4minute (포미닛) is a South Korean pop girl group created by Cube Entertainment. The group's resignation prior to their debut was first attained by the announcement the re-debut of former Wonder Girls member Hyun A.
On June 12, 2009 Cube Entertainment released concept photos of 4minute promoting "Candy Funky Style". The concept was harshly criticized by netziens sighting the similarities between 4minute's concept and the concept's of 2NE1 and After School, both of which debut just 2 months prior. Cube Entertainment released a statement assuring the uniqueness of 4minute's concept and disputing the similarities. Despite the opposition, the scandal can be said to have increased the groups popularity as "4minute" became the #1 search term on Daum.
4minutes official debut was on June 15, 2009 with the music video and digital single of "Hot Issue" and their live performance debut June 18, 2009 on M! Countdown.
After the debut Cube Entertainment announced the release of their first mini-album "For Muzik" for an early August release, however the album was postponed to late August. Prior to the release, the group's mini-album was leaked to the public, prompting Cube Entertainment to release the album digitally. The music video for the lead single "MUZIK" was released on September 3, 2009 with a live performance September 5, 2009 at Music Bank.
With rising popularity Cube Entertainment announced 4minute's future plans to debut throughout other Asian countries. On November 25, 2009 the group made a debut in Shanghai China after being invited to the Korea China Music Festival where they performed "Hot Issue" and "MUZIK". On December 2, 2009 collaborated with Mario and Amen to release the Christmas themed digital single "Jingle Jingle"
In January 2010 Hyun A made her debut as a solo artist with the single "Change". The music video for the single was considered inappropriate for people under the age 19 and was subsequently banned from several stations. Cube Entertainment then released a re-edited version with a 15 year age requirement.
On May 5th 2010 the group made their debut in Japan with the single "Muzik", a Japanese version of the original Korean version on their mini-album. The single failed to hit the top 10 on the Oricon records and only sold 4,241 in its first week with 6,154 copies to date. This is considered partly due to the lack of promotion. Later 4minute's second Korean mini album "Hit Your Heart" was once again leaked on May 19th. After the official release, "HUH" which featured the South Korean boy group B2ST was used as the lead single and "I My Me Mine" was later used as the second lead. Despite the leak, the lead single "HUH" hit #1 on Music Core.
On July 28th the group released their second Japanese single. The single chosen was "I My Me Mine" another Japanese rendition of a previous released song in Korea. The single saw to low sales with only 4,742 copies sold in its first week and dropping out of the Oricon charts in its 3rd week with only 7,234 sold.
THE ASIAN HOTTIES AWAIT!
See the world's most beautiful Asians in AmpedAsia magazine. It's 100% FREE.
CONNECT FOR EXCLUSIVE CONTENT
Get access to exclusive contests, never-before-seen sexy photos of our Amped Asia models, and more by connecting with us on our social networks.
ASIAN MODELS, GET FEATURED ON AMPEDASIA
Are you an Asian model who wants to be featured on a top Asian American entertainment magazine? We are always casting for new models to be on AmpedAsia. Please visit our models casting page for more details.
ASIAN ARTISTS, PROMOTE YOURSELF WORLDWIDE
We'd love to hear your story and feature you on Amped Asia to our international audience. We are interviewing and writing articles on Asian artists, DJs, rappers, actors/actresses, and other entertainers. Please see this page for more information.
