Pre-Debut
The members of 2PM all auditioned (except Nichkhun, who was scouted) to become part of JYP Entertainment, to which the Wonder Girls & 2AM also belong. Some members held their auditions in other countries; for example, Park Jaebeom auditioned in the United States. Other members already had experience in the entertainment industry prior to their acceptance into JYP Entertainment, such as Kim Junsu, who had won various singing competitions, and Ok Taecyeon, Lee Junho and Hwang Chansung, who had participated in the show 'SuperStar Survival'.
2PM's and 2AM's training days were filmed in a documentary called Hot Blood Men, which aired on Mnet. The show documented the time by time training program of the JYP trainees who were to be part of the group "One Day", as well as the elimination of three trainees from the group during the time.
2008: Debut and early success
Unlike other Korean record labels, their record label JYP Entertainment opted to promote them with a more mature than "pretty-boy" (in Korean ggotminam) image.
2PM debuted with their single "10 Jeom Manjeome 10 Jeom" (10점 만점에 10점, lit. 10 Points Out Of 10 Points) on September 4, 2008. On October 17, 2008, they began promotion of "Only You", another song from their debut mini album "Hottest Time of the Day."
On April 16, 2009, the group released their second mini album 2:00PM Time For Change, which they began promoting on April 23. On May 9, 2009, they won their first Mutizen Song award on M!Countdown since their debut; in the same week, they won their second Mutizen on SBS Inkigayo. The group earned their third Mutizen the following week, completing the triple crown and making them ineligible to win for the following weeks. However, the award that had been eluding them - Music Bank - was quickly won soon after. On June 11, 2PM began promotions for "Niga Mipda" (니가 밉다, lit. I Hate You) on M!Countdown. On July 2 and 3, 2PM achieved first place on the M!Countdown and Music Bank charts for the song "Niga Mipda". They achieved the triple crown for the song on M!Countdown by July 16. On July 30, 2PM won the 'Only One Song' award on M!Countdown.
2009: Controversy and rise to prominence
On September 4, 2009, articles surfaced on the internet regarding Jaebeom's posts from 2005 on his personal Myspace account, in which he expressed his dislike for Korea while still a trainee for JYP Entertainment. Jaebeom issued an apology regarding this matter. Although outraged protesters demanded that Jaebeom should be forced out of 2PM, JYP Entertainment CEO Park Jin-young stated on September 7 that he was going to continue to remain part of the group. The following day, Jaebeom announced on his official fancafe that he would be leaving the group and returning to the United States, with plans of going back to school and bettering his understanding of music, and also apologized to the other 2PM members for not being a good leader and older brother to the group. Park Jin-young has confirmed that he will respect the singer's decision, and that 2PM will continue on as a 6-member group. Additionally, due to the sensitive topic of Jaebeom's departure, all 2PM members were withdrawn from their regular appearances on variety shows.
The group finished re-filming their music video for "Heartbeat", the title song of their first full-length album, without Jaebeom on October 31, 2009. During a press conference, it was revealed that Jaebeom's vocals would not be removed from the songs. The day after the now 6-member 2PM's full-length album was released, Park Jin-young released a statement that Jaebeom would return as a member of 2PM if he wanted to make a comeback, while indicating that his return was not imminent. In further support of Jaebeom's place in the group, the six 2PM members have also decided to distribute their income from their 1st album with him, sending him an equally divided amount of the earnings.
The group's first full length album, titled 1:59PM, was released on November 10, 2009. Both the album and title track, "Heartbeat", quickly rose to the #1 position on multiple music sales charts. The group made their first comeback performance, signifying the beginning of their promotional activities for the album, on M.Net's ‘O Good Concert’ on Thursday, November 12, 2009, subsequently making their KBS Music Bank, MBC Music Core and SBS Inkigayo comebacks on Friday, November 13, Saturday, November 14 and Sunday, November 15, respectively.
On November 20, 2009, 2PM performed at and was honored with two awards by the M.net Asian Music Awards (previously known as M.net KM Music Festival): the award for Best Male Group and Artist of the Year (the latter being one of the three most prestigious awards, or "Daesang"s, at the show, which also include Song of the Year and Album of the Year). The group paid homage to him during their performance of "Again & Again", in which a spotlight was shown over Jaebeom's usual position in the dance formation and his vocals were not replaced.
On November 26, 2009, after two weeks of promotional activities for the 1:59PM album, 2PM earned their first #1 on a TV music show (KBS Music Bank's "K-Chart") since the album's release, with "Heartbeat", which went on to take #1 on the K-Chart for three more weeks. In addition, "Heartbeat" achieved the "Mutizen" song award Triple Crown on SBS Inkigayo by being the #1 song the Inkigayo "Take 7" chart for three weeks, the maximum amount of time for which a nominated song is eligible to win. On December 30, 2009, at Korean Broadcasting System (KBS)'s end of the year Music Festival, "Again & Again" was recognized as "Song of the Year", winning with 57,060 votes.
2PM followed up end-of-2009 activities with the second single off of 1:59PM album, "Tired of Waiting". The song was performed live for the first time at the SBS Music Festival on December 29, 2009. 2PM's promotion for the album ended with their SBS Inkigayo performance on January 17, 2010.
Present: 2010
In mid-April 2010, 2PM released image and video teasers for their third single Don't Stop Can't Stop, for which the group promised to showcase an even stronger side of themselves than before. The EP, containing six tracks, was released on April 19, 2010. The lead single, Without U, quickly rose to the #1 position on 6 different music charts. The group made their television performance comeback on Mnet's music program M! Countdown on April 22, 2010.On February 25, 2010, JYP Entertainment announced that Park Jaebeom would not be returning to 2PM, as his contract with the company had been permanently terminated. A fan meeting/press conference was held two days later with the 6 remaining members of 2PM and JYP Entertainment CEO Choi Jungwook in attendance, where it was announced that although 2PM would continue promoting as 6 members, a new leader would not be chosen to replace Park.
2PM has been confirmed as the opening act for their label-mates, popular girl group Wonder Girls for 9 shows on the latter's United States headlining summer tour. 2PM also performed at the 8th annual Korea Times Music Festival in Los Angeles, California on May 1, 2010, and at the Dream Concert in Seoul, South Korea on May 22, 2010.On May 24th, 2010, 2PM released the song "What's Your Celebration?" for the FIFA 2010 World Cup. The song samples K'Naan's Wavin' Flag
On October 11, 2010, 2PM released their fourth extended play , Still 2:00PM, with the lead single "I'll Be Back" staying at number one for two consecutive weeks in the Music Bank. On November 1st, 2010, Still 2:00PM debuted unexpectedly on the 13th spot of the Billboard's World Album-Chart though no specific promotions for the album were made in the US.
