The Wonder Girls officially debuted as JYP Entertainment‘s first girl group in February 2007 with their first title track, “Irony.”
The group debuted as a five-member girl group; their original lineup consisted of Sunye as the leader, Yeeun, Sunmi, Sohee, and HyunA (formerly stylized as Hyuna).
HyunA was originally meant to be the group’s main rapper, but after health concerns, she stepped down from the group to focus on her wellbeing. Yubin was then added to the group to replace the role of the main rapper.
Yubin joined the group three days before the Wonder Girls made their comeback with their epic hit song “Tell Me” in 2007. Fans loved the fun dance and went crazy over Sohee’s legendary line, “Omona.”
In 2008, the group would further cement themselves as a top girl group when they released their song “So Hot” and later in the year when they released “Nobody,” which ended up being a hit in Korea and the United States when they released their English version of the song in 2009.
The English version of “Nobody” became the first song by an Asian artist to enter the Billboard Hot 100 chart, charting at number 76.
JYP Entertainment focused heavily on the Wonder Girls’ international activities from 2009-2012. The group joined the Jonas Brothers on tour in 2009 for 45 of their concert dates and began to plan a headlining concert of their own. These plans were postponed when it was announced that Sunmi would be going on a hiatus in January 2010 to focus on her education after dropping out of high school to focus on the group’s U.S. promotions.
After Sunmi’s sudden departure, Hyerim, a JYP Entertainment trainee, joined the group. With the addition of their new member, they held a North American tour in April 2010 with their JYP Entertainment labelmates 2PM called The Wonder World Tour.
Their new lineup consisting of Sunye, Yeeun, Sohee, Yubin, and Sohee would remain consistent until 2012, when Sunye announced she would be getting married, and the group went on hiatus. Sunye welcomed her first child with her husband in October 2013.
Though Sunye’s hiatus was meant to be temporary, she retired from the entertainment industry in 2014 to focus on her family and missionary work.
Member Sohee decided to leave the group, signing with a different agency to begin focusing on her acting career.
The remaining group members made a comeback in 2015, with Sunmi rejoining the group and Yeeun becoming the new leader. They promoted together until 2017, when they formally announced they would disband after ten years.
We are here to announce the disbandment of the group that has been always with us for the last ten years, Wonder Girls.
The members have talked amongst themselves and with the company for a long time and the [girls] decided to disband.
Yubin and Hyelim have renewed their contracts with JYP Entertainment and will continue their activities in music and acting as well as other fields.
Yeeun and Sunmi have decided to pave a new path for themselves and have regretfully decided to leave the company.
As a thanks to all the fans who have been with them for 10 years, they have decided to release their last digital single on their 10th year anniversary, February 10th.
We would like to thank the fans of Wonder Girls all over the world who stuck by Wonder Girls in their 10 year-long journey, and promise to help and support both the members who are leaving and staying to help make their future better.
Thank you.
— JYP Entertainment
The group has officially been disbanded for five years. Here’s what the members have been up to since.
1. Yeeun
In 2017, Yeeun signed with Amoeba Culture, leaving JYP Entertainment. The talented singer-songwriter was also credited as a songwriter on TWICE‘s song “Only You” after her departure, showing she still had love for her former company.
Yeeun is now promoting as HA:TFELT and has released one studio album and three single albums as a solo artist.
2. Sunye
In 2018, Sunye returned from her hiatus and signed with Polaris Entertainment. She was a cast member on the reality show Mama The Idol, which featured six former idols who all left the entertainment industry to become parents. The cast members formed the idol group M.M.D and released the song “WooAh Hip.”
In February 2022, Sunye signed with Blockberry Creative and recently made a comeback as a solo artist with her new mini album Genuine.
She is currently promoting her lead singles “Glass Heart” and “Just a Dancer.” While backstage at a music show, she gave 2nd generation K-Pop fans a treat when she performed part of her “Just a Dancer” choreography with former KARA member Nicole.
Sunye posted separate pictures with former Wonder Girls member Sohee and JYP Entertainment’s founder J.Y. Park earlier this year, showing they still keep in touch.
3. Yubin
Yubin made her solo debut under JYP Entertainment in 2018 with her single, “Lady.” Later that year, she released her first EP and had writing credit on all three songs.
In 2020, she formed her own agency, rrr Entertainment, and signed her fellow former Wonder Girls member Hyerim.
Most recently, Yubin was named a host of the SBS dating reality show Go Straight For Love!, which airs in August.
4. Sunmi
Sunmi has had a successful solo career since 2013 when she released her first EP, Full Moon. She has since released many hit songs, including “Gashina,” “Siren,” and “Heroine.”
She recently made her comeback with her new single “Heart Burn” and announced a North American and European world tour, Good Girl Gone Mad, which will begin mid-August.
Sunmi also recently became the new host of Showterview, which is in its second season.
5. Sohee
Sohee (known professionally as Ahn So Hee, or Ahn Sohee) is continuing her career as an actress, having made her acting debut in the Korean short film The Synesthesia For Overtone Construction at the age of 12.
In 2016, she had a starring role in the famous Korean zombie movie Train to Busan and has since had starring roles in various film and television series. Most recently, she starred in the 2022 JTBC drama Thirty-Nine.
Five days ago, she delighted Wonder Girls fans after posting a photo of herself and Yubin out for a meal on Instagram.
6. Hyerim
Hyerim remained with JYP Entertainment until 2020 when she signed with Yubin’s company rrr Entertainment.
After the Wonder Girls disbanded in 2017, Hyerim became a prodigious scholar, enrolling in the Hankuk University of Foreign Studies as an International Conferences and Communication. At the university, she worked as an English reporter for the school’s paper and was a member of the College Supporters group of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Hyerim published her first book in 2020, an essay book “based on love and relationship, and my attitude towards life.” She also revealed she translated The Diary of Anne Frank.
Hyerim married her boyfriend of seven years, taekwondo athlete Shin Min Chul, in June 2020. They had their first child in February of this year.
She is still close with her former group members and even filmed an episode of KBS’s Godfather with Sunye before she gave birth.
7. HyunA
After parting ways with the Wonder Girls in 2007, HyunA joined Cube Entertainment in 2008 and debuted in 4MINUTE in 2009.
HyunA made her solo debut with “Change” in 2010 and released a second solo single, “Bubbly Pop!” in 2011 that became an instant hit.
Later that year, she formed the daring duo group Trouble Maker with former BEAST member Hyunseung; together, they released two successful singles with two EPs.
In 2014, HyunA reunited with her former Wonder Girls group member Sunmi backstage at KBS Music Bank, where the two posed for pictures.
In 2017, 4MINUTE disbanded after only HyunA resigned her contract with Cube Entertainment.
HyunA continued her solo activities and formed another unit group, Triple H, with Pentagon‘s Hui and former Pentagon member E’Dawn (now professionally known as DAWN).
In 2018, HyunA and DAWN confirmed their relationship, stating they had been together since 2016.
After the confirmation, Cube Entertainment ended their contracts, citing a breach of trust, as they claimed they were not aware of HyunA and DAWN’s relationship.
Luckily, it didn’t stop either of the artists from having a successful career. They both signed with PSY‘s PNation in 2019 and have freely been able to express their love and exercise their creative freedom.
The two became engaged earlier this year and promoted their joint single “PING PONG” together last year.
HyunA recently made her comeback with a new mini album, Nabillera.
With HyunA, Sunmi, and Sunye all having released singles this year, we’ll hopefully have some new reunion Wonder Girls photos soon!
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