A Look Back to SNSD's Journey

On 12/10 just passed, more than ten thousand fans attended "2013 GIRLS' GENERATION WORLD TOUR - Girls & Peace" at Singapore. From Korea, Taiwan, Indonesia, to Singapore and coming up is Hong Kong, SNSD is really a girl group that leads the Hallyu wave that spreads internationally. That 9 girls, or simply just 9 beautiful girls?

SNSD is a group in a top Korea entertainment company, SM Entertainment. Debut in 2007, SNSD was introduced as a "Girls version of Super Junior". This name followed them and caused pressures on the girls, but each step, through an album, SNSD gradually reached out their colleagues' shadows to become a top name for the girl groups' trend. Their music, choreography, styles are things that hadn't appear in Kpop before.

9 girls, is that number too many for a group? Compare to all the girl groups before, the amount members in SNSD has never happened. Key word for SNSD is probably "progression." SNSD was similar to a typical girl groups before, started with a cute icon, energetic, without knowing, their stage became a real "Broadway Show," the girls changed into "show actors." To explain this, let's look back to their progression before and after the release of "Gee."

SNSD debuted on 2007 with "Into The New World." The public's first impression on them was simply a "9 girls sing and dance with power." With a rhymthic beat, their dance moves are non-stop, even with complicate notes. This is a result of lots of efforts. On 10/2007, the first time, the girls won on Mnet M!Countdown. To compose "Into The New World" by SNSD, no one else is Kenzie (a composer that composed "My Name" by Boa and created lots of hits later on such as "Lachata" by f(x) or "Wolf" by EXO). Eventually, songs those days had little style and no different to S.E.S.

Continue that, SNSD released a remix of "Girls' Generation" of a fame song by their colleague - Lee Seung Chul. There are lots of negative comments towards "Girls' Generation," some people liked it, some didn't, but can't be neglected that, this is a song that lots of people knew about it. Still, a stage with energetic movements of the 9 girls still didn't achieve much. For the audiences, they are just "a version of S.E.S," a group with "beautiful girls sing, dance well."

Generation for "9 Girls' Generation" actually started when "Gee" appeared.

Credits to sment

"Gee" started with a whisper "My First Love Story," total impressed the audiences. If you have to ask "Which part of the song that you impressed the most?" the answer must be "Totally." Each moment in the song were a real "knock-out" for the Kpop that time. The members weren't replacing each other in singing like a typical girl group, they actually transformed to the characters in the story, talking and showed off their own personalities.

Beside that, "Gee" brought a real feeling of a "performance show," made the audiences can't take their eyes off. SNSD actually reached out the definition of "beautiful girls sing, dance well" like a typical girl group, marked the audiences' impression. How did they make this so magically? Mainly could be relied on their talents. With "Gee," SNSD can defined, they are different to all the girl groups during that time.

In fact, choreographed professional dance moves had SM looked carefully since S.E.S time. Eventually, number of 3 members still can't impress for this style.

After the success of "Gee," end of 2009, SNSD continued releasing "Tell Me Your Wish," which showed off their "girly side." You can say, "Tell Me Your Wish" is a song brought the sexiest icon of SNSD from there to now. "Kick feet" is the dance move that continued to bring new trend and gradually defined SNSD's position in the audience's heart.

Continued that, with the second album in the studio "Oh!" and a repackaged "Run Devil Run," SNSD had been confirm as "goddesses" of Kpop. They aren't just "adorable, sexy, girly" like a standard girl group, they are also airport fashion icon, they brought a power that influenced the whole Korea culture that time. From then, the audiences don't just listen to SNSD songs because they like, they also excited looking forward their new products.

The theme of a song in the third mini album "Hoot" with the length of 4 minutes, different from usual songs. SNSD's style changed a lot as well, strong as a real "army." "The Boys," a product by Teddy Riley, a famous musician used to receive a Grammy award became the main point of the showbiz when it hadn't been release. SNSD totally "transformed," more "American-alike," more modern. "The Boys" can be seen as an important icon for SNSD influences. It had spread out internationally such as America and Japan.

Credits to SMTOWN

After a year, SNSD released "I Got A Boy." The audiences totally surprised with a energetic song, rich of styles - "no different to a musical theatre." The song was created from lots of music parts with different melodies, complicated and impressive, combined with rock background. SNSD be seen as leader in trend, but a transformation and new of "I Got A Boy" was a total shock to the audiences.

SNSD opened a new page of SM Entertainment's history, similar to a new century of modern Kpop. With experiences collected from "SMP" (SM Music Program) from SNSD, SM Entertainment created an impressive and attractive EXO, or "Why So Serious" stage by SHINee. The thing that most noticeable is the girls' fandom is still expanding. Can it be seen as SNSD is a gift from god for SM?

Will the future of the 9 girls will go further? Let's see.

Full Credits to
Source: tenasia.co.kr
Translation by totoropie @TheSoneSource


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