This is Sunmi: one of the greatest solo artists in K-Pop!

This is Sunmi: One of the biggest solo artists in K-Pop!

Author: Helen Bosch / Mar 28, 2023

There is hardly a K-Pop fan who hasn't heard a cover of the hits “24 Hours”, “Full Moon” or “Gashina”. They all come from the solo artist Sunmi, who has been on stage since 2007 and has released countless viral songs both as a member of the girl group Wonder Girls and on her own. Their hits are very popular not only in Korea but also internationally!

In this article, we take a closer look at Sunmi's career to understand how she became the legend she is known as today.

Wonder Girls (2006 - 2010)
Solo debut (2013)
Wonder Girls Reunion (2015 - 2016)
2017 to today

Wonder Girls

The Wonder Girls are the first girl group from JYP Entertainment , a label that is now known for many successful stars such as Twice, Stray Kids, ITZY, 2PM and Nmixx. When the Wonder Girls debuted in 2007, JYP Entertainment was still very young and had only celebrated its first big breakthrough a few years earlier with solo singer Rain.

The label produced a reality show called “MTV Wonder Girls” in December 2006, which introduced the members: Sunye, Sohee, Hyuna and most recently Sunmi. She was just 14 years old at the time and had only been a trainee for about a year.

The show gave viewers many exciting insights into the lives of the Wonder Girls members, their training and the production of the debut album. But it wasn't until halfway through the show that they met the fifth member. JYP recently held an open audition for the final spot in Wonder Girls. 1,600 young talents applied within 10 days. The top four took part in the final audition, which was broadcast on MTV's Wonder Girls Show. Immediately after the audition, Park Yeeun was announced as the winner. Just a few days after the audition, the Wonder Girls held their first showcase and performed several covers as well as original songs, such as their debut single “Irony”.

On February 13, 2007, the Wonder Girls debuted the single album “The Wonder Begins”.

The title song “Irony” is still one of the girl group’s best-known songs to this day! The album also contains two other tracks: “Bad Boy”, “It’s Not Love” and a remix by Irony.

Overall, the girl group was very young, because alongside Sunmi, Hyuna and Sohee were only 14 years old when they debuted. Yeeun and Sunye were 17. MTV Wonder Girls only ended on February 23rd and even followed the group as they prepared for their first MTV showcase or searched for their CD in the store.

In fact, three more seasons were produced until 2010. The second one followed in April, before the first comeback.

In September 2007 the first studio album “The Wonder Years” was released with a new member.

In July, Hyuna unexpectedly left the girl group. Her parents were worried about Hyuna, who was struggling with health problems, including fainting spells and chronic gastroenteritis, a common illness that causes diarrhea and vomiting. She debuted in a new girl group called 4Minute in 2009 and also started an extremely successful solo career in 2010.

Just a few days before the release of the studio album, the Wonder Girls got a new member named Yubin. Because Yubin was added at such short notice, she is only featured in the song “Wishing on a Star”. Hyuna can still be heard in all the other songs on the CD. The album contains 13 tracks, including the single “Tell Me,” which topped several Korean charts!

This was followed by the digital single “So Hot” in May 2008 and the first mini album “The Wonder Years: Trilogy” including the title song “Nobody” in September. Both songs topped the charts and won multiple awards and music show trophies! Thanks to their continued success, the Wonder Girls established themselves as one of the most successful K-pop groups of the time!

In 2009, the girl group gave concerts in Asia and the United States as part of their tour. They then released a cover of “Now” (Fin.K.L) with their own music video. JYP Entertainment announced that the group would debut in America soon. To focus on their careers, Sunmi and Sohee even dropped out of school.

The Wonder Girls' success became particularly evident when they were invited by the internationally famous American band Jonas Brothers to accompany them on their world tour.

Shortly before the tour began in June, the girl group presented an English version of “Nobody”. Until October they appeared regularly as the opening act at the concerts. Meanwhile, Nobody made it to the Billboard Hot 100 chart. In fact, the Wonder Girls were the first Korean group to ever chart!

No one can deny that the girl group has contributed greatly to the spread of K-pop outside of Asia.

In 2010 the Wonder Girls lineup changed again. This time Sunmi himself brought about the change. Almost two years after her debut, she decided to put her music career on pause and go back to school.

JYP Entertainment announced this decision in January, but Sunmi remained active until February to complete all the dates already scheduled. As a replacement for Sunmi, a JYP trainee named Hyerim subsequently debuted as a new member of the Wonder Girls.

It took three years for Sunmi to return to the stage. In the meantime, she finished high school and began studying. Meanwhile, the Wonder Girls released three more Korean albums and a Japanese best of album. In November 2012, JYP Entertainment announced that Wonder Girls would be going on hiatus after Sunye announced that she would be getting married in January 2013.

In August 2013, Sunmi started her solo career!

Sunmi had never left JYP Entertainment, so she also made her solo debut under the label. On August 26, 2013, she presented her debut single “24 Hours", which topped all Korean charts! To this day, the song is also known for its sexy choreography, which is often covered.

So Summi used the restart to show a new, more mature side of herself. Successfully! Their first mini album “Full Moon”, which was released on February 17, 2014, also thrilled the masses. It contains seven tracks including 24 Hours and the title track, which, like the album, is called “Full Moon”. The new song was also sexy and elegant at the same time. But critics especially appreciate the fresh sound.

In 2015, Sunmi didn't release any solo music, but surprisingly returned to the Wonder Girls!

The girl group was planning a new album after a two-year break! Within two years, Sunye had had a baby and officially left the entertainment industry. Sohee also said goodbye to JYP Entertainment and the Wonder Girls in December 2013. So there were only three members left: Yeeun, Yubin and Hyerim. Yeeun also started a solo career in 2014 and is known under the stage name Ha:tfelt.

On June 24, 2015, JYP announced that Sunmi would be rejoining the Wonder Girls. The four-piece girl group released a new album entitled “Reboot” on August 3, 2015.

The change was visible not only in the line-up, but also in the concept. This time the Wonder Girls appeared as a band, both in the music video for the title song “I Feel You” and at music show appearances. Sunmi played the bass. The album wasn't as successful on the charts as other Wonder Girls releases, but it still achieved high rankings, for example landing at No. 1 on Billboard's list of the 10 Best K-Pop Albums of 2015 and No. 2 on Billboard's World Album Chart .

And that wasn't the end: On July 5, 2016, the quartet celebrated a comeback with the single album “Why So Lonely”.

The single of the same name topped the Gaon Digital Chart, won four different music shows and was even awarded two awards in 2017: Song of the Year (Gaon Chart Music Awards) & Best Pop Song (Korean Music Awards).

After the girl group had just achieved great success, JYP Entertainment's announcement in January 2017 came as a huge shock to fans worldwide:

The Wonder Girls disbanded because only Yubin and Hyerim renewed their contracts with the label. Yeeun and Sunmi decided against it. But they didn't leave without leaving a parting gift. On February 10th, the final single “Draw Me” was released just three days before their tenth anniversary.

This is how a large part of Sunmi's career ended, which had a strong influence on her and the K-pop industry. But fans didn't have to wait too long for something new, as the singer returned to her solo career!

2017 to today

Sunmi signed a contract with Makeus Entertainment for her reboot. Her first single album “Gashina” hit like a bomb! The title song of the same name became a viral hit. Be it entertainment shows, music shows or awards shows, the song was everywhere and was covered by countless other idols. And no one could get enough of it. Undoubtedly, most K-pop fans can still clearly remember both the song itself and the iconic choreography today!

In 2018, fans were not only happy about a new single called “Heroine” (Jan.), but also about the new mini album “Warning” (Sept.). It was released about four and a half years after the first mini album “Full Moon”. Like 24 Hours, the title song “Siren” topped all Korean charts and earned the singer six music show trophies!

After Sunmi released hit after hit, there were hundreds of thousands of fans around the world eager to see the icon live. In 2019 they got the chance to do so, because in February the singer set off on her first world tour and visited 18 cities in Asia, America and Europe by June.

In between, a new single called “Noir” was released, followed by another single in August: “Lalalay”.

In 2019, the term "Sunmi-pop", which Sunmi herself invented in 2018, became widespread to describe her music.

Sunmi-pop is characterized by the emotions that resonate in Sunmi's songs. They always seem a bit melancholic, even though they are mostly rhythmic, positive songs.

It took almost three years for Sunmi to present a new physical single album this time, but until then she diligently released more singles - “Gotta Go” & “Pporappipam” (2020) - and her second digital single album “Tail” (2021) . She also worked with her former producer Jinyoung Park, the founder of JYP Entertainment, in 2020. Together they released the single “When We Disco” on August 12th and topped the Naver Music and Genie Music charts, among others!

The music video was viewed more than 10 million times in just five days! This also represented a problem for J.Y. Park represents a record. This collaboration shows that Sunmi still has a good relationship with her former label. In fact, it appears from previous interviews that J.Y. Park personally congratulated Sunmi on her successes even after she left.

With the third mini album “⅙” including the title song “You Can’t Sit with Us”, Sunmi set a new personal best. It was released on August 6, 2021 and sold 16,305 copies in its first week. The singer thus far broke her previous record of 2,911 copies sold in the first week, set by Warning!

Before the year ended, Sunmi released what is now her fifth digital single, “Go or Stop?”.

2022 was once again filled with singles and concerts. On March 8th the single “Oh Sorry Ya” was released in collaboration with Spotify and on June 29th Sunmi presented “Heart Burn”. In addition, her extensive world tour 2022 SUNMI TOUR ‘GOOD GIRL GONE MAD’ began in August with concerts in Europe and America. The last concert took place on October 8th in Seoul.

We want more Sunmi-pop in 2023! Hopefully we can tell you about a new album soon.

Sources: Youtube, NME, KPOP HERALD , LIVEJOURNAL

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