AOA tops music charts amid controversy
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Girl band AOA performs new song “10 Seconds” in their latest mini-album “Good Luck” during a showcase at YES24 Live Hall in Gwangjin-gu, Seoul, Monday. / Yonhap
AOA’s Seolhyun sheds tears during a press conference at at YES24 Live Hall, Monday, making remarks on a recent controversy over her lacking of historcial knowledge. / Yonhap
By Kim Jae-heun
K-pop girl group AOA has returned with their fourth mini-album “Good Luck” amid a controversy over remarks made by two of its members, Seolhyun and Jimin, in which they revealed a poor grasp of historical knowledge.
On the fourth episode of cable channel OnStyle’s variety show “Channel AOA” aired on May 3, the two took part in a quiz mission to identify public figures. The two correctly named several figures from history until they stopped at a picture of Ahn Jung-geun, the independence fighter who fought against Japan's bid to occupy the Korean peninsula and is one of Korea’s most widely known historic figures.
Seolhyun, who had been appointed honorary ambassador of Korea by the government body Visit Korea Committee, could not identify Ahn and kept searching on her mobile phone, while Jimin jokingly called out “Ginttokkang,” a Japanese way of calling Kim Du-han, a Jongno street gang leader in the 1950s.
The K-pop stars’ ignorance on basic historical knowledge sparked a controversy over whether to take them seriously, as the singers have a strong influence on teenagers.
Jimin and Seolhyun posted apologies a week later on their Instagram accounts, and the OnStyle production crew sent e-mails to media, acknowledging their mistakes in making the program as well.
Less than two weeks later, the girl group released their fourth mini-album as planned, 11 months after the previous one.
“I am really sorry that I disappointed many fans with the comeback ahead,” said Jimin during a press conference at YES24 Live Hall in Gwangjin-gu, Seoul, Monday. “I will try to do my best.”
Seolhyun burst into tears, saying that she will behave.
However, even before the controversy abated, the group was embroiled in another problem as their new music video featured way too many product placement advertisements (PPL) including Japanese carmaker Toyota. This time, AOA’s agency FNC Entertainment reacted quickly and blurred the Japanese brand logo in the video.
Despite the girl band’s consecutive blunders, the album’s single, “Good Luck,” topped the seven real-time online music charts: Genie Music, Olleh Music, Naver Music, Mnet.com, Soribada, Bugs and Monkey 3 as of Tuesday.
Written by Canadian producer Matthew Tishler, the refreshing dance number is reminiscent of early summer. The album includes four more tracks: “10 Seconds,” “Cherry Pop,” “Crazy Boy” and “Still Falls the Rain.”
“This is the first time that all the songs in the album made it to the music chart. We are happy that our fans recognize we’ve put much effort into every song,” said group member Choa.
Seolhyun added that although the group made a comeback amid such controversy, she hopes for “Good Luck” for herself and her fans.