2006?07:
MTV Wonder Girls
, debut and line-up changes
edit
After Park Jin-young revealed the name of his first girl group Wonder Girls in May 2006, the Wonder Girls were introduced through a TV show titled
MTV Wonder Girls
.
[
citation needed
]
The first four episodes outlined the characteristics and profiles of each member. Shortly after selecting
Yeeun
as the fifth member, the Wonder Girls held their first showcase in the MTV Studio. They performed a cover version of "
Don't Cha
" by the
Pussycat Dolls
as well as original songs, including "Irony" and "It's Not Love".
Sunye
sang
Destiny's Child
's "
Stand Up for Love
", while
Hyuna
performed a showcase of her dancing skills. The other three members?Yeeun,
Sunmi
, and
Sohee
?performed a cover version of
Janet Jackson
's "
Together Again
".
The Wonder Girls officially debuted in early 2007 on
MBC
's
Show! Music Core
, performing "
Irony
", the
hip-hop
single from their debut EP,
The Wonder Begins
. The album sold 11,454 physical copies in 2007.
[5]
Shortly after, "Wonderfuls", the official Wonder Girls fanclub, was established. The group held several showcases in
China
after receiving Chinese lessons.
[6]
In mid-2007, however, members of the Wonder Girls were beset by various injuries and health problems. On June 25, Sohee was sidelined for a month after tearing a
knee ligament
in a fall from a running motorcycle during the filming of the movie
I Like It Hot.
[7]
The remaining four members continued performing until late July, when Hyuna was withdrew from the group due to her problems with chronic
gastroenteritis
and fainting spells.
[8]
In August 2007, the talent agency Good Entertainment sent their trainee
Yubin
to
JYP Entertainment
as a replacement for Hyuna. She made her debut three days later in the group's live performance of "
Tell Me
" on
Music Bank
.
[9]
Their first full-length album,
The Wonder Years
, was released the following week with "Tell Me" as the lead single. Due to the last-minute addition of Yubin, the album version does not contain her part. However, the performance version of the song was reworked to include a bridge with rapping by Yubin. The single was a hit and reached number one on various Korean television and internet music charts, including
KBS
's
Music Bank
.
[
citation needed
]
The song also became a number one hit in Thailand.
[8]
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,
[10]
including one by a group of policemen who were eventually profiled on
SBS
's
Star King
. The dance's popularity it received became widely known as the "Tell Me Virus".
[11]
The Wonder Girls had an extensive promotional schedule for their album, and in late 2007 they began performing their second single, "이 바보" ("This Fool").
MTV
also began broadcasting
The Wonder Life
, a reality TV series starring the girls.
2008: Breakthrough
edit
In February 2008, the Wonder Girls joined their producer
Park Jin-young
for his month-long concert tour through Korea and the United States as special guests, where they filmed the music video for "Wishing on a Star" while in New York.
[12]
"
So Hot
" was released on May 22, 2008. The song topped online charts soon after.
[13]
[14]
In mid-2008, they performed on MBC's
Show! Music Core
, performing "So Hot" and "This Time". Due to a vocal cord injury, Yubin temporarily lip-synced her parts under doctor's orders.
[14]
On September 22, 2008, the group released the single "
Nobody
". They performed the following weekend on
Show! Music Core
,
Music Bank
and
Inkigayo
. The song went to No. 1 on KBS'
Music Bank
, staying there for four consecutive weeks,
[15]
and also won
Cyworld
's "Song of the Month" award in September and October 2008.
[16]
Like "
Tell Me
", "Nobody" also sparked a dance craze.
[17]
At the 2008
Mnet KM Music Festival Awards
, the Wonder Girls received three awards: the "Song of the Year" award, "Best Music Video" for "Nobody" and "Best Female Group".
[18]
The group also won an award at the 2008 Golden Disk Awards for high digital sales.
[19]
At the 18th Seoul Music Awards, the Wonder Girls won the Daesang ("Artist of the Year" award), the highest award offered, for "Nobody", in addition to two other awards.
[20]
In October 2008, the Wonder Girls were signed by the
Creative Artists Agency
(CAA). By the end of 2008, they had earned
\
12?billion (
$
9?million US) as a group.
[21]
2009?10: Focus on international activities, touring and line-up changes
edit
The Wonder Girls tour began on February 28, 2009, in Bangkok, Thailand. Along with their mentor,
JYP
, they held concerts throughout the United States.
[22]
The group then returned to South Korea, holding concerts in late March in
Seoul
and
Busan
.
[23]
This tour was documented in the
M.net
reality show
Welcome to Wonderland
. Following the tour, the Wonder Girls debuted a music video for "Now", a cover of the
Fin.K.L
single.
In March 2009, the Wonder Girls confirmed that the group would launch in an English-language music career in the United States with the official release of an English version of "Nobody" in summer 2009.
[24]
It was later announced that the release would be followed by an English version of "Tell Me",
[25]
and that an English album would be forthcoming.
[26]
In June 2009, JYP Entertainment announced that the Wonder Girls would be joining the
Jonas Brothers
on the North American leg of the
Jonas Brothers World Tour 2009
.
[25]
The Wonder Girls were initially signed on for 13 concert dates across the US, but they were eventually given the opportunity to join the Jonas Brothers for a total of 45 concert dates.
[27]
In order to concentrate on their American debut, both Sohee and Sunmi dropped out of high school.
[28]
[29]
The English version of "Nobody" was released on June 26, 2009, the day before the start of their tour with the
Jonas Brothers
. "Nobody" entered the
Billboard
Hot 100
in October 2009, making them the first Korean group to enter the chart.
[1]
[30]
"Nobody" became the best-selling physical single in the United States in 2009.
[31]
The song also topped the Taiwan and Hong Kong music charts.
[32]
On January 22, 2010, JYP announced that Sunmi would be postponing her musical career to pursue an academic career and that
Hyerim
, a JYP trainee, would take her place.
[33]
[34]
Sunmi continued to work as a participating member of the Wonder Girls in through February in order to complete scheduled events. Sunmi's departure put many of the group's American plans into disarray. The Wonder Girls had been preparing an English album, with six tracks to consist of English versions of Korean singles and the other half of brand new material, initially scheduled for release in February 2010.
[35]
They were also planning to have a headlining tour in January 2010;
[35]
however, due to the departure of Sunmi, plans for the tour were delayed and the album was eventually scrapped.
[36]
On April 5, 2010, the Wonder Girls announced a 20-show tour of the US and Canada, dubbed "The Wonder World Tour", which included fellow label mates
2PM
for nine dates in conjunction with
Live Nation
.
[37]
The tour consisted of a combination of the English and Korean versions of their hits, covers of popular English-language songs, and new songs from their then-upcoming album.
[38]
The first leg of the tour began in Washington, D.C., on June 4, 2010. The tour was eventually extended to add an additional leg in which label mates,
2AM
, would open for the group during certain dates.
[39]
The Wonder Girls followed up their tour announcement with the unveiling of their latest single, titled "
2 Different Tears
". The track was recorded in Chinese, Korean, and English and released on May 15, 2010. The music video for "2 Different Tears" premiered on YouTube on the same day and was shot in the
Gyeonggi-do
province of South Korea. The video features appearances by Park Jin-young and the Korean-American comedian
Bobby Lee
.
[40]
The song was released on an EP of the same name which contains English versions of the group's previous Korean hits "Tell Me" and "So Hot" alongside the previously released "Nobody".
[41]
Between May 15 and 31, 2010, the Wonder Girls returned to South Korea to promote the Korean version of "2 Different Tears". They appeared on Mnet's
M! Countdown
on May 22, 2010. On May 27, the Wonder Girls won their first No. 1 award for "2 Different Tears" on
M! Countdown
. The group ended their last week of promotional activities in South Korea by performing on MBC's
Music Core
on May 29, 2010. During this two-week period, the Wonder Girls also appeared on several Korean variety and talk shows, including KBS's
Win Win
and
Happy Together
, as well as
SBS
's
Family Outing 2
and MBC's
Come to Play
.
On July 29, MTV Korea premiered season 4 of
Wonder Girls
, which introduced the Wonder Girls' everyday life in the United States, such as at their New York home and studio, and preparations for the
MTV World Stage Live in Malaysia 2010
.
[42]
The
MTV World Stage Live in Malaysia 2010
was held at the Sunway Lagoon Surf Beach on July 31, and the show was broadcast on August 21 on MTV Asia.
[43]
On July 30,
M.net
premiered a new show
Made in Wonder Girls
that took viewers behind the scenes of the group's first American tour as well as their promotions in Singapore and Indonesia.
[44]
On August 3, the Wonder Girls performed in Singapore's SINGfest 2010 at Fort Canning Park.
[45]
2011?12:
Wonder World
and further international ventures
edit
In January 2011,
JYP Entertainment
's CEO Park Jin-young hinted on his Twitter account that he had written a new song for the group while recording in the drama
Dream High
and later tweeted that other producers were involved in producing the group's upcoming English-language album.
Rainstone
of JYP Entertainment said that the album was expected to have six to seven tracks. Producer
Rodney "Darkchild" Jerkins
and the Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter
Claude Kelly
were revealed to be participating in the album and the album was to be released by one of the three major labels of America.
On June 30, it was announced on their official website that the girls had been invited to perform at the 2011
Special Olympics
closing ceremonies in
Athens
, Greece. They performed the traditional Korean folk song "
Arirang
" along with "Nobody" sung in English and "Tell Me" sung in Korean. On August 5, The Wonder Girls appeared on Billboard.com's
Mashup Monday
program, performing a self-arranged cover version of B.o.B and Bruno Mars' "Nothin' on You".
[46]
On October 9, 2011, a representative revealed, "The [English-language] album will be produced in a movie OST format. We'll be planning our concept to fit around the feel of the song, so as opposed to retro, we feel that it will be more pop. The Wonder Girls will definitely be coming out with a new image, so please look forward to it."
On October 23, JYP revealed a new poster, "R U Ready?", hanging over their company's building with a new version of the Wonder Girls' logo.
Wonder World
was announced as the group's second full-length album and was released on November 7, 2011 along with the single "Be My Baby". The album featured more writing and production input from the group members. Promotions for
Wonder World
began with a comeback stage on
Music Bank
on November 11 and continued through January 2012.
[47]
The group returned to American activities with their made-for-TV movie
The Wonder Girls
in early 2012. "The DJ Is Mine", an English-language song featuring
School Gyrls
, was released as a promotional tie-in single for the movie on January 11. "The DJ Is Mine" reached number one on several Korean charts. The movie premiered on February 2 on the
TeenNick
channel, and featured the then-unreleased English song "
Like Money
". Following the release of the movie, the group received proposals from major broadcasting companies in the United States, and were in talks concerning full U.S. promotions and activities for their debut English-language album. The twelve-track album was said to have been completed and was scheduled for a summer 2012 release.
[48]
On June 3, 2012, the group released the mini-album
Wonder Party
in Korea alongside the album's lead single "Like This". On July 10, 2012, "Like Money" featuring
Akon
was released as a single in the United States, in what would become their last completely English-language release as a group. On July 25, the group made their debut in Japan under
DefStar Records
with the release of a Japanese-language version of "Nobody"; the single release was called "
Nobody for Everybody
".
[49]
In early September 2012, the group performed three new songs from their then-upcoming English-language album at an
iHeartRadio
concert. On October 29, 2012, Wonder Girls participated in a joint-interview with Nick Cannon in which they discussed the release of their English-language album as well as a new show showcasing the Wonder Girls as a spin-off from their original movie.
[50]
On November 14, Wonder Girls released the compilation album
Wonder Best
in Japan, which included a new song, updated versions of older hit songs, and Japanese versions of their songs.
2013?14: Group hiatus
edit
Sunye announced in November 2012 that she would get married in January 2013; JYP announced that the group would go on hiatus.
[51]
The Wonder Girls performed for the last time before their hiatus at the Winter Special Olympics in
Pyeong Chang
, South Korea on February 5, 2013.
[52]
Due to the hiatus, plans for the English-language album, an English television series, as well as any future promotions in the United States were entirely scrapped.
[53]
Sunye gave birth to a daughter in October 2013.
[54]
JYP Entertainment stated that she would still remain as a member of the group regardless of her inactive status.
[55]
[56]
[57]
[58]
In December 2013, Sohee left JYP Entertainment and signed with KeyEast Entertainment to focus on an acting career.
[59]
[60]
In August 2013, former member Sunmi debuted as a solo artist with the release of the single "
24 Hours
".
[61]
[62]
In the following year, she released her debut
EP
entitled
Full Moon
. On July 23, 2014, it was announced that Yeeun would be making her debut as solo artist under the pseudonym Ha:tfelt (amalgamation of the pronunciation of the word "Hot" and "Heartfelt"). Her debut mini-album
Me?
was released on July 31, 2014.
[63]
2015: Line-up changes and comeback with
Reboot
edit
On June 24, 2015, JYP Entertainment announced that the Wonder Girls would be making a comeback after a three-year hiatus. After being an inactive member of the group since early 2013, Sunye officially announced her departure from the group in July 2015.
[64]
A representative of the agency confirmed that former member Sunmi would re-join the group for the first time since withdrawing in 2010.
[65]
The group released the album
Reboot
on August 3.
[66]
"I Feel You" was released as the lead single from album on August 2. Rather than solely a dance group, the Wonder Girls returned as a four-member band with each member playing an instrument: Yubin (drums), Yeeun (keyboard), Hyerim (guitar), and Sunmi (bass). Their comeback featured a retro, 1980s sound resonant throughout the album, similar to some of their past releases.
[67]
Each member participated in the composition and production of the album.
[68]
The album was a commercial success, peaking at number five on
Gaon Albums Chart
and number two on the
Billboard
World Albums
chart.
On October 2, it was announced that the Wonder Girls would host an episode of
Saturday Night Live Korea
. They performed "I Feel You", "Nobody", and "Tell Me". On December 27, they performed at
SBS Gayo Daejeon
, and on December 31 at
2015 MBC Gayo Daejejeon
.
Reboot
was ranked No. 1 on The 10 Best K-Pop Albums of 2015 by
Billboard
,
[69]
and No. 18 on The 20 Best Albums of 2015 by
FuseTV
.
[70]
2016?17:
Why So Lonely
and disbandment
edit
On June 18, 2016, the group released "To the Beautiful You" as a limited-release promotional single. On July 5, the Wonder Girls released the song "
Why So Lonely
", with "To the Beautiful You" and "Sweet & Easy" serving as B-sides, as a CD and as a digital single. The single was commercially successful in South Korea; the digital download topped the Gaon Digital Chart. On July 12, the group performed the dance version of
Why So Lonely
for the first time on
SBS MTV
's
The Show
, winning the trophy for that week. This was their first win on a music program since the release of "Like This" in 2012.
[71]
The group also performed the song at the launch ceremony for the
South Korean Olympic team
on July 19.
[72]
By the end of the year, "Why So Lonely" garnered nearly 1,124,000 units in digital sales and was ranked as the 26th best-selling song in the country during 2016.
[73]
On January 26, 2017, JYP Entertainment announced that Wonder Girls were disbanding, with only Yubin and Hyerim renewing their contracts while Yeeun and Sunmi decided to leave the company.
[74]
[75]
The group released their final single "
Draw Me
" on February 10; it also serves as a celebration for their 10th anniversary since debut.
[76]
[77]