South Korean singer Sunmi recently had great success with her solo comeback single 'Gashina,' released on August 22. Now the ex-Wonder Girls member has revealed who her idol is among K-pop singers.
As noted by website Soompi, on September 24, Sunmi appeared as a guest on SBS's music talk show 'Park Jin-young's Party People,' alongwith fellow senior singers Kim Wan-sun and Bada. Park Jin-young, better known as J.Y. Park or simply JYP, asked Sunmi what Kim Wan-sun means to her.
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In response to Park Jin-young's question, Sunmi said as quoted by Soompi, "If you asked me who my role was, I would say Kim Wan-sun. While I was preparing for '24 Hours' and 'Full Moon' I watched a lot of her videos."
The 25-year-old singer then revealed how she tried to channel Kim Wan-sun during her performances saying, "I thought that her expressionless and charismatic face was really cool and tried to imitate it, but people told me to stop raising my eyes."
Adding to Sunmi's praise of Kim Wan-sun, Park Jin-young said, "First of all, she was really gorgeous. In those days, her body proportions almost didn't make sense. However, the most important thing was that she could dance really well. It was always so exciting when she danced. As a member of the public and as a male fan, I just remember being so excited."
Sunmi also talked about her Wonder Girls days under Jin-young's label JYP Entertainment and revealed that she didn't like performing the song 'Tell Me.' She also added that she disliked the concept and the jacket of the album.
"The choreography video that was sent from the U.S. was too shocking," she said about 'Tell Me.' However, she thanked Park Jin-young for making such a successful song and said she was grateful.
Sunmi had debuted as a member of 'Wonder Girls' in 2007 but three years later she left the group to focus on her academic career instead. On January 26 this year, Wonder Girls disbanded following unsuccessful contract negotiations with some members.
Speaking about Sunmi's leaving Wonder Girls, Park Jin-young said, "There are a lot of producers out there who are more skilled than me, but because I've worked with Sunmi for a long time, I was worried that she wouldn't be able to find another producer that knows her as well as I do."
He added, "But after I saw Sunmi actively participating in composing and writing lyrics for Wonder Girls' album, I was able to let her go with ease. However, I still get nervous these days whenever I see Sunmi going up on stage."
The next episode of 'Park Jin-young's Party People' will feature EXO. The boy group will also be presenting their new song titled 'Power' on the show. Though the episode will air this month as revealed by Naver, an air date hasn't been announced yet.
As for Sunmi's chart topping single 'Gashina,' watch the music video below.
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