If you plan to see the Jonas Brothers World Tour show Tuesday at Jobing.com Arena, you may find yourself seeing the Wonder Girls, a new act all the way from South Korea. These five girls are huge internationally and one of openers for the Jonas Brothers. They sing in Chinese and in English, and their first English single ‘Nobody’ is available on iTunes. To promote their upcoming appearance opening for the Jonas Brothers, the members – Yubin, Yenny, Sohee, Sun and Mimi – answered questions about their music, life and touring experiences through an e-mail interview:
Q: How would you describe your music?
YUBIN: Our music is retro funky pop music. It’s a good mix of old school and new school. No matter where you come from or how old you are, our music is very easy to follow and catchy.
Q: What do you feel draws people to your music?
YENNY: We think there are a few reasons, but one main reason is that our music reaches all ages from the young to the old. We think young people like it because it’s something new and our parents and grandparents’ age like it because they’re already familiar with this style.
Q: Who influences your musical style?
SOHEE: Basically, we’re inspired by the ’60s to ’80s female groups, like the Supremes, En Vogue, and the Pointer Sisters.
Q: Speaking of style, who are your fashion icons?
YUBIN: My mom’s very fashion-forward. And MADONNA!
SUN: Beyonce! I look up to her both in music and fashion!
YENNY: I like classic styles, so someone like Audrey Hepburn and Jackie Kennedy.
MIMI: Twiggy! I love her!
SOHEE: My fashion icon is Edie Sedgwick!
Q: How long have you been together as a band?
MIMI: As a group, it’s been a little over two years, but some of us trained together at the JYP Academy for more than three years.
Q: What brought you together as a band?
SUN: Basically, we all auditioned for JYP Entertainment, our management company. And we were formed as a group by JY Park, our producer and mentor.
Q: And is it fun being in an all-girl band?
SUN: Things get difficult at times, and we tend to get lonely. But being in this group, I realize that I’m not alone and I’m so grateful to have four other girls right beside me, that I could depend on for anything.
YUBIN: Of course! It’s fun but also, because I always wanted to have a younger sister, and now I have four younger sisters. I’m so thankful for this. And the fact that all five of us are working towards the same dream, makes it all the more sweeter!
MIMI: I feel so comfortable around them and I can share everything with them. I can just be myself, and we have fun being together! Just us girls!
SOHEE: Us five girls are everything to each other … friend, older sister, younger sister. We depend on each other so much.
YENNY: We have some arguments here and there, since we are five girls. But we really do love each other and know each other so well. Personally, I get lonely very easily and I know that I couldn’t have gotten here without them.
Q: What would you like American fans to know about you?
YUBIN: Regardless of where we come from, I hope American people know that we are just five normal girls who love music and want to share our music with everyone, wherever they are.
Q: What is the main difference between touring in the US and overseas?
Wonder Girls: Well, based on our experience so far, the main difference would be that in Asia, fans came to us and here, we have to go to the fans. In Asia, we were the headliners and we truly enjoyed sharing our music with the people that know and love our music. Here in the states, the story is a little different. We are the opening act, so we are in front of people that don’t really know us but still, we enjoy sharing our music with new people. So both experiences are very important to us and we have been cherishing every moment.
Q: What do you miss most when you are touring so far from home?
SOHEE: I miss my family the most, my friends …
MIMI: Korean food for sure, family and our company staff members in Korea.
YENNY: Family, friends and food!!
YUBIN: My cat, Choco!
SUN: My friends and home cooking.
Q: How did the Jonas Brothers discover you?
YENNY: Perez Hilton blogged our music video on his blog. And then Papa J, Jonas Brothers’ dad saw our music video on Perez’s blog and then he came to our concert in L.A. He saw our performance and asked us to be the opening act for the JONAS BROTHERS!!