[adikkeluangman]

June 19th, 2007

K-Pop: Sexy Stars Versus Sweet Girls


Singer Ivy is known for wearing hot pants
that show off her beautiful legs.

By Cathy Rose A. Garcia
Staff Reporter

Lee Hyo-lee's reign as K-pop's hottest is being challenged by singers like Ivy, Chae Yeon, and Seo In-young.

Lee sent temperatures rising in 2003 when she made her debut as a sexy singer. Many female singers have since tried to follow in her footsteps, pushing the limits of sexiness with barely-there outfits and hot dance moves.

Lee is still a top fashion icon and sought-after product endorser, but she seems to be looking for a new direction for her career. She appears in several ads as well as sizzling spreads showing off her gleaming skin and curves in fashion magazines like W and Cosmopolitan.

Earlier this year, there was a backlash against her sexy image. Her recent mini-drama ``If In Love ... Like Them'' failed to draw in audiences. Lee has also not been paying much attention to her music career, only releasing a digital single album last March.


While Lee struggles, several female K-pop singers are making their move. Some are going for the hardcore sexy image, while others are keeping it sweet.

Leading the pack of sexy singers are Seo In-young and Chae Yeon. Seo, a former member of girl group Jewelry, who has generated controversy with her barely-there costumes and hot dance moves. At the Dream Concert last weekend, she even gave a pole-dancing performance.

Chae Yeon also doesn't balk at being branded as a ``sexy singer." She has recently been performing her latest dance single ``My Love," while wearing low-slung mini-skirts and cropped tops.

While these divas have been trying to outdo each other with sexiness, there is another group of singers who are downplaying their sex appeal. Ivy, Lexy, Hyun Young and Banana Girl are still making waves in the music scene with their unique personalities.

Ivy may have made her debut with a sexy image last year, and helped popularize hot pants that showed off her beautiful legs. This year, Ivy is focusing more on showing her strong voice and keeping her clothes on.


Banana Girl scored a hit with “Chocolate,”
a pop song perfect for her cute image

It may have helped her career more, since she was chosen as the opening act for international pop superstar Christina Aguilera's concert in Seoul this weekend. She is also preparing for her solo concert ``Ivy & Present First Concert" on June 30 at Jamsil Indoor Stadium.

Lexy is going the opposite route of sexy with a tough tomboyish image. The hip-hop star released her third album ``Rush" last April.

Hyun Young is making the transition from actress to perky pop star. She looked like a Barbie doll with blonde hair and pink clothes, for her almost-comical music video ``Love Revolution." Her remake of Japanese group Morning Musume's song is climbing the charts.

Banana Girl's cute, fresh look and catchy song ``Chocolate" is also making a splash in the music charts.

Source: cathy@ koreatimes
Credit: kpopkingdom.com

[KoReAn_MiNaM_93]

Eh.. I will still love Lee Hyori over all those female singers who r trying to get into the spotlight tat Hyori had before atleast. GO LEE HYORI!!!!!!!!!

[Yumi -]

Hyori is original. hahaha.she doesn't have to try.she IS sexy. you know?Hyori is original. hahaha.she doesn't have to try.she IS sexy. you know?

[infinityyy]

Ahh, agree with the first two posts!
Hyori's just gorgeous and talented. <3

--About Seo In Young giving that pole dance.. yiikes. Going a bit too over the top now? This goes for any singer that tries that--even Hyori.

Anyway, Hyori will make her comeback And much kudos to those concentrating on voice & music instead of image & trying to outdue eachother on the sexiness appeal thing. (Man, I kinda liked ChaeYeon too T__T why is she on that list?!)

[kayem7289]

Everyone's going for the sexy image these days, sex sells and they know it.
I don't really care though, I still adore Hyori and Chae Yeon.

[icecube.]

Of course Hyori is THE original. But I think Ivy & Chae Yeon are sexy
in their own ways. All three of them appeal different ways.

Lee Hyori: She's just sexy. You look at her, you can tell she's sexy on stage. Off stage I think she's really sweet &
a great person to get to know but on stage she has this sexiness overload. ^^

Ivy: Now she's the first singer I've seen that was sexy WITH clothes on. ^^ She's sexy while she has really strong
vocals and I like that about her. She has two sides to her, a sexy one and a sweet ballad singer side. You can really
call her sexy charisma.

Chae Yeon: I just love her cus she's so awesome on & off stage. Being able to do waves like that at her age, I think she's
pretty impressive. I mean Hyori's really good to but she's a little younger than Chae Yeon right? I think Chae Yeon's dance
moves aren't that like slutty way but still sexy in a different way.

Seo In Young: She just tries too hard to be sexy. It'd be so much better if she didn't try so hard. First singer I saw
that went onstage without makeup and I respect her for that. She's a good singer and a good dancer.

[ohchells]

Hyori is indeed the original. Out of the other three that are mentioned, I like Chae Yeon and that's it. I don't really listen to the others.

[~lin~]

yea, no one can TOP Hyori... she owns that title... some are just trying too hard and it just look slutty to me then sexy.

[biteme_lestat]

Yes, Hyori IS SEXY...but I guess when I comes to vocals, Ivy is IT. I mean, with all the discussion about image and dance moves and stuff, it's so easy to forget that as a singer...uhm, vocals should be the most important. Not bashing on anyone, just stating a fact ^^;;

[Coopcayke]

sometimes hyori looks slutty to me.. Ivy is sexy, even when she's fully clothed n singing ballad song
hyori is prettier tho

[Island]

Yes, Hyori IS SEXY...but I guess when I comes to vocals, Ivy is IT. I mean, with all the discussion about image and dance moves and stuff, it's so easy to forget that as a singer...uhm, vocals should be the most important. Not bashing on anyone, just stating a fact ^^;;

I agree also. I think Ivy has the best vocals out of all of them.
But they're all great performers in their own ways.

[Izzie]

I think Ivy can outstage all of them.

she proved she can do .. basically anything with her concert

i wish i went

[pinkpiglet]

i totally think that you can be sexy with clothes on...
one example can be ivy as usual lol
less clothes doesn't mean more sexy =/
it's just how you approach it in my opinion.
i hope the "less clothing" stops now...
no doubt that those are the best singers though ^^
BUT ivy's the most successful out of them all.
the cute concept annoys the heck out of me lol
hyun young is a sexy concept too though O_O

[mizahyesung]

reading the news, i do realise the culture that is happening among most Kpop female singer today in Korea.
Firstly, I think Hyori is original.. i mean when she came out as solo, those other female singers listed as "sexy" in the news above werent debuted yet. So she started all this "sexy" image with herself.. (altho im not realy a big fan of her) but I do think she's still the best out of all the other sexy female artists mentioned above.

Also, I think Ivy have the best and stronest vocal out of all.. that is why somehow i always hope how she can really get the sucess with her if she can just dress prettily erk i mean not too revealing clothes and all.. but yeah

[Bsarang*]

i'll still love Lee Hyori
anyway her movie 'If in Love..Like Them'
i've already watched it and it's not that bad
it's about a woman named Ina
she's soon-to-debut singer but liukemia
made her faint and somebody came then
pretend to be her on the stage and that's
make ppl understand that the woman on the stage is Ina
it's make her feel sad and has a suicidal thought
but a man named Jeong tae roled by 'Lee Donggun'
hav come and saved her ^^ and the story go on bla~~

it's a good movie one i love it ^^; if anyone of u
wanna watch this it's online in veoh search it!

[KuYA II]

Yes, Hyori IS SEXY...but I guess when I comes to vocals, Ivy is IT. I mean, with all the discussion about image and dance moves and stuff, it's so easy to forget that as a singer...uhm, vocals should be the most important. Not bashing on anyone, just stating a fact ^^;;

i agree....Hyori is original for her sex appeal...while Ivy is original for using her powerful vocals and dance moves as her "sexy" powerful appeal.

these two artist alone own those other artists hehe...except for lexy shes just great rapper =)

[kyff]

While i agree braodly with the article,
saying that Hyori's not paying attention to her musical career isn't fair. She's working on her 3rd album. And the digital single was the first release with her new company. I got the sense that with her Tok Tok Tok and If In Love Like Them promotions she was.... testing the water, trying to stretch herself.

That considered, saying that the reason the mini-drama didn't do so well was a backlash against her sexy image doesn't sound quite right either. Her role didn't have the overtly sexy image. I'll admit i didn't watch it, ok, but the impression i was getting from everywhere was that the reason it didn't do so well was that it/the acting wasn't that great.

Oh yeah, and I'm guessing this article was written before Ivy decided it was a good idea to pole dance at that charity gig x__x

Yeah... i really don't think much of the journalist who wrote this <__<