Posted by Jacques Peterson on 02/21/2013 at 5:14 AM News

The Popdust Files: K-pop, t-ara

As previously reported, T-ara have a new Japanese single called “Bunny Style!” coming out on March 20th. And with a string of scandals still surrounding them in Korea, the troubled group is pulling out all the stops to make sure that their J-pop comeback is met with the kind of success that they’re not experiencing back home right now. Not only are they releasing 10 different editions of the “Bunny Style!” CD single, they’re also holding twelve showcases –consisting of performances and fan meets– across Japan in the lead up to the single’s release. The girls held their first showcase yesterday in Sapporo, and luckily for us, they had a camera crew following them around who promptly uploaded the footage onto Youtube.

The video, which is basically just a recap of T-ara’s first day on the promo trail, shows the group talking about “Bunny Style!” (in Japanese, of course), performing it live in a shopping mall, and then meeting and signing photos for fans. Some snippets of the new single can also be heard playing in the background: It’s cute and very J-poppy, with the kind of cheap-but-addictive sound that’s defined a lot of T-ara’s music over the years. If you listen closely, you can hear the girls singing, “stay with meeeeeeee,” in English, which matches an earlier description from the group that “Bunny Style!” is a song about a “lonely woman.” Many K-poppers don’t realize that T-ara’s upbeat and ridiculously hooky hit, “Lovey-Dovey,” is actually about the desperate search for someone that’s abandoned you, so “Bunny Style!” isn’t the first time that the girls have paired depressing lyrics with seemingly cheerful and bubbly production.

Check out T-ara plugging their new single, as well as a brief audio snippet of the song, below. And if you’re wondering where Hyomin is, she’s currently busy filming a lead role in an upcoming Japanese movie, leaving her unable to promote “Bunny Style!” with her bandmates for the time being.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=wapO2nJIaLE