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| Wonder Girls |
Wonder Girls (Korean: 원더걸스) is 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] Though popular and well-received by fans, the Wonder Girls do have rivals, including Cats, Kara, and Baby Vox Re.V.
Each of the five original members were selected through auditions; the oldest, Ye Eun, was the last member to be added, after having previously been rejected.[citation needed] They debuted on February 11, 2007 on M! Countdown, singing the hip-hop number "Irony", the title song of their debut mini-album, The Wonder Begins.
On June 25, 2007, member Ahn So Hee 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),[3] causing the group to promote as a four-member group. Ahn returned to promotions after healing, but the group returned to a four-member group once again as Kim Hyun A left the group in late July due to her parents' concern over her health—in particular, chronic gastroenteritis which had her hospitalized briefly in March and April.[4]
The group would continue to be a four-member band until Good Entertainment, management of the popular boy band Shinhwa, switched their trainee Kim Yoo Bin to JYP as Hyun A's replacement in early September.[5] She debuted three days later in the group's live performance on Music Bank of Tell Me, a 1980s disco-themed number from their first album, The Wonder Year. With her as Hyun A's replacement, the Wonder Girls once again became a five-member girl band.
On September 14, 2007, all five members (including their manager and stylist) were briefly hospitalized with concussion and other minor injuries after an early-morning traffic accident returning from a performance at Dong-Eui Institute of Technology in Pusan. The van in which they were travelling rear-ended a taxi, killing the driver of the taxi and injuring nine others.[6][7]
After the accident, the Wonder Girls went back to promotions and performing songs from their album, including Tell Me, which reached #1 on various charts, and "이바보" (This Fool) at music festivals and on gayo television shows. Tell Me surprisingly became a national hit and many South Koreans uploaded videos imitating the dance moves. The group also did a crossover with the hip-hop group Big Bang on KBS' Music Bank show.
Albums / Singles:
The Wonder Begins
The Wonder Years |
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