- SUPER JUNIOR
Super Junior launched into international recognition following the release of their best-selling single "Sorry, Sorry" in 2009, the title song of their most critically successful album Sorry, Sorry.[1][2] Over the years, they have been divided into smaller groups, simultaneously targeting different music industries and audiences. Largely due to Super Junior's success as entertainers, other Korean entertainment managements began to train their music groups in other areas of entertainment, such as acting and hosting.[3]
The best-selling K-pop artist for three years in a row,[4] Super Junior have earned thirteen music awards from the Mnet Asian Music Awards, sixteen from the Golden Disk Awards, and are the second singing group to win Favorite Artist Korea at the 2008 MTV Asia Awards after jtL in 2003.[5] In 2012, they were nominated for "Best Asian Act" in MTV Europe Music Awards.[6]
In December 2009, Hankyung departed from the group after filing a lawsuit against their agency S.M. Entertainment.[7] Hankyung subsequently won the lawsuit in December 2010,[8] though his departure from Super Junior was not made official until September 27, 2011, when S.M. Entertainment finally released a statement to that effect.[9][10] Kangin enlisted for his mandatory military service on July 5, 2010 and completed his service on April 16, 2012. Heechul enlisted for his mandatory military service on September 1, 2011 and completed his service on August 30, 2013. Leeteuk enlisted for his mandatory military service on October 30, 2012 and completed his military service on 29 July 2014.[11] Yesung enlisted for his mandatory military service on May 6, 2013. As of 2014, Super Junior have ten active members: Leeteuk, Heechul, Kangin, Shindong, Sungmin, Eunhyuk, Siwon, Donghae, Ryeowook, and Kyuhyun.
Musical career
2000–2005: Formation and debut
In 2000, SM Entertainment held their first overseas casting auditions in Beijing 101, China and recruited Hankyung, who auditioned against three thousand applicants.[12] That same year, Leeteuk, Yesung, and Eunhyuk were recruited after auditioning for the company's annual casting system in Seoul. Sungmin and Donghae became trainees after jointly winning first place in an SM-sponsored contest in 2001. In 2002, Heechul and Kangin were recruited along with Kibum, who was discovered in Los Angeles, California by a casting agent. Siwon became a trainee after being scouted in 2003. Shindong became a trainee in 2004. Ryeowook won the 2004 Chin Chin Youth Festival singing competition and became a trainee just two months before debut in 2005.[13] Kyuhyun then joined the group in 2006, after winning third place in the 2005 Chin Chin Youth Festival.In early 2005, Lee Soo-man announced that he had been preparing for an all-boy project group of twelve members to debut at the end of the year. He called this singing group to be "The Gateway to Stardom of Asia,"[14] as most of the members in this group were chosen for their experiences as actors, MCs, models, and radio hosts prior debut. Heechul and Kibum were already established actors at the time, and most of the other members had already made various kinds of appearances in television and media.[15][16][17] Inspired by the rotational concept of Japan's girl group Morning Musume, Lee said that his new group would also experience line-up changes, with new members replacing selected members every year to keep the group constantly young and all-rounded. This concept was then newly introduced to the K-pop market.
For a while the group was rumoured to be called O.V.E.R, the acronym for "Obey the Voice for Each Rhythm."[18][a] However, before the group settled with their current name, the company simply referred to them as juniors, a representation of the members' young ages when they first became SM trainees.[18] After the members' showcased their different talents to the company at a picnic, the company finalized their group name to Super Junior, and officially became Super Junior'05, the first generation of Super Junior.[13] Super Junior 05 made their pre-debut performance on the Korean channel Mnet on September 11, 2005.[b] At the showcase, they performed various styles of hip-hop dancing, where they danced to B2K's "Take It to the Floor". Hankyung, Eunhyuk, and Donghae also performed a separate dance together, dancing to Usher's "Caught Up." However, the performance did not air on television until May 16, 2006 as a segment in the Super Junior Show, the group's first television documentary.
The group officially debuted on SBS's music program Popular Song on November 6, 2005, performing their first single "Twins (Knock Out)". A digital single with "Twins (Knock Out)", "You Are the One", and three additional tracks were released online on November 8, followed by the release of their debut album Twins on December 6, 2005. The album sold 28,536 copies in the first month of release and debuted at number three in the monthly chart of December 2005.[19][c]
2006–2007: U, Don't Don, and commercial success
In February 2006, Super Junior 05 began performances for "Miracle", the second promotional single from their debut album. "Miracle" topped the music charts of Thailand, drawing interest from international markets.[20] As promotions for "Miracle" ended, SM Entertainment began selecting new members for Super Junior's second generation, Super Junior 06. The company even prepared a list of chosen members that were to graduate from the group. However, the company abandoned the rotational concept after adding a thirteenth member, Kyuhyun, in 2006. The group then became known as just Super Junior, without the suffix "05".[21][22] Member Eunhyuk indirectly explains in a variety show that junior group SHINee could have been part of the group, but that was contemplated before Kyuhyun broke the rotational concept.[23]After the addition of Kyuhyun, Super Junior released their single "U" for free download on May 25, 2006 on their official website. "U" exceeded 400,000 downloads within five hours of release and ultimately surpassed 1.7 million downloads, crashing the server.[24][25] The physical single of "U" with a total of three tracks was released on June 6, eventually selling over 81,000 units in South Korea.[26] The single became one of Korea's most popular songs of the year, taking up number one spots for five consecutive weeks on two of Korea's top music programs.[27] By the end of the year, Super Junior collected over seven awards in five of South Korea's top music award ceremonies, and was one of the three Best Newcomer winners at the 21st Golden Disk Awards.
In late 2006, Kyuhyun, Ryeowook, and Yesung formed the subgroup Super Junior-K.R.Y., Super Junior's first sub-unit. They performed their first single "The One I Love", theme song to the Korean television drama Hyena, on the KBS music program Music Bank on November 5, 2006.[28] In February 2007, Leeteuk, Heechul, Kangin, Sungmin, Shindong and Eunhyuk formed Super Junior-T, a trot-singing group. They released their first single "Rokuko" on February 23, 2007, and made a debut performance on Popular Songs two days later.[29]
Super Junior's second official album was intended for a late 2006 release, but due to several accidental setbacks, Don't Don was not released until September 20, 2007.[30][31] Don't Don sold over 60,000 units the first day of release and debuted at number one on the monthly chart of September 2007.[32] Although Don't Don received mixed reviews from critics, the album went to sell more than 160,000 copies by the end of the year, becoming the second best-selling record of 2007.[33][34][c] Super Junior received seven nominations at the 2007 Mnet/KM Music Festival, winning three of them which included Artist of the Year, termed by many as the highest recognition of the ceremony.[35] Super Junior collected two more recognitions at the 22nd Golden Disk Awards, including a Disk Bonsang award (Record of the Year).[36]
2008–2009: Sorry, Sorry and career breakthrough
Super Junior-M, Super Junior's Mandopop subgroup comprising members Hankyung, Siwon, Donghae, Kyuhyun, Ryeowook, and Super Junior-M members Henry and Zhou Mi, was formed in April 2008.[37][38] Although the creation of the subgroup initially created a strife between the group's fans and their management,[d] Super Junior-M went on to become Super Junior's most successful subgroup,[39] selling out two concerts in Hong Kong,[40] topping weekly ratings with their appearance on Chinese variety programs,[41] and was the idol group with the most endorsement contracts in China.[42] They won numerous awards at Chinese music festivals, and achieved critical acclaim after the release of their single "Super Girl" from their second record Super Girl, which garnered them a nomination for Best Vocal Group at the 21st Golden Melody Awards. A fourth Super Junior subgroup was created soon after Super Junior-M's debut. With five members from Super Junior-T and Yesung, they formed the subgroup Super Junior-H, releasing their first extended play (EP) Cooking? Cooking! on June 5, 2008. In November 2008, Super Junior-T made a debut in Japan, collaborating with Japanese comedy duo Moeyan.[43] Their single "ROCK&GO", the Japanese-language version of "Rokuko", debuted at number 19 on the Oricon Daily Charts[44] and ascended to number 2 three days later.[45]
Super Junior's first Asia-wide concert tour, Super Show, started on February 22, 2008, in Seoul.[38][46][47][48][49][e] The group held a successful two-day fan meeting in Japan at the Nippon Budokan in Tokyo, selling out 12,000 tickets in several days.[50] The group released a compiled single "U/Twins", which includes the Japanese version of "U" in the limited release version, to complement the event. The single peaked at number four on Japan's Oricon Daily Chart on its first day of release, and dropped down four places on its second. The single broke a new record for being the first Korean single to have made within top 10 on Japan's Oricon Weekly Chart.[51]
The group released their third studio album Sorry, Sorry on March 12, 2009.[52] It was their first album to debut at number one on the Hanteo Charts, selling over 29,000 copies the first day.[53] After only a month of release, the album became South Korea's best-selling album of 2009, and ultimately sold over 250,000 copies in South Korea.[54] It became the best-selling K-pop album in Taiwan,[55] Thailand, China, and the Philippines, in which the latter credited the album to be the first K-pop album to reach number one in music charts from the country.[56] The album's title single "Sorry, Sorry" became an instant hit,[57] collecting a total of ten number-one awards for ten consecutive weeks in Korea, and stayed as number one for a record-breaking 37 weeks in Taiwan's K-pop singles chart. "Sorry, Sorry" achieved national and international success, and has since been the group's best-selling single in South Korea.[2][58][59][60] Sorry, Sorry won several accolades at the 24th Golden Disk Awards, including the Disk Daesang (Record of the Year).
After the success of Sorry, Sorry, Super Junior commenced their second Asia-wide concert tour Super Show 2, on July 17, 2009 in Seoul.
2010–2011: Bonamana, lineup changes, and international recognition
Despite their critical and commercial success, the group was plagued by legal turmoils and lineup changes during their concert tour. Though Kibum was shown in the ads and promotional videos for Super Show 2, he did not officially participate in the concert tour, and announced his temporary leave from the group to pursue his acting career. In October 2009, Kangin was charged with a DUI and hit-and-run after crashing into a parked taxi holding three passengers.[61] In December 2009, Hankyung filed for contract termination from SM Entertainment, claiming that the provisions of his contract were unlawful, harsh, and against his rights.[62] He parted with the group and released his solo album Geng Xin in July 2010, which sold over 510,000 copies. That same month, Kangin announced his hiatus to fulfill his two-year mandatory military service.With only ten members left, Super Junior went off to release their fourth studio album, Bonamana in May 2010. Although the album did not fare well as Sorry, Sorry critically, it sold over 300,000 copies in South Korea, outselling Sorry, Sorry. "Bonamana" was originally made by moves from Michael Jackson's MV's choreographed together.The album remained at the top of Taiwan's Korean-Japanese Music Charts for 61 weeks, breaking their own previous record of the said chart.[63]
To promote the album, Super Junior embarked on their third Asia-wide tour Super Show 3 in 2010 and 2011,[64] and had sold-out concerts for each stop.[65] In February 2011, Super Junior released a 3D movie version of their tour,Super Show 3 3D in all CGV and Primus movie theaters.[66] The movie debuted at number six on the box office charts and went off to become the best-selling 3D movie in Korea.[67] After touring in Japan, they released the Super Junior Japan 'Super Show 3' Opening Commemorative Album in February 2011, which debuted at number two on Japan's Tower Records online sales charts. The DVD version of Super Junior Japan Limited Special Edition – Super Show 3 also debuted at number two, while the CD version debuted at number 10. The album also remained at number three spot on the Oricon Daily Chart for two consecutive days and number six on the Oricon Weekly Chart. Following their commercial success in Japan, the group released a Japanese version of Bonamana's self-titled single in June 2011, which debuted at number two on the Oricon Daily Singles chart, selling over 59,000 copies the first week of release,[68] however, SM did not see the release as their official Japanese debut and has stated that their debut in Japan will occur at a later time.[69]
Between Super Show 3 stops, the group took part in the SMTown Live '10 World Tour and toured in Los Angeles, Paris, Tokyo and New York along with other SM Entertainment-managed artists, performing outside of Asia for the first time.[70] Super Junior's performances were well received by the media,[71] and they were honored as Korea's National Pop Culture Icon for their role in spreading the Hallyu Wave (Korean Wave), receiving the Minister of Culture Awards by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism at the Pop Culture Art Awards. They were featured on CNN's Talk Asia program, and talked about their popularity and strategy for advancing into the world music industry.[72][73] The group has achieved recognition beyond Asia, reaching notability in Europe, North America, and South America. Peru’s Top 30 ranking of The Sexiest Men in the World included all of the members on the list[74] They gave exclusive interviews to Slovenian and Iranian magazines,[75] and were selected by Brazilian Hallyu fans to be the number-one Korean artist they want to visit Brazil.[76][77] Both Mexico's TV Azteca and the United Kingdom's BBC acknowledged Super Junior to be the leading icon of the Hallyu effect.[78][79]
2011–2012: Mr. Simple and the world tour, Super Show 4
Super Junior members at LG Optimus Super Junior Fan meeting at Chateau de Chine in Kaohsiung, Taiwan in November 2011. (L-R: Leeteuk, Ryeowook, Eunhyuk, Donghae, Siwon, Kyuhyun, Sungmin, Yesung, Shindong)
The group, with Super Junior-M members Zhou Mi and Henry, also recorded the song "Santa U Are The One" for the 2011 Winter SMTown – The Warmest Gift album, released on December 13, 2011. In addition, Donghae and Eunhyuk released their collaboration digital single "Oppa, Oppa" on December 16[86] and performed the single on Music Bank that same day.
On January 11, Super Junior participated at the 26th Golden Disk Awards which was held at the Kyocera Dome in Osaka, Japan. The group ended up bringing home four awards: Popularity Award, MSN Japan Award, Disk Bonsang and the grand prize Disk Daesang. This was followed by further successes at the Seoul Music Awards on January 19, at which they were awarded the Disk Bonsang and Disk Daesang.
On January 13, Super Junior were crowned 'Album King' in Taiwan, after Super Junior’s 5th album Mr. Simple and 4th album Bonamana ranked 1st and 2nd on both album and music sections of the Korean Music Chart 2012. Significantly, Super Junior ranked 1 on the KKBOX K-Pop chart for 64 consecutive weeks with their 4th album title song "Bonamana", marking the longest record in the history of KKBOX K-Pop chart. They then reached 1 with the 5th album title song "Mr. Simple" for 46 consecutive weeks (as of 4 July 2012), effectively knocking themselves from the 1 spot. On February 22, Super Junior won Album Of The Year for the 3rd Quarter at the Gaon Chart Awards[87] and on March 13, Super Junior won Favorite K-pop Video for "Mr.Simple" at the MYX Music Awards.[citation needed]
Also, Super Junior successfully completed their world tour Super Show 4 in 10 cities worldwide including Seoul, Osaka, Taipei, Singapore, Macao, Bangkok, Paris, Shanghai, Jakarta and Tokyo for 6 months starting in November. Combined with their three Asia tours and Super Show 4, Super Junior’s concert brand gathered a total of 900,000 audiences.
2012–2013: Sexy, Free & Single and the world tour, Super Show 5
In June 2012, SM Entertainment announced that Kangin would re-join Super Junior for the group's sixth album, Sexy, Free & Single which was released online on July 1 and in stores on July 4, 2012.[88] SM released the MV for Sexy, Free & Single on July 3. The Version B of album was released on July 16, having only a different cover. On August 7, Super Junior released the repackage album for Sexy, Free & Single called SPY, including four new songs "SPY", "Outsider", "Only U" composed by Leeteuk and "Haru" composed by Donghae. The MV was released on August 13.Super Junior 6th Album Sexy, Free & Single managed to rank high in iTunes in several countries including Australia, France, Peru and Japan. It also ranked 3rd on Billboard World Albums.[89] The album debuted at 1st place on the South Korean Gaon Chart, selling 335,744 copies in one month.[90] Staying on the chart as 1st place for three weeks in a row, 459,182 copies have been sold in only two months (July - August).[90][90] Furthermore, Sexy, Free & Single also debuted at 1st on "Hanteo Chart" with more than 200,000 copies sold in one month become the first group to do so far this year.[91] Super Junior rank 1st place on Hanteo's "Top 5 K-Pop Artists" 2012 winning Hanteo "Singer Award" and also rank 1st place in Hanteo "Album Award" 2012 also winning this award.[92][93]
Sexy, Free & Single was placed 1st for several weeks on Taiwan KKBOX KPOP chart having all album songs charted.[94] The Japanese version of this song, which was released on August 22, has sold over 118,902 units making the single gold certified.
Super Junior were nominated for "Best Asian Act" in MTV Europe Music Awards showing one more time their popularity around the world.[6] On October Super Junior won "Teen Style Icon" award in Style Icon Awards[95] and on November they also won the "Best Artist Group Award" the 19th Korean Entertainment Arts Awards.[96] On November 30, Super Junior attended the Mnet Asian Music Awards where they won three awards, "Album of the Year", "Best Global Group - Male" and "Best Line Award", being the second year in row that Super Junior wins "Album of the Year".[97] Their Super Show 4 3D movie was awarded with "Work of Art Award" at the International 3D Festival being the only singer together with Glam winning an award.[98] On January 15 Super Junior won "Disk Daesang" at 27th Golden Disk Awards, being the 3rd "Disk Daesang" that Super Junior has won, and the second in a row (winning in 2011 for "Mr Simple").[99]
Super Junior announced their world tour in February 2013. "The World Tour, Super Show 5" began in March starting with Seoul. The group will then go to China, Japan, South America, and Europe.
2014-present: Mamacita and the world tour, Super Show 6
In August 2014, SM Entertainment announced that Leeteuk and Heechul would re-join Super Junior for the group's seventh album, Mamacita which was released online on August 29 and in stores on September 1.[100] With only three days of sales, Super Junior's 'Mamacita' ranked No.1 on Billboard's World Albums chart.[101] Super Junior began their world tour Super Show 6 in September 2014, with the first stop at Seoul. Super Junior successfully completed their three day concert at Jamsil Arena, Seoul from 19 to 21 September 2014 and marked their 100th concert worldwide on the 21 September 2014.[102] Super Junior are the first Korean artist to perform 100 concerts wordwide.[103]Members
Current members
| Stage name | Full name | Status | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Romanized | Hangul | Romanized | Hangul | |
| Leeteuk | 이특 | Park Jung-su | 박정수 | Active |
| Heechul | 희철 | Kim Hee-chul | 김희철 | Active |
| Yesung | 예성 | Kim Jong-woon | 김종운 | Inactive due to military service |
| Kangin | 강인 | Kim Young-woon | 김영운 | Active |
| Shindong | 신동 | Shin Dong-hee | 신동희 | Active |
| Sungmin | 성민 | Lee Sung-min | 이성민 | Active |
| Eunhyuk | 은혁 | Lee Hyuk-jae | 이혁재 | Active |
| Donghae | 동해 | Lee Dong-hae | 이동해 | Active |
| Siwon | 시원 | Choi Si-won | 최시원 | Active |
| Ryeowook | 려욱 | Kim Ryeo-wook | 김려욱 | Active |
| Kibum | 기범 | Kim Ki-bum | 김기범 | Inactive; working as an actor |
| Kyuhyun | 규현 | Cho Kyu-hyun | 조규현 | Active |
Super Junior-M members
| Stage name | Full name | Status | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Romanized | Hangul | Romanized | Hanja/Pin Yin | |
| Zhou Mi | 조미 | Zhou Mi | 周覓/Zhou Mi | Active |
| Henry | 헨리 | Henry Lau | 劉憲華/Liu Xianhua | Active |
Former members
| Stage name | Full name | Status | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Romanized | Hangul | Romanized | Hanja | |
| Hankyung | 한경 | Han Geng | 韓庚 | Inactive (filed for contract termination) |
- SNSD/GIRLS GENERATION
The group 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 was classified by the online music store MelOn as the most popular song of the decade in South Korea (ranking based on chart performance).[4] The group solidified their place in the South Korean music industry with follow-up singles "Tell Me Your Wish", "Run Devil Run", and "Oh!" from late 2009 to early 2010. In 2011, after a series of activities in Japan, the group returned to the South Korean music scene with "The Boys", which was released in three languages: Korean, Japanese, and for the first time, English. In 2010 alone, the group sold more than 11,730,000 digital albums and singles collectively.[5] The group's immense popularity in their native South Korea has earned them titles "The Nation's Singers" and "The Nation's Girl Group".[6] 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.[7] They have also been listed as #1 on the Top Female Singer's list for four consecutive years on the Leespiar Popularity Survey in Korea.[8][9] Asia Today placed the group at forty-four on the 50 Korean Power Leaders list in 2011.[10] The group also topped Forbes's Korea Power Celebrity 40 list for the years of 2010, 2011 and 2013.[5]
The group began a foray into the Japanese music scene in late 2010 under Nayutawave Records, with Japanese remakes of their 2009 South 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 South Korean group in Oricon history. It was certified "Million" by the Recording Industry Association of Japan, which made them the second South Korean artist to earn such an achievement in Japan since label mate BoA's "Best of Soul" in 2005.[11] Girls’ Generation is also the first South Korean girl group to have two albums place first on a weekly album ranking, surpassing Kara.[12]
They have expanded their reach in the South Korean industry through their first sub-unit, Girls' Generation-TTS, composed of members Taeyeon, Tiffany, and Seohyun. The sub-unit debuted on 2012 with their mini album Twinkle which became the highest charting K-Pop act on the Billboard 200—at No. 126 on Billboard 200.[13]
History
Pre-debut
After the success of S.M. Entertainment's boy band, Super Junior, the company planned to debut a new girl group, which would ultimately turn into Girls' Generation, featuring a start-up roster of 11 members.[16] For nearly two years, South Korean websites speculated about which of the female SM Entertainment trainees would be placed into the group. The candidate members were professionally trained primarily in singing and dancing, while some were also selected to be trained in acting and modeling. Many of the candidate members had participated in the South Korean entertainment industry through their participation in magazine advertisements, television commercials, and small television drama or film appearances,[citation needed] and Sooyoung even debuted in the Japanese market in 2002 as part of the pop duo, Route θ, which soon disbanded in one year.[17][18] The group witnessed several revisions, as members were either added or cut, until final line-up of the debuting nine was decided. Prior to their announcement, it was rumored that the group would be named "Super Girls" after their so-called male counterparts, Super Junior.[16]The first member of the group to join SM Entertainment's training system was Jessica in 2000, after she and her sister, Krystal Jung (now a member of the girl group f(x)), were scouted in a mall in Korea during a family vacation.[19] Also in 2000, members Sooyoung and Hyoyeon were cast into SM's training system through the 2000 SM Open Audition, in which Hyoyeon danced for her audition.[20] Yuri was the next Girls' Generation member to be accepted into SM's training system after finishing second in the 2001 SM Youth Best Dancer competition. Yoona was cast the following year after auditioning singing and dancing to her favorite singers, BoA and Britney Spears, in 2002 SM Saturday Open Casting Audition.[20] Seohyun, the group's youngest member, was scouted in the subway by an SM scout, then auditioned in 2003, singing children's songs.[21] The group's leader, Taeyeon, was cast in 2004 after being discovered at SM's 8th Annual Best Contest winning "Best Singer 1st Place & Grand Award".[22] That same year, member Tiffany auditioned at SM's Starlight Casting System in Los Angeles, and joined the company in October 2004.[23][24] The ninth and final member of the group to be added was Sunny, who entered the system in 1998, training for five years before transferring to another company, Starworld, where she trained to debut in the duo "Sugar", which ultimately never debuted. Then, under the recommendation of the singer Ayumi Hamasaki, she re-transferred back to SM Entertainment in 2007.[25] Sunny is also the niece of S.M. Entertainment's founder, Lee Soo-man.[26]
2007–2008: Debut and Girls' Generation
In July 2007, Girls' Generation had their unofficial first stage performance on Mnet's School of Rock where the group performed their first single, "Into the New World" (다시 만난 세계). A documentary recording the story of the group's debut titled Girls' Generation Goes to School was filmed by Mnet during this time, revolving around their unofficial debut and first public performances through School of Rock.
In early 2008, Girls' Generation began promoting their second single from the album, "Kissing You", which won the group their first K-chart win after achieving the number-one position on the KBS Music Bank February chart.[28] This song achieved the #1 spot on three major TV music rankings—SBS Inkigayo, M.net M.Countdown! and Music Bank. In March 2008, the album was repackaged, re-released and re-titled Baby Baby. Girls' Generation released the teaser for their single "Baby Baby" on March 15, 2008. The single was released on digital music sites on March 17, 2008. The single, "Baby Baby", was released to promote the album. The group also performed "Baby Baby" on various music shows such as MBC Show! Music Core, SBS Inkigayo, and Mnet M! Countdown in March and April. The album promotions was concluded on April 13, 2008, on Inkigayo.[29] During the group's promotions, members Jessica, Tiffany and Seohyun were featured on a mini-album released by Roommate, a one-man band from Purple Communication. The mini-album was titled Roommate: Emotional Band Aid, and was released on December 1, 2008. The song performed by the three girls, titled "Oppa Nappa" (오빠 나빠; literally, Bad Brother), was digitally released before the album in April 2008. The song was performed live on SBS Inkigayo, KBS Music Bank, and Mnet M! Countdown.[30][31] Later in the year, the three members released "Mabinogi" (It's Fantastic!) together as the theme song for the Nexon game Mabinogi, with Tiffany participating in the music video.[32] Mnet reality show Factory Girl chronicled the members working as interns at fashion magazine Elle Girl.[33] The program began airing in early October.[34] In late 2008, the group also participated in the SMTown Live '08 concert along with other SM Town artists.
2009: Gee, Genie, first Asian tour and rising popularity
Girls' Generation performing "Genie" at the LG Mobile Worldcup in 2009.
After a short break, SM Entertainment announced that the group would be back with a new mini-album sporting a "Marine Girl" concept. The new single was to be titled "Tell Me Your Wish (Genie)", with the full mini-album being released digitally on June 22, 2009.[42][43] The group started their promotional activities on June 26, 2009, appearing on KBS Music Bank.[44] The performance was followed by follow-up comeback performances on MBC Show! Music Core and SBS Inkigayo on June 27 and 28, 2009. The physical release of Genie was delayed by SM Entertainment in order to redo the album art, and was released four days later on June 29, 2009.[42] Their first win for their single "Sowoneul Malhaebwa (Genie)" was obtained at the July 10, 2009 episode of KBS Music Bank. Their second award was claimed on the July 12, 2009 episode of SBS Inkigayo. Within a few days, the song topped on 10 different digital music charts.[45] The track proved to be a success as it conquered various music sites, including Melon, Dosirak, Mnet, and Bugs, and it was number one on the weekly charts and the SKT ringtone weekly charts of the first week of July.[46] The mini-album sold an estimated 50,000+ copies in its first week after released (almost double the numbers from the first-week sales of Gee), an unusual feat for any Korean girl group.[47] The albums went to sell over 200,000 as of 2010.[48]
On November 2009, S.M. Entertainment announced the group's Into The New World Tour. The tickets for the tour went on sale on November 19,[49] and sold out in 3 minutes.[50] The tour initially consisted of two Korean shows on December 19 and 20, 2009.[51] The tour began at Seoul's Olympic Park Fencing Stadium on December 19 and 20 and continued onto other Asian cities including Shanghai.[52]
2010: Oh! / Run Devil Run, Japanese debut and Hoot
Later in January, SM Entertainment confirmed the release of Oh!, the group's second full-length album, to be on January 28.[53] The lead single "Oh!" was digitally released on January 25 with the music video being released two days later.[54] On January 30, the group started promotions with the recording of MBC Show! Music Core.[55] The broadcast of the performance experienced a blackout near the end, to which MBC made the whole performance available online in response.[56]With "Oh!", the group went on to win five consecutive K-charts on KBS Music Bank, as well as achieving a triple crown on SBS Inkigayo.[57] "Oh!" also went on to win the Music Bank half-year K-chart, coming in at second on Hanteo's first half album sales chart,[58] and also winning the end-of-year K-chart.[citation needed] The music video ranked as the number-one most-viewed YouTube video in Korea by the end of 2010. It was also number one in Hong Kong and made the top ten in both the Taiwan and Japan rankings.[59]
Girls' Generation at an LG event in 2010.
On August 25, the group held their first showcase in Tokyo Ariake Colliseum.[69] With an initial 10,000 fans invited, it was reported to be the most large-scale plan for a Korean artist debuting in Japan.[64] However, due to high number of expected attendees, the group's management announced that the showcase would take place three times in the same day rather than once to accommodate the large amount of fans.[70] The group sang five of their Korean tracks at each of the showcases, and the total number of attendees over all three shows were estimated to be at least 22,000.[71] At this showcase, the "Genie" Japanese music video was also revealed publicly for the first time, with the teaser having been released a few days prior on August 20.[72] Their Japanese debut single "Genie" debuted at the fifth spot on the same day of its release on the Daily Oricon Charts and later rose to the second position on the Daily Charts some time later, earning the group a fourth position on the Oricon weekly ranking.[73][74][75] The group also hit the number-one spots on Japan iTunes' music video chart and both the Rekochoku daily video clip chart and incoming movie daily ranking chart a day later.[76] With pre-orders amounting to 80,000, the single sold an estimated 45,000 copies in the first week after release.[77][78] On October 20, 2010, the group released their second Japanese single, "Gee".[79][80] A week after the release of their Japanese single, the group released their third Korean mini-album, Hoot on October 27, 2010, consisting of five tracks.[81] The video for lead single, "Hoot", a song originally written in English as "Bulletproof", was released on October 28.[82][83] Girls' Generation commenced their promotional activities with a comeback stage on KBS Music Bank on October 29.[84] "Hoot" quickly rose to the top of the charts and received the number-one spot numerous times on music shows, proving to be another successful release for the group.[85][86][87][88] The group simultaneously promoted "Hoot" and "Gee" in Korea and Japan respectively, and participated in Japanese music broadcasts such as the FNS Music Festival, where they performed their two Japanese singles, "Gee" and "Genie" on December 4. On December 22, 2010, "Hoot" was repackaged with additional tracks from previous albums and released in Japan. The release rose to the second position on the Oricon charts and sold 21,000 copies on the first day, faring surprisingly well considering that all the included tracks were entirely in Korean.[89] On December 9, 2010, the group attended the Golden Disk Awards and was awarded three awards including the Disk Daesang (Album of the Year) for their 2nd album Oh!. The group also became the first girl group to have both a Disk Daesang (2010) and Digital Daesang (2009). On December 15, 2010, the group attended the MelOn Music Awards winning the Best Dressed Singer award and Hot Trend Song award for, "Hoot", as well as the Artist of the Year award. This would be the second consecutive 'Artist of the Year' award for the group. They topped the Hanteo annual Singer Award chart for 2010.[90] The group was named on Asia Today's list of 50 Korean power leaders for 2011 at the number forty-fourth spot, being the only idol group from the list.[10] Girls' Generation was designated "Artist of the Year" by Dosirak, Soribada, Korea Gallup, Hanteo and Sport Korea and also won Best Song of The Year with "Oh!" at Monkey 3.[91][92]
2011: Girls' Generation, touring, international expansion and The Boys
Girls' Generation at Visual Dream World Premiere Showcase.
Girls' Generation was certified Platinum (250,000) by Recording Industry Association of Japan on June 14, 2011, making it the fifth Korean artist's album to do so after S.E.S, BoA, TVXQ and KARA. Girls' Generation then was certified Double Platinum (500,000) on July 8, 2011, a first for any Korean girl group.[99][100] The group also set a record for recording the highest sales of the FIRST album as a foreign artist in Japan. Girls' Generation is the fourth artist to obtained number-one spot on weekly album chart after BoA, TVXQ, and Big Bang,[101] and became the third Korean act to surpass the 500,000 mark after BoA and TVXQ. As a result of their rising popularity, Girls' Generation became the highest earning foreign artist in Japan for the first half of 2011.[102] By the end of 2011, the album had sold over 728,000 copies.[103][104] The album was re-packaged, as "The Boys" on December 28, 2011. Their most successful album to date, it was certified 'Million' by the RIAJ, and made the group the second Korean artist to earn this achievement in Japan since labelmate BoA's "Best of Soul" in 2005, as well as being the first female group to do so.[11] The self-titled album was the fifth best selling album in Japan in 2011 [105] and won Album of the Year at the 2012 MTV Video Music Awards Japan. The lead single, "Mr. Taxi", sold over 100,000 copies in its first week, beating out its predecessors, "Gee" and "Genie".[106] The single also managed to clinch the number 1 spot on Billboard Japan Hot 100 chart for two consecutive weeks and was nominated for Video of the Year at the 2012 MTV Video Music Awards Japan.[107][108]
Girls Generation 2nd Asian Tour was announced by S.M. Entertainment in June 2011. The tickets for the tour went on sale on June 7, 2011 on GMarket. On July 24,[109] Girls' Generation was selected by SISA Press as "The Most Influential Entertainers in Korea" for the year 2011, after having placed sixth in 2010.[citation needed] Setting their sights on the international market, Girls' Generation signed a contract with Universal Music Group in 2011 to release United States material under Interscope Records.[110] The Boys was originally scheduled to be released through iTunes and various music websites in Asia, including its native country, Korea on October 5, 2011. But on September 30, it was revealed that the album's release has been postponed so as to bring about a worldwide album release.[111] On October 10, it was confirmed that the album will be released on October 19, 2011 and comeback on KBS Music Bank on October 21, 2011.
With only two months of sales, "The Boys" managed to become the 10th best selling digital track in its native country of 2011, having sold 3,032,658 copies since its October release. As of April 2012, the album had sold over 410,000 copies in South Korea, setting a Gaon Chart record for the best selling, non-repackaged album in the chart's history.[citation needed]
It was announced on November 11, 2011, that the group would be releasing their first official Japanese photobook titled "Holiday". "Holiday", reached the number-one spot on the book sales ranking chart under the photograph collection category and sold 17,000 copies the first week after going on sale on November 30. It ranked eighteenth on the overall book sales ranks. "The 1st Japan Arena Tour" was also made available on Blu-ray and DVD on December 14, 2011.
On December 7, 2011, it was announced that Girls' Generation will be releasing a re-packaged version of their debut Japanese album "Girls' Generation", which included a Japanese version of the "The Boys", and remixed versions of "The Great Escape", "Bad Girl", and "Mr. Taxi". It also contained the new song, "Time Machine". The album was released on December 28, 2011, and, collectively with the initial album, "Girls' Generation" passed sales of over 800,000, with shipments of 1 million.[115]
The album placed fifth on the Oricon Weekly CD Albums chart for the second week of January 2012 (Jan 9–15)[116] and Oricon announced that it was the first time in history that an album by a Korean artist has placed in the Top 10 for seventeen weeks. The previous record holder was the original soundtrack for the Korean drama “Winter Sonata”, which remained in the Top 10 for sixteen weeks.[117] Due to their Japanese releases, the group ranked fifth among Japanese artists in terms of monetary profit, the group had generated over 4.5 billion Yen (US$57 million) for 2011.[118]
2012: International promotions, TTS and Girls & Peace
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 K-Pop Awards, winning the Album Of The Year for the fourth Quarter and Oricon "Hallyu Singer" award.
Girls' Generation perform "The Boys" at the LG Cinema 3D World Festival, April 1, 2012.
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, Girls' Generation again topped Forbes's Korea Power Celebrity 40 list.[120] 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.[121] Similarly, with 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.[122]
April 2012 saw the formation of Girls' Generation-TTS, or simply "TTS", a subunit composed of members Taeyeon, Tiffany, and Seohyun. The subgroup released their first mini-album, Twinkle, on May 2.[123] "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 thus far.[124] 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. The tour will continued to Tokyo, South Korea, Singapore, Thailand and Indonesia.[125]
"Paparazzi" was released on June 27, 2012, serving as the lead single from their second Japanese-language album.[126] "Paparazzi"'s release boosted the group's total single sales in the country to over 647,000, according to SoundScan Japan.[127][128] That same month, the group won "Best Album of the Year" for their debut Japanese album at the 2012 VMAJs.[129] 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.[130] Within an hour of the stamps' issuing, over half of the available stamp sheets had already sold out.[131] On August 10, 2012, it was revealed that the group was to release a Blu-ray/DVD videography entitled "Girls' Generation Complete Video Collection".[132]
"Oh!" was released on September 26, 2012.[133] The release earned first place on Oricon’s Weekly Single chart, selling 66,000 copies in its first week.[134] The group's second Japanese album, Girls' Generation II: Girls & Peace, was released on November 28, 2012.[135] The album was preceded by the single "Flower Power", which was released on November 21, 2012.[136] "Flower Power" sold 29,000 copies in its first week, peaking at number five on the Oricon Chart. "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 Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ).[137] The group released the 2011 Girls' Generation Tour DVD on November 30, 2012, which featured footage from the 2011 concert tour of the same name.[citation needed]
The group released the track "Dancing Queen", a remake version of Duffy's Mercy, on December 21, 2012.[138]
2013: I Got a Boy, touring and Love & Peace
Girls' Generation during "Girls & Peace" World Tour Live in Jakarta.
Girls' Generation embarked on their Girls & Peace: 2nd Japan Tour in Kobe on February 9, 2013 and continued for a total of 20 shows across seven cities. The tour was attended by over 200,000 people.[146][147] The group released their first Japanese remix entitled, Best Selection Non Stop Mix on March 20, 2013.[148] The album ranked number 6 on Oricon’s weekly album chart.[149]
On April 11, 2013, the group released their 2011 Girls' Generation Tour live album. The album features the July 23 and 24, 2011 Girls' Generation's concerts in Seoul at the Olympic Gymnastics Arena for their 2011 Girls' Generation Tour.[150] On April 26, 2013, Girls' Generation announced their first world tour Girls' Generation World Tour Girls & Peace with the first dates in Seoul on June 8 and 9, 2013.[151]
The group released their seventh Japanese single, "Love & Girls" on June 19, 2013.[152] According to the Oricon Daily Chart, "Love & Girls" rose from rank number 6 to number 4 the day after it debuted on the chart.[153] The single was able to sold 42,796 physical copies on its first week and took the no. 4 spot in Oricon Weekly Chart.[154]
Girls' Generation released their eighth Japanese single, "Galaxy Supernova" on September 18, 2013 along with Girls' Generation -Girls & Peace- Japan 2nd Tour DVD and Blu-ray.[citation needed] According to Oricon, the single achieved the number 1 spot on the day of release on Oricon Daily Single[155] while Girls’ Generation’s Girls & Peace: 2nd Japan Tour took the no.1 spot on September 18’s Oricon Daily DVD Chart.[156] After one week of release, Galaxy Supernova managed to sold 50,793 physical copies while the DVD and Blu-ray sold a total of 53,256 copies.[157][158]
Girls Generation came up big at the inaugural YouTube Music Awards by snagging Best Music Video and beating popular acts such as Miley Cyrus, Psy, Lady Gaga and Justin Bieber.[159] The group released their ninth Japanese single, "My Oh My" on November 5, 2013.[160]
The group released their seventh studio album, "Love & Peace" on December 11, 2013 after the release of "Love & Girls", "Galaxy Supernova" and "My Oh My" in 2013.[161] The album manage to debut at number-one spot on Oricon's Daily album charts after selling more than 37,386 copies.[162] After the first week, with sales amounting to about 129,000, it debuted on the weekly Oricon chart at number one.[163] Girls’ Generation’s self-titled debut Japanese album, released in June 2011, also ranked first in the weekly album chart, making Girls’ Generation the first Korean girl group to have two albums place first on a weekly album ranking, surpassing Kara.[12]
S.M. Entertainment announced that Girls Generation will perform for the first ever "SM Town Week" on December 22, 2013. Girls’ Generation’s December 22 solo concert will be called, “SMTOWN WEEK GIRLS’ GENERATION – Marchen Fantasy”. The concert will have a fairytale-like visual theme, with lots of different stages and showy video effects.[164]
2014: Mr.Mr., The Best, Japan's 3rd Tour and Jessica's departure
Things took a turn when an exclusive report by OSEN revealed that during the editing process for Girls' Generation's music video on the 13th, a loss of data occurred resulting in a deletion of a portion of the footage. Girls' Generation originally planned to release their title track and music video on the 19th and kick off their comeback stage on 'M! Countdown' on the 20th ahead of their album release on the 24th. However, if a re-filming is required to accommodate for the loss of data, insiders are saying that there is a possibility that Girls' Generation's comeback or MV release date may be pushed back by up to two weeks to allow for the filming and re-editing.[167][168][169][170]
Girls' Generation released Mr.Mr on February 24 to various Korean and overseas music sites, including iTunes.[171] The physical copy of the album was released on February 27, 2014. The group is scheduled on March 6 episode of Mnet's M!Countdown.[172][173][174] Following the release of the album, "Mr.Mr." became an immediate hit on nine different Korean music websites, reaching number one on Melon, Mnet, Olleh, Bugs, Genie, Soribada, Monkey3, Naver, and Daum within one hour achieving an "all-kill".[175][176] Girls’ Generation’s newest release, “Mr.Mr.”, debuted at number 110 on the “Billboard 200″ album chart. This the highest ranking Girls’ Generation has ever achieved on the chart, the next highest being Girls’ Generation – TTS’s first album, “Twinkle”, which debuted at 126th. The all-Korean set hits No. 110, selling just over 3,000 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan.[177]
It was revealed that Girls' Generation will headline KCON 2014 in Los Angeles. KCON will take place over two days, August 9 and August 10, with artists split between the two days of performances.[178] In June, Time magazine listed "Mr. Mr." as one of the top 25 best songs so far for the year.[179]
Girls’ Generation has released The Best album in Japan on July 23. This album includes the group’s previous hit tracks as well as new songs, and behind-the-scenes videos with footage starting from Girls’ Generation’s debut in Japan in 2010. After the 1st week of its release, the album has sold more than 75,000 copies, topping the Japan's Oricon weekly music chart. The group, as a result of this achievement, has now set a new record to become the first non-Japanese female group in Asia to ever have three Japanese albums (along with Girls' Generation and Love & Peace) scoring 1st place on this chart.[180][181]
The group successfully wrapped up its third concert tour series “Girls Generation ~Love & Peace~ Japan 3rd Tour” that opened in April in Fukuoka. The group performed 17 times in seven Japanese cities including Osaka, Nagoya and Tokyo. Through three concert tours in Japan since 2011, the group attracted a cumulative total of 550,000 spectators, setting the record for a K-pop girl group.[182]
During August, Pitchfork listed two of Girls' Generation's songs "I Got a Boy" and "Gee" as part of the best 20 essential K-pop songs in recent years.[183][184]
As of September 2014, Girls' Generation became the first K-Pop group ever to have 3 official YouTube videos, "Gee", "I Got A Boy" and "The Boys" with 100 million or higher views. "I Got A Boy" also set record for shortest amount of time it took to get 100 million views for a K-Pop group.[185][186][187]
On September 24, 2014, Universal Music Japan released Girls' Generation's Japanese song, "Divine." It was made available through online stores, and users who purchase the song were able to enter a lottery for a tickets to the group's "THE BEST LIVE" concert at the Tokyo Dome on December 9. On September 29, the company released the story version promotional video of "Divine" on Entame's website. The same video was released on October 15, 2014 on Universal Japan's YouTube Channel.
In early September 2014, all nine members signed a 3-year renewal contract with SM Entertainment[188] before the first 7-year contract expiration. However, on September 30, 2014, SM Entertainment announced Jessica would no longer be a member and the group would continue activities with the remaining 8 members.[2][3][189]
Members
| Girls' Generation[1] | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stage name | Birth name | Date of Birth | ||
| Romanized | Hangul | Romanized | Hangul | |
| Taeyeon | 태연 | Kim Tae-yeon | 김태연 | March 9, 1989 [190] |
| Sunny | 써니 | Lee Soon-kyu | 이순규 | May 15, 1989 [191] |
| Tiffany | 티파니 | Stephanie Young Hwang | 스테파니 영 황 | August 1, 1989 [192] |
| Hwang Mi-young | 황미영 | |||
| Hyoyeon | 효연 | Kim Hyo-yeon | 김효연 | September 22, 1989 [193] |
| Yuri | 유리 | Kwon Yu-ri | 권유리 | December 5, 1989 [194] |
| Sooyoung | 수영 | Choi Soo-young | 최수영 | February 10, 1990 [195] |
| Yoona | 윤아 | Im Yoon-ah | 임윤아 | May 30, 1990 [196] |
| Seohyun | 서현 | Seo Joo-hyun | 서주현 | June 28, 1991 [197] |
Former
| Former Members | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stage name | Birth name | Date of Birth | ||
| Romanized | Hangul | Romanized | Hangul | |
| Jessica | 제시카 | Jessica Sooyoun Jung | 제시카 수연 정 | April 18, 1989 [198] |
| Jung Soo-yeon | 정수연 | |||
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