The SNSD group has released two Korean full albums, three Korean mini-albums, one Japanese full album and various singles. Their 2009 hit single "Gee" holds the record for being the longest running No.1 song on KBS's Music Bank, having held the No.1 chart ranking for 9 consecutive weeks. Gee was named song of the decade by the Korean music site, Melon. The group also won various awards in 2009 and 2010, including consecutive Artist of the Year (Daesang) awards at the Seoul Music Awards, Golden Disk Awards, Melon Music Awards, and the Korean Cultural Entertainment Awards.
The group began a foray into the Japanese music scene in late 2010 under Nayutawave Records, a part of Universal Music, with the Japanese remakes of their 2009 Korean hits "Tell Me Your Wish (Genie)" and "Gee"and has since released MR.TAXI album.
Career
2007–2008: Debut and self-titled album
In July 2007, Girls' Generation had their unofficial first stage performance on M.Net's School of Rock where the group performed their first single, titled "Into the New World" (Dasi Mannan Segye). A documentary recording the story of the group's debut titled M.Net's Girls Go To School was filmed during this time, showing the members as they moved into an apartment together and prepared for their performances. The group's first single was physically released soon after, including an instrumental of the group's debut song and two other tracks; "Beginning" and "Perfect for You". The latter's Korean title is "Wish" (SoWon), which later became the name of Girls' Generation's official fan-club, S♡NE. The group's debut officially began on August 5, 2007, first performing on SBS's Inkigayo and then later on MBC's Show! Music Core and KBS's Music Bank. Into the New World achieved No.1 spot on M.net M.Countdown!.
The group released their first self-titled full album in late autumn 2007 with the lead single "Girls' Generation", a remake of Lee Seung-cheol's 1989 song. Promotion for the single started in early November. The album also included the group's first single "Into the New World", "Perfect For You" retitled as "Honey", and 8 other tracks by the group. In early 2008, Girls' Generation began promoting their second single from the album, "Kissing You", which won the group their first k-chart win after getting the number one position on the KBS Music Bank February chart.
In March 2008, the album was re-packaged, re-released and re-titled "Baby Baby". A third single, "Baby Baby", was used to promote the album. During the group's promotions, members Jessica, Tiffany and Seohyun were also featured on a mini-album released by Roommate, a one-man band from Purple Communication. The mini-album was titled Roommate: Emotional Band Aid, and was released on December 1, 2008. The 3rd track from the mini-album was performed by the 3 Girls' Generation members and is titled "Oppa Nappa" (literally Bad Brother. The track was digitally released before the album was, coming out in April 2008. The song was performed live on SBS Inkigayo, KBS Music Bank and M.net's M.countdown some time later. Later in the year the three members released "Mabinogi" (It's Fantastic!) together as the theme song for the Nexon game Mabinogi, with Tiffany participating in the music video.
M.net's reality show Factory Girl chronicled the members working as interns at fashion magazine Elle Girl.[6] The articles the group worked on were featured in the Korean Elle Girl magazine. The program began airing in early October. In late 2008, the group also participated in the SM Town Live '08 concert along with other SM Town artists.
2009: Gee, Genie and rising popularity
On December 26, 2008, posters of the Girls' Generation members wearing roller-skates were posted up in various locations around Seoul. SM Entertainment's phone-lines were blocked up by callers asking whether the posters were for sale and the company asked fans to stop taking the posters down for personal use. Three days later on December 29, the group's management stated that the posters were indeed teaser posters and that the group would soon release their first EP, The First Mini Album – Gee the following month in January 2009.
A teaser video was released in January 2009 and the first single "Gee" released soon after. "Gee" topped Cyworld's hourly music chart on the release day.[10] The song also went No.1 on all major digital music charts within two days. The music video set a record on release, garnering 1 million views on GomTV in under a day.
The group began its album promotion in January 2009 on MBC Show! Music Core where they sang their new lead single "Gee" and the track "Himnae (Way To Go)", another song from their mini-album. "Gee" went on to become a phenomenal hit, breaking the record for consecutive no.1 wins on Music Bank with 9 consecutive wins, as well as receiving a triple crown on SBS Inkigayo. The track also showed strength on other charts, topping the Mujikon, Melon and M.Net charts for 8 consecutive weeks, the Dosirak chart for 7 weeks, the Muse chart for 6 weeks and the Baksu chart for 4 weeks.
After a short break, SM Entertainment announced that the group would be back with a new mini-album sporting a "Marine Girl" concept. The new single was to be titled "Tell Me Your Wish (Genie)" (Genie), literally "Tell Me Your Wish (Genie); with the full mini album being released digitally on June 22, 2009. The group started their promotional activities on June 26, 2009, recording KBS's Music Bank. The performance was followed by follow-up comeback performances on MBC's Music Core and SBS's Inkigayo on June 27 and 28, 2009. The physical release of Genie was delayed by SM Entertainment in order to redo the album art, and was released 4 days later on June 29, 2009.
The track proved to be a success as it conquered various music sites like Melon, Dosirak, MNet, Bugs and it was No.1 on the weekly charts and SKT ringtone weekly charts of the first week of July. The mini-album sold an estimated 50,000+ copies in its first week after released (almost double the numbers from the first-week sales of Gee), an unusual feat for any Korean girl group.
2010: Oh!/Run Devil Run, Japanese debut and Hoot
Later in January, SM Entertainment confirmed the release of Oh!, the group's second full-length album to be released on January 28. The lead single "Oh!", was digitally released on January 25 with the music video being released two days later. On January 30, the group started promotions with the recording of MBC's Show! Music Core. The broadcast of the performance experienced a blackout near the end, to which MBC made the whole performance available online in response. With 'Oh!', the group went on to win 5 consecutive K-charts on KBS Music Bank, as well as achieving a triple crown on SBS Inkigayo 'Oh!' also went on to win Music Bank's half-year K-chart, coming in at 2nd on Hanteo's first half album sales chart, and also winning the end-of-year K-chart.[citation needed] The music video became ranked as the number one most viewed YouTube video in Korea by the end of 2010. It was also No.1 in Hong Kong,China and made the top 10 in both the Taiwan and Japan rankings.
Starting from March 11, 2010, photos of the members were released online showcasing a dark concept, dubbed "Black SoShi". A teaser video was released on March 16, with the new single Run Devil Run being released as a digital single on March 17.
Mid-June, it was announced that the group had signed contracts in May, and would begin working under Universal Music Japan's record label Nayutawave Records for their Japanese promotions, with their first Japanese single expected to be released in September 2010. Girls' Generation began promotion in Japan in August. (Girls' Generation's Arrival ～ First Time in Japan Commemoration Disc), a DVD featuring seven of the group's music videos as well as special bonus footage was released on August 11, with the special edition of the DVD containing a pink glowstick as well as a pass to the Girls' Generation debut at the Tokyo Ariake Colliseum on August 25. In the first week after release, the DVD sold 23,000 copies, making no.4 on the weekly DVD Oricon ranking and no.3 on the weekly music DVD ranking, making Girls' Generation the first female k-pop group to make the Oricon DVD Top-5 ranking. The sales for the group's first photobook, (So Nyuh) were estimated to at 1.6 billion won even before release.
Amidst their Japanese activities, the group also participated in the SMTown Live '10 World Tour alongside their label-mates on August 21 at Seoul Jamsil Olympic Stadium. They participated in the subsequent Shanghai, Los Angeles, Paris and Tokyo stops as well.
On August 25, the group held their first showcase in Tokyo Ariake Colliseum. With an initial 10,000 fans invited, it was reported to be the most large-scale plan for a Korean artist debuting in Japan. However, due to high number of expected attendees, the group's management announced that the showcase would take place three times in the same day rather than once to accommodate the estimated 20,000 fans. The group sang 5 of their Korean tracks at each of the showcases, and the total number of attendees over all three shows were estimated to be at least 22,000. At this showcase, the Genie Japanese music video was also revealed publicly for the first time, the teaser having been released a few days prior on August 20.
Their Japanese debut single "Genie" debuted at the No.5 spot on the same day of its release on the Daily Oricon Charts and later rose to the No.2 position on the Daily Charts some time later, earning the group a No.4 position on the Oricon weekly ranking. The group also hit the number No.1 spots on Japan iTunes' music video chart and both the Rekochoku daily video clip chart and incoming movie daily ranking chart a day later. With pre-orders amounting to 80,000, the single sold an estimated 45,000 copies in the first week after release. On October 20, 2010, the group released their second Japanese single, "Gee".
A week after the release of their Japanese single, the group released their third Korean mini-album, Hoot on October 27, 2010, consisting of five tracks. The music video for the lead single, "Hoot", was released on October 28. Girls' Generation commenced their promotional activities with a comeback stage on KBS's Music Bank on October 29. "Hoot" quickly rose to the top of the charts and received the No.1 spot numerous times on music shows, proving to be another successful release for the group. The group simultaneously promoted "Hoot" and "Gee" in Korea and Japan respectively, participating in Japanese music broadcasts such as the FNS Music Festival, where they performed their two Japanese singles, "Gee" and "Genie" on December 4.
On December 22, 2010, "Hoot" was repackaged with additional tracks from previous albums and released in Japan. The release rose to the No.2 position on the Oricon charts and selling 21,000 copies on the first day, faring surprisingly well considering that all the included tracks were entirely in Korean.
On December 9, 2010, the group attended the Golden Disk Awards, being awarded three awards including the Disk Daesang (Album of the Year) for their 2nd album Oh!. The group also became the first ever girl group to have both a Disk Daesang(2010)and Digital Daesang(2009). On December 15, 2010, the group attended the Melon Music Awards winning the Best Dressed Singer award, Hot Trend Song award for their latest song, "Hoot", as well as the Artist of the Year award. This would be the 2nd consecutive 'Artist of the Year' award for the group. They topped the Hanteo annual Singer Award chart for 2010.
They were named on Asia Today's list of 50 Korean power leaders for 2011 at the No.44 spot, being the only idol group from the list. Girls' Generation was designated "Artist of the Year" by Dosirak, Soribada, Korea Gallup, Hanteo and Sport Korea and also won Best Song of The Year with "Oh!" at Monkey 3.
2011: MR. TAXI, Girls' Generation and The Boys
The Hoot was certified Gold by Record Industry Association of Japan. At the start of 2011, the group prepared a new song titled "Visual Dreams", as part of their endorsement efforts for Intel's Core Processors throughout Asia. The music video for "Visual Dreams" was released on January 17, and various promotional campaigns included new music, 2D and 3D music videos, internet sites, photos, and PC store displays.
In latter half of January, it was announced that the group would be returning to the Japanese market through the release of their Japanese version of "Run Devil Run" as a digital single, scheduled for release on January 25, 2011.
On January 20, at the 20th Seoul Music Awards, the group received an Artist of the Year award, a Bonsang prize, a Popularity award and a Hallyu award. In doing this, Girls' Generation became one of four artists in Korean music history (the others being Seo Taiji, Jo Sungmo and H.O.T.) to win two consecutive Artist of the Year awards at the Seoul Music Awards. The group also became the only girl group in history to receive Artist of the Year awards for Seoul Music Awards, and Melon Music Awards for two consecutive years. They also received two Daesang Awards at the Golden Disk Ceremony, one Digital Daesang (2009), and one Physical Album Sales Daesang (2010).
On March 8, SM Japan updated their official website with information about the release of Girls' Generation third Japanese single and their first Japanese tour. It was stated that on April 27, Girls' Generation would be releasing their third Japanese single "Mr. Taxi / Run Devil Run", which would include their first original Japanese song "MR. TAXI". and the Japanese remake of their song "Run Devil Run". A portion of the revenue from their Japanese single "MR. TAXI / Run Devil Run" would be donated to Japan's Red Cross in order to provide assistance to the victims of the 2011 TÅhoku earthquake and tsunami. On April 9, the Japanese music video of "Run Devil Run" was released.
It was also announced that the group would embark on a Japan-wide tour titled The 1st Japan Arena Tour which would start at Osaka on May 31. A total of 14 concerts in 6 cities would be held over a period of one and a half months.
At the 2011 MTV Video Music Aid Japan (VMAJ), Girls' Generation were nominated for three awards under the "Best Group Video", "Best Video Of The Year" and "Best Karaokee! Song" categories. Originally titled MTV Video Music Awards Japan (VMAJ), the title of the event was changed to change the focus of the show to aid Japan, with donations tied to the amount of votes for artistes. Girls' Generation performed two songs at the event, joining the star-studded line up alongside world-famous artistes such as Tokio Hotel, Lady Gaga and AKB48. On July 2, it was announced that they had come out top in two out of the three nominated categories, winning "Best Group Video" and "Best Karaokee! Song" for the Japanese version of "GENIE".
On June 1, 2011, they released their first full-length original Japanese studio album Girls' Generation. This album contains 12 songs including the singles "Genie", “Gee”, "Run Devil Run", "MR. TAXI" and a Japanese version of "Hoot".
Girls' Generation was certified Platinum (250,000) by Recording Industry Association of Japan on June 14, 2011, making it the fifth Korean artist's album to do so after S.E.S, BoA, TVXQ and KARA. Girls' Generation then was certified Double Platinum (500,000) on July 8, 2011, a first for any Korean girl group. The group also set a record for "recording the highest sales of the FIRST album as a foreign artist in Japan. Girls' Generation is the fourth artist to obtained number 1 spot on weekly album chart after BoA, TVXQ and Big Bang," and became the third Korean artist to surpass the 500,000 mark after BoA and TVXQ. As a result of their rising popularity, Girls' Generation became the highest earning foreign artist in Japan for the first half of 2011. On September 6, 2011, Oricon sales records showed that Girls' Generation has sold over 581,662 copies, making it the highest selling album by a Korean group in Oricon history, surpassing a record previously held by labelmate TVXQ, and now holds the 5th spot for best selling albums of 2011 in Japan according to Oricon.
Recently, the group has been in the midst of their second Asia Tour. They held their first two concerts in Seoul on July 23 and 24, followed by concerts in Taipei, Taiwan on September 9, 10 and 11, and then continue onto Singapore in early 2012.
On August 21, 2011 The 1st Asia Tour: Into The New World DVD reached no. 1 spot in Japan's "Tower Records" being the highest selling DVD between August 15-21st.
Girls' Generation was designated by SISA Press as "The Most Influential Entertainers in Korea" for the year 2011, after having placed 6th in the 2010 ranking.
On September 26, 2011 the first teaser featuring Taeyeon was released for the impending comeback with the group's 3rd Korean album "The Boys", followed by Sunny & Hyoyeon on September 27; Jessica, Sooyoung and Tiffany on September 28 and Yoona, Yuri, and Seohyun on September 29. The first image teaser for "The Boys" was released on the midnight of October 1, 2011 through SM Entertainment's YouTube channel.
Girls’ Generation were originally scheduled to release the third album "The Boys" through iTunes worldwide and through various music websites in Asia including Korea on October 5, 2011. As of September 30, the album's release has been postponed so as to bring about a worldwide album release, with details to be released as soon as they are confirmed. On October 10, it's been confirmed that the album will be released on October 19, 2011 and comeback on Music Bank on October 21, 2011.
The title track, "The Boys", will be released in both Korean and English. It was written, composed and arranged by Teddy Riley, who was Michael Jackson’s producer.
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