"Paparazzi" was written by Swedish songwriters, Fredrik Thomander and Johan Becker, and produced by American producer, Miles Walker. Junji Ishiwatari provided additional writing. Prior to the single's announcement, members Tiffany and Jessica spoke of the group's new material. Tiffany, on DJ Isak's radio show, "K-Poppin'", said that she had been "in and out of the studio [..] prepping for some new material." Jessica also spoke of new material with Elle Girl magazine, "[Our] Japan album will be released sometime in the second half of the year. We're working hard on it."
A teaser video of "Paparazzi" was released by SM Entertainment on May 29, 2012, on their official YouTube channel. The Japanese TV show Zip! quickly aired the same teaser, followed by a 22-second audio teaser of the song. Teaser images of the group were released in the week following.
Promotion and live performances
"Paparazzi" received its first live performance on the Japanese music program, Music Station, on June 22, 2012, where the group wore tuxedos, with pink gloves. On July 9, 2012, the group staged their second performance of the song on Fuji TV's Hey! Hey! Hey! Music Champ, the members all wore tuxedo's with black gloves. On July 14, 2012, the group made their third performance of the song on a Japanese television show, on the program 'Music Day.'
Commercial Performance
Paparazzi received the top spot for Oricon's Daily Singles on June 30 and July 2, 2012, leaving the song to debut at #2 on Oricon's Weekly Single chart for the week June 25 - July 1, 2012, selling over 92,000 copies, becoming their second best first week opening, following the 100,000 debut of Mr. Taxi, a year prior. Paparazzi ranked at #1 on Tower Records' Daily Singles for the entire week of June 25 to July 1, 2012, receiving the #1 spot for the week.
The song debuted highly on Billboard Japan's charts, reaching the Top 10 for Top Airplay, the Top 5 for Adult Contemporary Airplay and Hot Single Sales, ultimately debuting atop the Japan Hot 100. As well as debuting at #2 on the RIAJ's digital chart.
With the additional 116,000 physical sales for "Paparazzi" Girls' Generation's total singles/download sales now stand at 647,000 (with their best selling track being "Gee" at 207,000) according to SoundScan Japan.
Music video
Background
The music video for "Paparazzi" was said to be the largest music video that Girls' Generation had ever done at its filming. The set built for the video contained over 30,000 light bulbs, and the buildings used needed a week to complete with 120 people hired to do the work. Additionally, 300 people were cast in the video.
A total of 5 versions of the video were filmed, the highest amount for any video in Girls' Generation history. This includes close-up versions of each of the nine girls. SM Entertainment released a one minute long music video teaser for the video on May 29, 2012.
"Paparazzi" had its initial premiere in Shibuya, a district of Tokyo, on June 10, 2012, at 7PM JST. The music video, along with a Dance Version, was released to the public on YouTube on June 15, 2012 at 0:00AM JST. The videos received over 4 million views within two days of its upload, and over 9 million by the end of the week. Another dance edit was released on June 22, 2012, entitled "Dance Edit Gold"; it features the girls inside the ballroom set.
Synopsis
The video, lasting 6 minutes 36 seconds, begins with the girls walking through a hallway into the lobby of a hotel surrounded by reporters, it then cuts to a theater, where Seohyun and Tiffany are seen preparing to go on stage. On the stage, a man is seen walking across, announcing, "Ladies and gentlemen, Girls' Generation. Come on!" The curtain opens, revealing a street corner, with clubs, a coffee shop and a movie theater. Posters at the movie theater read "Girls' Generation In Concert", containing pictures of the group from the repackaged of their debut Japanese album, Girls' Generation.
The girls are then seen walking in trench coats, meeting in the middle of the street, in the background, the song, "Singin' in the Rain", performed by Gene Kelly can be heard. Camera flashes then go off, and the girls become shocked. It then cuts to a title card reading "Paparazzi - Girls' Generation". They then take off the trench coats, revealing mostly red and black outfits (Hyoyeon and Yuri's are black and white, and Seohyun's is completely black), and the song begins. During the first chorus, a second set is seen, which resembles a ballroom and contains lightbulb covered walls, with a chandelier fixed to the ceiling, this set is also seen in the dance version of the video. The video contains cuts going back to the group walking through the lobby, being followed by reporters, while being asked questions, as well as closeups of each of the members. The video ends at the original set, with the girls posing with their hands to resemble a camera, panning into the front page of a newspaper that reads "Weekly Exploitation Press" in the title, articles are seen below with headlines reading as such, "Their Style Has Become The Bible For Fashion", and "Girls' Generation Gets Surrounded" The camera zooms into a photo of the street scene, with the girls wearing the trench coats, walking off while Singin' in the Rain plays again, the curtain closes and the audience is seen clapping.
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
TRACK LISTING
Digital Download
"Paparazzi"
"Paparazzi" (Instrumental)
Regular Edition CD Single / Type A
"Paparazzi"
"Paparazzi" (Instrumental)
"Paparazzi" (Music Video)
Regular Edition CD Single / Type B
"Paparazzi"
"Paparazzi" (Instrumental)
Special Edition
"Paparazzi"
"Paparazzi" (Instrumental)
"Paparazzi" (Music Video)
"Paparazzi" (Music Video: close-up version)
