‘Wonder Girls, SNSD, Kara’ Members Take Their Own Path Individually
Korean girl groups who debuted in 2007 caused the birth of ‘Wonder Girls-Kara-SNSD’ era almost coming to an end. Most members leave the group and walk in their own way.
On September 9th, news of SNSD’s contract had been ended appeared. SNSD debuted with 9 members with the song ‘Into the New World’ and then continued with the songs’ Girls’ Generation’ and ‘Kissing You’. Since then, they released ‘Gee’ in 2009, and have been on the Music Bank charts ranked 1st for 9 consecutive weeks.
SNSD, who consistently showed their power as a top girl group suffered a crisis in 2014. Jessica, one of lead vocal members was expelled from the team. Jessica started her own fashion brand and continued doing her activities. After completing her contract with SM Entertainment, they turned into a group consists of eight members.
Then again, they experienced a period of member changes. Among SNSD members who were supposed to sign up for a second contract in 2017, Tiffany, Sooyoung and Seohyun decided not to renew their contract with SM Entertainment. SM Entertainment talked about the symbolism and meaning of SNSD and said, “We do not think this group is disbanding. We will discuss the direction of future activities with the members.”
Wonder Girls, the forerunner who leads Korean girl group officially disbanded on their debut 10th anniversary. They released their debut song, ‘Irony’ on February 10th, 2007, and they also released the farewell song ‘Draw Me’ on February 10th, 2017.
The Wonder Girls initially started with Sunye, Yeeun, Hyuna, Sohee, and Sunmi with five members, but there was a change, and Yeeun kept her team steady. From Hyuna’s joining in the song ‘So Hot’ to Yubin who joined as a member on their summer debut. ‘Tell Me’ and ‘Nobody’ were released later and became a cultural trend that went beyond hits and made the Wonder Girls a ‘national girl group’.
However, the Wonder Girls’s popularity decreased in Korea because of being too busy with activities in America, and Sunmi decided to stop her activities in 2010. Although Hyerim was new to the team, Sunye decided not to join the team when she decided to get married, eventually Sunye left the team with Sohee on 2015. Sunmi reunited with the Wonder Girls and transformed into a four member system. Although they have successfully transformed themselves into a four-member group, they decided to walk their own way before their 10th birthday.
Kara, who made their debut in March 2007 has struggled from the start. Kara initially debuted as a four-member girl group, including Han Seungyeon, Park Gyuri, Nicole, and Kim Sunghee. Han Seungyeon, who made her debut, struggled to announce her team and play the role of ‘best girl’, but Kim Sunghee who is the lead vocalist, left the team and the team started to shake.
However, after Kim Sunghee left the group, Kara started winning with the effects of Goo Hara and Kang Jiyoung. Kara started making good progress on the charts, starting with ‘Pretty Girl’. In 2009, ‘Mister’, became a double main song with ‘Wanna’ performed with hip dance, and Kara became the center of Korean wave in Japan.
Kara returned to change in 2013. As Nicole and Kang Jiyoung left the group, Park Gyuri, Han Seungyeon, and Goo Hara whose contract expired in 2016 left their agency. Kara has a long journey as a group, and now members are taking their own path for their career.