Wonder Girls Revisited

With the Wonder Girls actually making a comeback, I figured that this would be a perfect time to continue the Revisited series, which I started with SNSD back in 2013. I thought the group was done for, with Sunye focusing on raising her child, Sohee going into acting, and with Yeeun and Sunmi branching out into their solo careers.

Unfortunately for me, I got into the Wonder Girls in early 2009, when they were trying to make it in America. I missed out on their explosive popularity in 2007 and 2008, but when I listened to those songs, I instantly became a fan of the group. JYP changed K-pop with the Wonder Girls, bringing it to its current form and shitting all over the slow, R&B-based music that had been plaguing Korea for over a decade.

Irony

Wonder Girls debuted with Irony in 2007, with the original lineup of Sunye, Yeeun, Sohee, Sunmi and Hyuna. This song is a solid debut, however it is nothing to write home about. This is one of those slow, R&B-based songs that can barely keep me awake. This would be the only single which would feature Hyuna in the group, as she spent too much time swallowing jizz, making her unable to rap for two years.

Tell Me

This is K-pop’s most iconic song and the song that changed K-pop for the better. After this song, more and more songs came out that had a BPM that was faster than 15. The melodies became much more interesting as well. This song’s impact was so great K-pop had “hook songs” for almost three years, in which the hook was usually just a word or phrase repeated over and over.

This song was the introduction of Yubin, who replaced Hyuna. While Hyuna was known as a cum-guzzling skank, Yubin became the semen demon of K-pop. Fun fact: When Zaku wants to pretend he is straight, he faps to Yubin.

This Fool

This was the second single from their first album that the group promoted. As far as I know, no MV was ever made for this song (I couldn’t find one on YT). This is my first time listening to this song, as I never knew WG promoted it. While I find the melody nice to listen to, the instrumental is too bare and the beat is on the slower side.

So Hot

This was my favorite song from WG’s golden years. I love the disco feeling this song has, and the chorus is addictive. This MV was the one that made me a big Sunmi fan because she was really cute when she was younger. Yubin’s rap in “So Hot” flowed much better than her rap in “Tell Me.” I have to give her points for referencing Ha Ji Won in her rap.

This song was covered by Epik High on the radio, though I can’t find the video anymore.

Nobody

Another song by WG that took over Korea by storm. Again, this song has a retro feel with a really addictive chorus. JYP was really on point during WG’s early years when composing their songs. Sadly, this was WG’s peak…because JYP tried debuting the members in America.

JYP took a big risk and I don’t blame him for it. In just two years, WG had easily conquered Korea – there was really nothing else WG could do in Korea. WG could have debuted in Japan (and I wouldn’t have been surprised if they had done better than SNSD and Kara during their peaks in Japan), but that wasn’t a real risk. K-pop was starting to get noticed internationally, and it was a calculated risk to strike while the iron was hot.

WG promoted in America for a year before Sunmi had enough. This was tough for me, not just because Sunmi was my favorite member, but because she was also replaced by…Lim.

Two Different Tears

I hated this song back then, and I still do. This song has a lot of elements to make it good, but I just don’t like the chorus. It’s hard to like a song if the chorus sucks, despite how strong the rest of the song is. I remember WG promoted this song for a week or so in Korea in 2010, and that was it before they jetted off back to America.

Be My Baby

I don’t even remember listening to this song back in 2011. I find the song good, but it’s just not memorable. This song suffers from the same problems as “Two Different Tears” – there’s a lot to like in the song, but it’s missing the oomph that made WG’s older songs really good.

K-Food Party

Did you know this song came out in 2011? I didn’t either. This was an English single that WG released, and like many songs back in 2011 in America, it was some uninspired EDM shit. I like EDM music, but lazy EDM is really, really bad, and I mean bad being bad.

Like Money

Shit. Next.

The DJ is Mine

Also shit. Next.

Like This

After releasing some turds in America, WG came back to Korea and released a song in the similar vain with “Like This”. The instrumental is the same bar repeated for the whole song. This is easily one of the laziest songs I’ve ever heard in K-pop outside of YG’s shit.

And just like that, the Wonder Girls have been on a three-ear hiatus, with Sunye’s status being in limbo after giving birth to a child and Sohee leaving for acting. However, the reason I am looking forward to their comeback is due to Sunmi and Yeeun’s solo activities.

24 Hours

Sunmi came out of nowhere in 2013 with “24 Hours,” which was one of my favorite songs of 2014. Netizens tried shitting on her for not being good looking (okay?) and for not being able to sing, but completely ignored the fact that this song would have been terrible if the vocalist tried to overpower the instrumental. I also like how JYP made the bridge using tango music instead of using a warbled fartfest dubstep break that was popular at the time.

Full Moon

I like “Full Moon”. It’s not Brave Brothers’ best work, and the song isn’t as good as “24 Hours,” but it’s still solid song from him. The only downside to the song and MV are Lena, as I find her repulsive and her rapping equally so. (Luckily she left JYP and isn’t in Sixteen/Twice.)

This song made me realize how hot Sunmi. I always thought she was cute, but she has really great legs and a nice rack for her body type.

Ain’t Nobody

Yeeun hit it out of the park with her solo debut. Though I think I’m one of the few people who liked the song.

We don’t know exactly when WG will be coming back, or if JYP will even produce anything for the group since I’m sure he’ll be busy focusing in Twice’s debut, but I’m excited. Yenny has shown promise as a composer, Sunmi has shown that she can be a good performer as a soloist, Yubin has shown that she is still really hot, and Lim has shown that even people who participate in the Special Olympics can debut in K-pop.