T-ara entered autumn this year somewhere at the bottom of the girl group heap. Never mind Kara and Brown Eyed Girls' breakthrough years and Girls' Generation's continued domination, the group faced an uphill battle just among the rookies. In comparison to the more talented 2NE1, the cuter f(x), the sexier 4Minute, and the fiercer After School, T-ara was short on the wow factor. (Breaking the hearts of Yoo Seung Ho fangirls with your debut MV can only get you so far.) T-ara got that break in September with the project single TTL (Time to Love) (Track 10), their collaboration with back-from-oblivion boy band Supernova that improbably managed to boost both groups' careers into relevancy again.
TTL (Time to Love) is a great gimmick - mixing and matching idols for a mixed-gender project group - but it's also a great song that's refreshingly different from other recent K-pop dance hits. The sultry ballad refrain, mellow mid-tempo rap, and gentle dance beats combine for a catchy blast to the past, more late nineties than late 2000s. Souped-up sequel TTL Listen 2 (Track 12) brings things up to speed with harder beats and hip-hop arrangement. While the vocals portions are stronger in TTL, TTL Listen 2 stands out with the rap, in particular Hyo Min's portions. Together, TTL (Time to Love) and TTL Listen 2 successfully bring out two sides of the song and the group, sealing the deal on a unique project collaboration that I would rank among the best K-pop singles of the year.
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