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With 13 members, WJSN is one of the biggest girl groups in South Korea. The group is also known as "Cosmic Girls" and has been working their way up since their debut in 2016!

In April 2015, two entertainments joined hands. Korean agency "Starship Entertainment" and Chinese agency "Yuehua Entertainment" signed a joint contract to produce a Korean-Chinese girl group.

In December of the same year, the two agencies introduced 12 trainees over the month who would debut together as WJSN / Cosmic Girls. 9 of them are from Korea and 3 from China. The members are divided into four units "Wonder", "Joy", "Sweet" & "Natural", whose initials make the name "WJSN". On December 10, the Wonder Unit was introduced first, and the Natural Unit was introduced last on December 31. With that, the girl group was ready to debut in the new year! Before we continue, let's give you a quick rundown of the members:

Wonder Unit

Dayoung was featured in the first episodes of the survival show K-Pop Star (season 1) in 2011.

Joy Unit

Eunso made a guest appearance in the music video "Rush" by fellow agency members Monsta X shortly before the debut of WJSN.

Sweet Unit

EXY was already known to some fans for her appearances in "Unpretty Rapstar" (Season 2); a show where female rappers show off their skills. Seola already showed herself to the public in 2012 in a music video of the boy group "Boyfriend", which also belongs to Starship Entertainment.

Natural Unit

There are 13 members listed here, as another member joined shortly after WJSN's debut: Yeonjung. You can find out how that came about right here!

At the beginning of 2016, the members of WJSN were still very active on the road to debut. Five of them - Xuan Yi, EXY, Dawon, Eunseo, and Cheng Xiao - appeared as a guest in the music video "Happy New Year" by Yuehua Entertainment's boy group UNIQ, and Eunseo was featured in the video for Yoo Seung Woo's "Whatever." In between, Xuan Yi, EXY, Eunseo, Cheng Xiao, Seola, and Bona were also featured in "Cosmopolitan" magazine!

Finally, on February 25, 2016, WJSN debuted with the mini album "Would You Like?"

The album reached #7 on the Gaon Album Charts; so it was a success! "Would You Like?" contains 6 songs, including the title song "MoMoMo" and a Chinese version of it. Since there are several Chinese members, it is not surprising that a Chinese version of the title song is always included in the following albums as well.

In March, the girl group released another music video for the B-side "Catch Me". This was already their last activity as a twelve-piece!

Four months later, Starship Entertainment confirmed the rumors that WJSN will add a 13th member: Yu Yeonjung!

Yeonjung participated in the survival show "Produce 101" from January to April 2016 and placed 11th in the finals. This won her a spot in the eleven-member project group I.O.I, which would be active together until January 2017.

I.O.I debuted on May 4, 2016 with the mini album "Chrysalis". Just a month later, a subunit was formed with 7 members that would release an album in the summer. Meanwhile, the other four members turned to their own projects. Two of them - Kang Mina and Kim Sejong - were preparing for a debut in the girl group "Gugudan," Jung Chaeyeon returned to her original group "DIA," and Yeonjung joined WJSN.

Before WJSN made their first comeback, seven of them - Seola, EXY, Soobin, Eunseo, Cheng Xiao, Yeoreum, and Dayoung - formed a unit called "Y-Teen" together with 7-member boy group Monsta X, which also belongs to Starship Entertainment. Y-Teen's first and so far latest single "Do Better" was released on August 6.

On August 9, the I.O.I subunit released the single album "Whatta Man (Good Man)" and on August 15, they released the digital single "Hand in Hand", which all 11 members including Yeonjung, recorded together.

WJSN has been quite busy, because just a few days later, on August 17, the group unveiled their second mini-album, "The Secret," featuring all 13 members! The Secret made it to #6 on the Gaon Album Charts, one notch higher than the debut album.

For Yeonjung, things continued right after that; in October, I.O.I released their third album "Miss Me?" including the title song "Very Very Very." The song earned the girl group their very first music show win!

The year ended for WJSN's fans with the anticipation of a new album, as in mid-December the girl group announced a comeback for January 2017.

The year 2017 was very exciting for WJSN and their fans in many ways.

First, of course, was the release of the previously announced third mini album "From. WJSN" including the title track "I Wish". Also, on January 11, the official fan club name was announced. Since then, fans can proudly call themselves "UJUNG". "Ujung" (우정) is the Korean word for "friendship" and in this case also an abbreviation for "space station (우주 정거장)". The latter is a reference to the Korean name of the group: "Uju Sonyeo (우주소녀)". This literally means "space girls" (in English: "cosmic girls").

Once again as a reminder: The girl group uses both the name "WJSN" - composed of the initials of the four units - and "Cosmic Girls".

Both meanings of UJUNG embody the close connection between WJSN and the fans. So it' s perfect!

On January 17, I.O.I released their final single "Downpour" - written and co-produced by Seventeen's Woozi - before the project group disbanded as planned on January 29, 2017. From then on, Yeonjung fully focused on her activities with WJSN.

After a 3-month break, the girl group continued on a roll. WJSN held their first solo concert "Would You Like - Happy Moment" on May 19 & 20 in Seoul, released their fourth album "Happy Moment" in June and a commercial single titled "Kiss Me" for make up brand KissMe. Happy Moment, by the way, was the first full-length album and contained 10 songs!

After the fan club name was announced in January, there was also exciting news for the fans in September. The official fan colors were announced: Vivid Tangerine, Airforce Blue and Timberwolf. (Simplified: bright red-orange, blue-gray, light gray). Also, the official Lightstick was revealed, which was launched 3 months later, in December 2017.

2018 also began with the release of a new album.

It was released on February 27 and is titled "Dream Your Dream." This was followed by the girl group's first fan meeting in March! However, two of the Chinese members - Xuanyi and Meiqi - were not there because they were already filming for the survival show "Produce 101 China," which aired from April to June.

The show is the Chinese equivalent of "Produce 101" in Korea, where Yeonjung placed 11th and thus won a spot in the project group I. O. I. Xuanyi and Meiqi even made it to the top in the end! Meiqi took first place, closely followed by Xuanyi in 2nd place! So in June 2018, the two debuted in the project group "Rocket Girls 101", which would be active for two years and disband in June 2020.

Even before the debut of Rocket Girls 101, a unit was formed. It consisted of Seola and Luda from WJSN and Doyeon and Yoojung from Weki Meki. Weki Meki is a girl group from Fantagio Entertainment, so it was an unexpected project that happily surprised fans. The unit called itself WJMK and released its first and last digital single "Strong" on June 1.

In September, WJSN returned again as a group with the mini album "WJ Please?". This time, however, it was only ten members. Xuanyi and Meiqi were on the road with Rocket Girls 101, as expected, and the third Chinese member Cheng Xiao was filming a historical fantasy series in China called "Legend of Awakening." So WJSN won their first music show victory with ten members with the title song "Save Me, Save You", over two and a half years after their debut!

In 2019, WJSN was also on the road with Ten members.

The girl group released three albums that year: "WJ Stay?" (January), "For the Summer" (June) & "As You Wish" (November). A personal record, because in the years before, they always released 2 each.

2019 was not the last year with 10 members. Namely, Xuanyi, Meiqi and Cheng Xiao have not returned to their activities with WJSN until today. Meiqi and Cheng debuted solo in China and have also appeared in movies and Variety shows there. Xuanyi has not made a solo debut yet, but can also be seen in movies and shows in China and has sung several soundtracks.

In 2020, WJSN, like the whole world, also felt the effects of Covid-19.

The Korean stops of their tour "2020 WJSN Concert 'Obiliviate'" that should have been held in February were postponed. The Japanese concerts had to be canceled completely.

Instead, in June the girl group presented the new album "Neverland" including the title song "Butterfly". It is the first album of the group, which sold more than 100,000 copies, so it is one of their most successful projects until today!

Three months later, the very first sub-unit "WJSN CHOCOME" was announced! The girl group had been involved in unit projects with other groups like Monsta X and Weki Meki several times, but now it was finally time for an internal unit that would last. WJSN CHOCOME consists of four members - Soobin, Luda, Yeoreum & Dayoung - and made their solo debut on October 7 with the single album "Hmph!"

As is often the case, the first event in 2021 was the release of a new album.

Since there is hardly anything better for fans than new music from their favorite girl group, this is of course the perfect start. So, on March 31, "Unnatural" was released with the title track of the same name. WJSN unfortunately had to perform without Dayoung from the end of April, who took a break due to her autoimmune disease.

But fans could at least be happy about the formation of the second subunit WJSN THE BLACK! Like WJSN CHOCOME, it consists of four members - Seola, EXY, Bona and Eunseo - and debuted on May 12 with the single album "My Attitude".

Shortly before that, on May 4, I.O.I held a livestream to celebrate the fifth anniversary since their debut. Although the project group was active together for less than a year and disbanded back in January 2017, fans have always hoped for a reunion of the group. So the livestream was a small gift for the fans and of course for the group itself, which after all experienced a lot together in that one year. There were 9 members present at the livestream. Mina and Jieqiong unfortunately couldn't be there, but Jieqiong was there in between through a video call!

Four months later, in September, WJSN's digital single "Let Me In" was released, in collaboration with the music platform "Universe".

Early on, 2022 promised to be a special year for WJSN!

On January 5, WJSN CHOCOME's second single album "Super Yuppers!" was released, and at the end of February, it was confirmed that WJSN would be featured in the second season of the popular music competition "Queendom"!

So from March to June, WJSN competed in several rounds against other well-known girl groups - Brave Girls, Viviz, Hyolyn, Loona & Kep1er - in the battle for the crown. Unfortunately, WJSN was down to eight members at that time. Dawon took a break in February due to anxiety and Bona was still filming the series "Twenty-Five Twenty-One" at that time. However, to the delight of the fans, Bona joined in the third round. So in the end, there were 9 members who accepted the trophy in the finals on June 2. After being in 2nd place almost continuously, WJSN prevailed and won in the end! A sensational success for the girl group!

Afterwards, fans didn't even have time to think about what would come next, because just one day after the final, WJSN announced a comeback: On July 5, the single album "Sequence" will be released!

Finally, here you can find the complete discography of WJSN:

Bonus

Did you notice that two of the members of WJSN have the same birthday? Both Dawon and Eunseo were born on May 27! There is one year between the two. Dawon was born in 1997 and Eunseo in 1998. An unlikely coincidence!