Girls' Generation (Korean: 소녀시대; 少女時代; So Nyeoh Shi Dae) is a popular nine-member South Korean girl group formed by SM Entertainment in 2007. In the order that they were announced as Girls' Generation members prior the group's debut, the members are; Yoona, Tiffany, Yuri, Hyoyeon, Sooyoung, Seohyun, Taeyeon (leader), Jessica, and Sunny. Outside Korea they are most commonly referred to as SNSD, the acronym of the group's Korean name So Nyeo Shi Dae or So Nyuh Shi Dae. In China, they are known as Shao Nü Shi Dai (or Siu Nui Si Doi in Hong Kong) and in Japan as Shōjo Jidai.

The group has so far released two full albums and various singles, many of which went on to achieve commercial success. Their 2009 hit single "Gee" holds the record for being the longest running #1 song on both KBS's Music Bank, having held the #1 chart ranking for 9 consecutive weeks, and on M.Net's M!Countdown holding the #1 position for 8 weeks. That year also saw the group winning various awards, including consecutive Artist of the Year (Daesang) awards at the Seoul Music Awards, Golden Disk Awards, Melon Music Awards, and the Korean Cultural Entertainment Awards.

The members of the group have had various activities as solo entertainers — acting in dramas and musicals, hosting various reality, variety, children's or game shows, modeling, endorsing brands and releasing solo singles.

In July 2007, Girls' Generation had their unofficial first stage performance on M.Net's School of Rock. The groups performed their first single, titled "Into the New World" (Korean: "다시 만난 세계", Dasi Mannan Segye). A documentary recording the story of the girls' debut titled M.Net's Girls Go To School was filmed during this time, showing the girls as they moved into an apartment together and prepared for their performances. The group's first single was physically released soon after, including two other tracks; "Beginning" and "Perfect for You". The latter's Korean title is 'Wish' ('소원'), which is also the name of Girls' Generation's official fan-club (stylized: S♡NE). The group's debut and first ever promotions began on August 5, 2007, first performing on SBS's Inkigayo and then later on MBC's Show! Music Core and KBS's Music Bank. "Into the New World" achieved #1 spot on M.net M.Countdown!.

After ending promotions for their debut single and taking a short break, the group released their self-titled full album first full album in late autumn 2007 with the lead single "Girls' Generation" (Korean: "소녀시대"), a cover of Lee Seung-cheol's 1989 hit. Promotion for the single started in early November. Marked by an eye-catching dance routine and strong vocals, "Girls' Generation" was a hit for the group, and the album has sold over 120,000 copies to date as well as placing 8th in the 2008 year-end charts.[3] The album also included an instrumental version of the group's first single Into the New World, "Perfect For You" retitled as "Honey", and 8 other tracks by the group. In early 2008, Girls' Generation began promoting their second single from the album, "Kissing You". The music video featured Donghae from Super Junior. The song was a success, achieving the #1 spot on three major TV music rankings—SBS Inkigayo, M.net M.Countdown! and KBS Music Bank.

In March 2008, the album was re-packaged, re-released and re-titled Baby Baby. A third single, "Baby Baby", was used to promote the album, with the group members wearing soft pastel colors in contrast to the loud, school uniform-type costumes from the Girls' Generation promotions. Jessica, Tiffany and Seohyun were also featured on a mini-album released by Roommate, a one-man band from the Purple Communication label. The mini-album was titled Roommate: Emotional Band Aid, and was released on December 1, 2008. The 3rd track from the mini-album was performed by the 3 Girls' Generation members and is titled "Oppa Nappa" (Korean: "오빠 나빠", literally "Bad Brother", although contextually it refers to an older male friend). The track was digitally released before the album was, coming out in April 2008.

For most of 2008, the group members were active in other areas of the entertainment industry; acting, hosting, DJing etc. It was announced in autumn 2008 that Girls' Generation would be starring in a reality show on Mnet, titled Factory Girl. The show chronicles the girls working as interns at fashion magazine Elle Girl, organizing parties, doing research, putting together outfits, preparing for photo-shoots and other such tasks. The articles the group worked on were actually featured in the Korean Elle Girl magazine. The program began airing in early October. In Late 2008, the group also participated in the SM Town Live '08 concert along with other SM Town artists


On December 29, 2008, it was announced that the group's first EP, The First Mini Album — Gee, would be released in the following month in January, 2009.[6] 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,[7] topping Cyworld's hourly music chart on the release day.[8] The song also went #1 on all major digital music charts within two days.[9]

The group began its album promotion on January 2009 on MBC Show! Music Core.[10] They sang their new lead single, "Gee", as well as the track "Him Nae (Way To Go)", another song from their mini-album. 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.[11]

Being strong in album sales, digital sales, ringtone downloads and broadcast time, "Gee" is the record holder for the longest-running No.1 on music portal M.net (for 8 weeks), surpassing the previous record of 6 weeks set by the Wonder Girls' "Nobody".[12][13] They also set a record on KBS's Music Bank by being #1 for 9 consecutive weeks,[1] breaking the record previously set by Jewelry's "One More Time", which had 7 wins.[14] Promotions for the song ended at the end of March. "Gee" won it's 10th K-chart of the half-year episode of Music Bank, proving to be the most successful song of the first half of 2009,[15] and it's 11th K-Chart on the annual end-of-year episode of Music Bank for being the most successful song of the entire year.[16]

After a short break, SM Entertainment announced that the girls would be back with a new mini-album sporting a "Marine Girl" concept. The new single was to be titled "Sowoneul Malhaebwa (Genie)" (Korean: "소원을 말해봐", literally "Tell Me Your Wish"); with the mini album being released digitally on June 22, 2009.[17][18] The mini-album, Genie, includes a duet between Jessica and SHINee member Onew called "One Year Later".[19] The group started their promotional activities on the June 26, 2009 recording of KBS's Music Bank.[19] The performance was followed by follow-up comeback performances on MBC's Music Core and SBS's 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 4 days later on June 29, 2009.[17]

The track proved to be a massive success, flying to the top in online charts, offline charts, ringtone charts and broadcast numbers. It conquered various music sites like Melon, Dosirak, MNet, Bugs and it was No.1 on the weekly charts and SKT ringtone weekly charts of the first week of July.[20] The mini-album sold an estimated 50,000+ copies in it's first week after release (almost double the numbers from the first-week sales of "Gee"), an unusual feat for any korean girl group.[21]

Their first No.1 award for "Sowoneul Malhaebwa (Genie)" was on the July 10, 2009 episode of KBS Music Bank.[22][23] Their second award was claimed at the July 12, 2009 episode of SBS's Inkigayo and their third on the 16th on the same show.[24] After heavy promotions, the group finished up promoting for "Sowoneul Malhaebwa (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".[25] Girls' Generation were chosen to record the "Retro Pop Version" of the song while f(x) sang the "Electronic Pop Version". In comparison to f(x)'s trendy and electronic version, Girls' Generation's "Retro Pop Version" has a charismatic and vintage style, with a more mature and sultry feel.[26] Girls' Generation released a "Chocolate Love" music video soon after, and then a second version some time afterward.

In addition to their musical activities, the girls have had various television series, with varied success. On May 3, 2009, Girls' Generation starred in their new reality show Sonyuh Shidae Horror Movie factory,[27] in which the girls undergo various acting lessons and tests, the first three episodes revolving around a horror film theme. The premiere episode received a viewership rating of 3.3%. When the show was cancelled after 6 episodes, it was replaced with another Girls' Generation reality program Himnaera-Him! or Cheer Up![28] in which the girls try to cheer up hardworking people in the midst of an economic slump. The first episode featured the members disguising themselves and entering Korean barbecue restaurants to find an honest store that gave the correct amount of meat for the paid price and then helping to attract customers. The second episode featured the members secretly helping out an elderly street-cleaner by having her win the prizes in a quiz event where several members were posing as cheerleaders, then winning special draws that allowed her free meals in a restaurant where the remaining members were posing as workers. The show was discontinued after two episodes due to the girls becoming too busy with the release and promotion of their new mini-album, Sowoneul Malhaebwa (Genie).[29]

Starting on June 23, 2009, the group began starring on a new reality series titled Girls' Generation's Hello Baby, on cable network KBS Joy. The show chronicles the girls babysitting and taking care of a young child in an attempt to experience and learn what motherhood is like. The child featured in the show is a young infant named Cho Kyungsan (Korean: "조경산"). Each week the group members (or 'fathers'; male guests who come out to help on several episodes) select the "Best Mom" and the "Worst Mom" from among the members according to their work for the day. By it's fifth episode, Hello Baby was already beating out all competition, receiving higher viewership than any other cable shows in its time-slot.Viewers commented that it was one of the group's best shows so far, due to the members showing their true personalities in a relaxed environment and not relying on scripts. It was popular among fans and teenagers and also garnered a lot of interest from young mothers. The show ended on November 17, 2009 after 22 episodes and 6 months of airing. Upon ending recording, the Girls' Generation members stated that they believed that while watching the child grow, they had reached a new level of maturity and gratitude to their parents.

In July, selected members, alongside selected Super Junior members, released the song "S.E.O.U.L." The music video was released as part of South Korea's tourism initiative.

During the group's promotions and even while on break, the members were frequently on television and were able to quickly establish their individual personalities through both group and solo activities such as MCing, variety shows, game shows and talk shows, and were said to have 'conquered the media'.Because of their lively image and wide spectrum of fans, the group was chosen as ambassadors to publicize the transfer of South Korean television to digital technology in late September, 2009.

In early November, the group also announced that they would be holding their first solo concert tour, with two Korean dates in December and other Asian locations to follow.Tickets were available for online purchase at 8pm on November 19, with the Korean dates selling out at record time in only 3 minutes.[The concert tour is titled "Into the New World" after the name of their debut single. Due to the success and popularity of the first two concerts on December 19 and 20, the group went on to hold encore concerts on February 27 and 28

In early 2010, the group was chosen to sing SBS's new logo song "Naeireul Bomnida" (Korean: "내일을 봅니다", "Looking at Tomorrow").[40] The song was released with a short film clip of the members singing the song in a recording studio along with it.

Later in January, SM Entertainment confirmed the release of Oh!, the group's second full-length album to be released on January 28. The lead single "Oh!", was digitally released on January 25 with the music video being released two days later. The song proved to be popular topping various charts upon release. On January 30, the group started promotions with the recording of MBC's Show! Music Core.[44] The broadcast of the performance experienced a blackout near the end, to which MBC made the whole performance available online in response. With 'Oh!', the group went on to win 5 consecutive K-charts on KBS Music Bank, as well as achieving a triple crown on SBS Inkigayo. The song broke the record for highest amounts of points on Music Bank, previously set by G-Dragon's 'Heartbreaker'. Like the group's previous hits, the song was strong on digital charts ranking a #4 in Melon.com's 50 Top Songs of the first half of 2010 and coming in at no.1 on Monkey 3's similar Top 10 ranking. 'Oh!' also went on to win [[Music Bank]]'s half-year K-chart and came in at 2nd on Hanteo's first half album sales chart.

Starting from March 11, 2010, photos of the members were released online showcasing a dark concept, dubbed "Black Girls' Generation".[48] The "Black SoShi" nickname is a play on the Korean group name (So Nyeo Shi Dae). A teaser video was released on March 16, with the new single Run Devil Run being released as a digital single on March 17.[49] The music video for "Run Devil Run was released on March 17, and the group's first performance for the new single was on KBS's Music Bank. The song proved popular, winning the group 2 K-charts on KBS Music Bank as well as achieving the group's 4th and 5th Mutizen wins for 2010 on SBS Inkigayo. The repackage album placed 3rd on Hanteo's first half album sales chart. With the combined sales of both the full album 'Oh!' and the repackage 'Run Devil Run', Girls' Generation sold more albums than any other artist in the first half of 2010.[47]. The music videos for both 'Oh!' and 'Run Devil Run' made it into GOMTV's 2010 First Half Top 10 ranking, the group having attracted over 13 million views in 6 months.

Soon after ending Run Devil Run promotions, the group released the digital single "CABI" to promote The Caribbean Bay Water Theme Park alongside 2PM. Members Yoona, Yuri, and Seohyun were selected as the main actors in the music video, each being paired with 2PM members Nichkhun, Taecyeon, and Chansung respectively. The remaining members, with the exception of Jessica and Taeyeon, made a cameo toward the end of the music video, appearing during the party scene. The song was recorded by Girls' Generation and 2PM, featuring Girls' Generation members Seohyun, Taeyeon, Jessica and Tiffany as main vocalists. After the release of several teaser videos, the music video was released on May 20, 2010.

In August 2010, Girls' Generation is set to start promotion in Japan. "少女時代到来～初来日記念盤～" (Girls' Generation's Arrival ～ First Time in Japan Commemoration Disc ～), a DVD featuring seven of the group's music videos as well as special bonus footage will be released on August 11. A special edition of the DVD contains a pink glowstick as well as a pass to the Girls' Generation debut at the Tokyo Ariake Colliseum on August 25. This is the greatest debut from any Korean artist coming to Japan with 10,000 fans invited. Having signed a contract this past May, Girls' Generation will be working under Universal Music Japan's record label Nayutawave Records for their Japan promotions and they are planning to release their debut single in September 2010.

The groups is also set to participate in the SMTown Live '10 World Tour


sursa : Wikipedia

TaeYeon:


Jessica ;


Sunny:


Tiffany:


Hyoyeon:


Yuri


Sooyoung:


Yoona


Seohyun;