By Kim Jae-heun
K-pop girl group Wonder Girls of JYP Entertainment Tuesday released their new single “Why So Lonely,” the title track of their new album, the first produced by members on their own, rather than by their chief producer Park Jin-young.
Park wrote the hit songs, “Tell Me,” “So Hot” and “Nobody” for the group since its debut in 2007. When Wonder Girls decided to take on a new genre last August, Park also wrote the main song.
However, the chief producer agreed that the Wonder Girls were ready to come up with their own tracks this time.
“When we were working on our latest album, Park told us that he won’t have to write songs for us anymore,” said Yeeun during an interview at STUDIO J in Gangnam, southern Seoul, June 23. “We all have different tastes in music, so we worked in groups of two. Sunmi and Hyerim wrote the songs and Yubin worked on rap.”
The title track adopts the reggae-pop dance genre with addictive guitar riffs and changes of various rhythms. Yeeun said the group referred to British singer Lily Allen, who has a good voice but sings witty lyrics with a twist. The album includes two more songs produced by all four members.
“Usually songs with A fast tempo or powerful tunes are popular in the summer. But we thought a slow song will distinguish us from others. The song is best to listen to while driving on the coast during vacation,” said Sunmi.
“Park likes it a lot. He likes reggae music already and told us he likes the melody and it can appeal to people. The original chorus was more like modern rock music, but he advised us to play it more like reggae like our verse part,” said Yeeun. “Park also told us it would be nice to dance freely with the song like Rihanna.”
It took a year for the girl group to return after their previous album “REBOOT.” Wonder Girls planned to release a new album in early March, but postponed it until they were fully satisfied.
As a result, the group had more time to play instruments in the recording studio, while they hired instrumentalists for the last album. The team said they will release dance songs again like before, but for now, they want to keep pursuing a new genre they have not tried before.
The album is more meaningful to the members as it marks the 10th anniversary since their debut.
“We have learned a lot, experienced a lot and now we are writing for our own album whereas producers wrote songs for us before. This is really amazing,” said Sunmi.
Asked how they feel about recently disbanded girl band 4Minute, which included Wonder Girls’ former member HyunA, Yeeun said she cannot think of her team breaking up.
“I lived one-third of my life as a member of Wonder Girls and I cannot think of myself apart from the team. I spent my happiest moments, saddest moments and most beautiful moments as a Wonder Girl,” said Yeeun.