Prior to their formation, all of the members were selected through auditions and were officially formed March, 2001. Among the members, Eunji was originally an aspiring actress who appeared as the main character in Bad Movie, but she auditioned for the group after being introduced by a friend. The group started working on their debut album Girl From New Dream in April 2001.
Additionally, their debut song "Tonight", which contained a conga rhythm that was unfamiliar at the time, received favorable reviews from fans. On September 28, Ilgan Sports, a South Korean daily sports and entertainment newspaper, published an explosive exposé titled: “A female trio, known in the music scene as ‘G Group,’ turned out to be lip-syncing singers!! ” Initially, the article did not reveal the group’s name, instead referring to them as “G Group” and showing a photo with the members’ eyes blacked out.
The article alleged that two of the three members used proxy singers instead of their own voices. At first, “G Group” was suspected to be To-Ya, GIRLFrND’s rival group, until clues pointed to the real culprits—GIRLFrND themselves. The whistleblower behind the exposé was GIRLFrND’s own promotion manager, referred to as Mr.
K. When MBC’s Live Music Camp announced it would switch from lip-syncing to live performances, GIRLFrND allegedly canceled their scheduled August 25 appearance. According to reports, the group confessed their secret to their manager, which led him to quit his job at Howdy Entertainment, fearing the incident would destroy his career.
He also said, quote: Not long after the article was published, GIRLFrND gave an exclusive interview to explain their side. The members apologized for the controversy, admitting they had caused trouble, but also said they felt like victims. They insisted that they were not so tone-deaf that another singer needed to perform their songs.
Eunji clarified that only the track “Tonight” had been recorded by someone else, and she admitted that she felt guilty performing it because she had no personal attachment to the song—it wasn’t her voice. Sunny, the second member who lip-synced, explained that all her original rap parts had been cut from the Girl From New Dream album, although her other vocal parts were left untouched. GIRLFrND’s agency, Howdy Entertainment, later released an official statement.
CEO Kim Won-seop confirmed that part of the allegations were true. He explained that the lead vocalist Ga-yeon, who was 17 at the time, sang all of the songs, while the other two members, Eunji and Sunny, only participated in some tracks. He further revealed that album producer Kang Mo, 26, had lured underground singers to record for the album by promising a big hit, and then failed to pay those contributors, including backup vocalists.
This mismanagement led to serious problems for the group. Howdy explained that they realized they had been deceived by producer Kang, but because the album had already been released and promotions had begun, they felt they had no choice but to continue. They issued an apology to fans for unintentionally misleading them.
After Kang disappeared with the funds, Howdy filed a police complaint for suspected fraud on the 28th. They also claimed that Mr. K leaked the lip-syncing story to Ilgan Sports because he feared that if the truth came out later, his own reputation as a promotion manager would be ruined.
Meanwhile, a representative from MBC’s Live Music Camp clarified that although they were aware of GIRLFrND as a group, their name had never been included in the program’s official list of performers. The scandal quickly grew into one of the most notorious lip-syncing incidents in the Korean music industry, drawing comparisons to the infamous Milli Vanilli controversy in the United States a decade earlier. Originally, GIRLFrND planned to resume promotions for Girl From New Dream with the follow-up single “Mr.
Boy friend. ” However, after the infamous exposé article was ...
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