2PM

2PM is a South Korean boyband under the management of JYP Entertainment. The members of 2PM started in an eleven-member group called One Day, but when the group inevitably split, 2PM was made into an independent group as did the other four containing as a sub-label, 2AM.

Members

Jun.K, Kim Minjun, was born on January 15, 1988 and is the main vocalist of 2PM. When Jun.K started to find his talent in singing, his father didn't approve and simply didn't want him to pursue a line of career much like that, yet when he won a singing talent audition, his father began to support him.

Jun.K is also very close with G-Dragon (Kwon Jiyong) and Taeyang (Dong Youngbae) of BIGBANG, seeing to it that he first auditioned for YG Entertainment before JYP.

He is also said to change his name (Junsu) to Minjun for personal reasons.

Nichkhun Horvejkul is the face of 2PM and was born on June 24, 1988. He is known to speak English, Thai, and Korean fluently as he was born in California and, when 5 years old, moved to Thailand before to Korea in 2006.

He's rather specialized in acrobatics and playing the piano, also making an appearance on the hit show We Got Married with Victoria of f(x).

Ok Taecyeon was born on December 27, 1988 and is the main rapper, vocalist and also, the face of 2PM. He is said to be the "fashion terrorist" of the group and had a very close friendship with SNSD's Tiffany while also being known to gossip with SNSD's Yoona and Jessica.

He has acted in Cinderella's Sister and Dream High. Taecyeon was qualified to become a model for JYP but then joined 2PM later on. He can speak English, Spanish, Chinese, Korean, and Japanese.

Jang Wooyoung was born on April 30, 1989 and is the main vocalist who acted beside Taecyeon in Dream High. He was said to have been the most emotional member when former 2PM leader, Jay Park, left.

When he first started to become a singer, his father absolutely opposed his career choice much like Jun.K.

Lee Junho is the subvocalist for 2PM and was born on January 25, 1990. He was signed with JYP after winning JYP's Superstar Survival talent search back in 2006, placing 1st out of 6,000 other competitors.

Junho is the type of member in 2PM who gives his whole heart in everything he does whether it's singing, dancing, or just trying in general.

Hwang Chansung was born on February 11, 1990 and is the maknae of the group. He is also a rapper and sub-vocalist, starring in the sitcom High Kick and was an actor before joining 2PM.

Pre-debut

All the members of 2PM, aside Nichkhun, auditioned for their spot. Nichkhun had been scouted by JYP individuals when he had attended a Korean concert and caught the eyes of the scouting agents. Of course, he speaks of it in a few interviews stating that it was a once in a lifetime chance and he worked rather hard in getting to where he is now. Previously before 2PM, he couldn't sing or dance.

A few other members already had experience in the music industry. Jun.K had won several different singing competitions while Taecyeon, Junho, and Chansung competed in Superstar Survival. The two current members of 2PM, Nichkhun and Taecyeon, lived in the America's before heading to Korea. Taecyeon had lived in Massachusetts for seven years while Nichkhun was born and raised in Rancho Cucamonga in Southern California.

The members of 2PM were originally part of a group called One Day, which, after a thorough voting system, cut down to eleven members. Before they could even release a studio album, the group split down into two groups: 2PM and 2AM.

2008-2009: Debut

Around this time, it was known for Korean boy bands to take on the "pretty boy" image, yet JYP ensured that 2PM took on a mature look in their concepts which reflected rather well in each individual and their music. It had gone on to give them the nickname "Beastly Idols".

Ex-member, Jaebeom (Jay Park), was chosen to be the group's leader for he was seen as the most talented and oldest. He had played a key role in 2PM's early music videos and singles alike. Surely enough, 2PM debuted with their single, "10 Out Of 10" on the 4th of September in 2008. Coming October, they began to promote "Only You" which was another song from their mini album, Hottest Time Of The Day.

The following year of 2009, the group released their second mini album in April called, 2:00PM: Time For Change. In May, they had won their first Mutizen Song award on M! Countdown following two more acknowledgments including one from Music Bank.

On June 11th, 2PM started promotion for their new single, "Niga Mipda (I Hate You)" on M! Countdown and in July, 2PM achieved their first place on said M! Countdown and Music Bank for their new song. July 30th, they won again on M! Countdown for "Only One Song".

The Jay Park Controversy

Regarding the year of 2009, a controversy sparked with the leader of 2PM, Jaebeom. On the 4th of September, articles arose speaking of Jaebeom's posts from his MySpace account while he was still a trainee in JYP, stating his extreme dislike for Korea.

The posts had been leaked by a netizen who hacked into his MySpace account and took the contents of the topic out of context which was misunderstood by the media itself. Jaebeom had issued a public apology, yet many demanded that he be removed from 2PM and JYP altogether. Yet, CEO of the entertainment Park Jin-Young, stated on the 7th of September that Jaebeom would remain in 2PM as a whole.

Following that day, Jaebeom had announced that he would leave the group and head back to America until the whole situation calmed down. His plans were to return to school and improve his understanding for music while at the same time, he apologized to his band members, feeling as if he had failed them as a whole. Jaebeom promised to return as a better person and soon after his departure did 2PM take a leave of absence from the media and all variety shows they had been attending as of that time.

2009-2010: 01:59PM

Disregarding the controversy, 2PM went ahead to release their first studio album, 01:59PM which was released on the 10th of November. Of course, Jaebeom had missed the release of the album itself and soon after did CEO, Park Jin-Young, state that Jaebeom could return to 2PM if he wished. In support, the six members of the group split their income with him and although the tracks within the album held Jaebeom's voice, his face wasn't included in their promoting cover photo.

With Jaebeom's vocals playing in the audio track for "Heartbeat", the remaining 2PM members had to re-film their music video as he was still missing. Both the album and song, "Heartbeat" rose as the number one singles in sales charts. The group had begun to start promotion for their album on a variety of music shows such as O Good Concert, Music Bank, Music Core and Inkigayo.

A week after the release of their album, 2PM performed at M.Net Asian Music Awards as the Best Male Group and Artist of the Year. Of course, Jaebeom was again featured with his vocals in their dance performance for "Again & Again" where a spotlight fell over where Jaebeom would normally be dancing in along with his part of the song which wasn't replaced.

After their promotional activities, 2PM earned their first award on Music Bank's "K-Chart" since the album's release with "Heartbeat". "Again & Again" was scouted as the Song of the Year while "Heartbeat" achieved a Mutizen award for topping the charts on Inkigayo.

2010: Don't Stop, Can't Stop

JYP stated in February of 2010 that Jaebeom would not be returning to 2PM for his contract was permanently terminated with the agreement of all six, remaining members. After this was set and done, 2PM had gone in for many conferences which soon resulted in the shutting down of their fansites, seeing to it that many people were in protest of Jaebeom's termination.

Of course, JYP had gone on to state that though Jaebeom, who was the leader, was no longer to return, they would not choose a member to take his place.

In April, 2PM released a mini-album withholding six tracks called "Don't Stop, Can't Stop". This was said to be released as an album that showed 2PM in a stronger spotlight than from when their last album released which was during the time of the controversy.

The lead single "Without U" quickly rose six Korean charts at #1 and following that did the group make a televised comeback on M! Countdown. 2PM then served as the opening of the Wonder Girl's summer events in 2010 while also performing in L.A for Korea Times Music Festival for the eighth anniversary as well as the Dream Concert in Seoul.

In May of that same year, 2PM released "What's Your Celebration?" for the 2010's FIFA World Cup. Following July did Taecyeon and Wooyoung leave their positions as MC's at Inkigayo to start concentrating on a busy 2PM schedule as upcoming concerts tainted their horizon.

About 12,000 fans attended 2PM's first concert in Seoul where the group played all their hit songs since 2008 as well as solo performances. Two encore concerts followed in suit for their anniversary.

Their extended play was released in October with the title, Still 2:00PM with the lead single,"I'll Be Back" which stayed as #1 on charts for a straight two weeks. In November, the album had debuted on the 13th spot on Billboard's World Album Chart though absolutely no promotions were made for the release.

2PM was also granted an award for"Most Popular Asian Singer" in China at the Mandarin Music Honors of 2010 and ended the year with their official Japanese debut in December with the first live event and showcase called "2PM 1st Concert in Japan".

2011-2012: Japanese Debut / "Hand's Up"

2PM's Japanese career took off in May of 2011 with the single, "Take Off" which was featured as the ending song in a hit anime series, Blue Exorcist. This single ranked from 1-3 on Japanese music charts as well as hitting #1 forUSEN's J-Pop Chart which was a record as 2PM was the first Korean band to reach that high.

In June was the news released by JYP that 2PM would be making their second studio album, Hand's Up. It was the first album that had two songs composed by two of the members: "HOT" by Minjun and "Give it to me" by Junho. Their title track landed as #1 as did many of the other tracks that fell into a swift categorization. The promotional period only lasted for just one month, seeing to it that they were prepping for their Japanese promotions as well as the "Hands Up Asia Tour".

Following this, the 2PM Show began to air on SBS in July, featuring all six members which made it the first program in which all members of 2PM would be MC's to.

The release of 2PM's first ever Japanese studio album was titled Republic of 2PM"which came out at the end of November, holding the contents of all their Japanese singles in one album along with the Japanese version of"Hand's Up".

For this album, Minjun had also composed a special song for his fans,"Hanarete Itemo (Even When We're Apart)" and four other new songs. In April, 2PM announced in the release of a documentary with sub-unit, 2AM known as Beyond the One Day"in Japan. On the 13th of April, the trailer was released.

2013: Grown

After a year, 2PM made their comeback in Korea with their third studio album, Grown. Their title song had a teaser trailer for the designated MV,"Comeback When You Hear This Song" released on May 2nd before the MV released as a whole on the 6th. Being a two-titled track album, they had their release of "A.D.T.O.Y (All Day I'm Thinking Of You)" released on the 11th.