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Reboot (Wonder Girls album)

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Reboot
Cover artwork for 'Reboot' featuring four group members holding their instruments
Studio album by
Wonder Girls
ReleasedAugust 3, 2015
Recorded2015
Genre
Length43:11
LanguageKorean
LabelJYP
Producer
Wonder Girls chronology
Wonder Best
(2012) 		Reboot
(2015) 		Why So Lonely
(2016)
Singles from Reboot
  1. "I Feel You"
    Released: August 3, 2015

Reboot is the third and final studio album by South Korean girl group Wonder Girls. It was released on August 3, 2015, through JYP Entertainment. The Wonder Girls were more involved in the composition of this album, with each member having writing and/or production credits on at least one song; each song has credits for at least one member.[2] It was their first studio album since 2007 to feature member Sunmi and their first since the departure of members Sunye and Sohee. The album musically conveys a 1980s-inspired style, incorporating genres including synthpop, hip hop, pop rock and dance-pop.

Reboot received critical acclaim from music critics, who lauded the album's concept and musical styles. Billboard named it the best K-pop album of 2015 and ranked it fourth among the best K-pop albums of the 2010s. Additionally, Educational Broadcasting System (EBS) and Paste included it in their lists of the best K-pop albums. Commercially, Reboot charted at number five on the Gaon Album Chart and number two on the Billboard World Albums. It was preceded by the release of the single "I Feel You", released on August 2, 2015.

Background and composition

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On June 24, 2015, it was reported that member Sunmi would return to the group following her initial departure in February 2010. On July 20, it was confirmed that members Sohee and Sunye had officially withdrawn from the group. The same day, JYP Entertainment announced the return of the Wonder Girls with a new band concept. For this concept, Sunmi plays bass guitar, Yubin plays drums, Hyelim plays guitar, and Yeeun plays piano. Individual teasers of the members playing their respective instruments began being released on July 20.[3] Despite the concept, none of the members actually recorded instrumentals for the album, though they learned to play the instruments and performed songs with their instruments live.[4][5] Yeeun was the only member of the group to have considerable experience playing her instrument, the piano, prior to the lead up to the comeback.

Singles and promotion

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On July 29, a promotional video for the release of Reboot was released on YouTube. "I Feel You" served as the lead single for the album, being released on August 2. It was accompanied by a music video directed by Lumpens, which premiered on the same day on JYP Entertainment's YouTube channel. "I Feel You" and its music video are heavily inspired by 1980s music, similar to the group's 2008 single "So Hot". It takes place in 1987 and shows each member playing her own respective instrument. KBS considered the music video to be "too sexy and revealing" and only aired the video after certain dance moves were cut.[6]

"I Feel You" is their first single since Sunye's and Sohee's departures and their first single since the English version release of "Nobody" (2009) to feature Sunmi. The song was promoted on major South Korean music shows, starting on August 8 on KBS's Music Bank; on those shows, they also performed other tracks from the album, including "Candle", "Back", and "Rewind". They also appeared on variety shows, including MBC every1's Weekly Idol. In addition, the group appeared on various radio shows.
The songs "Candle" (featuring Paloalto) and "Rewind" had dance practice videos released on YouTube on August 11 and 20, respectively.

Critical reception

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Reboot received critical acclaim; it was ranked number one on Billboard's list of the 10 Best K-pop Albums of 2015 with editor Jeff Benjamin praising the record's thematic concept: "Reboot showcases the importance of a concept and what happens when an act believes in that concept. [...] It’s that type of dedication to your concept, nay art, that makes for a body of work that rises above the rest. As previously mentioned, this year was filled with a spectacular amount of K-pop album releases, but the best comes when the act fully embraces what makes them unique."[7] iTunes Japan named it the best K-pop album of the year[8] while Korean music webzine Idology ranked it the year's third best album, with critic Squib writing that "What the Wonder Girls are rebooting here is not their careers, but a 'real taste of K-pop'."[9]

Billboard named Reboot the fourth best K-pop album of the 2010s decade in 2019, hailing the LP as a "testament to the power of pre-established musical genres as a transformative means of expressing oneself". They remarked that it's not a "rehash", "it's a reboot."[10] Cielo Perez from Paste ranked it the 8th greatest K-pop album of all time, writing that "there’s something for everyone to latch onto and obsess over on this album—a true benchmark of brilliance."[11]

Reboot on critic lists
Publication List Work Rank Ref.
Billboard The 10 Best K-pop Albums of 2015 Reboot 1 [7]
The 25 Greatest K-pop Albums of the 2010s 4 [10]
EBS Top 100 Korean Albums (2004–2023) Included [12]
Fuse The 20 Best Albums of 2015 18 [13]
Idology 10 Best Albums of 2015 3 [9]
Paste The 30 Greatest K-pop Albums of All Time 8 [11]
Idolator The 25 Best K-pop Songs of 2015 "I Feel You" 15 [14]
PopMatters The Best K-pop of 2015 11 [15]
Vice The Top 20 K-pop Songs of 2015 9 [16]

Commercial performance

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Commercially, Reboot underperformed in comparison to the group's earlier albums. It debuted at number five on the Gaon Album Chart,[17] selling 12,789 copies by August 2016.[18] In the United States, the album debuted at number 2 on the Billboard US World Albums chart, becoming their best charting album on that chart. It also peaked at number twenty-five on US Heatseekers Albums.[19] The main single, "I Feel You", charted at number one on eight major South Korean music streaming charts during the week of its release.[citation needed] It peaked at number three on the country's comprehensive Gaon Digital Chart in the week ending on August 15, 2015.[20]

Track listing

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Reboot — Standard edition
No.TitleWriter(s)Producer(s)Length
1."Baby Don't Play"
  • Park Ye-eun
  • Hong Ji-sang
3:31
2."Candle" (featuring Paloalto)
  • Hyerim
  • Frants
3:44
3."I Feel You"
  • Park Jin-young
  • Hong Ji-sang
3:25
4."Rewind"
  • Sunmi
  • Ju Hyo
3:33
5."Loved"
Shim Eun-ji3:39
6."John Doe"
  • Yubin
  • Hong Ji-sang
  • Ju Hyo
  • Yubin
  • Hong Ji-sang
  • Ju Hyo
3:11
7."One Black Night"
  • Yeeun
  • Frants
  • Yeeun
  • Frants
3:46
8."Back"
  • Hyerim
  • Yubin
  • Sunmi
  • Hyerim
  • Yubin
  • Sunmi
3:28
9."Oppa" (오빠) (Hyerim solo)
  • Hyerim
  • Frants
  • Hyerim
  • Frants
3:33
10."Faded Love" (사랑이 떠나려 할 때; Salang-i tteonalyeo hal ttae)
  • Sunmi
  • Shim Eun-ji
Shim Eun-ji3:53
11."Gone" (없어; Eobs-eo)
  • Yubin
  • Shim Eun-ji
Shim Eun-ji3:41
12."Remember" (이 순간; I-sungan)
  • Yeeun
  • Hong Ji-sang
  • Yeeun
  • Hong Ji-sang
3:45
Total length:43:11
Reboot — Physical edition (bonus track)
No.TitleLength
13."20150711 (Talk)" (featuring Sunye and Sohee)2:23

Charts

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Release history

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Country Date Edition Format Label
South Korea August 3, 2015 Standard
JYP Entertainment
Various Digital download

References

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  1. ^ Benjamin, Jeff; Oak, Jessica (December 12, 2015). "The 10 Best K-Pop Albums of 2015". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved May 9, 2016.
  2. ^ "Wonder Girls the 3rd album Reboot Track List". Facebook (in Korean). July 28, 2015. Retrieved August 12, 2015.
  3. ^ "Sunmi is a mysterious bassist in her teaser video for Wonder Girls comeback". allkpop. July 20, 2015. Retrieved August 12, 2015.
  4. ^ "Wonder Girls explain why none of the instrumentals on their album have been recorded by them". allkpop. August 4, 2015. Retrieved August 12, 2015.
  5. ^ "Wonder Girls Didn't Play Any Instruments On Comeback LP 'Reboot' Despite Returning As A "Real Band"". Idolator. August 4, 2015. Retrieved August 12, 2015.
  6. ^ Kaur, Gungeet (June 23, 2016). "KBS bans Wonder Girls' new song Sweet & Easy". International Business Times. Retrieved May 9, 2023.
  7. ^ a b "The 10 Best K-Pop Albums of 2015: Wonder Girls, Seventeen, f(x), BTS, Red Velvet & More | Billboard". Billboard. Retrieved December 31, 2015.
  8. ^ "iTunes Releases Its Best of 2015 List and Top Seller Charts | ARAMA! JAPAN". ARAMA! JAPAN. December 10, 2015. Retrieved August 1, 2017.
  9. ^ a b "결산 2015 : ② 올해의 음반". Idology. January 7, 2016. Retrieved February 12, 2022.
  10. ^ a b "The 25 Greatest K-Pop Albums of the 2010s: Staff List". Billboard. December 17, 2019. Archived from the original on December 21, 2019. Retrieved December 29, 2019.
  11. ^ a b Perez, Cielo (September 11, 2023). "The 30 Greatest K-Pop Albums of All Time". Paste Magazine. Retrieved September 11, 2023.
  12. ^ "2000년대 한국 대중음악 명반 100 (2004–2023)" [Top 100 Korean pop music albums of the 2000s (2004–2023)] (in Korean). Educational Broadcasting System. April 1, 2024. Retrieved April 2, 2024.
  13. ^ "The 20 Best Albums of 2015". Fuse. Retrieved December 16, 2015.
  14. ^ Peterson, Jacques (December 29, 2015). "The 25 Best K-Pop Songs Of 2015". Idolator. Retrieved February 12, 2022.
  15. ^ "The Best K-Pop of 2015, PopMatters". PopMatters. December 18, 2015. Retrieved February 12, 2022.
  16. ^ Dorof, Jakob (December 9, 2015). "The Top 20 K-pop Songs of 2015". Vice. Retrieved February 12, 2022.
  17. ^ a b "Gaon Album Chart - Week 33, 2015". Gaon Chart. Retrieved August 15, 2015.
  18. ^ Cumulative sales for Reboot:
  19. ^ a b c "Wonder Girls Make Big Return to Billboard Charts With 'Reboot' Album". Billboard. Retrieved August 20, 2015.
  20. ^ "Digital Chart – Week 33 of 2015". Circle Chart. August 9–15, 2015. Retrieved July 19, 2022.
  21. ^ "Circle Album Chart – August 2015". Circle Chart (in Korean). August 2015. Retrieved December 19, 2022.
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