Wonder World is the second Korean-language studio album by South Korean girl group Wonder Girls, released on November 7, 2011, through JYP Entertainment. The track "Be My Baby" served as the lead single from album. Both the album and the single were a commercial success, both having topped the Gaon Album and Digital charts respectively. To promote Wonder World, the group appeared on several South Korean music programs; additionally, Wonder Girls embarked on their Wonder World Tour in July 2012.
For this album, the members of the group became more involved in the songwriting and production. Park Ye-eun wrote and produced "G.N.O." and "Me, In", Kim Yubin wrote "Girls Girls", "Me, In", and "Sweet Dreams", and Woo Hyelim wrote and produced her solo song "Act Cool", featuring San E. The members also recorded two duets: Min Sunye and Yeeun recorded "Long Long Time" while Yubin and Ahn Sohee recorded "SuperB".
Background and composition On November 4, the album's name was revealed to be Wonder World, consisting of 11 new songs, one remixed song, and an English version of the lead single, "Be My Baby". Various members of the group contributed to composing material for the album. Park Ye-eun was the composer and lyricist for the song "G.N.O." and performed the arrangement and composition for "Me, In", a remake of the 1974 hit "The Beauty" by Shin Jung-hyeon and YeopJeons. In an interview she commented about the strong American influence that she had received while working on new music in the album as she stated "When I went to a club, I heard songs from Rihanna and LMFAO. We thought it would be nice if we could make club music, done right, in Korean."
Woo Hyelim collaborated with rapper San-E for her solo song "Act Cool" for which also helped her write the rap lyrics. Kim Yubin wrote the raps for the songs "Girls Girls" "Me, In" and "Sweet Dreams". Ahn Sohee and Yubin recorded a duet together called "SuperB", and Yeeun and Min Sunye also had a duet titled "두고두고" (Long Long Time). Renowned choreographer Jonte' Moaning choreographed the group's music video for "Be My Baby". Designer Johnny Wujek also worked alongside the group.
Commercial performance Wonder World entered and peaked at number one on the Gaon Album Chart on the chart issue dated November 6–12, 2011. The album stayed in the Top 10 of the chart for four consecutive weeks. The album entered and peaked at number 4 on the chart for the month of November 2011 with 35,051 physical copies sold. The album placed at number 42 on the Gaon Album Chart for the year 2011 for 34,140 physical copies sold. In the United States, the album entered and peaked at number 5 on Billboard's World Albums chart on the week ending November 26, 2011. "Be My Baby" went to number 1 on both the Gaon Weekly Digital Charts and the Billboard K-pop Hot 100. The song was also featured in the group's TV movie, Wonder Girls at the Apollo, which aired on TeenNick.
Accolades +Awards and nominations Year Organization Work Award Result 2011 Gaon Chart Music Awards "Be My Baby" Song of the Month (November) 2012 Golden Disc Awards Wonder World Disk Bonsang Popularity Award
+Music program wins Song Program Date "Be My Baby" Mnet's M! Countdown November 17, 2011 November 24, 2011SBS's Inkigayo November 27, 2011 December 4, 2011 December 11, 2011
Track listing
Sample credits "Me, In" contains a sample of the Shin Jung-hyeon song "The Beauty".
Credits and personnel
Sunye – vocals (all tracks except 9, 10) Yeeun – vocals (all tracks except 9, 10), songwriting, production (tracks 1, 4), rearrangement (track 4) Yubin – rapping (all tracks except 8, 10), songwriting (tracks 3, 4, 5) Sohee – vocals (all tracks except for tracks 8, 10) Hyelim – vocals, rapping (all tracks except 8, 9), songwriting, production (track 10) Lee Woo-min – producer (track 1), rearrangement (track 4) Fredrik – producer (track 1) Cho Jong-soo – raps (track 1) Park Jin-young – songwriting, production (tracks 2, 8, 11) Shim Eun-ji – songwriting (track 3), production (tracks 3, 5) Shin Jung-hyeon – songwriting, production (track 4) Billion Dollar Baby – songwriting (track 5) Noday - songwriting (track 5)
DeepFrost - production (track 5) Hong Ji-sang – songwriting, production (track 6) Jessica Martinez – songwriting (track 7) Nikki Flores – songwriting (track 7) Fingazz – production (track 7) DJ Nüre – production (track 7) Kim Eana – songwriting (track 8) East4A – production (track 8) San E – featured artist, rapping, songwriting, production (track 10) Woo Seok Rhee – songwriting, production (track 12) Alexander Kronlund – songwriting, production (track 12) Lukas Hilbert – songwriting, production (track 12)
Charts
Weekly charts Chart (2011)PeakpositionSouth Korean Albums (Gaon)1US World Albums (Billboard)5
Monthly charts Chart (2011)PeakpositionSouth Korean Albums (Gaon)4
Year-end charts Chart (2011)PositionSouth Korean Albums (Gaon)42
Sales Country Sales South Korea (Gaon) 43,349Cumulative sales for "Wonder World":
Release history Region Date Edition Format Label Catalog Ref. South KoreaNovember 7, 2011Standard L100004386 United States Digital download JYP – Taiwan January 6, 2012 Universal Music 1027259494 MalaysiaApril 10, 20125053105239122 Singapore
References