Yubin joined Wonder Girls in 2007 and immediately rose to fame thanks to several chart-topping hits they had at the time. But right before she joined Wonder Girls, she says she had dreamt of “a big tiger eating up a big moon … and when I turned my back there were some kids who I told to follow me. Maybe the kids were our members in the dream,” she says, suggesting her addition to the group had been auspicious for all of them. The group seem to agree, and since then she has been known by the other members as their “lucky charm”.

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In 2009, the girls made an attempt to break into the US music market – something that’s notoriously demoralising for established overseas pop acts. As Sunmi, another member, recalled on an episode of Radio Star, it was a lonely and difficult time and the group worked extremely hard. Their boss, JYP, spent hours handing out brochures and attempting to sell their CDs in clothing stores. But happily, the group’s efforts paid off: Wonder Girls went on to become the first Korean songstresses on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Yubin was a big contributor thanks to her lyrics for a full four songs from their “Reboot” album: Loved, John Doe, Back and Gone.

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Her solo debut

After the members of Wonder Girls all went their separate ways in 2018, Yubin debuted her solo career with the album “City Woman”. From that point on, she established herself as a solo singer-songwriter, unafraid to experiment with diverse music genres including city pop, rock and several ballads.

In an interview with Aju Business Daily, she explained that she tends to test out songs in genres she happens to be into at the time. In May she released the hip-hop-esque single Me Time, which she says she feels represents her current identity.

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Becoming a girl boss

The name of Yubin’s entertainment company – RRR – sends a no-nonsense message: it stands for Real Recognise Real, putting her mission to find other talented souls front and centre. She admitted to Aju Business Daily that it wasn’t an easy step starting her own company, saying: “At first, I was shocked to be honest … I think I was able to start it because I didn’t know how difficult it would be. Now I’m enjoying the process of learning.”

Last March, Yubin brought in Hyerim, also a former member of Wonder Girls, as the first artist to join RRR entertainment. In this year’s interview with The Dong-a Ilbo she shared her ambition to help new artists grow. And not just singers, but also producers, comedians and actors. Her vision, she says, is to grow an entertainment company where the artists and employees are all happy.

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Her YouTube debut

As if founding an entertainment company wasn’t entrepreneurial enough, she also started her own YouTube channel this February called Real Yubin. On the channel she shares everything from her New York vlogs, to behind-the-scenes videos of the many shows and magazine shoots she has appeared in. In her very first YouTube video, she told her fans she wants to use the platform to communicate better with her fans on YouTube Live and share her personal journey.

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Her upcoming plans

These days, Yubin’s schedule is action packed, with much of her time spent, among other things, on making special guest appearances with Hyerim in the comedy drama Hanging On, talk shows and reality competitions Unpretty Rapstar 2, Stage K and Video Star. And let’s not forget all of this is in addition to her CEO role.

Still, this superwoman is not done yet. In April she broke the news that will be coming together with Hyosung, former member of girl group Secret, to work on a duet. Given that both come from ultra-popular second generation K-pop groups, we are excited to see what synergy the pair will bring.

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