O-24 or 0-24 (오투포) was a three-member girl group under Cream Records named Eunsung Entertainment, a subsidiary under Yedang Entertainment Company. They made their debut on November 30, 1998, with the studio album Live In Hip Hop.
The group was most notably known with the one-hit wonder song "First Love".
Their group name had two meanings: "to think of hip hop all day long (from 0 to 24 hours)" and "all four (4) members are like oxygen (O2)".
History[]
Pre-debut[]
O-24 was first formed in 1998, the group's project started in 1997. During that time, there were many girl group projects with the 'fairy girl' concept, and the company was preparing for a new 'hip-hop warrior' girl group.
Prior to forming the new girl group, Minzee was the winner of the first Miss Binggrae contest in December 1993, making her debut as a popular child actress. During her days as an actress, there were many actors who were popular at the time, so she decided to give it a try to become an idol.[1]
Mijung, who was a model for 'SMART' uniforms and later debuted as an actress, as one of the main cast along with her fellow member Minzee in one of the K-Drama episodes, she received a phone call from her mother, asking if she wants to become a singer.[2]
Kahye was a trainee, she used to train with S.E.S., Lee Hyori (Fin.K.L) and Soy (T.T.Ma).
1998-1999: Debut, Yeonjung's departure, behind the scenes stories[]
In December 1998, from an issue of TEENSTAR magazine, the group was first introduced as 'T.G' (or 'Tornado Girls') and quickly changed to 'O-24' on MUSICLIFE magazine.
O-24 made their debut as a four-member girl group. The four members were: Mijung, Kahye, Yeonjung and Minzee. The group debuted at a similar time as S#arp, g.o.d and Koyote
The album Live in Hip Hop released on January 3, 1999 on cassette, and February 20, 1999 on CD. The group first appeared on KMTV Show! Music Tank on January 9, 1999.
The title song "Freedom" is about social criticism and school bullying, similar to "Warrior's Descendant" by H.O.T. The song is influenced "Come Back Home" by Seo Taiji and Boys. The song contained strong language, it was played a few times on music shows, and the lyrics were later changed.
The song peaked at #17 on SBS Inkigayo.
O-24 were one of the few girl groups to introduce the girl crush concept to Korea and the second girl group (the first group is DIVA) to introduce Girl's Hip Hop, however at the time, their rival groups were far more famous such as S.E.S. and Fin.K.L and hence O-24 was overshadowed from debut.
After the promotion of "Freedom" in April 1999, Yeonjung left the group due to a leg injury during practice. Following Yeonjung's departure, O-24 started over as a three-member girl group.
In April 1999, the single "First Love" was reorganized and re-recorded as a three-member girl group, with a fresh melody and complicated dance moves, the concept was unexpectedly changed and it was chosen to be their follow-up song.
It was also appears in the Orion's 'Wow' bubblegum commercial. Thanks to the commercial, O-24 achieved very good results and rises the group's popularity, the commercial can be seen in here.
Despite the group getting recognition from their new image, the reaction was completely mixed at the time. A lot of people found the song catchy and memorable, but many fans were disappointed because the group's concept turned 180°, from 'intimidating, tough girls' to 'pretty girls'.
This also left O-24 with a bad taste, O-24's member Minzee was a bit upset and disappointed. They wanted to show the audience that they were a hip-hop warrior girl group, and they just to ended up having the same concept as S.E.S., Fin.K.L, CLEO and See U. However, the group members tried their best to show the group's coolness by focusing more on dance breaks.
The song peaked at #3 on KBS2 Music Bank and #10 on SBS Inkigayo.
Shortly after the promotion of "First Love", on June 5, 1999, O-24 performed the original version of "Molla Molla" ("I Don't Know") on KMTV Show! Music Tank. The song was later reorganized to a dance-mix and the choreography was adjusted a week later.
The song peaked at #3 on KBS2 Music Bank and #13 on SBS Inkigayo.
The album Live in Hip Hop sold over 43,370 copies, at #13, giving the group hope for further success. Unfortunately, this would end up being their best performing album.
On the other hand, O-24 did not get paid from the album at all, they also did not get any royalties from the song "Freedom" due to the copyright not being clearly listed at the time. The only way for the group to make money was to appear on variety and music shows. Sadly, they did not appear as much and didn't get paid that much.
According to O-24's member Minzee, there was another way to get money, the company's CEO recommended O-24 to perform at nightclub events, just like other dance artists did. This would have gave O-24 and the company a lot of money and benefits. However, the O-24 members were minors (legal adult age in South Korea is 19) and they had never held any nightclub events. After some discussion, they decided not to do it. This lead to O-24 not getting paid as much as other artists at the time.
2000: Growing Up[]
On August 30, 2000, O-24 made their first comeback with the studio album, Growing Up, with the title song "Blind Faith". The song was included in the music video game '!Pump It Up]].
Their title song "Blind Faith" was met with criticism and was accused of plagiarism due to its similarities to Britney Spears's "Oops!... I Did It Again".[3]
Their senior groups S.E.S., Fin.K.L, Baby V.O.X and their junior group CLEO, T.T.MA were more popular than them, O-24 started losing popularity and the song did not ranked as high compared to their first album.
The song "Blind Faith" peaked at #25 on SBS Inkigayo and #37 on KBS2 Music Bank.
The second album Growing Up sold 11,650 copies, at #35, the album was considered as a failure which lead to the end of O-24's fate.
O-24's last performance was on KBS2 Music Bank on December 21, 2000.
2001-2002: Disbandment[]
After their second album Growing Up failed miserably, and faced criticism, O-24 members' morale went down, under pressure and fell into depression, the group had no other choice but to give up.
O-24 member Minzee boldly told the CEO:
"I want to stop promoting by now. CEO, we are not popular, even if we continue to promoting in this state. Because we put our mind aside and given up, so we would like to stop promoting by now."
If O-24 still continues to active as a girl-group, things could've gotten worse, and it will become meaningless. After that, the group's CEO giving permission to disband O-24 and terminate all three members' contract.
Minzee stated that the CEO is the most "mature" person she has ever met. He did not let the members perform at night clubs and respected their decisions, and set them free even though they still had a lot of time left in their contracts.
O-24 disbanded sometime between 2001 and 2002 according to many articles.
Aftermath[]
Following O-24's disbandment, the members went to college/university and focus on their studies. The CEO decided to pay for all of their tuition fees, and congratulated the members. The record label Eunsung Entertainment became defunct a few months later.
After graduating, O-24 members went separate ways:
Yeonjung went on to debut in the girl group PAPAYA on August 16, 2000. Many years later, she worked at an insurance company and married.
Mijung went on to become a SBS News reporter in 2006 and a TOEIC instructor in later years.
Kahye appeared as a cameo of Kim Hyunjung's music video, she later worked as a fitness instructor then immigrated to Solomon Islands and married.
As for Minzee, instead of going back as an actress, she retired from the industry and focused on her studies. She started living quietly and kept her profile low.[1] In 2005, she appeared as a contestant in a SBS' Quiz Show '최강남녀'[2]. After her graduation, she worked as an office worker for C&J Home Shopping, and also worked in an advertisement for the website 'mple.com'. Few years later, she married and appeared as a housewife from a SBS program in 2012. 10 years later, Minzee opened her bike mechanic store as a CEO, she goes by her new nickname 'Geegoo Unni'.
It was later revealed that the members received the invitation of JTBC Sugar Man, due to personal reasons, all three members declined the offer.
Members[]
| Name | Years active |
|---|---|
| Mijung (미정) | 1998-2002 |
| Kahye (가혜) | 1998-2002 |
| Minzee (민지) | 1998-2002 |
| Yeonjung (연정) | 1998-1999 |
Discography[]
Studio albums[]
- Live In Hip Hop (1998)
- Growing Up (2000)
Awards and nominations[]
Mnet Video Music Awards[]
| Year | Recipient | Work | Award | Won |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | O-24 | Freedom | Best New Group | Nominated |
Mnet Music Video Festival[]
| Year | Recipient | Work | Award | Won |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | O-24 | Blind Faith | Best Female Group | Nominated |
