will be re-submitting the songs, but MBC banning ‘Don’t Go Home’ has come as a bit of a surprise to us.”

They continued, “We’ve retorted that there is nothing wrong with the song, as it was even accepted by KBS and SBS. As much as it is hard to understand why MBC would find it unfit for broadcast, we believe that MBC has their own reasons, so we will respectfully re-submit it for an evaluation.”

When asked why they believed the song was banned, they answered, “We feel that T.O.P’s rap was a part of the problem, but we’d like for them to interpret the lyrics as is.  When we re-submit the song, we will not be editing any of the lyrics.”

T.O.P’s lyrics state:

“I don’t like awkward settings
Why is the sound of the clock ticking so loud?
All I can hear is the sound of swallowing spit
Look baby, all I want is to greet the morning with you
A secret party for just us two before the night comes to an end
But you’re like Cinderella, you try to go home when the clock hits 12
Being alone makes the night so long
Call in to your parents, don’t try to act tough
S.O.S, advancing seems so far
Oh! wait a minute, why am I like this?
Am I drunk, I’m so dizzy, I’m falling asleep.”

KARA draw the praise of ‘godfather’ Terry Ito + 2011 continued success?

KARA has been earning the praise of Japanese celebrities lately, and were even previously acknowledged by gagman Gekidan Hitori, who complimented the girls’ friendliness through a news program.

More recently, the ‘godfather of Japanese broadcasting’, Terry Ito, praised KARA on an NHK New Year special program broadcast on January 2nd.

The program featured celebrities predicting the biggest figures of 2011, and  KARA was introduced with the statement, “After AKB48 ranked in on internet search rankings at the 2009 year-end, KARA followed by ranking first in the 2010 internet search rankings.  The two figures that have managed to rank in alongside AKB48 are K-pop singers KARA and SNSD.”

Terry Ito is a highly influential figure in Japan’s entertainment industry, and not only with producers, but has extensive connections into the culture and government sectors of Japan.

He further complimented the girls by stating, “When the girls make a mistake on the broadcast, they are very embarrassed and shy about it.  They’re different from Japanese celebrities.  Japanese celebrities think that they’ll get attention when they make a mistake, but such a notion does not exist with KARA.  They always try their hardest, and I think that’s the image that is appealing to the Japanese.  They’re very innocent and do not act fake at all.”

KARA has been consistently chosen as the stars to watch out for in 2011 all across Japanese news programs, and with the continued praise of Japanese celebrities, it seems KARA has certainly made a mark for themselves in the industry.

Idols reveal their filial acts on MBC’s “Come to Play”

A bevy of top idol groups made their appearance on MBC’s “Come to Play” today, and competed against each other to earn the title of ‘the most filial son/daughter.’

The episode focused on revealing the dutiful acts the idols have done for their parents and featured stars such as SNSD, Super Junior’s Lee Teuk and Yesung, B2ST’s Ki Kwang and Yoseob, andMBLAQ’s Lee Joon and Mir.

SNSD’s Seohyun, who’s known for her upright character, started off the discussion by revealing her self-sufficiency.  ”I think that the way I respect my parents is by doing what I’m supposed to do on my own.  From my mother’s perspective, she probably wants to take care of her young and busy daughter as much as she can, but I told her not to worry about it because I can do it on my own.  I think that unfortunately made her more upset because I was forced to mature so early.”

She continued, “Of course, other physical presents are just as precious, but as their daughter, I think growing up without being fussy is a bigger present for them.  I will become a daughter that works hard on improving herself and does not make her parents worry.”

Reflecting on Seohyun’s response, fellow member Yuri commented, “Seohyun would be a good daughter, but not as mine.  She knows what she has to do on her own, where’s the fun in that?”

MBLAQ’s Mir, who’s known to be the son of a farming family, revealed that he bought his family four cows.  He stated, “My family lives in the countryside, and the rivalry between the front and back house is quite strong.  I wanted my dad to feel steady and confident.  I was going to buy him two cows, but the house behind us bought three, so I bought him four.”

Super Junior’s Yesung revealed his own story by stating, “I’ve lived away from my parents for a long time.  I’ve always wanted to live with them, and one day, they came down to Seoul.  I opened up a small store for them.” After receiving a round of applause, he continued, “It’s a small restaurant, but I forgot to think of my mother’s health.  She has a hard time working in the kitchen, so I’m trying to look for ways to convert it into a cafe.”

SNSD’s Sooyoung confessed, “These days, my mom keeps telling me to date.  This year, I’m going to be a filial daughter and finally get a boyfriend that fits her expectations.”

Sunny also brought laughter to the studio when she joked, “The fact that I was even born is a filial act!”More seriously, she continued, “My mother was in bad health after she gave birth to me, but she fought to live on in order to raise me.”

Hyoyeon revealed, “I registered a housing premium under all of the names of my family.” Reflecting to a time when she didn’t feel as comfortable on variety shows, she said, “When you appear on TV programs like this, you have to say a lot of things and such, but even up to six months ago, I wasn’t able to.  I feel like that wasn’t a very filial act towards my parents.  I didn’t have a lot of confidence in talking on variety programs so it was hard for them to see me on TV.  I fixed my pronunciation by reading books and learned to improve myself.”

Later on in the program, the idol boys attempted to earn the hearts of the SNSD members.  Mir bragged, “I have a 400-pyeong sized house in our backyard.  In the Bang household, we have eight mountains and dogs and cows that cover our entire mountain.”

Super Junior’s Lee Teuk attempted to capture he ladies’ hearts by bragging, “I’m the first idol MC.  I’m a fixed cast member on seven programs, and tour 15 Asian countries on the weekends.”

Yesung bragged about his philtrum (the indent above the upper lip) by stating, “They say you’ll live a long life when your philtrum is long.  I’m a man better than a diamond, I last forever.”

Finally, B2ST’s Ki Kwang showed off his bow to the camera in the hopes of charming SNSD’s parents, and then began showing off his strength, leading the SNSD members to burst out in laughter.

In the end, the couples that paired up were Yoona and Yesung, Yuri and Mir, Seohyun and Lee Teuk, Sooyoung and Gil, Hyoyeon and Lee Joon, and Taeyeon and Lee Haneul.

Taeyeon and Lee Haneul ended up winning the grand prize through a quiz battle.  After winning, Taeyeon stated, “I think I was able to earn this ‘filial award’ because I was part of a couple with Haneul oppa.  I’m thankful for Haneul oppa!”

The special episode recorded 14.1% in viewer ratings according to AGB Nielsen Media Research, a 0.3% rise compared to last week’s episode.

f(x)’s Luna to debut in the musical world through “Legally Blonde”

f(x)’s Luna is set to make her musical debut in 2011.

Luna will join Bada and Kim Ji Woo to take on the character of Elle Woods for the musical, “Legally Blonde”.

“I’ve always had interest in musicals and wanted to challenge myself in one, so I’m very happy and thankful that I get to participate in a great production. I will do my best to show a great image,” said Luna.

“Legally Blonde” is a musical that originated from Broadway back in 2007, which was based on the box office movie from 2001 of the same name starring Reese Witherspoon. Elle Woods is a beautiful and clever woman with bright blonde hair who follows her boyfriend to Harvard University and surprises everyone with her growing success.

Do you guys think Luna can pull off the blonde look and ditsy personality?

“Dream High” attracts a divided response after first airing

KBS 2TV’s “Dream High” finally aired its pilot episode today, but seems to be off to a rocky start with several controversies stemming from just the pilot airing alone.

The episode managed to record 10.7% in viewer ratings, lagging behind SBS’s “Athena: Goddess of War” and MBC’s “Queen of Reversals,” both of which recorded 16.3% and 14.2% respectively.

Prior to the pilot’s airing, viewers were highly concerned over the all idol cast line-up, since half of them don’t have prior acting experience.  Opinions on the drama remain divided, and at the center of the controversy stands miss A’s Suzy, who plays the role of ‘Hyemi.’

Since she is the leading role for the drama, viewers were left disappointed with her poor acting skills and criticized her for speaking as if she was reading out of a book.  2PM’s Wooyoung, who plays the role of ‘Jason,’ was also criticized for his awkward facial expressions despite only having to say a handful of lines.

Viewers commented, “It was to the point where I couldn’t even continue watching,” “She’s the queen of horrible acting,” “In her group, Suzy is in charge of the visual, and it seems like she’s trying to raise viewer ratings with her face again,” and “They’re not even ready to be standing in front of the screen.”

In comparison, T-ara’s Eunjung and 2PM’s Taecyeon both received high remarks, as they both have acting experience from “Coffee House” and “Cinderella’s Sister” respectively.

It was also IU’s first acting debut, but she fortunately managed to dodge criticisms as she only appeared wearing an animal suit for the majority of her part.

Regarding the controversy surrounding Suzy’s acting, Eunjung spoke with Star News on January 4th and commented, “Suzy’s doing well despite it being her first time acting.  I have a lot of lines with her so I pay close attention to her acting.  She’s confidently trying to do her best. It’s inevitable for her to feel nervous, and although strict criticisms are needed, please continue to watch over her.”

TVXQ releases classical rearrangement album of Japanese hit tracks

An album featuring the hit tracks of TVXQ’s five years of promotions in Japan has been released on December 29th.

According to their official Japanese homepage, the songs were re-arranged into a classical style. The tracks were chosen by fan votes and are composed of a total of two CDs, consisting of “Mirotic,” “Stand By You,” “Hug,” and “Love in the Ice.”

The songs were re-arranged by the participation of famous Japanese orchestras, pianists, and conductors in order to perfect each piece.

On the other hand, JYJ are currently busily promoting themselves on public broadcast, while TVXQ awaits their two-member comeback on January 3rd.

SISTAR transforms into rabbits for 2011

SISTAR transformed into rabbits to celebrate the 2011 new year, which is also the year of the rabbit.

Their agency, Starship Entertainment, revealed pictures of the girls on the set of a photoshoot filming on December 1st. Each of the members are shown with a scarf wrapped around their heads to represent cute and colorful bunny ears.

On their official Twitter, they wrote, “Please jump up high, just like bunnies! Have a happy New Year!”