Former Wonder Girls member Sunye returned to Korea from Canada and performed again after 10 years.
tvN’s new entertainment program “Mom Is An Idol”, which first aired on December 10th, is a girl group project for mothers with career breaks. On this day, Sunye, former After School member Kahi and former Jewelry member Park Jung-ah’s dancing as well as singing skills were revealed.
Sunye appeared as the third main character. Prior to her appearance, hints such as “3231 days since leaving the stage”, “Three children”, “40 times winning No.1 on music shows during 5 years of career” and “First Korean singer to enter the Billboard Hot 100” were released.
As everyone expected, it was Sunye who appeared on stage. Kahi shared, “The first person that came to mind when I heard the question of who I would like to perform with was Wonder Girls’ Sunye. Didn’t she disappear right after getting married when she was in full swing? I was curious because I personally liked her.”
Sunye moved to Canada after getting married in 2013. She talked about her current situation, “Since I wasn’t in Korea, I didn’t have many opportunities (to share my recent status). I was immersed in the life of an ordinary mother. I thought I was already too used to this lifestyle.”
When asked how she felt being on stage after a long time, Sun-ye said, “I was a little excited, worried and also wondered if I could do it. First off all, the requirement to join the show is to be a mother. This special condition that only mothers of children could appear sounded interesting, and that gave me more courage. I’m really nervous, and I think I’m feeling mixed emotions. I’m nervous, excited, and also thrilled.”
Regarding why she returned to Korea from Canada alone without her family, Sunye explained, “I came to Korea alone because there was a problem with my children at school and also due to various other reasons. Thankfully, my husband and my family-in-law all supported me. While sending me off, he said that since I have been raising 3 daughters for 10 years, I didn’t spend much time for myself.”
Sunye also confessed about difficulties she had while practicing dancing, saying, “I didn’t do stretching in the past 10 years. Since I’m not a good dancer, I felt so pressured about dancing after such a long time. My appearance that has changed a lot is also one of the worries. Now that I have become a mother, I want to put everything down and challenge myself.”
After that, Sunye got praised for her singing performance of Younha’s “Waiting” in the vocal evaluation and received applause for digesting BTS‘s “Butter” choreography so well during the dance evaluation. As a result, Sunye was the first contestant to “pass” both vocal and dance evaluations.
Vocal judge Park Sun-joo said, “This program should be renamed as ‘Mom Is A Legend’. Sunye’s unique and attractive voice is so lively and has even gotten more powerful”. Dance judge Bae Yoon-jeong added, “I can’t believe you are a mother of 3 children. I don’t know who said you weren’t good at dancing, but I think your skills didn’t get worse at all”. Kim Do-hoon complimented, “You looked elegant and hip”.
Getting down from the stage, Sunye expressed her feelings, saying, “So amazing. This is like a dream. I remembered the words’ elegant and hip’ the most. That’s the best compliment I have ever heard.”
