Lee Sunmi

Lee Sun-mi (born Sun Mi on May 2, 1992), known mononymously as Sunmi (stylized as SUNMI), is a South Korean singer, dancer, songwriter and record producer. She debuted in 2007 as a member of South Korean girl group Wonder Girls and left the group in 2010 to pursue her studies. After a three-year hiatus, Sunmi resumed her career as a soloist with her 2013 debut extended play, ''Full Moon'', spawning the number two singles " 24 Hours" and "Full Moon" on the national Gaon Digital Chart.

In 2015, Sunmi was announced to be resuming promotion with the Wonder Girls and remained with the group until their disbandment in 2017. She subsequently left JYP Entertainment and joined Makeus Entertainment (now known as Abyss Company), releasing the hit single "Gashina". Her second extended play, ''Warning'', was released in 2018 and produced two other hit singles: "Heroine" and "Siren".

Early life

Sunmi was born on May 2, 1992, in Iksan, North Jeolla, South Korea. She attended Hwangnam Elementary School, Chungdam Middle School and Chungdam High School, and majored in musical theater at Dongguk University.

Sunmi revealed on a 2018 episode of '' Talkmon'' that she first decided to become a celebrity when she was 12 after her father was admitted to hospital due to complications of pulmonary tuberculosis. She was inspired by BoA, who debuted at the age of 13, and it was for her "the fastest way to make money" in order to take care of her mother and two younger brothers. She went to Seoul to audition and became a JYP Entertainment trainee at 14, though her father passed away three months before her debut with Wonder Girls. She later adopted her stepfather's surname Lee while in university and merged her original given name and surname, becoming Lee Sun-mi.

Career

2006–2012: Debut with Wonder Girls, hiatus

In May 2006, Sunmi was revealed as the fourth member of Wonder Girls, a girl group managed by JYP Entertainment. The group debuted with the single "Irony", on February 10, 2007, and quickly rose to stardom with their hits " Tell Me", "So Hot" and "Nobody" within two years of debuting. Sunmi participated with the group in American activities, touring alongside the Jonas Brothers, under the nickname Mimi.

In January 2010, JYP announced that Sunmi would be postponing her musical career to pursue her studies, but would continue until February in order to complete scheduled events. On January 13, 2012, a JYP representative stated that "Sunmi has remained within the company and continues to sharpen her musical talents." JYP Entertainment later stated that there were no plans for Sunmi to return and comeback as a member of Wonder Girls.

2013–2016: Solo debut with ''Full Moon'', Wonder Girls return

In August 2013, Sunmi was announced to be returning to her music career, debuting as a solo artist. Sunmi made her official debut stage on August 22, on Mnet's ''M! Countdown''. Her debut single " 24 Hours" was released on August 26, 2013, and subsequently achieved an all-kill on music charts. Subsequently, her debut extended play ''Full Moon'' was released on February 17, 2014 along with the promotional single of the same name. The latter peaked at number two on the Gaon Digital Chart and at number three on ''Billboard'''s K-pop Hot 100. "Full Moon" was praised for being innovative, and Sunmi was said to have delivered a classy rendition of "sexy".

On June 24, 2015, JYP Entertainment announced that Sunmi would be re-joining Wonder Girls, after withdrawing in 2010, for their comeback after the group's two-year hiatus. The group returned with a band concept, with Sunmi playing the bass. In August, the group's album ''Reboot'' was released, with Sunmi co-writing and co-producing three of its tracks. In 2016, Sunmi once again received songwriting and producing credits for a Wonder Girls release, this time for two songs present on the band's single album ''Why So Lonely'', including the title track of the same name.

2017–2021: Group final disbandment, ''Warning'', tour, and ''1/6''

On January 26, 2017, it was announced that Wonder Girls were to disband after unsuccessful contract renewal negotiation with members Yeeun and Sunmi. The group released their final single " Draw Me" on February 10, 2017 which also served as a celebration for their tenth anniversary. In March, Sunmi signed with Makeus Entertainment. In August, she released her single "Gashina", produced by Teddy Park of The Black Label. The song debuted at number 2 on the Gaon Digital Chart before topping the chart the following week, and was named the third best k-pop song of 2017 by ''Billboard''.

Sunmi returned with a single titled "Heroine" on January 18, 2018. She described the single as a prequel to "Gashina". On September 4, Sunmi released her second EP, titled '' Warning'', along with the lead single, "Siren". "Siren" received an all-kill on six local music charts. ''Warning'' was named the third best k-pop album of 2018 by ''Billboard'' and ''Bravo''. "Addict" was named the eighth best k-pop b-side of the year by ''MTV''.

From February to June 2019, Sunmi held her first world tour, titled "Warning". She performed in 18 cities across Asia, America and Europe. In the midst of the tour, on March 4, 2019, Sunmi released a single titled " Noir". After completing the world tour she released her single "Lalalay" on August 27, 2019.

On February 6, 2020, Sunmi released the single "Gotta Go" along with its instrumental as part of the original sound track of the web series '' XX'' in which she made a cameo. Two days later, a dance performance for the song was released which later became the channel's most popular video after reaching over 4 million views. On May 21, it was revealed that Sunmi would be making a comeback in late June. Her single " Pporappippam" was released on June 29.
On July 22, she was selected as the exclusive model of ''요괴미식가'' (the Korean version of ''Yokai Kitchen'') created by FriendTimes, in the TV commercial of the game, she played a gourmet who enjoyed cooking in the mysterious spirit realm restaurant.
On August 12, she and J. Y. Park released the duet " When We Disco". She also featured on label mate Park Won's song "Oh Yeah" from his album ''My Fuxxxxx Romance''.

Sunmi released her new single album ''Tail'' on February 23, 2021, with the lead single of the same name.

Sunmi released her third EP '' 1/6'' (One Sixth) on August 6, 2021, with the lead single "You Can't Sit with Us".

On October 11, Sunmi released the new digital single "Go or Stop?". The single was released as part of a collaboration with DWG KIA, a ''League of Legends'' esports team who won the 2020 World Championship.

2022–present: Summer comeback

On June 8, 2022, Sunmi's agency announced that she was preparing for a comeback with a single titled "Heart Burn" on June 29.

On June 30, 2022, the agency announced Sunmi's world tour '2022 SUNMI TOUR 'GOOD GIRL GONE MAD' through its official SNS channel. It will be held in Europe and America.

Artistry

Musical style and themes: "Sunmi-pop"

Sunmi is known in the K-pop industry to have created her own musical style called "Sunmi-pop". It maintains K-pop's core influences such as pop, disco, rock, traditional Korean music plus retro and city pop elements mixed with Sunmi's own defined music identity.

The concept of "Sunmi-pop" was first mentioned by Sunmi herself on ''You Hee-yeol's Sketchbook'' at the start of 2018. Later in the year, in an interview for ''1TheK'''s YouTube channel published in September 2018, she revealed that her personal goal was to create her own music style named after herself. The interview was published at a time coinciding with the release of ''Warning'' (her first extended play since her renewal as a solo artist) and she referred to the newly published EP as "a stepping stone from which hecan build erown music style".

One week ahead of the release of her single " Noir", she mentioned her main goal during a detailed interview for '' Billboard Korea'', hoping that her musical style would become something that could inspire other artists. K-pop fans around the world started to acknowledge Sunmi's own musical identity by using for the first time the word "''Sunmi-pop''" in a few tweets, although the term became common on social media only after her fans used it to reply to a tweet posted by Sunmi herself. Even though the tweet itself didn't mention the term, Korean media and industry players started to officially recognize the word "''Sunmi-pop''" and implement it in articles and variety shows for the first time to describe Sunmi's music, reporting that she created her own style by applying her abilities in self-writing, self-composing and ideating performances.

On May 30, 2019, in London, right before going up on the stage of the ''Warning'' World Tour, an interviewer of the Korean media agency Yonhap News made known to Sunmi that a term to describe her musical style had been coined already as "''Sunmi-pop''". Thus the word "''Sunmi-pop''" gained its officiality, and on August 21, 2019, her agency Abyss Company (then known as Makeus Entertainment) also recognized the newly coined word by sharing an article from Naver News which dedicated a section to "Sunmi genre, Sunmi-pop" in anticipation of her comeback with "Lalalay".

Characteristics of "Sunmi-pop"

The main characteristic of "Sunmi-pop" is defined by the emotions that the songs convey and provoke in the listener. According to Sunmi: "there's always a slightly sad emotion that permeates y musicno matter how excitingly I sing the song" and "it's energetic and happy but with a sense of sadness". "Sunmi-pop" songs feature upbeat dance rhythms with lyrics marked by metaphors and double meanings that slightly conceal a sense of cynicism.

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