In 2010, the Korean girl group Wonder Girls came to Singapore as Sony Ericsson’s Digital Brand Ambassadors. They played a showcase at the Marina Bay Sands Expo and Convention Centre, where more than 2,000 fans filled the hall. The five members on stage were Yubin, So Hee, Ye Eun, Sun Ye and Hye Rim.
They also met the media, and chose to answer in English.
The group at that moment
The visit came at a busy point in the group’s career. “Nobody” had been a huge hit in Korea, and an English version of it released in September 2009 had taken them into the North American market. The group had also opened for the Jonas Brothers’ tour in the US.
Their line-up had recently changed. Sunmi left in early 2010, and Hye Rim joined before the release of “2 Different Tears”. The song came out on 15 May 2010 in English, Korean and Mandarin. It was Hye Rim’s first release with the group, and it was written and produced by J.Y. Park of JYP Entertainment.
The showcase
The Marina Bay Sands show ran to five songs. They included the new single “2 Different Tears” and a remix of “Don’t Cha”, the song made famous by The Pussycat Dolls.
The music video for the single had a retro look. Yubin said the team went for a funky 1980s style, with plenty of denim, see-through pieces and even tattoos. They also painted their nails in brighter colours because the choreography put their hands in the spotlight.
What the five said
Asked about their personalities, Ye Eun described each bandmate in turn. So Hee was the “hidden” leader, a perfectionist who quietly steers decisions and turns talkative once you know her. Hye Rim was the cute one who tends to say something off-topic. Sun Ye was the motherly figure, and Yubin was a diva on stage but slow-paced in person. The others, in turn, called Ye Eun the outgoing, clever “father” of the group.
On beauty, the group credited cleansing oil, good sleep, regular meals and their makeup artist. Ye Eun added that they did not think of themselves as especially beautiful. She pointed to the many other striking girl groups and said they were lucky to have supporters.
They had been living together for three years at that point. If they quarrelled, Ye Eun said, it would be over performance details such as song order and choreography, because they all cared so much about the stage.
Training and travel
Sun Ye said she had trained at JYP Entertainment for six years and had felt like giving up at times. She kept going because she had always wanted to sing in front of people. She trained after school, so it became part of her daily routine.
Ye Eun described a fan they met on their US tour who had their names and the Korean flag tattooed on his back. She found it sweet, though she thought it must have hurt.
The hardest part of touring, she said, was the 5am wake-ups, and sleeping on planes in upright seats. The group also missed their families. Because of the time difference between the US and Korea, they often could not call home before their relatives went to sleep.
What came after
“2 Different Tears” reached number one in South Korea in 2010, according to the group’s discography. Their second studio album, Wonder World, followed in 2011 and produced the hit “Be My Baby”. Their later Korean singles included “I Feel You” in 2015 and “Why So Lonely” in 2016.