2012: International promotions, Solo activities, TaeTiSeo, and Japanese return (part 2)

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.

Girls' Generation perform "The Boys"
at the LG Cinema 3D World Festival, 1 April 2012.

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2012: International promotions, Solo activities, TaeTiSeo, and Japanese return (part 1)

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. The song was included in the Japanese repackaged version of their first Japanese album. The full music video was released on March 13, 2012, with the song peaking fourteenth on Billboard Japan's Hot 100.

Girls' Generation perform "The Boys"
at theSeoul Music Awards, January 19, 2012.

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2011: Girls' Generation, 2nd Asian Tour, International Expansion and The Boys (Part 2)

Girls' Generation was selected by SISA Press as "The Most Influential Entertainers in Korea" for the year 2011, after having placed sixth in 2010.

Girls' Generation performing "The Boys" at Madison Square Garden, in October 2011.

On September 26, 2011 the first teaser featuring Taeyeon was released for the impending comeback with the group's third Korean album The Boys, followed by Sunny and Hyoyeon on September 27; Jessica, Sooyoung, and Tiffany on September 28 and Yoona, Yuri, and Seohyun on September 29. The first image teaser for "The Boys" was released on the midnight of October 1, 2011 through SM Entertainment's YouTube channel.

Girls' Generation performing "The Boys"
at Madison Square Garden, in October 2011.

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2011: Girls' Generation, 2nd Asian Tour, International Expansion and The Boys (Part 1)

At the start of 2011, the group prepared a new song titled "Visual Dreams" as part of their endorsement efforts for Intel's Core Processors throughout Asia. The music video for "Visual Dreams" was released on January 17, and various promotional campaigns included new music, 2D, and 3D music videos, internet sites, photos, and PC store displays.

In latter half of January, it was announced that the group would be returning to the Japanese market through the release of their Japanese version of "Run Devil Run" as a digital single, released on January 25, 2011.

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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. The lead single "Oh!" was digitally released on January 25 with the music video being released two days later. On January 30, the group started promotions with the recording of MBC Music Core. 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 five consecutive K-charts on KBS Music Bank, as well as achieving a triple crown on SBS Inkigayo. "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, 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.

Girls' Generation at an LG event in 2010 
Starting on March 11, 2010, photos of the members were released online showcasing a dark concept, dubbed "Black SoShi". A teaser video was released on March 16, with the new single Run Devil Run being released as a digital single on March 17. 

Mid-June, it was announced that the group had signed contracts in May, and would begin working under Universal Music Japan's record label Nayutawave Records for their Japanese promotions, with their first Japanese single expected to be released in September 2010. Girls' Generation began promotion in Japan in August. (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, was released on August 11, with the special edition of the DVD containing a pink glowstick as well as a pass to the Girls' Generation debut at the Tokyo Ariake Colliseum on August 25. In the first week after release, the DVD sold 23,000 copies, ranking fourth on the weekly DVD Oricon ranking and third on the weekly music DVD ranking, and made Girls' Generation the first female K-pop group to make the Oricon DVD Top-5 ranking.

Amidst their Japanese activities, the group also participated in the SMTown Live '10 World Tour alongside their label-mates on August 21 at Seoul Jamsil Olympic Stadium. They participated in the subsequent Shanghai, Los Angeles, Paris and Tokyo stops as well.

On August 25, the group held their first showcase in Tokyo Ariake Colliseum. With an initial 10,000 fans invited, it was reported to be the most large-scale plan for a Korean artist debuting in Japan. 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. 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. At this showcase, the "Genie" Japanese music video was also revealed publicly for the first time and the teaser having been released a few days prior on August 20. 
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. 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. With pre-orders amounting to 80,000, the single sold an estimated 45,000 copies in the first week after release. On October 20, 2010, the group released their second Japanese single, "Gee". 
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. The video for lead single, "Hoot", a song originally written in English as "Bulletproof", was released on October 28. Girls' Generation commenced their promotional activities with a comeback stage on KBS Music Bank on October 29. "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. 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. 

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. 

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. 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.
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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2009: Gee, Genie, first Asian tour and rising popularity

On December 26, 2008, posters of the Girls' Generation members wearing roller-skates were posted up in various locations around Seoul. SM Entertainment's phone lines were blocked up by callers asking whether the posters were for sale and the company asked fans to stop taking the posters down for personal use. On December 29, the group's management stated that the posters were indeed teaser posters and that the group would soon release their first EP, Gee, in January 2009.

Girls' Generation performing "Genie" at the LG Mobile Worldcup in 2009. 

A teaser video was released in January 2009 and the first single "Gee" released soon after. "Gee" topped Cyworld's hourly music chart on the release day. The song also went number one on all major digital music charts within two days. The music video set a record on release, garnering one million views on GomTV in under a day. The group began its album promotion in January 2009 on MBC Music Core where they sang their new lead single "Gee" and the track "Himnae (Way To Go)", another song from their mini-album.

"Gee" went on to become a phenomenal hit, breaking the record for consecutive number one wins on Music Bank with nine consecutive wins, as well as receiving a triple crown on SBS Inkigayo. The track also showed strength on other charts, topping the Mujikon, Melon and Mnet charts for eight consecutive weeks, the Dosirak chart for seven weeks, the Muse chart for six weeks, and the Baksu chart for four weeks.

On May 3, 2009. Girls Generation was starred in their new reality show “SNSD Horror Movie Factory“, with the premier episode receiving a viewership rating of 3.3%. The show was then cancelled after 6 episodes due to low ratings. Since June 23, 2009, Girls’ Generation are starring Cable TV program called “SNSD’s Hello Baby” of KBS Joy.

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. The group started their promotional activities on June 26, 2009, appearing on KBS Music Bank. The performance was followed by follow-up comeback performances on MBC 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.

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. 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.

On November 2009, SM Entertainment announced the group's Into The New World Tour. The tour began at Seoul's Olympic Park Fencing Stadium on December 19 and 20 and continued onto other Asian cities including Shanghai.

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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2007–2008: Debut and Girls' Generation

In July 2007, Girls' Generation had their unofficial first stage performance on Mnet School of Rock where the group performed their first single, titled "Into the New World" Dasi Mannan Segye). A documentary recording the story of the group's debut titled Mnet Girls' Generation Goes to School was filmed during this time, showing the members as they moved into an apartment together and prepared for their performances.

Girls' Generation in February 2008 performing at Rajamangala Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand.

The group's first single was physically released soon after, including an instrumental of the group's debut song and two other tracks: "Beginning" and "Perfect for You." The latter's Korean title is "Wish" (SoWon), which later became the name of Girls' Generation's official fan club, S♡NE. The group's debut officially began on August 5, 2007, first performing on SBS Inkigayo, later on MBC Music Core and KBS Music Bank. "Into the New World" achieved No.1 spot on M! Countdown.

The group released their first self-titled full album in late autumn of 2007 with the lead single "Girls' Generation" (Sonyeo Shidae), a remake of Lee Seung-cheol's 1989 song. Promotion for the single started in early November. The album also included the group's first single "Into the New World", "Perfect For You" (re-titled "Honey"), and eight other tracks by the group.

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. This song achieved 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 repackaged, re-released and re-titled Baby Baby. A third single, "Baby Baby", was released to promote the album. 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" (literally, Bad Brother), was digitally released before the album in April 2008. The song was performed live on SBS Inkigayo, KBS Music Bank, and M! Countdown.

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. Mnet reality show Factory Girl chronicled the members working as interns at fashion magazine Elle Girl. 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.

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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Pre-debut

After the success of SM 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. For nearly two years, Korean websites speculated about which of the female SM Entertainment trainees would be placed into the group. The members were professionally trained primarily in singing and dancing, while some members were also selected to be trained in acting and modeling. Many of the members already had made names for themselves in the Korean entertainment industry through their participation in magazine ads, television commercials, and small television appearances. The group witnessed several revisions until the final line-up was decided, including a 12 member line-up in mid-2006, however this number changed to the debuting nine when members were either cut, or left. Prior to their announcement, it was rumored that the group would be named "Super Girls" after their so-called male counterparts, Super Junior. The majority of the group's members were already seasoned performers and trainees prior to the group's debut, including member Sooyoung, who had debuted in the Japanese market in 2002 as part of the pop duo, Route θ. The group soon disbanded, only one year after debuting in Japan.

The first member of the group to join SM Entertainment's training system was Jessica in 2000, after her and her sister, Krystal Jung (now a member of the quinlet girl group f(x)), were scouted in a mall in Korea during a family vacation. Members Sooyoung and Hyoyeon were also cast into SM's training system in 2000. Hyoyeon, an accomplished dancer, danced for her audition. After being taught at "Winners Dance School", a dance school in South Korea famed for its specialization in Hip-Hop. She initially had no intentions of auditioning for the company, but her mother was a fan of SM Entertainment's then-boy band H.O.T., and brought her to the auditions in the hopes of seeing them. Hyoyeon would later be sent to China to study Chinese with fellow SM trainee, Choi Siwon (now a member of Super Junior). 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. Seohyun, the group's maknae (youngest) member, auditioned in 2003, singing children's songs. 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". That same year, member Tiffany auditioned at SM's Starlight Casting System in Los Angeles, and joined the company in October 2004. 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 by the singer Ayumi of Iconiq, she re-transferred back to SM Entertainment in 2007. Sunny is also the niece of SM Entertainment's founder, Lee Soo Man.

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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Girls Generation Profile

Girls' Generation a.k.a. Sonyeo Shidae (SNSD) is a nine-member South Korean pop girl group formed by S.M. Entertainment in 2007. They are known in Japan as Shoujo Jidai and are referred to as SoShi or SNSD by their fans, both abbreviated forms of the group's Korean name. The group consists of Taeyeon, Jessica, Sunny, Tiffany, Hyoyeon, Yuri, Sooyoung, Yoona and Seohyun. 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.

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