Girls'
Generation is a South Korean girl group formed by S.M.
Entertainment in 2007. They
are also referred to as SoShi or SNSD,
both abbreviated forms of the group's Korean name, and are known in Japan as Shoujo
Jidai. The nine member group consists of Taeyeon, Jessica, Sunny, Tiffany, Hyoyeon, Yuri, Sooyoung, Yoona and Seohyun.
Member:
Stage name
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Birth name
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Date of birth
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Romanized
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Hangul
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Romanized
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Hangul
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태연
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Kim Tae-yeon
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김태연
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March 9, 1989 (age 23)
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제시카
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Jessica Jung, Jung Soo-yeon
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제시카 정, 정수연
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April 18, 1989 (age 23)
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써니
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Lee Soon-kyu
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이순규
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May 15, 1989 (age 23)
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티파니
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Stephanie Hwang, Hwang Mi-young
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스테파니 황, 황미영
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August 1, 1989 (age 23)
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효연
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Kim Hyo-yeon
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김효연
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September 22, 1989 (age 23)
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유리
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Kwon Yu-ri
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권유리
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December 5, 1989 (age 23)
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수영
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Choi Soo-young
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최수영
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February 10, 1990 (age 22)
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윤아
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Im Yoon-ah
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임윤아
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May 30, 1990 (age 22)
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서현
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Seo Joo-hyun
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서주현
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June 28, 1991 (age 21)
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They gained
attention at the beginning of their career with songs such as "Into the New World" and "Kissing You" but it was not until 2009 when they gained
significant popularity with their hit single "Gee",
which would be named as South Korea's 'Song of the Decade'. The group
solidified their place in the Korean music industry with follow-up singles
"Tell Me Your Wish", "Run Devil
Run", and
"Oh!". In
2011, they returned to the Korean music scene with "The Boys", which was released in three languages: Korean,
Japanese, and for the first time, English. They sold over 100,000 copies for
each of their six Korean releases, making them the first female group in the
South Korean music industry to do so in over six years. Within five years after
debut, the group has sold a total of over 4.4 million albums and 30 million
digital singles. In 2010 alone, the group sold 11,730,000 albums and singles
collectively. The group's immense popularity in their native South Korea has
earned them titles "The Nation's Singers" and "The Nation's Girl
Group" The Sisa Journal named the group as the most influential
entertainers for the years 2011 and 2012, making them the first female idol
group in history to make the list. Asia Today placed the group at forty-four on
the 50 Korean Power Leaders list in 2011. Forbes also revealed the group were most
powerful entertainers in South Korea for the year of 2011. The group began a
foray into the Japanese music scene in late 2010 under Nayutawave
Records, with
Japanese remakes of their 2009 Korean hits "Genie" and
"Gee." The group's debut Japanese album, Girls' Generation, released in June 2011, is
currently the highest selling album in Japan by a Korean group in Oricon history after being certified 'Million' by the RIAJ and made the group the second Korean artist to earn
this achievement in Japan since label mate BoA's "Best of Soul" in 2005. They
returned to the Japanese music scene in June 2012, with "Paparazzi", the lead single from their second Japanese
album, Girls' Generation II ~Girls & Peace~.
In April
2012, the group formed Girls'
Generation-TTS (known
simply as "TaeTiSeo"), their first sub-unit composed of members
Taeyeon, Tiffany, and Seohyun. The subgroup's debut EP, Twinkle, peaked at #126 on the Billboard
200, becoming the highest charting K-Pop album on the chart thus far.
On January 12, 2012, the group attended the Golden Disk Awards, held in Osaka, bringing home
two awards; the "Digital Bonsang" and the highly coveted
"Digital Daesang". A week later, on January 19, 2012, they attended
the Seoul Music Awards, and brought back two awards,
the "Bonsang" and "Popularity" awards. The group also won
two awards from the Gaon Chart Awards, winning the Album Of The Year
for the fourth Quarter and Oricon "Hallyu Singer" award. On February
24, 2012, the teaser for their Japanese digital single, "Time Machine", was
released.
Their
appearances on the Late Show with David Letterman and Live! with Kelly on January 31, 2012, and February
1, 2012, where they performed remixes of the English version of "The
Boys", marked the first time that a Korean musical act has performed on
each of the shows.. They also performed on the French show, Le Grand Journal, on February 9, 2012, after it was announced that they were to release
"The Boys" on February 13, 2012, through Universal
Music Group’s Polydor Records in France. In the same month, Forbes Korea reported the year's list of the "Top 40
Power Celebrities". Girls' Generation ranked number one on the list, thus
making them the most powerful South Korean girl group and female celebrity. A
month later, on 23 March 2012, they made their debut performance in Malaysia at the Petronas Towers, as part of Twin Towers @Live
2012. Figures for the groups total earnings for 2011 were released in
March, 2012. The group placed first among their label, earning over 100 billion
won, or, approximately, $88.56 million USD.
April 2012
saw the formation of Girls'
Generation-TTS, or simply
"TaeTiSeo", a subunit composed of members Taeyeon, Tiffany, and
Seohyun. The subgroup released their first mini-album, Twinkle, on May 2. The group continued
promotion throughout the month, performing on variety shows and at the Hallyu
Dream Wave Concert. "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. By July,
2012, the album had sold 140,000 copies in its native country, and a further
24,000 copies abroad. That same month, the group, with the exception of Yuri
and Yoona, attended the showcase for S.M. Entertainment's biographical movie, I AM., which was held at the CJ CGV cinema in
Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul, on April 30. A week prior, "Dear My Family", the theme song for the film,
which featured group leader, Taeyeon, was released, featuring both concert and
backstage footage.
On May 20,
2012, 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. Members Yoona and Yuri were not present due to their
filming commitments with their television dramas Love Rain and Fashion King, respectively. Following the
conclusion of their dramas, Yuri and Yoona returned to the group as the tour
moved on to Taiwan, where they performed to a crowd of 30,000 people. The tour
will then continued into Tokyo, South Korea, Singapore, Thailand and Indonesia.
A teaser video for the group's Japanese single, "Paparazzi", was released on May 29, 2012. This teaser was
followed by the release of the full music video, in addition to a dance
version, on June 14, 2012. The song, released on June 27, 2012, will serve as
the lead single from their upcoming second Japanese-language album. Paparazzi
proved to be another successful release for the group, debuting atop the
Japanese Hot 100, selling over 92,000 copies in its first week, becoming their
second best first week opening, following the 102,000 debut of Mr. Taxi, a year
prior. "Paparazzi"'s release, boosted the groups total single sales
in the country to over 647,000, according to SoundScan Japan. That same month,
the group won "Best Album of the Year" for their debut Japanese album
at the 2012 VMAJs.
It was
announced on July 3, 2012, that the group was to release official stamps the
following month, commemorating their 5th Anniversary. A total of 14 stamps were
produced, which included autographed album covers. This marked the first time a
celebrity had made a contract with Korea Post to produce stamps. Within an hour
of the stamps' issuing, over half of the available stamp sheets had already
sold out.
On August
10, 2012, it was revealed that the group was to release a Blu-ray/DVD
videography entitled "Girls' Generation Complete Video Collection". Two weeks later on August
29, the group's official Japanese fansite announced the group was to tour Japan
for the second time, in 2013. "Oh! / All My Love Is For You", the group's second double A-side single, and
the second single from their second Japanese studio album was released on
September 26, 2012, and featuring a Japanese remake of their 2010 single,
"Oh!". The
“All My Love Is For You” music video was released on September 4, 2012 and the
music video for "Oh!" was released on September 14, 2012. Oh!, earned
first place on Oricon’s Weekly Single chart, selling 66,000 copies in its first
week. In addition, the group's Complete Video Collection reached number
one on Oricon's Weekly DVD and Blu-ray charts, selling a collective 59,000
discs. They are the second artist to reach number one on all three charts in
the same week. The only other group to accomplish this same feat was Japanese
pop rock band, Mr. Children. The group's second Japanese album, Girls' Generation II: Girls & Peace, was on November 28, 2012. The
album will be preceded by the single "Flower Power", which is set to be released
on November 21, 2012. Despite limited release, "Flower Power" sold
29,000 copies in its first week, peaking at number five on the Oricon Chart,
the single also reached number six on the Japan Hot 100. Girls' Generation II:
Girls & Peace sold 116,963 copies in its first week of release, ranking
third on Oricon's Weekly Albums Chart. "Girls & Peace" has since
been certified Platinum by the RIAJ, denoting 250,000 copies sent to Japanese retailers.
The group
will participate in the soundtrack for label mate, BoA's debut film, COBU 3D. The song, sung in English,
entitled "Cheap Creeper" will be released prior to the film's
release. Jessica also participated in another song for the soundtrack with her
sister Krystal Jung and EXO member, Kris, on the song,
"Say Yes." On October 16, 2012, it was announced Hyoyeon and Jessica
would be participating in a musical promotional campaign for car company Hyundai, and its "Premium Younique
Lifestyle" customers. Jessica's song, "My Lifestyle" featuring
Korean rapper Dok2, was released on October 18, 2012. Hyoyeon's
track, entitled "Maxstep", a dubstep orientated electropop song
featuring Super Junior's Eunhyuk, SHINee‘s Taemin, Super Junior-M‘s Henry, EXO-K‘s Kai, and EXO-M‘s Luhan was
released on October 31, 2012.
Girls’
Generation had originally targeted for a Korean comeback at the end of October
or in the beginning of November. However, they decided not to return to Korea
with plans ultimately being scrapped so the group could focus on Japanese
promotions for the remainder of 2012. The group released the 2011 Girls' Generation Tour DVD on November 30, 2012 which features
footage from the 2011 concert tour of the same name. Due to their Japanese
releases in 2012, the group ranked seventh among Japanese artists and as the
top Korean artist in Japan in terms of monetary profit after generating over
4.3 billion Yen (US$51 million) in 2012.
On November
16, 2012, it was announced that the group intended to make a Korean comeback in
2013. The following month, on December 11, 2012, a representative for SM
Entertainment stated that the group were in the final stages of preparation of
their fourth album, however, the release date is still undecided. The group
will also receive a special dedicated to their comeback on Korean network MBC entitled "Girls’ Generation’s Romantic Fantasy", broadcasted on January 1,
2013. On December 20, 2012, SM Entertainment posted a teaser image containing
the words "2012. 12. 21 10 A.M." under the group's name surrounded by
Korea's national flower on their official Twitter. The group released the pre-release
track "Dancing Queen", a remake version of Duffy's
Mercy, on
December 21, 2012. On the same day, it was revealed that the group's fourth
Korean album "I Got A Boy" would be released on January
2, after their comeback stage on January 1, 2012.
Korean discography
Studio albums
EPs
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Japanese discography
Studio albums
Singles
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English discography
Studio Albums
Singles
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