If first became aware of the burgeoning phenomenon that would become KPop (Korean Pop) in 2008 by watching some videos of The Wonder Girls. The group debuted in February 2007 with this single “Irony” and with five members: Yeeun, Sunye, Sunmi, Hyuna and Sohee. The superb choreographed dance routines were way beyond Western girl groups seemed to be able to manage
After Hyuna’s departure in July 2007, Yubin was added into the group prior to the release of their debut studio album, ‘The Wonder Year’ (2007). The album spawned the hit single “Tell Me”, which topped various South Korea’s on and offline music charts.
The success of this album and the singles taken from it resulted in them becoming as one of the top girl groups in the country. The Wonder Girls further established themselves with the hit singles “So Hot” and “Nobody”, which were released in 2008. After being released as a single in the United States in 2009, “Nobody” charted at number seventy-six on the Billboard Hot 100, making the Wonder Girls the first South Korean group to enter the chart. The group began their entry into the American market the same year as an opening act for the Jonas Brothers World Tour, performing English versions of their songs.
As you can see the Wonder Girls are known as “South Korea’s Retro Queens”, as their music has been noted to contain elements from the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s.
In 2010, Sunmi left the group to pursue an academic career and was replaced by Hyerim prior to the Korean & US releases of the single “2 Different Tears”. Their second studio album, Wonder World (2011), yielded the successful single “Be My Baby” before going on a three-year long hiatus. In 2015, it was announced that Sunye and Sohee decided to leave the group while Sunmi would resume promotion with the remaining members. The four-piece adapted a band-oriented concept for their acclaimed third and final studio album, Reboot (2015), and the number one 2016 single “Why So Lonely”.
