Girls’ Generation, also known as SNSD, is a highly acclaimed South Korean girl group that was formed by SM Entertainment. The group originally consisted of nine members, namely Taeyeon, Sunny, Tiffany, Hyoyeon, Yuri, Sooyoung, Yoona, Seohyun, and Jessica, but Jessica left the group in September 2014. Girls’ Generation has become one of the most prominent figures in the South Korean music industry and has gained immense popularity globally, earning them the honorable title of “The Nation’s Girl Group” in their home country. The journey of Girls’ Generation began on August 5, 2007, with the release of their debut single “Into the New World” from their self-titled Korean album. However, it was in 2009 that the group achieved unparalleled success with their single “Gee,” which held the top position on KBS’s Music Bank for an unprecedented nine consecutive weeks. Their second Korean studio album, titled “Oh!” and released in 2010, received the Golden Disc award for Album of the Year (Disk Daesang), making Girls’ Generation the first and only female act to win the prestigious Album Daesang.
In 2011, Girls’ Generation made their foray into the Japanese music scene with their eponymous Japanese album. This album became the first-ever album by a non-Japanese girl group to be certified million by the RIAJ (Recording Industry Association of Japan). The group’s third Korean studio album, “The Boys,” became the best-selling album of 2011 in South Korea. To further expand their global presence, Girls’ Generation released an English version of their single “The Boys.” Their fourth Korean studio album, “I Got a Boy,” released in 2013, featured the title track that won the Video of the Year award at the inaugural YouTube Music Awards. Continuing their success, Girls’ Generation released their fifth and sixth Korean studio albums, “Lion Heart” in 2015 and “Holiday Night” in 2017. Following a hiatus of five years to focus on their individual endeavors, they made a comeback with their seventh Korean studio album, “Forever 1,” in 2022.
Girls’ Generation’s musical style is characterized by a blend of electropop and bubblegum pop, although they have explored various genres such as hip hop, R&B, and EDM. In 2017, Billboard recognized Girls’ Generation as the “Top K-pop Girl Group of the Past Decade.” The group has also achieved significant milestones on YouTube, with five of their music videos, including “Gee,” “I Got a Boy,” “The Boys,” “Mr. Taxi,” and “Oh!,” surpassing 100 million views. In Japan, they became the first non-Japanese girl group to attain three number-one albums on the Oricon Albums Chart, and their three Japanese concert tours drew an astounding 550,000 spectators. The name of the group, “Girls’ Generation,” is translated as “So-nyuh Shi-dae” in Korean, which carries the meaning of “Generation of Girls.” The group is also referred to as “SoShi” or “SNSD,” which are abbreviated forms of their Korean name. Due to the presence of Chinese characters in their name, the group’s name is pronounced similarly in Chinese and Japanese. In Japan, they are known as “
