Wonder Girls member Ye-eun, also known as Yenny, has stepped out of her girl group shell with the release of her first solo EP “Me?” on Monday.

Debuting under the stage name “HA:TFELT,” Yenny’s new seven-track EP is a far cry from a Wonder Girls-type sound, edging more toward a rock approach than K-pop. Yenny stated that she actually fought with producer Park Jin-young, CEO of JYP Entertainment, over the concept of the album.

“After listening to the songs, the producer (JYP) was concerned about whether they were mainstream enough,” said Yenny in news reports. “Because of his concerns, he wanted to select a different song as the title track; this was just the start. From then on it was a war between us about the concept of the choreography, the album cover design, the music video ― there really was no end.” 

Despite Park’s concern about the artist’s new musical direction, the singer-songwriter still had a heavy hand in cowriting and coproducing every single on the EP, including the album’s lead track “Ain’t Nobody.”

Yenny’s “Me?” is the artist’s first release since Wonder Girls unveiled their single “Like Money,” featuring American hip-hop star Akon. Although Yenny is still technically a member of Wonder Girls, Sohee’s departure and Sun-ye’s recent marriage have put the once-popular girl group on hiatus, resulting in some of the members pursing solo careers.

By Julie Jackson (juliejackson@heraldcorp.com)