'Mom Is An Idol': Jewelry and mini Wonder Girls reunion take place on K-pop show
K-pop is quite age-restricting compared to the other music industries in the world. Whether it is out of their own volition or not, most idols fade away or retire after the age of 30 due to fans not accepting dating and marriage, exhausting choreography and physical requirements of promotional activities. However, ‘Mom Is An Idol’ is giving a second chance to first-gen idols who retired after becoming mothers to debut in a new girl group. The contestants were all popular idols in their heydays like Wonder Girls’ leader Sunye and Jewelry’s Park Jung-ah.
The other contestants are After School’s Kahi, rock singer turned actress Hyun Joo-ni, ballad singer Byul who is now known as celebrity wife to singer HAHA and Baby Vox’s Yang Ji-eun. They were all famous idols in the 90s and early 2000s and responsible for the beginnings of the Hallyu Wave that has now taken the world by storm. ‘Mom Is An Idol’ is garnering much attention as older-gen fans are loving their past idols’ comeback while newer-gen fans are pleasantly surprised by their talent. We had Kahi shocking everyone with her performance of Blackpink Lisa’s ‘Lalisa’, Wonder Girls Sunye’s doing a fun rendition of BTS’ ‘Butter’ and Jewelry Park Jung-ah’s seductive cover of SHINee Taemin’s ‘Move’.
READ MORE
'Mom Is An Idol': 1st-gen idols turned celebrity moms to redebut in K-pop group
'Devil': K-pop fans blame marriage for TVXQ Changmin's low album sales
What is 'Mom Is An Idol'?
With these celebrity moms proving that they have still got their stage presence and skills, TvN hopes to generate viewers who in turn become fans rooting for the new girl group. In Episode 5 of ‘Mom Is An Idol’, the contestants’ mission was to perform aespa’s ‘Next Level’ and their performance ended up going viral in South Korea. TvN seems to be pulling out all the stops for their show because now in their latest episode they even did the impossible by reuniting members of Jewelry and Wonder Girls.
Watch 'Mom Is An Idol' contestants' performance of aespa's 'Next Level'
Sunmi and JYP reunite with Sunye
At the end of Episode 5, fans got a glimpse of the next episode which had surprise guests. We not only got former Wonder Girls member Sunmi but also their label’s CEO JYP aka Park Jinyoung. Sunye reunited with Sunmi and JYP as they chatted and even danced to the girl group’s viral hit ‘Tell Me’. As for the ‘Mom Is An Idol’ missions, Sunye performed Sunmi’s iconic song ‘Gashina’ with her and also the ballad ‘Farewell Under the Sun’ with JYP. They also opened up about their time in JYPE and how Sunye was sorry that the group’s comebacks got delayed because of her personal issues.
Sunmi however assured her, “In the first place, the debut team that eventually became Wonder Girls was created because you were its first member. I remember when we were trainees, you cooked so many meals for us. You were like our mom even back then.” JYP also confessed that he was concerned about Sunye's marriage and that she would go “from the leader of the nation's #1 girl group to an ordinary housewife. I was happy for her, but there was also concern. But I know that Sunye is an extremely responsible person.”
Jewelry reunite after 4 years
We also had Jewelry reuniting for the second time in 2022. The members first all got together for member Kim Eun-jung’s wedding on January 17. And then for the January 20 episode of ‘Mom Is An Idol’, they surprised fans by joining Park Jung-ah for her mission. Having debuted in 2001, they disbanded in 2015. They had previously reunited in 2018 for the talent show ‘Sugarman 2’. All four members then got together on Episode 6 of ‘Mom Is An Idol’ and performed their legendary songs ‘Baby One More Time’ and ‘Superstar’.
Watch Sunye’s performances with Sunmi and JYP.
Watch Jewelry’s performances.