Wow! These 5 Girl Group Members are USELESS

Why are they famous?

1. T-ara's Q-ri

Q-ri stands for "cutie pretty" and that is what she is. Prior to joining T-ara, she had some fame as an ulzzang (for those who don't know, this is somewhat comparable to being instagram famous). Her circle lenses are her signature, and she has stuck with the exaggerated cute look all career long. This is not a phase, mom; it's a lifestyle.

During T-ara's debut promotions, she literally had a 3 second line. (She allegedly joined the group late). Luckily, every come back after, she has gotten more and more to sing. She only had to kill for it. As T-4RA, she even briefly covered some of Boram and Soyeon's lines. However, Qri's most iconic moment happened in 2012:

If squeaking is a talent, Qri's got it!

Why do we like Qri?

When we rank idols based on how likely they are to dye their hair pink, Qri comes in first (with Sungjong a close second). She is like a fun Barbie doll, always dressing up, always on top of trends. She is a classy lady, and she ate a flower once. She was the only one who didn't care about determination. In fact, the most important thing about Qri may be that she does not care at all.

Gals being pals

The Verdict: Is being pretty a talent? Is it everything? Certainly, it is undervalued because it is considered women's work. At the very least we now have someone starting with Q for when we play celebrity scrabble.

2. KARA's Goo Hara

Gooey is possibly the most well-known "useless" member. Can't sing, can't dance, only somewhat funny and yet, can you imagine KARA without her? She was representative of every iconic moment KARA had, from the butt dance to the little hats they wore almost every comeback after.

KARA shocked Korea by exposing their backs in PANDORA

Hara joined KARA late, but she achieved initial popularity through Invincible Youth. She became one of the first idols to ever publicly date. She broke THAT glass wall, thank you Hara!

Pushing forward a few years, her solo was deliberately sabotaged by the government. The song she planned to release was banned, and instead she sang "C-C-C" which is a cute song with bad styling. It flopped, she died her hair brown and tried promoting "How About Me?" with changed lyrics.

Eventually, she became the target in a completely unjustified witch-hunt (she said "no," but the MCs kept probing - a consent issue as well as an empathy issue). Not too long after, she became associated with Sulli, and her remaining reputation was shot.

Gals being pals

Why do we like Hara?

No one can look into a camera like Hara does. And despite the hate, she stands strong. I'm not really sure what she stands for, but she sure does it. She is now completely loaded, and we love a woman with money. Additionally, she seems to be a good friend. Thank you to KARA and all that they've done!

The Verdict: Useless, and yet has had a career longer and more successful than most. What a conundrum. I guess talent is more grey than black and white.

Read more about about the nuances of seemingly shallow pop music.

3. I.O.I.'s Kim Sohye

Sohye didn't realize she was auditioning to be in a girl group when she joined Produce 101. You can tell she felt embarrassed and awkward about performing at first. Luckily, she sang a DIA song, so we immediately forgave her.

Sohye wanted to be an actress. Which is why she appeared inauthentic for debuting as an idol with I.O.I. But, by the end of it all, can you say she didn't work for it? She astonished both the audience and the mentors with her improvement and gained attention for looking like other idols, such as Paruru and Ahn Sohee. And, now that we like Pinky, I can, in confidence, say the following was my favorite Produce 101 performance:

Since I.O.I.'s disbandment, Sohye has stayed relatively low. For now, she has her own entertainment company, S&P Entertainment, which, cutely enough, stands for Shark & Penguin Entertainment.

Why do we like Sohye?

Sohye came to Produce 101 with no singing or dancing experience, and out of 101 trainees, came in fifth place. Her clumsiness is inspiring, only she could get away with messing up the lyrics to a Wonder Girls song and not be exiled by The Collective.* Her awkwardness is endearing and she has a super cute smile.

The Verdict: We like Sohye a lot, and she does what she does well. It's almost as if the idea that talent is something you are born with and can't be learned is super outdated. But what does research know!

*we can't appear divided, so it is now that I have published this it is Law.

4. 5doll's Hyewon

Upon debut, Hyewon immediately got flack for a predebut audition video. Additionally, she received minimal lines during CO-ED SCHOOL's promotions. But she did get a dance break!  She looks a lot like Hara, so maybe she was destined to be deemed useless by the public.

5dolls was a subunit of CO-ED SCHOOL, one of KARD's predecessors in gender amalgamation. They came from MBK (when it was still CCM), so you know every song was a Certified Bop™.

Read about CO-ED SCHOOL's plagiarism here.

Why do we like Hyewon?

Her voice is actually very deep, and adds a unique touch to 5dolls's music. Also, she had cute hair that time. 5dolls got somehow caught up with T-ara's scandals and, tragically, died before they really began. CHARMING 5DOLLS, FIVE PRETTY GIRLS IDOL GROUP's first album is actually one of my all-time favorite girl group albums.

The Verdict: It seems some seemingly talent-less members have just not had a chance to show their talent because of low popularity and companies led by egotistical JYP-wannabes. Who could have guessed.

5. Red Velvet's Yeri

Yeri is good at staring into the camera. That's about it.

Stare deeply into Pustulio (sc)

But we at The Collective don't begrudge her that. But apparently others still do, and on one V app you can see her face fall as hate comments are posted live.

An ex-SM trainee said of Yeri, "She hasn't got a great voice or amazing dancing skills. But the girl talent in SM is not that great at the moment and is heavily outclassed by boys. There are less girl trainees and none stand out, Yeri was the best candidate." It seems she was "good enough" rather than "perfect for the group," which makes a lot of sense to me, considering, as a fan, I must say that all of Red Velvet's talent is mediocre.

Why do we like Yeri?

Yeri is young, so we can't judge her. (Yet.) But seriously, I sincerely hope that the industry does not traumatize her and that she never regrets her childhood. She has a very bright smile and that's what's important.

The Verdict: Some idols are young and probably should not be debuted when they are not ready because they are literally children.