Wonder Girls To Finally Debut In Japan

By JONATHAN HICAP, Manila Bulletin

MANILA, Philippines - K-pop quintet the Wonder Girls will make their debut in Japan in July, following in the footsteps of many Korean singers like KARA and Girls Generation.

For their foray into Japan, Wonder Girls will release the Japanese version of their hit song "Nobody," which was originally released in Korea in 2008.

The Wonder Girls (Photos by www.newsen.com)

The song will be in their Japanese debut album "Nobody for Everybody," which will be released on July 25, according to Japan's Oricon website.

"Nobody" is one of Wonder Girls' signature songs. It will be the third time that the song will be released in a different language. After the original Korean version was released in 2008, the English version was released in the US in 2009 when the girls made their debut in the US market. The English version entered at No. 76 on Billboard's Hot 100 chart.

In 2010, Wonder Girls released their "Wonder Girls Chinese Special Edition," which included the Chinese version of "Nobody," "Tell Me," and "So Hot."

Asked by Oricon why the Wonder Girls have finally decided to enter the Japanese music market, JYP Entertainment head Park Jin-Young said they wanted a bigger challenge.

"I am thrilled to meet our fans in Japan soon," said Wonder Girls member Sohee.

Hyerim added, "I would like to show a better image to the Japanese people. I will do my best."

In March and April, Park Jin-Young, founder of Wonder Girls' agency JYP Entertainment, tweeted about the Wonder Girls' upcoming Japanese, American and Korean albums.

"WG [Wonder Girls] 12 song US album & the 'biggest scale ever' music video is done. There's a huge suprise on their 1st single so get ready for this summer!  By the way Japenese Wonder girls fans will have a pleasent suprise in mid April :)," he posted on his Twitter account in March.

Last month, he updated fans by tweeting, "After finishing Wonder girls US album finally finished the Wonder girls Korean 1st single!."

In February, the Wonder Girls' first TV movie, "Wonder Girls," was shown on American cable channel Teen Nick.

Link to my original article: http://beonline.com.ph/kPopArticle.php?aid=7454&pageid=8