The Wonder Years (Wonder Girls album)

Background

Wonder Girls were formed in 2006 by Park Jin-young during the television reality show MTV Wonder Girls (2006–2010), during which they held their first performances, rehearsals and recording sessions. At first a quartet, the fifth member Park Yeeun, also known as Yenny, joined the group and the group released their successful debut single "Irony" in February 2007. The same month, their debut extended play The Wonder Begins was released and was followed with two more singles "Bad Boy" and "It's Not Love". Latter was used as the soundtrack for film Hellcats, in which member Sohee starred. In July 2007, group's rapper Hyuna left the group due to health problems and was on hiatus until she joined another South Korean girl group 4minute. She was replaced by rapper Yubin who was originally a member of girl group Five Girls but joined JYP Entertainment when the group disbanded. Their single "Tell Me" was released in September 2007 and became one of their biggest hits. The remix, titled "Tell Me (Rap Version)" was made to include Yubin's vocals and was included on their 2008 EP So Hot. The album was recorded in Seoul from December 2006 (when MTV Wonder Girls first aired) until 2007. The title of the album is The Wonder Years, however on album cover and Discogs it's titled The Wonder Years (The First Album) while on HanBooks it's titled The Wonder Years (1st Album). Also, album cover features a colorful background behind all five members (Yeeun, Yubin, Sohee, Sunye and Sunmi), who are jumping.

Release and promotion

The Wonder Years was physically released in South Korea through JYP Entertainment and LOEN Entertainment on September 13, 2007. The same day, album was released for digital download worldwide and on US iTunes Store through JYP Entertainment. It was also physically released in Thailand through recording label G"MM' Grammy. Almost five years later, album was re-released on April 23, 2012 through label KMP Holdings. Album was promoted with five singles: "Irony", "Bad Boy", "It's Not Love", "Tell Me" and "This Fool. During the promotion, member Hyuna left the group. However, album includes her vocals although it was released two months after her departure. Also, album was promoted with an EP The Wonder Begins in February 2007 and various live performances, including the guest-performance at the 2007 spring festival of the Hanyang University and many others. Later, Wonder Girls embarked on their first Asian tour in 2009 before their world tour following year.

Singles

"Irony" was the debut single from album. Previously, it was released a maxi single, The Wonder Begins. It was released on February 13, 2007 by JYP Entertainment. A music video was produced for "Irony" to promote the song. Wonder Girls showed the first live performance of "Irony" at the MBC TV series Music Core on February 10, 2007. The songs from their debut single that featured Hyuna were left intact with her singing vocals, however, her rap vocals were re-recorded over by Yubin for first studio album, The Wonder Years.

"Bad Boy" was the B-side song from the maxi single, The Wonder Begins. Later, it was released as the recut single on March 22, 2007.

"It's Not Love" was the B-side song from the maxi single, The Wonder Begins. Later, it was released as the recut single on April 27, 2007. The format was a digital download that title was "It's Not Love ~Tears~" (미안한 마음 ~Tears~).

"Tell Me" was the lead single from released from the album and became the group's first number one hit. Due to the last-minute addition of rapper Kim Yubin to the group, her rap is not on the album version."Tell Me (Rap version)" was included in the second mini album, So Hot (2008).

The last single from the album was "This Fool (이 바보)", which debuted on MBC's show Music Core on December 10, 2007. This song was used to promote the South Korean film Hellcats which features Wonder Girls member Ahn Sohee.

Personnel

Charts

The chart positions are based on data from Music Industry Association of Korea (MIAK). Unlike Oricon and Billboard, the charts are released monthly, not weekly.