Girls' Generation (소녀시대 (So Nyeo Si Dae or SNSD) in Korea, and 少女時代 (Shoujo Jidai) in Japan) is a Korean pop girl group formed by SM Entertainment. They were described as the female Super Junior by SM Entertainment, they became well known after their hit 2009 song "Gee".
The group debuted in Japan under Universal Music in August 2010 with the release of a commemorative DVD.
Debut
Girls' Generation were initially known as "Super Girls", a fan made name, before their debut. Touted as the female Super Junior by SM Entertainment, the group was announced to include members with diverse talents able to speak in different languages such as English, Chinese, and Japanese fluently for future expansion in different markets. Initially 11 members were in the group. However, 2 members withdrew; one of them being So Yeon who is now in T-ara and the other is Chanmi who is now in Coed School.The members were unveiled individually from July 7, 2007 to the 14th.
They unofficially debuted at M.net's "School of Rock" on July 18, 2007 where they performed "Dasi Mannan Segye (Into the new world)", which later became their debut single. On July 27, 2007 a documentary aired on "M.net" titled Girls' Generation Goes To School, which showed behind the scenes footage of the group, including the preparation of their unofficial debut performance at "School of Rock".
"Dasi Mannan Segye (Into the new world)" was physically released on August 2, 2007, and they officially debuted on SBS Inkigayo on August 5, 2007. Girls' Generation were #1 on M!Countdown and Inkigayo twice with "Dasi Mannan Segye (Into the new world)".
1st Studio Album
Girls' Generation released their self titled debut album So Nyeo Si Dae on November 1, 2007. The first track on the album titled "So Nyeo Si Dae (Girls' Generation)", which was a remake of Lee Seung Chul's 1989 hit, was used as the lead single. The debut performance was on M!Countdown, the same day as the album's release date, and the music video for "So Nyeo Si Dae (Girls' Generation)" was released on November 2, 2007. The song won #1 on M!Countdown and on Inkigayo twice.
Following the success of "So Nyeo Si Dae (Girls' Generation)", it was announced on January 8, 2008 that they would began promoting "Kissing you" as their second single. They debuted the performance of "Kissing you" on January 13, 2008 at Inkigayo, and released the music video on January 14th, which featured Super Junior member Donghae as their special boyfriend. "Kissing you" became #1 on Music Bank, and was #1 twice on Inkigayo and M!Countdown.
Due to popularity, they released a repackaged album titled Baby Baby on March 17, 2008. The song "Baby Baby", was used as the third single, and the debut performance was on April 13, 2008 at Inkigayo. So Nyeo Si Dae has sold 121,143 copies to date. On October 8, 2008, Girls' Generation's Factory Girl, a reality show featuring Girls' Generation as Elle Girl editors, was broadcast on M.net until it's last episode on December 17, 2008.
1st Mini-Album (Gee Syndrome)
During promotional activities for Baby Baby, Girls' Generation started individual solo activities. Taeyeon began hosting as a disc jockey with Super Junior's Kang In, Yoona was cast as the lead actress in the drama Neoneun Nae Unmyeong, and besides endorsing products and lending their vocals to drama soundtracks, the group remained in indefinite hiatus for nine months. However on December 26, 2009 solo teaser posters of each Girls' Generation member were erected all over Seoul.On December 28, 2008 SM Entertainment confirmed that their album would be released on January 7, 2009 and their debut performance would be held at "Music Bank" on January 9, 2009. SM Entertainment stated "You will be able to feel an upgraded charm to Girls' Generation with this new album. Fan's eyes and ears will rejoice after seeing the bright and cute charms that only Girls' Generation can have".
On January 2, 2009, SM Entertainment revealed an MV teaser for "Gee", the title track to their debut mini-album Gee. Shortly after the physical release of Gee on January 7, 2009, the title track hit #1 on various music portal sites such as MelOn, Dosirak, and Cyworld. However, unlike previously announced, Girls' Generation held their come back stage at MBC "Music Core" on January 10, 2009 due to a ban "Music Bank" officials placed on the group. They performed "Gee" and "Himnae! (Way To Go)". A certain part of the choreography for "Gee" called the "Crab Leg Dance" by fans became immensely popular amongst the public. The group won their first "Mutizen" at "Music Bank" on January 16, 2009 despite their absence. On February 22, 2009 Girls' Generation won "Song of the Month" at the "Cyworld Digital Music Awards" for "Gee", and SM Entertainment released an official MV for "Himnae! (Way To Go)" on March 5, 2009.
Dubbed "Gee Syndrome", the song became immensely popular as it continued to dominate #1 on offline and online charts. Girls' Generation broke the all time record for most consecutive #1’s, with 9 consecutive #1 wins at "Music Bank". Girls' Generation concluded promotions for "Gee" on March 17, 2009.
On December 25, 2009 Gee won the #1 song for the entire 2009 in KBS Music Bank K-chart, with a total of 7,265 points (2,887 digital sales points, 1,590 audience rating points, 1,009 album sales points, 1,779 broadcasting points. Broadcasting points count any TV appearance that lasts more than one minute, including cover and parodies).
2nd Mini-Album
Girls' Generation's come back date, set for June 25, 2009, was confirmed on June 14, 2009. A teaser image for their second mini-album was also revealed. Girls' Generation stated "We are really excited to be coming back with a new concept and music. We are working extremely hard to come back with more charisma than ever, so please wait for us and support us." The last episode of Girls' Generation's Horror Movie Factory also ended on June 14th due to low ratings. The lead single for their 2nd mini-album was revealed to be "Sowoneul Malhaebwa (Genie)" on June 16, 2009 and photo's from the set of the music video were also released.Individual photo's of Girls' Generation's come back, called the "Marine Girl" concept, were released on June 18, 2009 while the music video teaser for "Sowoneul Malhaebwa (Genie)" was released on June 19, 2009. The preview for their new reality show Girls' Generation's Hello Baby, set to air on June 23, 2009, was also released on June 19th. The mini-album cover for Sowoneul Malhaebwa (Genie) was released on June 21, 2009. Soon after it's release, controversy erupted over the mini-album cover due to the plane that was said to be a direct replica of Japan’s A6M Zero fighter planes, which was operated by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service in World War 2, and the use of an eagle emblem on Girls' Generation's hats that resembled hats worn by the Nazi's. SM Entertainment stated about the controversy "The album cover for Girls' Generation had been designed based on the marine girl concept, there’s no hidden meaning to it at all."
Regardless of the controversy, "Sowoneul Malhaebwa (Genie)" reached the #1 spot on online music charts less than 24 hours after it release. However, the mini-album was postponed to June 29, 2009 due to the mini-album cover. SM Entertainmet stated "We used military icons on album cover, however it was interpreted and understood in a way we didn’t expected. So we are planning to delete the part and put an icon of South Korean supersonic jet T-50".
1st Asia Tour & 2nd Album
Girls' Generation teamed up with f(x) to release a digital single called "Chocolate Love" to endorse the LG Cyon "Chocolate" cellphone. The single consisted of two slightly different versions sung by both groups: f(x)'s "Electronic Pop" version and Girls' Generation's "Retro Pop" version. Produced by the Swedish song-writing duo Bloodshy & Avant, "Chocolate Love" was released on October 8, 2009 through various online music sites. Girls' Generation released the music video for their version of "Chocolate Love" online on October 14, 2009 and along with f(x), the group held a showcase for the single which aired on the popular online streaming service "GOM TV". Despite not receiving any radio airplay or being promoted on music shows, the single reached the #2 position on the online music chart "MelOn".Girls' Generation's announced their first Asia tour called "Into the new world" in early November. They began their first solo tour with two scheduled dates on December 19th and 20th held at the Seoul Olympic Stadium; tickets sold out in 3 minutes. There the group unveiled two new songs called "Show! Show! Show!" and "Geunyang Utja (Be Happy)", which were later revealed to be tracks on their second studio album Oh!. Due to the success of the Seoul concerts, Girls' Generation held two encore concerts on February 27, 2010 and the 28th at the "Seoul Olympic Stadium". Besides South Korea, their 1st Asia tour consisted of one concert at Shanghai, China on April 17, 2010 and one concert at Bangkok, Thailand on July 24, 2010.
SM Entertainment revealed a teaser photo and the name of Girls' Generation's second album and title track called Oh!, on January 20, 2010. "Oh!" was described as an "electro-pop song", and was announced to have been composed by Kenzie, who has written and composed previous popular Girls' Generation tracks such as "Dasi Mannan Segye (Into the new world)" and "Merry-go-round". Their come back was scheduled to be held at Music Core on January 30, 2010, and the track list and cover for the album was released. The music video teaser for "Oh!" was released on January 22, 2010, which received over a million views on Youtube and "GOM TV" in less than two days and made Naver servers inaccessible due to the amount of viewers it received. "Oh!" was released on various online music portal sites on January 24, 2010, which quickly climbed to the #1 spot instantly after its release; the song also climbed to the #1 spot faster than "Sowoneul Malhaebwa (Genie)". The music video for "Oh!" was released on January 26, 20109, and the ending of the music video revealed the nine Girls' Generation members dressed up as cute cheerleaders looking upon another Girls' Generation dressed in black sexy clothing. SM Entertainment confirmed that the teaser at the end was a glimpse of a follow-up track; which was later revealed to be "Run Devil Run".
Before it's release, Oh! racked up a record breaking amount of pre-orders; 59,500 online orders and 90,390 offline orders which amounted to a total of 149,790 pre-orders. "Oh!" was released on January 28, 2010 and sold approximately 30,000 copies in one day. Girls' Generation made their come back on Music Core where they performed "Show! Show! Show!" and "Oh!". The group then won the "Daesang", which is the highest award artists can receive, "Bonsang", and "Digital Music Daesang" at the 19th Seoul Music Awards on February 3, 2010.
On March 11, 2010 SM Entertainment began releasing concept pictures of each Girls' Generation member, beginning with Yuri and ending with Tiffany on the 15th. Nicknamed "Black Soshi" by fans,Girls' Generation released their fourth digital single "Run Devil Run" on March 17, 2010.The song was used as the lead single for Oh!'s re-packaged album of the same name and the music video featured a continuation of their "Black Soshi" concept that the end of the "Oh" music video showed a glimpse of. The dance version for the "Run Devil Run" music video was released on March 18, 2010 and the debut performance for the song was held at Music Bank on March 19, 2010.
SM Entertainment later on released the story version of the "Run Devil Run" music video on March 31, 2010. Girls' Generation ended promotional activity for "Run Devil Run" on April 30, 2010 at Music Bank.
Japanese Debut and 3rd Mini-Album
On August 11, 2010, Girls' Generation debuted in Japan under the stage name Shoujo Judai (少女時代) with the DVD Shoujo Jidai Tourai ~Hatsu Rainichi Kinen Ban~, which contained all their music videos released in Korea. On September 8, they released their debut Japanese single, "GENIE", which was a Japanese version of their Korean song "Sowoneul Malhaebwa (Genie)", included on the same titled mini-album Sowoneul Malhaebwa (Genie). The single peaked at #4 on the Oricon charts. On October 20th, Girls' Generation released their second Japanese single, "Gee", another remake of one of their hit Korean songs. It peaked at #2 on the Oricon charts.On October 27, the group released their third mini album, Hoot. The title track, "Hoot", was released on October 25 at 10am KST through various online music websites. Prior to their comeback, after just releasing "Hoot" on October 25, it took less than 7 minutes for the song to dominate 7 major Korean realtime music charts, topping every single one of them at #1 include Monkey3, Dosirak, Melon, Soridaba, Cyworld, Bugs and Daum. SM Entertainment released "Hoot" music video on October 28, 2010 on SM homepage and their official Youtube channel. The music video also featured Super Junior's member Siwon. In less then 24 hours the video hit more than 1 million viewers on Youtube. They won their first award on Music Bank on 5th November 2010. On December 22, 2010, a special edition of Hoot was released in Japan, including additional tracks from previous albums. The release rose to the #2 position on the Oricon charts and selling 21,000 copies on the first day, faring surprisingly well considering the tracklist itself is entirely in Korean.
Girls' Generation, touring, international expansion and The Boys
In January, Girls' Generation won four awards at the 20th Seoul Music Awards: "Artist of the Year", "Bonsang", "Popularity", and "Korean Wave". They became one of four South Korean artists, and the only girl group in South Korea's history, to be named "Artist of the Year" for two consecutive years. In June, they won two awards at the 2011 MTV Video Music Aid Japan (VMAJ), "Best Group Video" and "Best Karaokee! Song", for the Japanese version of "Genie". Girls' Generation was also selected by SISA Press as "The Most Influential Entertainers in Korea", after placing sixth the previous year.
Girls' Generation released their third Japanese single, "Mr. Taxi / Run Devil Run" on April 27. It peaked at number two on Japan's Oricon's weekly chart. On June 1, they released their debut Japanese studio album, Girls' Generation. The group achieved several records with this album, initially becoming the fourth South Korean artist to achieve the number one spot on the Oricon weekly album chart. One month after its release, the group became the third South Korean artist and the first South Korean girl group to have an album certified "Double Platinum" (500,000 copies) by RIAJ. A repackaged version, The Boys, was released on December 28. The album peaked at number 5 on the Oricon weekly albums chart. With this repackaged album, Girls' Generation was subsequently certified "Million". This made Girls' Generation the second South Korean artist, and the first female group ever, to earn this achievement in Japan since labelmate BoA's Best of Soul in 2005. Girls' Generation set a record for having the highest sales of the first album as a foreign artist in Japan. They also became the first South Korean artist ever to have an album place in the Oricon Top 10 chart for seventeen consecutive weeks. The previous record holder was the original soundtrack for the Korean drama Winter Sonata, which remained in the Top 10 for sixteen weeks. The album was also the fifth best selling album in Japan in 2011. The lead single, "Mr. Taxi", sold over 100,000 copies in its first week, beating out its predecessors, "Gee" and "Genie". It also managed to clinch the number 1 spot on Billboard's Japan Hot 100 chart for two consecutive weeks and was nominated for Video of the Year at the 2012 MTV Video Music Awards Japan. The album was promoted via the group's first Japan tour entitled, The 1st Japan Arena Tour, which started in Osaka on May 31. A total of fourteen concerts in six cities were held over a period of a month and a half. Girls' Generation became the highest earning foreign artist in Japan for the first half of 2011. The group also ranked fifth among Japanese artists in terms of monetary profit, having generated over 4.5 billion Yen (US$57 million) for the year.
From July 2011 to February 2012, Girls' Generation had another tour, Girls Generation 2nd Asian Tour. The group performed nine concerts across five Asian countries. Setting their sights on the international market, Girls' Generation signed a contract with Universal Music Group to release material under Interscope Records in the United States.
Girls' Generation's third Korean studio album (having the same name as the Japanese repackaged album), The Boys, was released on October 19. The title track, "The Boys", co-written by member Tiffany and produced by Teddy Riley, was released in three different languages, Korean, English, and Japanese. Within minutes of its release, "The Boys" achieved an "all-kill" status on all major South Korean music charts. It sold more than 3,032,658 copies digitally and became the 10th best selling digital track in South Korea in 2011. Despite not charting on Billboard Hot 100, the song managed to peak inside the Top 30 on the iTunes chart in the United States, selling over 21,000 copies and becoming one of the best selling K-pop songs, at that time, in the U.S. The album sold 227,994 copies within twelve days, and sold a total of 385,348 copies by the end of December, becoming the best selling album in South Korea for the year. As of April 2012, the album had sold over 410,000 copies in South Korea, setting a Gaon Chart record for the best selling, non-repackaged album in the chart's history.
International promotions, TTS and Girls & Peace
Early in the year, Girls' Generation took home several awards, including "Digital Bonsang" and "Digital Daesang" at the Golden Disk Awards, "Bonsang" and "Popularity" awards at the Seoul Music Awards, and "4th Quarter Album Of The Year" and "Oricon Hallyu Singer" at the Gaon Chart K-Pop Awards. In June, they won "Best Album of the Year" for their debut Japanese album at the 2012 VMAJs.
As an effort to promote the English release of "The Boys", the group made a few television appearances overseas. Their appearances on the Late Show with David Letterman and Live! with Kelly, on January 31 and February 1, marked the first time that a Korean musical act has performed on each of these shows. They also performed on the French show, Le Grand Journal, on February 9.
In late February, Girls' Generation ranked number one on Forbes's Korea Power Celebrity 40, making it their second consecutive time topping the list.[128] In March, the group's total earnings figures for 2011 were revealed. They placed first among their label, earning over 100 billion won (US$88.6 million). Similarly, for the year 2012 in Japan alone, they ranked seventh among Japanese artists and were the top earning South Korean artist, generating over 4.3 billion yen (US$51 million). In August, Girls' Generation became the first Korean celebrity to have official postage stamps produced by the Korea Post. Within an hour of the stamps' issuing, over half of the available stamp sheets were sold out.During the year, the subgroup TTS, composed of Taeyeon, Tiffany, and Seohyun, was formed. They released their first mini-album, Twinkle, on May 2. "Twinkle" debuted at number 126 on the Billboard 200, selling over 3,000 copies and making it the highest charting K-Pop album on the chart at the time. On May 20, the group performed with their label-mates at the Honda Center in Anaheim, as part of the first date of SMTown Live World Tour III.
Girls' Generation released their second Japanese album, Girls & Peace, on November 28. It sold 116,963 copies after its first week, ranking second on Oricon's Weekly Albums Chart, and was certified Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ). The group had three Japanese singles. "Paparazzi", released on June 27, served as the lead single for Girls & Peace. The single boosted the group's total single sales in the country to over 647,000. The second single, "Oh!", released on September 26,topped Oricon's Weekly Single chart, selling 66,000 copies after its first week.The third single, "Flower Power", released on November 21,peaked at number five on Oricon's chart and sold 29,000 copies after its first week. Two DVDs were also released during the year: "Girls' Generation Complete Video Collection" on August 10,and "2011 Girls' Generation Tour DVD" on November 30.
I Got a Boy, touring and Love & Peace
Girls' Generation released their fourth Korean-language album, I Got a Boy, on January 1. The album topped both the Gaon Album Chart and Billboard's World Albums Chart, selling more than 300,000 copies to date. The group had a special television program, Girls' Generation's Romantic Fantasy, on the day of the album release, and an hour-long "Virtual Concert" broadcast live near Gangnam Station on January 5. The title track "I Got A Boy" was subsequently awarded as the "Video of the Year" at the YouTube Music Awards, beating popular acts such as Miley Cyrus, Psy, Lady Gaga and Justin Bieber.
For the rest of the year, Girls' Generation focused on activities overseas. Starting with the Girls & Peace: 2nd Japan Tour in Kobe on February 9, the group performed a total of 20 concerts across seven cities, with over 200,000 fans in attendance. The DVD/Blu-ray version subsequently topped Oricon's Daily DVD Chart on the same day of its release, selling a total of 53,256 copies after one week. From June 2013 to February 2014, the group held their first world tour, Girls' Generation World Tour Girls & Peace, performing ten concerts in seven Asian countries.
Earlier in the year, Girls' Generation released two albums: Best Selection Non Stop Mix on March 20 and 2011 Girls' Generation Tour on April 11. The former ranked number 6 on Japan's Oricon weekly album chart,[162] while the latter featured recorded live songs from the group's 2011 tour. On December 11, Girls' Generation released their third Japanese studio album, Love & Peace. The album debuted at number one on Oricon's weekly album chart, selling more than 129,000 copies.
The group also released three Japanese singles: "Love & Girls" on June 19, "Galaxy Supernova" on September 18, and "My Oh My" on November 5. "Love & Girls" sold 42,796 physical copies on its first week and ranked number four on Japan's Oricon weekly chart, while "Galaxy Supernova" achieved the number 1 spot on Oricon's daily singles chart and sold 50,793 physical copies after its first week.
At the end of the year, Girls' Generation held a solo concert during "SMTown Week" on December 22, named "SMTown Week Girls' Generation – Märchen Fantasy". The concert had a fairytale-like visual theme, with many different stages and video effects.
Mr.Mr., The Best, Japan's 3rd Tour, Jessica's departure & The Best Live
Girls' Generation's fourth EP, Mr.Mr, was released on February 24. It debuted at number one on Gaon's weekly chart, and placed fifth overall on its year-end chart. The album also debuted at number 110 on the Billboard 200 album chart, selling over 3,000 copies. This is the highest ranking Girls' Generation has ever achieved on the chart, the next highest being Girls' Generation – TTS's first album, "Twinkle", which debuted at 126th. Time magazine listed "Mr. Mr." as one of the top 25 best songs during the first half of 2014. Its music video also ranked third among the "K-pop MV Top 10" of the year. Girls' Generation raked in 30.3 billion won in terms of monetary profit during the first half of the year alone. On Gaon's year-end rankings, they were the best selling girl group of 2014.
On July 23, the group released their Japanese album, The Best in Japan. This album included the group's previous hits as well as a few new tracks: "Indestructible", "Divine", and "Chain Reaction". The album topped Japan's Oricon weekly music chart for two consecutive weeks, and has sold more than 100,000 copies. As a result of this achievement, Girls' Generation became the first non-Japanese female group in Asia to have three Japanese albums reach first place on this chart. During the same month, they also wrapped up their third concert tour series in Japan, "Love & Peace". Initially opened in Fukuoka in April, the group performed 17 times in seven Japanese cities including Osaka, Nagoya and Tokyo. Through three concert tours in Japan since 2011, Girls' Generation attracted a cumulative total of 550,000 spectators, setting the record for a K-pop girl group.
During August, Pitchfork listed two of Girls' Generation's songs "I Got a Boy" and "Gee" as part of the best 20 essential K-pop songs in recent years. Girls' Generation also participated in KCON 2014 in Los Angeles. In September, Girls' Generation became the first K-pop group to have three official YouTube videos ("Gee", "I Got A Boy" and "The Boys") with more than 100 million views.
On September 30, Jessica announced that she had been dismissed from the group. SM Entertainment confirmed this and stated that Jessica was no longer a member of Girls' Generation due to constant conflicts between the group's and Jessica's schedules. Girls' Generation continues to promote as an eight-member group while Jessica remains under SM Entertainment as a solo artist. The remaining eight members proceeded with the group's activities and held The Best Live concert at Tokyo Dome on December 9, which sold out and was attended by 50,000 people.
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