Girls’ Generation


Girls’ Generation, also known as SNSD, the acronym of So Nyeo Shi Dae (Hangul: 소녀시대; Hanja: 少女時代), is a large nine member girl group formed in 2007 by SM Entertainment. The group debuted on SBS Inkigayo on August 5, 2007, performing their first single, “Into the New World” (다시 만난 세계). The members are (in order of official announcement) YoonA, Tiffany, YuRi, HyoYeon, SooYoung, SeoHyun, TaeYeon (the leader), Jessica, and Sunny. They are said to be a multilingual group. Aside Korean, they are said to know English, Chinese, and Japanese. Both Jessica and Tiffany have been raised in America, HyoYeon traveled to Beijing in 2004, and SooYoung started out in the Japanese entertainment business first in the girl group Route-O in 2004.

Many of the members are already recognizable to the Korean population for their television commercials, magazine ads, and DJ’ing on radio shows.

On August 1, 2007 SM Entertainment released the group’s first single and music video for their debut song “다시 만난 세계 (Into the new world)”. After its success, a full self-titled album was released on November 1, 2007 with the lead single “소녀시대 (Girls’ Generation)”.

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 already made names for themselves 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.

Even before Girls’ Generation debuted, there were many rumors about the girls having relationships with members of Super Junior and TVXQ. Although these rumors were never confirmed by anyone, pictures of Jessica and the boy band members have been found and posted on the Internet and became ammunition for the anti-fans.
When asked about this rumor on a talk show, she simply said that at SM Entertainment, everyone’s like a big family, and the pictures didn’t mean anything, only that they were good friends (pictures such as them holding up peace signs, etc.). She states that she was not in a relationship with any of them.

M.NET Performance

On July 19, 2007, Girls’ Generation had their first performance on M.Net Countdown. Although this performance was never broadcasted on television, many fan-cams were shot and uploaded onto the internet. The song the girls performed to was called “Into the New World” (다시 만난 세계), which would end up being their first single.

On October 11, 2007, Girls’ Generation won first place with their popular song, “Into the new world” in M!Countdown, beating Lee Seung Gi by a couple of votes.

Debut

On August 2, 2007, the single “Into the New World” (다시 만난 세계) was released. This single included two other songs, “Beginning” and “Perfect For You (소원)”. A bonus instrumental of “Into The New World” is also included.

The group began promoting the single soon after its release. On August 5, 2007, Girls’ Generation made their debut performance on SBS Inkigayo, performing their first single. Although it was their first televised performance, it was lip-synched, making netizens doubt their live performance capabilities.

A few days later, on August 11, Girls’ Generation did their first live performance on MBC’s Show! Music Core, which was met with mixed reviews. Many speculated that Hyo Yeon could not sing live as her part was noticeably shortened. The day after, the group performed live for the second time on KBS’s Music Bank. This performance also had mixed reviews by netizens.

After a short break, their first full album was released on November 1, with the lead single “소녀시대 (Girls’ Generation)”. Promotion for the single started in early November.

Documentary

Girls’ Generation’s documentary Girls’ Generation Goes to School (소녀…학교에 가다) began airing on July 27, 2007 on M.Net. It airs at 4:00 PM Korean Time. There were a total of 9 episodes, 7 were of the girls performing in different sets, 1 was a behind the scenes, and the last was a bonus episode of the girls performing at Sunny’s school. They started to star in a Korean radio station, FM Inkigayo 106.1 which is hosted by Park Joon Hyung. A new series starring the girls by MTV Korea started with the introduction of their homes.
In 2008, the girls also starred in another show, “Factory Girl”, which gave the girls a chance to work temporarily as Elle Girl Magazine’s editors.

Member profiles

TaeYeon
Stage Name: TaeYeon (태연)
Birth Name: Kim Tae Yeon (김태연)
Date of Birth: March 9, 1989 (1989-03-09) (age 20)
Position: Leader, Main Vocalist
TaeYeon joined SM Entertainment after winning the grand prize for the Best Singer Award at the 8th SM Young Star Contest in 2004. She frequents SooYoung’s ChunBangJiChuk radio programm (co-hosted with Sungmin of Super Junior) as a guest. Her Specialty is Chinese. Her nicknames include “Taengoo” and “MulTaeng”.

Jessica
Stage Name: Jessica (제시카)
Birth Name: Jessica Jung (제시카 정)
Korean Name: Jung Soo Yeon (정수연)
Date of Birth: April 18, 1989 (1989-04-18) (age 20)
Position: Lead Vocalist
Jessica joined SM Entertainment after being discovered at the SM’s Starlight Casting System in 2000. Her specialty is English as she was born and raised in San Francisco, California. Her nicknames include “Sica”, “Sicachu”, “Shirae”, and more famously known as the “Ice Princess” because of her cold exterior looks.

Sunny
Stage Name: Sunny (�?�니)
Birth Name: Lee Soon Kyu (�?�순규)
Date of Birth: May 15, 1989 (1989-05-15) (age 19)
Position: Supporting Vocalist
She is mostly known for her unbeatable “aegyo”.

Tiffany
Stage Name: Tiffany (티파니)
Birth Name: Stephanie Hwang (스테파니 황)
Korean Name: Hwang Mi Young (황미�?)
Date of Birth: August 1, 1989 (1989-08-01) (age 19)
Position: Supporting Vocalist
Height: 160 cm
Weight: 50 kg
Tiffany grew up in Diamond Bar, California and briefly attended Diamond Bar High School there, before moving to Korea. She graduated from Korea Kent Foreign School. She joined SM Entertainment after getting 1st at the SM Starlight Casting System(USA-LA)Contest in 2004. Her specialties are English and playing the flute. Her nickname is “Fany”.

HyoYeon
Stage Name: HyoYeon (효연)
Birth Name: Kim Hyo Yeon (김효연)
Date of Birth: September 22, 1989 (1989-09-22) (age 19)
Position: Supporting Vocalist/Lead Dancer

YuRi
Stage Name: YuRi (권유리)
Birth Name: Kwon Yu Ri (권유리)
Date of Birth: December 5, 1989 (1989-12-05) (age 19)
Position: Supporting Vocalist/Lead Dancer

SooYoung
Stage Name: SooYoung (수�?)
Birth Name: Choi Soo Young (최수�?)
Date of Birth: February 10, 1990 (1990-02-10) (age 19)
Position: Supporting Vocalist
SooYoung is fluent in Japanese, as she started out in Japan in the early group, “Route O” in 2004. She is also the group’s “Shikshin”, or the “Eating Goddess”.

YoonA
Stage Name: YoonA (윤아)
Birth Name: Im Yoon Ah (임윤아)
Date of Birth: May 30, 1990 (1990-05-30) (age 18)
Position: Supporting Vocalist
Height: 166cm
Weight: 47 kg
YoonA graduated from Daeyoung High School and joined SM Entertainment after being discovered at the 2002 SM Saturday Open Casting Audition. Her acting debut started in the popular Korean drama series, “You are my Destiny”. She is also working on her latest drama, “Cinderella Man”.

SeoHyun
Stage Name: Seo Hyun (서현)
Birth Name: Seo Joo Hyun (서주현)
Date of Birth: June 28, 1991 (1991-06-28) (age 17)
Position: Supporting Vocalist

Discography

First single – Into the New World
* Released: August 2nd, 2007
* Format: CD
* Label: Seoul Records
* Producer: SM Entertainment

First album – Girls’ Generation
* Released: November 1st, 2007
* Format: CD
* Label: Seoul Records
* Producer: SM Entertainment

The First Mini Album – Gee
* Released: January 7th, 2009
* Format: CD
* Label: Seoul Records
* Producer: SM Entertainment

Awards

* Song of the Month for the month of August from Cyworld
* Best New Female Group at the 14th Annual Korean Performing Arts Ceremony
* First place on M!Countdown for Into the New World on October 11th, 2007
* Mutizen Award on SBS Inkigayo for Girls Generation on November 25th, 2007
* Mutizen Award on SBS Inkigayo for Girls Generation on December 2nd, 2007
* First place on M!Countdown for Girl’s Generation on December 6th, 2007
* 2007 M.NET Golden Disk Awards: Anycall Popularity Award on December 13th, 2007
* 2007 M.NET Golden Disk Awards: Anycall Newbie Award on December 13th, 2007
* First place on M!Countdown for Girl’s Generation on December 20th, 2007

source: jpopasia

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