KARA adds new member: Youngji

 

After Nicole and Jiyoung left KARA earlier this year, DSP launched the Kara Project. Seven trainees would compete, and two would be chosen by votes to become new members of KARA. Well, that two ended up becoming one, and the winner was declared to be Heo Younji (19), bringing KARA to a four-member line-up, similar to the one they had when they debuted.

Honestly, I didn't actually follow this audition. I saw it when it began, but I just wasn't interested enough to keep up with it. So I can't say if maybe another member should have been chosen instead. (Though I loved Puretty so any of the three former members who auditioned would've been great for me.) After looking up videos of Youngji (do you know how many times I've almost called her Jiyoung by accident?), I can say that she's a good singer, and a good dancer, and she has a face that would fit well with the group.

 

The thing about Youngji is, to me, she doesn't seem like she will ever stand out. The question is whether or not that's a good thing. On the one hand, this is a big change for KARA, who has had the same line-up for almost six years. If you add someone who has a totally different image, she would stick out too much and make it feel like it's not the same group that we've known all this time, possibly upsetting long-time KARA fans.

On the other hand, if she blends too much with the rest of the group, then she won't be adding anything, leaving all of us wondering why they even bothered to add a new member.

This is all speculation on my part; as I said, I didn't keep up with the audition, so I don't know as much about this girl as others do. As always, I will have to wait until she actually debuts with the group to make my final judgment.

For now, I will just say congrats, Youngji. I hope you have success and that the Kamilia will truly accept you as part of the group.

KARA will debut their new line-up in August in both Korea and Japan.