Give these questions a Miss

It is par for the K-pop course to have interview questions deemed unsuitable struck off journalists' notebooks and pesky ones about boyfriends or girlfriends definitely blackmarked as no-go.

The Singapore reporters were read the riot act before the MBC Korean Music Wave press conference held at JW Marriott in Seoul last week.

The mega concert at Gardens by the Bay on Nov 16 features a line-up of 13 acts, including 2PM, EXO and Sistar.

Any query that could be seen as negative, or that might give the glossy stars any suggestion of a personality, was chucked out the window.

For Miss A, there were to be no questions about Suzy, 18, going solo. With a role in the hit romantic film Architecture 101 (2012) and a flurry of endorsement deals under her belt, she is certainly the most popular among the four members.

One has to wonder if that has created some strain within the quartet and indeed, they behaved more like a disparate collection of people despite the matching patterned get-ups they wore. Min was the one who preened during the photo call; and Jia and Fei shot off responses in Mandarin during the small- group interview, presumably to the exclusion of the other two Korean members.

In comparison, the vibe that emanated from Teen Top - dressed in a riot of colours, and B1A4, in matchy ensembles dominated by black - was more convivial.

bchan@sph.com.sg

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