소녀시대 So Nyuh Shi Dae (Girls' Generation) 1

Girls' Generation (Korean: 소녀시대, So Nyeo Shi Dae; 少女時代, Shoujo Jidai) is a popular nine-member South Korean girl group formed by SM Entertainment in 2007. The members are, in order of announcement to be in the group, Yoona, Tiffany, Yuri, Hyoyeon, Sooyoung, Seohyun, Taeyeon (leader), Jessica, and Sunny.

Worldwide, they are most commonly referred to as SNSD, the acronym of the group's Korean name So Nyeo Shi Dae or So Nyuh Shi Dae. In China, they are known as Shao Nü Shi Dai (or Siu Nui Si Doi in Hong Kong) and they are set to debut in Japan as ShōJo JiDai.

The group has released two albums and various singles, which went on to achieve commercial success. Their 2009 single "Gee" holds the record for the longest-running #1 song on KBS's Music Bank for 9 weeks, and M.Net for 8 weeks. That year also saw the girls winning various awards, 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 members of the group have had various activities as solo entertainers — acting in various dramas and musicals, hosting various reality-variety shows, and releasing solo singles.

Gee

History

Pre-debut

The members were professionally trained primarily in singing and dancing while a select few were also trained in acting and modeling. Many of the members had already made appearances in magazine ads, television commercials, and small television appearances. For nearly two years, Korean websites speculated about which female SM Entertainment trainees would be placed into the group

2007: Debut and first album

In July 2007, Girls' Generation had their unofficial first stage performance on School of Rock. The song the girls performed was called "Into the New World" (Korean: "다시 만난 세계", Dasi Mannan Segye), which became their first single. A show documenting the girls' debut titled M.Net's Girls Go To School was filmed during this time. The song had a physical release, which included two other songs, "Beginning" and "Perfect for You", which was later renamed to "Honey" for their self-titled debut album Girls' Generation. An instrumental of "Into the New World" was also included. The group began promoting the single soon after its release. Girls' Generation performed their single on SBS's Inkigayo, MBC's Show! Music Core, and on KBS's Music Bank. They officially debuted on August 5, 2007.

After a short break, the group's first full album was released in late autumn 2007, with the lead single "Girls' Generation" (Korean: "소녀시대"), a cover of Lee Seung-cheol's hit. Promotion for the single started in early November. Marked by dance routines and vocals, "Girls' Generation" was a hit for the group, and the album sold 121,143 copies to date, placing 8th in the year-end charts. In early 2008, Girls' Generation began promoting their second single, "Kissing You". The music video featured Donghae from Super Junior. This song achieved the #1 spot on three major TV music rankings—SBS Inkigayo, M.net M.Countdown! and KBS Music Bank.

In March 2008, the album was re-released and re-titled Baby Baby. A third single, "Baby Baby", was used to promote the album. Roommate, a one-man band from the Purple Communication label, had a track featuring Jessica, Tiffany and Seohyun, and was included and released on December 1, 2008, titled Roommate: Emotional Band Aid. The track from the mini-album is "Oppa Nappa" (Korean: "오빠 나빠", literally "Bad Brother", although contextually it refers to an older male friend). The track was released in April 2008.

2008–2009: Other activites, comeback with mini-albums

For most of 2008, the group was active in other areas of the entertainment industry. It was announced in autumn 2008 that Girls' Generation would be starring in a reality show on Mnet, titled Factory Girl. The show chronicles the girls working as interns at fashion magazine Elle Girl. The program began airing in early October. The group also participated in SM Town Live '08.

It was then announced that the group's first EP, The First Mini Album — Gee, would be released in January 2009. A teaser video was released in January 2009 and the first single "Gee" released soon after. Interest in the song rose after the digital release, topping Cyworld's hourly music chart on the release day. The song also went #1 on all major digital music charts within two days.

The group began its album promotion on January 2009 on MBC Show! Music Core. They sang their new single, "Gee", and "Him Nae (Way To Go)", another track from Gee. Meanwhile, questions were raised when the group did not appear on KBS's Music Bank with "Gee", even after winning #1 on the music chart show.

"Gee" is the record holder for the longest-running No.1 on music portal M.net (for 8 weeks), surpassing the previous record of 6 weeks set by the Wonder Girls' "Nobody". They also set a record on KBS's Music Bank by being #1 for 9 consecutive weeks, breaking the record previously set by Jewelry's "One More Time", which had 7 wins. "Gee" was also awarded by Music Bank for being the best-selling song of the year. Promotions for the song ended at the end of March.

After a short break, SM Entertainment announced that the girls would be back with a new single and showing a "Marine Girl" concept; the song, titled "Sowoneul Malhaebwa (Genie)" (Korean: "소원을 말해봐", literally "Tell Me Your Wish"); the mini album was released digitally on June 22, 2009. The mini-album, Genie, includes a duet between Jessica and SHINee member Onew called "One Year Later".The group started its promotional activies on the June 26, 2009 recording of KBS's Music Bank. The group then had their return 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. The EP was physically released 4 days later on June 29, 2009.

Their first No.1 award for "Sowoneul Malhaebwa (Genie)" was on the July 10, 2009 episode of KBS Music Bank. Their second award was claimed at the July 12, 2009 episode of SBS's Inkigayo. The group finished promotions for "Sowoneul Malhaebwa (Genie)" in August 2009.

On October 7, Girls' Generation, along with label-mate f(x), released a digital single named "Chocolate Love" for the 4th edition of the Blacklabel series LG CYON phone, "Chocolate". Girls' Generation sang the "Retro Pop Version" of the song while f(x) sang the "Electronic Pop Version".

In addition to their musical activities, the girls have had various television series, with varied success. On May 3, 2009, Girls' Generation starred in their new reality show Sonyuh Shidae Horror Movie factory, with the premiere episode receiving a viewership rating of 3.3%. The show was then cancelled after 6 episodes due to low ratings. The show was replaced with another Girls' Generation reality program Himnaera-Him! or Cheer Up! in which the girls try to cheer up hardworking people in the midst of an economic slump. The show was canceled after two episodes due to the girls becoming too busy with the release and promotion of their new mini-album, Sowoneul Malhaebwa (Genie).

Since June 23, 2009, the group has been on a reality series titled Girls' Generation's Hello Baby, on cable network KBS Joy, where they take care of a child and experience what motherhood is like. In that show, they take care of a boy named Cho Kyungsan (Korean: "조경산"), and each week they (or fathers, male guests who come out time to time) select "The Best Mom" and "the Worst Mom" among the members according to their work for the day. The show ended on November 17, 2009.

In July, selected members, alongside selected Super Junior members, released the song "S.E.O.U.L.". The music video was released as part of South Korea's tourism initiative.
The group also announced its first solo tour, with two Korean dates in December and other Asian locations to follow. The Korean dates sold out in 3 minutes. The concert is titled "Into the New World" after the name of their debut single. Due to the success of the first concerts, the group confirmed that they will be holding encore concerts on February 27 and 28.

2010: Second album and Japan debut

In early 2010, the group was chosen to sing SBS's new logo song "Naeireul Bomnida" (Korean: "내일을 봅니다", "Looking at Tomorrow").

Later in January, SM Entertainment confirmed the release of Oh!, the group's second full-length album, released on January 28. The lead single "Oh!", was digitally released on January 25 with the music video being released two days later. The song proved to be popular topping various charts upon release. On January 30, the group started promotions with the recording of MBC's Show! Music Core. The performance experienced a blackout near the end, to which MBC made the whole performance available online. 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. The song broke the record for highest amounts of points on Music Bank, previously set by G-Dragon's 'Heartbreaker'. Like the group's previous hits, the song was strong on digital charts ranking a no.4 in Melon.com's 50 Top Songs of the first half of 2010 and coming in at no.1 on Monkey 3's similar Top 10 ranking. 'Oh!' also went on to win Music Bank's half-year K-chart and came in at 2nd on Hanteo's first half album sales chart.

Starting from March 11, 2010, photos of the members were released online showcasing a dark concept, so called "Black Girls' Generation". The "Black SoShi" nickname is a play on the Korean group name (So Nyeo Shi Dae). A teaser video was released on March 16, with the new single released as a digital single on March 17. The music video for "Run Devil Run" was released on March 17, and the group performed first on KBS's Music Bank. The song proved popular, winning the 2 K-charts on KBS Music Bank as well as achieving the group's 4th and 5th Mutizen wins for 2010 on SBS Inkigayo. The repackage album placed 3rd on Hanteo's first half album sales chart. With the combined sales of both the full album 'Oh!' and the repackage 'Run Devil Run', Girls' Generation sold more albums than any other artist in the first half of 2010.. The music videos for both 'Oh!' and 'Run Devil Run' made it into GOMTV's 2010 First Half Top 10 ranking, the group having attracted over 13 million views in 6 months.

They have also recently made a new song titled "CABI" to promote The Caribbean Bay with 2PM. Members Yuri, Yoona, and Seohyun were the main actors each being paired with 2PM members Nichkhun, Taecyeon, and Chansung respectively. All the other members made a cameo towards the end in the music video. The song was sung by Girls' Generation and 2PM. The music video was released on YouTube on May 20, 2010.

In August 2010, Girls' Generation will start promotion in Japan beginning on August 11 with the DVD release "少女時代到来～初来日記念盤～" (Girls' Generation's Arrival ～ First Time in Japan Commemoration Disc ～) which will feature seven hit music videos and bonus footage. Their great debut event will take place at the Tokyo Ariake Coliseum on August 25.[37] This is the greatest debut from any Korean artist coming to Japan with 10,000 fans invited. Having signed a contract this past May, Girls' Generation will be working under Universal Music Japan's record label Nayutawave Records for their Japan promotions and they are planning to release their debut single in September 2010. They will participate in the SMTown Live '10 World Tour.

Discography

Girls' Generation discography

Studio albums
• 2007: Girls' Generation
• 2010: Oh!

Repackaged albums
• 2008: Baby Baby (repackaged edition of Girls' Generation)
• 2010: Run Devil Run (repackaged edition of Oh!)

Extended Plays (EPs)
• 2009: Gee
• 2009: Tell Me Your Wish (Genie)

DVDs
• 2010: Girls In Tokyo (bonus DVD from Girls' Generation's first photobook)
• 2010: New Beginning of Girls' Generation (Japan debut DVD)

Tours
• SMTown Live '08 (2008-2009)
• SMTown Live '09 (2009-2010)
• The 1st Asia Tour: Into the New World (2009–2010)
• SMTown Live '10 World Tour (2010-2011)

Reality shows

Awards

Official Website : http://girlsgeneration.smtown.com/

Coming soon : So Nyuh Shi Dae (Girls' Generation) 2