Girls' Generation | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Studio album by | ||||
Released | June 1, 2011 | |||
Recorded | August 2010 – March 2011 | |||
Genre | Pop [1] | |||
Length | 41:22 | |||
Language | Japanese | |||
Label | Nayutawave | |||
Girls' Generation chronology | ||||
| ||||
The Boys repackage cover | ||||
Singles from Girls' Generation | ||||
|
Girls' Generation is the debut Japanese album and third overall by South Korean girl group Girls' Generation,released by Nayutawave Records and Universal Music Japan on June 1,2011. A repackaged edition of the album,The Boys,was released on December 28,2011.
Girls' Generation experienced commercial success in Japan,peaking at number one on the Oricon album chart and was ranked the fifth best-selling album in the country during 2011. To promote the album,Girls' Generation embarked on their first Japan concert tour,The First Japan Arena Tour. Furthermore,the album ranked 18th on Spin magazine's list of the Top 20 Pop Albums of 2011.
With the aid of their repackaged album,the album has officially shipped over 1 million copies as of January 11,2012. As of June 2012,the album has been "Million"-certified by the Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ),making the group the second Korean artist and first Korean group to earn this achievement in Japan since Korean labelmate BoA's Best of Soul in 2005. According to Oricon,Girls' Generation has sold a total of 871,000 copies in the country.
After releasing three singles in the Japanese market,including "Genie","Gee",and "Mr. Taxi/Run Devil Run",Girls' Generation released their first Japanese studio album Girls' Generation on June 1,2011. [2] A music video for the track "Bad Girl" was released on August 11. [3] Other tracks in the album,"Mr. Taxi" and "Let It Rain",were used as the background music for various versions of Girls' Generation's CF with Lipton Tea. [4] Girls' Generation became the highest earning foreign artist in Japan for the first half of 2011. [5]
On December 28,the group released a repackaged version of the album,Re:package Album "Girls' Generation" ~The Boys~. It includes a Japanese version of their international hit "The Boys",and remixed versions of "The Great Escape","Bad Girl","Mr.Taxi",and a new song "Time Machine". A music video for "Time Machine" was released on March 13,2012. [6] [7]
The album was originally released in three different editions:Deluxe Limited First Press Edition,Limited Pressing Edition,and the Regular Edition. A repackaged Edition was released later. The Deluxe Limited First Press Edition comes with a bonus DVD featuring "Mr. Taxi"'s original and dance versions of the music video,plus "Genie" and "Gee" Japanese music videos,a 40-page photobook,a mini bag that comes in a special box. The Limited Pressing Edition comes in a slipcase with a 32-page photobook and a bonus DVD featuring the same contents at the Deluxe Limited First Press Edition except "Mr. Taxi"'s dance version. The Regular Edition comes in a standard jewel case with a lyrics-only booklet.
The album was later re-released as Re:package Album "Girls' Generation" ~The Boys~ was released in three editions:a Regular Edition with a lyrics-only booklet,a Limited Edition with a 36-page photobook,a bonus DVD featuring music videos of "Bad Girl" and "The Boys" (English Version) plus two rubber coasters and a Limited Pressing with the same photobook,bonus DVD and a case from the limited edition,but with two B2-size posters.
Review scores | |
---|---|
Source | Rating |
Spin | (positive) [8] |
Sputnikmusic | [9] |
Time Out | [10] |
Girls' Generation received mostly positive reviews from music critics. James Hadfield writing for the Japan edition of Time Out lauded it as a "cohesive" album and regarded the record as "far better than any of their Korean full-lengths". [11] Hadfield also labelled Girls' Generation one of the best J-pop albums. [10] Spin 's editor Chuck Eddy picked "Bad Girl" as a highlight on the album,calling it "over-the-top" and "Latin-freestyle-emoted" track. [8] Writing for the same magazine,Charles Aaron ranked Girls' Generation number 18 on Spin's list of 20 Best Pop Albums of 2011;he praised the record as a collection of "over terrifyingly sophisticated dance tracks" and chose "Run Devil Run" as a standout. [12] An editor for Sputikmusic gave the record a favorable review,remarking that it is a "fairly unusual pop album" in the sense "that it is entirely devoid of filler",but opined that the songs were still a notch below "world class". [1] It won Album of the Year and Best 3 Asian Albums at the 26th Japan Gold Disc Awards. [13]
Pre-orders started on different e-stores. On Amazon Japan,the deluxe edition sold very well and rose quickly to No.1 on the pre-order chart while the limited edition was ranked 7th. On various Japanese album stores,Girls' Generation was the No.1 pre-ordered album with over 300,000 units expected to be shipped. [14]
The album topped the Oricon Daily Album Chart at first place on June 1 with a sales count of 74,000 copies,which made Girls' Generation the first foreign girl group ever to top the chart on the release date. [15] According to Oricon,the album sold 232,000 copies in the first week and placed first on the Oricon Weekly Album Chart,surpassing the record for first week debut album sales for a foreign artist,a record previously held by SM Entertainment labelmate BoA's Listen to My Heart . [16] One month after the album release,Oricon reported a total sales of 250,000 copies. The album placed second on the Oricon Monthly Album Chart for the month of June and became the 5th best selling album of 2011 in Japan according to the Oricon Album Rankings.
On December 19,2011,Oricon reported that Girls' Generation sold over 642,054 copies in the 2011 calendar year to rank 5th place on the Oricon Yearly Album Chart. [17] This surpassed the previous record of 7th place and 569,530 copies sold by SM Entertainment labelmate TVXQ's Best Selection 2010 , [18] and made Girls' Generation the highest selling album by a Korean group on Oricon at the time. On June 8,2012,the RIAJ certified the album "Million" for shipping over a million copies. [19]
The album placed 5th on the Oricon Weekly CD Albums chart for the second week of January 2012, [20] and Oricon announced that it was the first time in history that an album by a Korean artist placed in the Top 10 for 17 weeks. The previous record holder was the original soundtrack for the Korean drama Winter Sonata ,which remained in the Top 10 for 16 weeks. [21] [22]
"Genie" is the official title for the debut in Japanese. The single was the first ever Japanese single released by Girls' Generation on September 8,2010,in Japan. A new version of the music video was filmed to accompany the Japanese version,and the teaser was released on August 19,2010. On August 26,2010,the full music video was released. The song reached #5 on Oricon Charts on the releasing day. The song reached #2 on September 11,2010. [23] [24] The song was released in three editions,two CD+DVD (first press and regular),and a CD Only edition. First press CD+DVD edition includes a special photobook and a random (1 of 9) photocard. The single includes also includes the Korean version,"Tell Me Your Wish (Genie)".
Girls' Generation also had success in Japan with their second Japanese single "Gee". They took second place and were crowned the first ever overseas girl group to reach number 1 on the chart. [25] The song was ranked fifty-seventh on the Japan Hot 100 2010 year-end chart. On April 20,2011,the girls added another accomplishment to their belt as the RIAJ (Recording Industry Association of Japan) website updated their charts showing that SNSD's Chaku Uta Full (ringtones) downloads for "Gee" went Double Platinum. The RIAJ certifies Platinum as moving 250,000 units,so Double Platinum would mean that the girls had over 500,000 downloads for "Gee". [26]
"Mr. Taxi / Run Devil Run" set a new record for Girls' Generation,being their first Japanese single to shift 100,000 units in its first week of release. [27] Before they released the physical single,they released the Japanese version of "Run Devil Run" as a digital single on January 25,2011. The single also managed to clinch the number 1 spot on Billboard's Japan Hot 100 chart for two consecutive weeks. [28] [29] "Mr. Taxi" was first performed live on May 13,2011,on TV Asahi's Music Station. [30] On May 25,"Mr. Taxi" topped the Taiwanese music chart Gmusic. [31]
It was announced on March 7,2011,that Girls' Generation would embark on their first nationwide Japan tour starting May 18,2011 at Yoyogi National Stadium in Tokyo,with a total of 7 stops in Tokyo,Nagoya,Osaka and Fukuoka. [32] The start of the tour was postponed to May 31,2011,because of the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami. Due to overwhelming demand,with up to 300,000 applicants applying for tickets, [33] additional stops were added to the tour. [34] The tour was named as The First Japan Arena Tour.
Credits adapted from Naver
No. | Title | Lyrics | Music | Arrangement | Length |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1. | "Mr. Taxi" |
|
| 3:33 | |
2. | "Genie" (Japanese version) | 3:42 | |||
3. | "You-aholic" |
|
| 3:29 | |
4. | "Run Devil Run" (Japanese version) |
|
|
| 3:21 |
5. | "Bad Girl" | 3:44 | |||
6. | "Beautiful Stranger" | 2:42 | |||
7. | "I'm in Love with the Hero" |
|
| 2:48 | |
8. | "Let It Rain" |
|
| 3:40 | |
9. | "Gee" (Japanese version) | 3:21 | |||
10. | "The Great Escape" |
|
| 3:49 | |
11. | "Hoot" (Japanese version) |
| 3:17 | ||
12. | "Born to Be a Lady" | 3:56 | |||
Total length: | 41:22 |
No. | Title | Lyrics | Music | Arrangement | Length |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1. | "The Boys" (Japanese version) |
|
|
| 3:51 |
2. | "The Great Escape" (Brian Lee remix) |
|
| 4:57 | |
3. | "Bad Girl" (The Cataracs remix – featuring Dev) | 4:30 | |||
4. | "Time Machine" |
|
| 3:58 | |
5. | "Mr. Taxi" |
|
| 3:33 | |
6. | "Genie" (Japanese version) | 3:42 | |||
7. | "Gee" (Japanese version) | 3:21 | |||
8. | "I'm in Love with the Hero" |
|
| 2:48 | |
9. | "Hoot" (Japanese version) |
| 3:17 | ||
10. | "Let It Rain" |
|
| 3:40 | |
11. | "Beautiful Stranger" | 2:42 | |||
12. | "You-aholic" |
|
| 3:29 | |
13. | "Run Devil Run" (Japanese version) |
|
|
| 3:21 |
14. | "Born to Be a Lady" | 3:56 | |||
15. | "Mr. Taxi" (Steve Aoki remix) |
|
| 5:08 | |
Total length: | 56:13 |
No. | Title | Length |
---|---|---|
1. | "Mr. Taxi" (Original version) | |
2. | "Genie" (Japanese original version) | |
3. | "Gee" (Japanese original version) |
No. | Title | Length |
---|---|---|
1. | "Mr. Taxi" (Original version) | |
2. | "Mr. Taxi" (Dance version) | |
3. | "Genie" (Japanese original version) | |
4. | "Gee" (Japanese original version) |
No. | Title | Length |
---|---|---|
1. | "The Boys" (English version) | |
2. | "Bad Girl" |
Weekly charts
| Year-end charts
|
Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
---|---|---|
Japan (RIAJ) [46] | Million | 871,000 [47] |
Region | Date | Format | Edition | Distributor | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Japan | June 1, 2011 | CD | Standard | Nayutawave Records | [48] |
CD+DVD | [49] | ||||
Digital download | [50] | ||||
South Korea | July 13, 2011 | CD | SM Entertainment | [51] | |
Japan | December 28, 2011 | Reissue (titled The Boys) | Nayutawave Records | [52] | |
CD+DVD | [53] |
Girls' Generation, also known as SNSD, is a South Korean girl group formed by SM Entertainment. The group is composed of eight members: Taeyeon, Sunny, Tiffany, Hyoyeon, Yuri, Sooyoung, Yoona, and Seohyun. Originally a nine-piece ensemble, member Jessica departed from the group in September 2014. Among the most known South Korean figures and successful K-pop groups worldwide, Girls' Generation has earned numerous accolades and the honorific nickname "The Nation's Girl Group" in their home country.
"Gee" is a song by South Korean girl group Girls' Generation, who originally recorded a Korean-language version for an extended play (EP) that was released in South Korea by SM Entertainment on January 5, 2009. Nayutawave Records released a Japanese-language version of "Gee" on October 20, 2010, as the group's second single in Japan. Music duo E-Tribe wrote and produced the track, and Kanata Nakamura wrote additional Japanese lyrics.
South Korea-based girl group Girls' Generation have released ten studio albums, two live albums, four extended plays (EPs), and 35 singles. As of November 2012, Girls' Generation has sold over 4.4 million albums and 30 million digital singles. The group has sold over 1.74 million albums in South Korea as of December 2014, and 3.48 million records, including over 945,000 physical singles and 1.9 million albums in Japan as of January 2017.
"Genie" is a song recorded by South Korean girl group Girls' Generation for their second extended play (EP) of the same name (2009), released on June 22, 2009. Written and composed by Dsign Music, Fridolin Nordso and produced by Yoo Young-jin, the song is the group's first collaboration with Western composers and producers.
"Oh!" is a song by South Korean girl group Girls' Generation. The song is a lead single from the second studio album of the same name and was digitally released on January 25, 2010. The group used a cheerleader concept for the song's promotional activities. The song reached number one on the Gaon Digital Chart and won several times on the Korean music chart shows Music Bank and Inkigayo. The song ranked at number five on the year-end Gaon Digital Chart for 2010 and was also the second best selling single of the year, selling over 3.3 million copies. Music site Monkey3 named "Oh!" the best song in 2010.
"Run Devil Run" is a song by South Korean girl group Girls' Generation. The original Korean version was released on March 17, 2010, as a single from Run Devil Run (2010), the reissue of their 2010 studio album Oh!. A Japanese version was released digitally on January 25, 2011, by Nayutawave Records, and was later released as a double A-side single with "Mr. Taxi" on April 23, 2011, as the third single from their Japanese self-titled debut studio album.
Hoot is the third extended play by the South Korean girl group Girls' Generation. The extended play contains five songs and was released on 27 October 2010, by SM Entertainment. Hoot was the third best-selling album of 2010 on the Gaon Album Chart, with 163,066 copies sold.
The First Japan Arena Tour is the first Japanese concert tour by South Korean girl group Girls' Generation to promote their 2011 self-titled album in Japanese.
"Mr. Taxi" is the first original Japanese song recorded by South Korean girl group Girls' Generation. It was released as a double A-side single with the Japanese version of "Run Devil Run" on April 27, 2011, as the third single from the group's eponymous debut Japanese album. Composed by STY, Chad Royce and Scott Mann, with the Japanese lyrics written by STY and Korean lyrics written by Jung Hye-young, "Mr. Taxi" is an electropop and R&B song. A Korean version was later recorded and included on the group's third Korean studio album The Boys, and was released as the album's second single in December 2011.
This is the videography of the South Korean girl group Girls' Generation. Girls' Generation has been active in the music industry since the group's debut in August 2007. The group is composed of eight members: Taeyeon, Sunny, Tiffany, Hyoyeon, Yuri, Sooyoung, Yoona and Seohyun. Former member Jessica was dismissed from the group in 2014.
"Paparazzi" is a song recorded in the Japanese language by South Korean girl group Girls' Generation for their second Japanese-language studio album, Girls & Peace (2012). It was released as the album's lead single on June 27, 2012. Written by Fredrik Thomander, Johan Becker, and Junji Ishiwatari, and produced by Miles Walker, the track was described as an electropop and R&B song. To promote the single, Girls' Generation appeared on Japanese music programs Music Station and Hey! Hey! Hey! Music Champ, while a music video for the song directed by Toshiyuki Suzuki premiered on June 10, 2012, to accompany the release of the song.
Girls' Generation -Girls & Peace- Japan 2nd Tour was the second Japanese concert tour by South Korean girl group Girls' Generation to promote their second Japanese album, Girls & Peace.
"Flower Power" is the sixth Japanese single released by South Korean girl group Girls' Generation. The single was released on November 14, 2012, via digital download on iTunes Japan, with a limited physical release on November 21, 2012. It serves as the third single from their second Japanese studio album, Girls & Peace (2012). Despite limited release, "Flower Power" sold 29,000 copies in its first week, peaking at number five on the Oricon Singles Chart; the single also reached number six on the Billboard Japan Hot 100.
Girls' Generation II ~Girls & Peace~ is the second Japanese studio album and the fifth overall by South Korean girl group Girls' Generation. It was released on November 28, 2012, through Nayutawave Records. Girls & Peace is the first release by all the members since their third Korean studio album "The Boys" (2011), after the group entered a semi-hiatus to pursue solo activities in South Korea. Meanwhile, Girls' Generation-TTS, the group's first subunit, was created. Continuing the electro-influenced sound from their first Japanese album, Girls & Peace features a wide range of contribution from producers, including long-time collaborator, Kenzie, as well as multiple new producers such as Miles Walker, Deekay and Dapo Torimiro. The album sold over 116,000 copies in its first week, reaching the third spot on the Oricon Album chart, and has since received a Platinum certification from the RIAJ.
I Got a Boy is the fourth Korean studio album by South Korean girl group Girls' Generation. It was released for digital download on January 1, 2013, by SM Entertainment, and was made available for physical sales the following day by KT Music. Musically, the album is characterized as combining elements from a wide range of genres including R&B, new wave, and EDM. This is the last studio album and Korean studio album with their founding member Jessica before her dismissal from the group in 2014 and subsequent departure from SM Entertainment in 2015.
"Love & Girls" is the seventh Japanese single released by South Korean girl group Girls' Generation on June 19, 2013. The song served as the lead single of the group's third Japanese album Love & Peace.
"Galaxy Supernova" is the eighth Japanese single by South Korean girl group Girls' Generation. It was included on the group's third Japanese studio album Love & Peace and was released as the second single from the album on September 18, 2013. The song was written by Frederik Tao Nordsø Schjoldan, Fridolin Nordsø Schjoldan, Kamikaoru, and Martin Hoberg Hedegaard, whilst production was handled by Nozomu Tsuchiya. Musically, "Galaxy Supernova" is an electropop song.
Love & Peace is the third Japanese studio album and seventh overall by South Korean girl group Girls' Generation. The album was released for digital download on December 10, 2013, in selected countries in Asia by Nayutawave Records, followed by a physical release in Japan the next day. This marks their last Japanese studio album featuring member Jessica before her departure from the group in 2014.
The Best is the first Japanese compilation album by South Korean girl group Girls' Generation. It was released on July 23, 2014, in Japan through EMI Records Japan. The album was released in three different editions, regular and two limited, with the latter containing a DVD or Blu-ray, an extra CD and a photobook. The album originally contains all of the group's previous Japanese singles, while including a previously unreleased Japanese version of "Mr.Mr." and an original track, titled "Indestructible".
Promotional music videos for the album: