2PM

2PM Members

• JunSu
• JunHo
• Nichkhun
• TaecYeon
• WooYoung
• ChanSung

Former Members:

• JaeBeom (Jay Park)

2PM History

Pre-Debut

Nichkhun began his career by being scouted. He was a handsome young man with many talents including the knowledge of three different languages (English, Korean and Thai). The rest of the members went through an audition process that would allow them to train under JYP Entertainment. All of the members were talented. For example, Kim JunSu was a known vocalist who won at various singing competitions and Jang WooYoung’s name had reached many ears due to his talent and passion in dancing. Members Ok TaecYeon, Lee JunHo and Hwang ChanSung had previously participated in a talent seeking TV program “SuperStar Survival” – a show that challenged all the participants to seek the next superstar. The training process of 2PM and 2AM was filmed and aired via an Mnet documentary series “Hot Blooded Men”.

2008: Debut, Hottest Time of the Day

2PM made their debut on September 4, 2008 with the single “10 out of 10″. They had previously released their debut single abum Hottest Time of the Day on August 29. JYP Entertainment decided to present the group as a more mature boy group than the common “pretty boy” groups. This eventually led to the fans calling the group “beast men” (짐승남) due to the members’ physiques and other characteristics.

2009: JaeBeom Controversy, 2:00PM Time For Change, The First Album 1:59PM

A second single album was released on April 16, 2009. This album is considered the steppingstone for 2PM’s fame due to the popularity it received with the song “Again & Again”. The title of the album was “2:00PM Time For Change” and would be the last album that the group’s leader Park JaeBeom (Jay Park) would work on as a 2PM member. On September 4, 2009, a huge controversy broke loose on the internet; someone had leaked JaeBeom’s past posts from MySpace which showed his dissatisfaction and dislike with JYP Entertainment and Korea. He released a formal statement of apology and the CEO of JYP Entertainment (Park JinYoung) announced his wishes to keep the artist in the group. However, the MySpace posts from JaeBeom’s training days bred hatred toward the artist. What had seemed like a small internet war to get rid of JaeBeom from 2PM and Korea altogether ended with the loss of the great leader and member of 2PM. On September 8, 2008, JaeBeom announced his leave from the group to go back to the United States. JYP Entertainment respected his decisions and announced 2PM will stay as is, as a 6-member group. Because of this controversy, 2PM’s fans were split, warring against one another. However, the group would move on by releasing their first studio album a month after the controversy.

On November 10, 2009, 2PM released their full studio album titled “The First Album 1:59PM”. The missing minute from the album represents their previous leader JaeBeom. Although he was no longer a part of the group, JYP Entertainment and the members of 2PM decided to keep JaeBeom’s voice in some songs like the hit single “Again & Again”. The title song of the album “Heartbeat” gained the first place spot on numerous charts including music programs on TV. On November 20, 2009, 2PM received the “Best Male Group” and “Artist of the Year” awards at the Mnet Asian Music Awards and on November 26, “Heartbeat” took the first place spot for three consecutive weeks while achieving the Triple Crown. “Again & Again” received the “Song of the Year” award from KBS.

2010: Don’t Stop Can’t Stop, Still 2:00PM

An announcement was made by JYP Entertainment – JaeBeom’s contract with the company had been terminated and he will not be coming back as a member of 2PM. 2PM’s third single album “Don’t Stop Can’t Stop” was released on April 19, 2010. It reached the number one spot on several charts.

2PM held their very first concert on July 31 and August 1 in Seoul followed by concerts on August 7 and 8 in Busan. The seating was available for 12,000 people and all of the concerts were sold out. The guest performers of the concerts were 2AM and miss A of JYP Entertainment.

On October 11, 2010, 2PM released their first EP album titled “Still 2:00PM”. The album surprisingly reached the 13th spot on Billboard’s World Album Chart and gained some recognition throughout the world and especially in Korea. Still 2:00PM reached the number one place in various charts including the Gaon Chart.

With the success in Korea, 2PM aimed to perform in Japan. They made their official debut in Japan on December 8, 2011 with a live concert at the Ryogoku Kokugikan Gymnasium.

2011: Japan – Take Off, I’m Your Man, Ultra Lover | Korea – Hands Up, Republic of 2PM 2PM’s progress in Japan started off strong. The debut Japanese single was released on May 18, 2011 in four different editions. The single album was titled “Take Off” and the title track was titled “Take Off”. The song was also featured as the ending theme song for the Japanese anime series “Blue Exorcist” (Ao No Exorcist). It reached the fourth place in Oricon Weekly Singles Chart with 59,059 copies sold within the first week of release.

2PM went back to Korea for the release of their second studio album “Hands Up” released on June 20, 2011. The album was the first to have the members of 2PM produce the songs. For example, JunSu wrote “Hot” and JunHo wrote “Give It To Me”. The album peaked at the number one spot on various charts including the Gaon Weekly and Singles chart. It placed second on the Gaon Monthly Albums chart and twelfth on the Yearly Album chart.

In July, 2PM was to have their own TV segment on SBS’s cable TV channel E!TV.

On August 17, 2PM released their second single in Japan titled “I’m Your Man”. It came in three different editions and placed very well on the Oricon charts. The single also reached third place in Billboard Japan Hot 100. 2PM’s third single “Ultra Lover” was released on November 2. It also came in three different editions and went on to selling over 100,000 copies. Ultra Lover received the Gold certification from the RIAJ.

With three singles under their belt, 2PM released their first studio album in Japan. 2PM’s first official Japanese studio album was titled “Republic of 2PM”; it is also 2PM’s third album in total. Republic of 2PM was released on November 30 and came in three editions. It also contained eight original Japanese tracks. It also contained the three singles released in Japan. 2PM’s first Japanese studio album peaked at second place on the Oricon Daily Albums chart with over 25,000 sales and reached fourth on the Billboard Japan Top Albums chart.

2012: Progress – Documentary with 2AM

2PM and their brother-group 2AM joined together to film a documentary on their progress as musicians under JYP Entertainment. The announcement for the documentary was made on April 10, 2012 and a trailer for the documentary was released on April 13, 2012. Their documentary film was titled “Beyond The One Day”.

2PM Links

• Official Website
• Official Japanese Website
• Official Daum Fan Cafe
• Official YouTube Channel
• Official Twitter