Confessions of an Uncle Fan: The Series (Final Episode)

2NE1, UEE, Eunji, miss A, Suzy, Eunji, SISTAR, , Girls

Happy Tuesday everyone! Welcome to the greatest column ever written about K-pop girl groups: Confessions of an Uncle Fan. Last week I announced that today would be my final column. Unfortunately because of my full time job and other new commitments, I just won't be able to write regularly going forward and since this was basically the end of the year, I thought now was the perfect time to wrap up what had been a truly fun nine months. Before I go though, here's one last look at the cool stuff that happened last week in the world of girl groups.

Cool Things of the Week

JYP Entertainment Continues Its Reorg

News came out yesterday that JYP Entertainment's sub-label AQ Entertainment, management home to miss A and Baek Ah Yeon, would be liquidated as a company. I never understood JYPE's need for various sub-label's which now is down to Big Hit Entertainment which is run by K-pop producer extraordinaire Bang Si Hyuk. The various management companies was intended to speed up the process but to me, it seems like having a different management team and production company would actually work the opposite. It seems like JYPE is making the right moves to continue to remain one of the top K-pop factories especially since more and more companies are beginning to make major moves and growing faster than ever to challenge their position as one of the Big 3 companies.

SM Taking a Page from YG

This past week SM began releasing images of some of their trainees in a project they're calling SM Rookies. At first I didn't see the the point of this if they're not going to be part of a group that'll actually produce music any time soon but after the success of YG's trainee-based show 'Win', I guess letting fans get a sneak peak at the next generation of K-pop stars is the new trend. One of the hallmarks of K-pop is building up a fan base for a group prior to debut but is one of the few times that I've seen an organized effort to introduce the public to trainees before they are even placed in a group or ready for immediate debut. It's an interesting concept for sure and smart. All K-pop companies spend lots of time and money in developing their trainees so why not showcase them?

GG Comeback?

Speaking of SM, the company did confirm that Girls' Generation is aiming for a return to K-pop early next year. Following the hiatus of the Wonder Girls and the single and done strategy of 2NE1, Girls' Generation is the preeminent girl group in K-pop and anytime rumors of a comeback are floated, fans (uncle fans included) go a little nutty. Word on the street is that the ladies are indeed coming back with a new and fresh concept this time around getting away from the cutesy, girly image and going with a more masculine feel. Interesting but exciting.

What's in Store for Next Year

I'm excited to see what happens in the world of K-pop and especially girl groups in the next year. Most companies have made attempts to enter the U.S. market but all have found that it's a much more difficult proposition than expected. PSY's success and Girls' Generations' win at the YouTube Awards are great first steps but it seems like that K-pop is still a very much niche form of entertainment and mainstream music companies still don't know how to market them quite yet.

I'm also curious to see if the current level of saturation in the girl group market can be sustained. There are just SO many groups that I just don't understand how they can all be supported. International fans definitely help but not sure if this can keep going.

Finally, every year a new group emerges as the "It" group. This past year SISTAR cemented their status as one of the top tier groups and belted out hit after hit. Who will be that new group that breaks through the clutter I was just talking about and take their place at the top of the hill?

Girl Group Variety Round-up

A list of all the girl group appearances (that I saw) on variety shows last week.

'Happy Together' - YoonA
'Radio Star' - Hyorin
'We Got Married' - Eunji
'1 Night 2 Days' - Suzy

The Taeyeon Experiment

I started this little experiment in my 2nd episode to profess my undying uncle fanness for Taeyeon. Obviously the experiment was a failure as she never posted a picture of herself reading this column but it's OK. I'll leave knowing that I tried my best and that many of you supported the effort so here's one last shot.

See ya buddy� it's been fun.

Pic/.Gif/Video of the Week

I would be remiss if I didn't bring up T-ara's newest single "What Should I Do". The song samples the 1978 classic Sanulim song (roughly translates into Mountain Ringing) and continues their retro trend that Core Contents Media seems to love. It's a good song and I think it'll do well but I've said it before, I like their earlier, mellow electronic music. Wish they would do more of that.

Uncle Fan Mailbag

*Side note: This was probably my favorite part of this column. Reading your reactions, both good and bad, was the ultimate way to tell whether or not what I was writing was any good. Thanks to everyone who ever left a comment.

I'll never say never but unlikely. "Are you preparing a second season?"
-ly_teng

Not right now. It could happen at some point if I find the time to begin writing again and if allkpop will have me back but for now I'm planning on this being the end.

Nice old school pull. "Idols always seem to leave them (DSP Media) as soon as their contracts [are] up. Who runs that company? Suge Knight?"
-megaveli

I don't think Suge has his hands on K-pop yet but I don't think anything is really wrong with DSP. Artists leave companies all the time and it's happened to SM, JYPE, and YG among others. It's just business but I guess it's magnified with DSP because of the public nature of the fall out with Nicole.

Thank you! "You can't go! I'll miss you!"
-Kaliope

Thanks for the kind words and to everyone else who left the same sentiment. Believe me, it wasn't an easy decision but one that I had to make. I'll miss you too!!

A Few Non-K-pop Related Things

Carrie Underwood + 'Sound of Music' Live Show = Minor Fail

Country superstar Carrie Underwood was blasted last week for her performance as Maria in the 'Sound of Music' live show that aired on NBC. It wasn't so much the singing that was the problem but her acting. I didn't watch it live but I did catch the repeats online and I have to agree that her singing was good but her acting was not. There's a whole list of actors that have both the singing and acting talent to take on this role and because this was a real-life live show on TV, acting should have been the main focus; not the singing. That's just my opinion but you be the judge. By the way, I had no idea Bill Compton (actor Stephen Moyer) was going to be Capt. Von Trapp� so weird to hear him speak without that southern, vampire accent.

Ready for Smaug

I have to say that the more I read about the movie 'The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug', the more I want to see it. I'm not a Tolkien purist in that I don't really care if director Peter Jackson added in new characters or whatever else he did to make the movie better because the guy has an amazing vision of Middle Earth so let him do his thing. I wonder how many nerds will be dressed as hobbits this weekend�

Top 5 Girl Groupers of the Year

Taeyeon - Not just my favorite of the year but among my favorite of all-time right alongside Eugene and Hyori. Taeyeon forever!!!
Eunji - Even her short appearance on 'We Got Married' this week reminded me how cool she is.
IU - Her acting in the drama 'You're the Best Lee Soon Shin' surprised me. Although, I will admit I wasn't a huge fan of her latest album, I recognize she's just a talented lady.
Suzy - Still the "It" girl of K-pop and I'm a sucker like everyone else.
UEE - The top ranked member of my "pretty girls who eat a lot" club.

Last Song

I thought I'd end with the song that started the second golden age of idol girl groups; Wonder Girls - "Tell Me". The early and mid 2000's were kind of the dark ages for girl groups. The original idols like S.E.S, Fin.K.L, Baby V.O.X and others had run their course and instead of churning out the next generation, boy groups like TVXQ and singers like Rain ruled the music scene. Then came the girl group explosion led by the Wonder Girls and one of the catchiest songs of the decade. Thanks to them, I was able to channel my K-pop nerdness into something that really mattered� girl groups.

Until Next Time�

So that's it; the final Confessions of an Uncle Fan. It's been an amazing experience to be able to write each week about one of my passions and more importantly, to interact with all the readers on a regular basis. I didn't think anyone would care about the stuff I had to say but I'm glad that at least a few of you found it entertaining and were willing to devote time each week to the reading this column. I would also like to thank the hardworking folks at allkpop.com who allowed me and gave me a space to write in the first place. It's been fun and a privilege working with all of you, especially Daniel, Lisa, Alex, and Jenny. If anyone out there ever does want to talk, you can always find me on Twitter @KpopUncleFan where I hope I'll still be sharing my opinions from time to time. I hope everyone has a great holiday season and thank you again for reading. Uncle Fan out...