Wonder Girls

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For the American rock supergroup, see The Wondergirls.
Wonder Girls
Wonder Girls logo in their first music video "Irony", which is found in the intro.
Wonder Girls logo in their first music video "Irony", which is found in the intro.
Background information
Genre(s) K-pop, R&B, hip-hop
Years active 2007 - present
Label(s) JYP Entertainment
Members
Sunye
Ye-Eun
Sunmi
Sohee
Yoobin
Former members
Hyunah

The Wonder Girls (Korean: 원더걸스) are a South Korean girl group.[1][2] They are produced by singer-songwriter Park Jin-Young and are signed to his talent agency, JYP Entertainment.[2] Each of the five original members were selected through auditions. Ye Eun was the last member to be added, in her fifth JYP Wonder Girls audition.[citation needed] Debuting in 2007, they became popular in fall of that year with the song "Tell Me."

Contents

[edit] History

[edit] Korean debut

The Wonder Girls debuted on February 10, 2007 on Show! Music Core, singing "Irony", the hip-hop single from their debut mini-album, The Wonder Begins. The mini-album went on to become a minor hit, selling 11,454 copies in 2007.[3]

Throughout the rest of 2007, however, the Wonder Girls were beset by various injuries and health problems. On June 25, Ahn Sohee was sidelined for a month after tearing a knee ligament falling off a motorcycle during the filming of 뜨거운 것이 좋아(Some Like It Hot).[4] The remaining four members continued performing until late July, when Hyuna was removed from the group by her parents due to their concern over her health—in particular, chronic gastroenteritis which had her hospitalized briefly in March and April. Although there are rumors of Hyun Ah returning to the group, JYP denied these rumors.[5]

[edit] Increasing popularity

On September 5, 2007, Good Entertainment, the talent agency for the popular boy band Shinhwa, sent their trainee Kim Yoobin to JYP Enterainment as a replacement for Hyunah. She made her debut, three days later in the group's live performance on Music Bank.[6]

Their first full-length album, The Wonder Years, was released the following week, on September 13, 2007, with "Tell Me." Due to the last-minute addition of Kim Yoobin, the album version does not contain her part; however, the performance version of the song was reworked to include a bridge with Yoobin's rap. The single became a strong hit, reaching number one on various Korean television and internet music charts, including KBS's Music Bank.

The choreography for the song was simple and widely imitated: by October, many fan performances of the dance circulated on video sharing sites such as Youtube and Daum[7], including one by a group of policemen who were eventually profiled on SBS's Star King. Even Big Bang had done a special stage with them on many music shows and SBS's Star King. Many celebrities also included their own performances, including Shin Hye Sung and Hong Kyung-min, who sang and danced to the song at their own fan meetings.

Wonder Girls had an extensive promotional schedule for their album and by December 2007, also began performing the second single from the album, "이 바보" (Fool), ; they made numerous appearances on variety and game shows, sang live on radio, at music festivals, on music shows and in special joint performances with other groups such as Big Bang. MTV has also hosted The Wonder Life, a reality TV series starring the girls. In February 2008, however, they ceased promotion of their album to allow Sun Ye and Ye Eun to prepare for their coming college entrance examinations.[8]

[edit] Expanding overseas

The Wonder Girls have had several showcases in China shortly after their debut in 2007 and have been receiving Chinese language lessons.[9]

In January 2008, the Wonder Girls joined their producer Park Jin-young for his month-long concert tour through Korea and the United States (including New York City and Los Angeles) as special guests, and took the opportunity to film the music video for "Wishing on a Star" while in New York City. Park had stated that the concerts were also meant to be a showcase for his other protégés, such as Min, G-Soul, and Lim Jeong Hee.[10]

[edit] Return to Korea

Over the course of 5 days a picture of each member, sporting their new "sexy" image, was released starting with Ye Eun and ending with So Hee. Following this a preview track from the upcoming single was released. Their new single, "So Hot", was released on May 22, 2008; the song topped online charts in the next few days.[11][12] They began their comeback performances on May 31, 2008 on MBC's Music Core, performing "So Hot" and "This Time"; the full single was released on June 3, 2008. Due to vocal chord problems, Yoobin has been lipsynching her parts and will continue to do so, under doctor's orders.[12]

[edit] Member profiles

Birth name[13] Stage name Hangul[13] Hanja Date of birth[14][15]
Min Sun Ye Sun Ye 민선예 閔先藝 August 11, 1989 (1989-08-11) (age 18)
Park Yeh Eun Ye Eun 박예은 朴譽恩 May 26, 1989 (1989-05-26) (age 19)
Sun Mi Sun Mi 선미 宣美 May 2, 1992 (1992-05-02) (age 16)
Ahn So Hee So Hee 안소희 安昭熙 June 27, 1992 (1992-06-27) (age 15)
Kim Yoo Bin Yoo Bin 김유빈 金瑜斌 October 4, 1988 (1988-10-04) (age 19)

[edit] Discography

The Wonder Begins

The Wonder Years

쪼요쪼요 (Jo Yo Jo Yo)

So Hot

[edit] Awards

 This section does not cite any references or sources. (February 2008)
Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed.
Years Awards
2007
  • 2007 M.NET/KM Music Festival: Best New Female Group (Irony)
  • 2007 Golden Disk Awards: Digital Bonsang
  • 2007 Golden Disk Awards: Anycall Popularity Award
  • Music Bank 2007 Song of the Year Award
  • Cyworld Digital Music Awards: Tell Me (11.23.07)
  • Korean Music Arts Festival: Female Photogenic Award
  • KBS Music Bank: Rank 1st in “2007 Song Best 50″ for “Tell Me,”
  • KBS Music Bank: Best Special Stage
  • KBS Music Bank: Best New Singer
2008
  • 17th Seoul Music Awards: Rookie of the Year (Tell Me)

[edit] References

  1. ^ Yi, Dong-jun. "원더걸스, "남자 가수로 구성된 팬클럽 있다!"", Paran Media, 2007-03-13. Retrieved on 2007-03-18. (Korean) 
  2. ^ a b "《On Air》代言人神秘美女5人组", Eastday, 2007-03-07. Retrieved on 2007-03-19. (Chinese) 
  3. ^ a b c d MIAK: 2007 Sales Summary (Korean). Music Industry Association of Korea. Retrieved on 2007-08-10.
  4. ^ Park, Eun-kyung. "원더걸스 소희, 촬영 중 오토바이 사고", 아이뉴스24, 2007-06-25. Retrieved on 2007-08-27. 
  5. ^ Kim, Hyeong-u. "원더걸스 전 멤버 현아,복귀", Paran, 2008-05-21. Retrieved on 2008-5-25. (Korean) 
  6. ^ Kim, Won-gyum. "원더걸스, 새멤버 공개..19세 김유빈", Star News, 2007-09-05. Retrieved on 2007-10-08. (Korean) 
  7. ^ 2007연예결산올해의 사자성어 ‘원더걸스] (Korean). 고뉴스 (2007-12-31). Retrieved on 2007-01-19.
  8. ^ Kim, Gyeong Min. "원더걸스를 못본다! 내년 1월부터 휴식기 들어가", Newsen, 2007-12-18. Retrieved on 2007-12-25. (Korean) 
  9. ^ Kim, Gyeong Min. "완벽한 그녀들, 원더걸스 중국 쇼케이스 현장", ETN, 2007-04-11. Retrieved on 2008-01-13. (Korean) 
  10. ^ "Wonder Girls to Enter U.S. Market", KBS WORLD, 2007-12-20. Retrieved on 2007-12-31. (English) 
  11. ^ 원더걸스 'So Hot', 온라인 3관왕. Retrieved May 29, 2008.
  12. ^ a b Wonder Girls’ Yu-bin Suffers Vocal Cord Injury. KBS World. May 28, 2008. Retrieved June 10, 2008.
  13. ^ a b Kim, Hyeong-u. "원더걸스 현아 장염 입원 5일만에 방송 복귀", Joongang Ilbo, 2007-03-03. Retrieved on 2007-03-19. (Korean) 
  14. ^ "Wonder Girls' official profile". (Korean) 
  15. ^ Note: ages are reckoned in the standard western manner. In many East Asian regions, age is reckoned differently; see East Asian age reckoning. As a result, certain references aimed at Korean readership may have ages listed that differ by one to two years from ages calculated from the birth dates listed below. This does not indicate an error in either this article or the reference, but rather a cultural difference in the way that ages are determined.
  16. ^ "MIAK: February 2008", Retrieved March 28, 2008.
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