Korean pop stars, the Wonder Girls, have been dominating the east for some time now, but the fabulous five are now bringing their movement to the wild wild west.
It’s not easy making it in America, but the bubbly starlets have collaborated with hip-hop producer/artist Akon on their crossover track “Like Money.”
GlobalGrind tracked down the Wonder Girls to chit-chat about K-Pop (Korean Pop), some of their favorite things, and of course, taking over the U.S.
Check out our exclusive interview below!
How old were you all when you first started music?
We were all around 16 years old.
How has being from Korea affected your music?
The music industry is huge in Korea, and living in a place surrounded by music helped us mature more and to learn more about music. Many Koreans listen to not only K-Pop, so we grew up listening to various genres and learned more about different music cultures.
What are a few of your musical inspirations?
Wow. There are so many phenomenal musicians out there! But just to name a few, we love Beyonce, Katy Perry, Rihanna, Bruno Mars, Adele, Lauryn Hill, and Stevie Wonder. They are such powerful artists and we truly are inspired by each one of them.
Who is your dream collaboration?
My dream collaboration would be with Katy Perry or One Direction. We obviously love their music and they seem so fun!
If you could collaborate with any artist, who would you collaborate with?
We’d love to collaborate with Katy Perry, Justin Bieber or Beyonce, or Rihanna! Their music inspires us and we’d be in awe if this comes true! I mean, we already collaborated with one of our favorites, Akon, so we are looking forward to our future collaborations too!
Where do you want to be in the next 5 years, musically?
Some of us write music, Yenny always does. She wrote few songs in our last album, and fans loved them. Yubin also writes lyrics, we all try to write music and lyrics. So hopefully in the next 5 years, perhaps we could release a fully produced and written album by the Wonder Girls? Just saying!
What upcoming music projects are you working on?
We are doing the Wonder World tour, hopefully we can go to different countries that we’ve never been to, we would love to meet our fans all around the world.
What’s your favorite thing to do besides make music?
Some of us are interested in acting, and we love to travel, read, watch movies, sleep, and to go shopping! We are just like the girls next door, we love going out, hang out with friends, going and searching for delicious restaurants, shopping, experiencing different things.
What’s your favorite color?
We all have different tastes in colors. Yubin likes red, Yenny likes turquoise, Sun likes blue, Lim is into pink and navy blue, Sohee likes black and yellow!
What’s your favorite thing to eat?
Hmm…I think I could fill the whole page just by answering this one question! But we all love Mexican food, GUACAMOLE! Indian food, Thai food, Japanese food, and American food. But most likely, Korean food, especially Korean BBQ, Bibimbap, and ddukbokki.
Who’s your favorite person?
Our families. They know us the best, and we know no matter what happens, they would always be there for us. Fans, our friends, and staff, they are all our favorite people!
What’s been your most favorite moment while touring?
Definitely getting to meet our fans from different countries and cities! They are all super sweet and loving!
What’s your favorite thing to wear?
Everyone’s different, but I love a comfortable T-shirt with a short pants and a pair of flip flops. All the girls have different style but we all love being comfortable.
What’s your most prized possession?
Our most prized possessions would be our 3Fs! Fans, Families and Friends. It’s hard to imagine life without these amazing people!
What can’t you live without?
We all can’t live without our phones, iPads, iPhones, iPods, and laptops! It is the 21st century after all.
Do you have a celebrity crush, if so, who is he/she?
Sohee likes Andrew Garfield, Sun loves Hugh Jackman, Lim has a few! Logan Lerman, James Franco, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt!
What was it like collaborating with Akon?
We’ve always been a big fan of his, so we were very eager to collaborate with him! When we first heard that we were working with him we were like huh? Who? Akon? That Akon? We had a great experience working with Akon. He actually came to Korea, we spent some time there too. We had Korean meal together, performed at a music festival … he is a fun person to be around!
We love the futuristic vibe of the “Like Money” music video. What did you want to evoke?
We wanted to come back with something new and different. Something that we’ve never done before. We wanted to show something new for our fans!
How have you evolved as a group since you first started years ago?
I feel like after we moved to the U.S, we got to spend more quality time together and we kind of relied on each other… Now, we’re just like a real family. We’re tighter than ever!
What is your favorite part about touring North America? Any big differences between here and home?
We love touring, because we get to meet our fans from all over the world! We don’t see many differences…Actually in Korea, we don’t really do meet and greet like in the States. We mostly do autograph sessions and fan meetings, but not like private meet and greet. It was great when we were touring we got to meet our fans one on one! Culture-wise..hmmm…In Korea, we would bow when we meet our fans, but in the States we just say hi and they give us a hug!
As celebrities you have to deal with the good and the bad that comes along with the business. How do you stay grounded?
I feel like being with our family and friends helps us a lot. Because they make us feel like ourselves. We try to read books, study, listen to music, and we do a lot of casual “get together” so we talk it out!
What is the strangest thing a fan has done?
I can’t quite remember the strangest thing. There are way too many awesome and amazing things, but can’t think of a strange one.
How do you pass time on the road?
We sleep most of the time, chat or listen to music!
Who’s the biggest prankster in the group and why?
This is a tough question because, none of us are pranksters but, I’d say Yenny, because she’s the most outgoing one and I feel like if there has to be one, it’d be her.
