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SNSD | So Nyuh Shi Dae | Girls’ Generation | SoShi
Pre-debut
The members were professionally trained primarily in singing and dancing, while some members were also selected to be trained in acting and modeling. Many of the members already had made names for themselves in the Korean entertainment industry through their participation in magazine ads, television commercials, and small television appearances. For nearly two years, Korean websites speculated about which of the female SM Entertainment trainees would be placed into the group. Before the official release of the group name, Girls’ Generation, it was rumored that the group would be named “Super Girls” after their so-called counterpart, Super Junior. Read their pre-debut roster history >>here<<
2007: Debut and first album
In July 2007, Girls’ Generation had their first performance on Inkigayo. The song the girls performed was called “Into the New World” (Korean: 다시 만난 세계), which became their first single. A show documenting the girls’ debut titled “M.Net’s Girls Go To School” was filmed during this time. This documentary helped the girls appeal to the Korean audience as they rose to controversy.
In August 2007, the single “Into the New World” was released. This single included two other songs, “Beginning” and “Perfect for You” (Korean: 소원), later the song 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.
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-Chul (Korean: 이승철)’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 has 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 in the three main 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. A digital EP featuring Jessica, Tiffany, and Seohyun was released on April 2008, titled Roommate. The single from the mini-album is “Oppa Nappa” (“Korean: 오빠 나빠”, literally “Bad Brother”, although contextually it refers to an older male friend).
Girls’ Generation, along with fellow artists such as BoA, TVXQ, Super Junior, CSJH the Grace, Zhang Liyin, SHINee and other SM artists participated in SM Town Live ’08. The tour expanded its route to South Korea, Thailand, and China.
2008–2009: Other activities, return with mini-albums
It was announced in autumn 2008 that Girls’ Generation would be starring in a reality show on M.Net. Titled Factory Girl, the show chronicles the girls working as interns at fashion magazine “Elle“. The program began airing in early October. During their absence from the music scene, they appeared in many commercials for MapleStory and Mabinogi. It was then announced that the group’s 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 the Gee mini-album. This song is a remake of the song “Haptic Motion” that was used in cellphone advertisements (Samsung Anycall) and is a mix of bubblegum pop and punk rock. 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 #1 on music portal M.net (for 8 weeks), surpassing the previous record of 6 weeks set by the Wonder Girls‘ “Nobody”. They also broke the record on KBS’s music show Music Bank by being #1 for 9 consecutive weeks, previously set by Jewelry‘s “One More Time, which had 7 wins. They won the award for best-selling song for the first half 2009 for “Gee“. 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 includes a duet between Jessica and Shinee member Onew called “One Year Later”.
On May 3, 2009. Girls Generation was starred in their new reality show “SNSD Horror Movie Factory“, with the premier episode receiving a viewership rating of 3.3%. The show was then cancelled after 6 episodes due to low ratings.
Since June 23, 2009, Girls’ Generation are starring Cable TV program called “SNSD’s Hello Baby” of KBS Joy, where they are taking care of a child and somewhat experience how motherhood is like. In that show, they take care of a boy name “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. Despite the late-night time slot, the show received fairly high ratings and had been extended for several episodes. The show ended on November 17, 2009.
On June 26, 2009, Girls’ Generation’s comeback performance was recorded on 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. Girls’ Generation’s 2nd mini-album Genie was released on June 29, 2009.
Their first win for their single “Tell Me Your wish (Genie)” was obtained at the July 10, 2009 episode of KBS Music Bank. Their second award was claimed at the July 12, 2009 episode of SBS Inkigayo. The group finished promotions for “Tell Me Your Wish (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 Ver.” of the song while f(x) sang the “Electronic Pop Ver.”
In July, selected members, alongside selected Super Junior members, released the song “S.E.O.U.L. Song“. 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.
