K-pop Goes February: Day 17- Girls’ Generation/SNSD

It’s Wednesday my dudes. Yesterday I woke up to snow, when on Monday it had been notably mild. Who knows what today will bring? Well, I can tell you one thing it will bring. K-pop. What a smooth segway. We’re well into Second Generation week now, and today we get back, for the first time in over a week, to a girl group. And not just any girl group my friends, oh no. Today, we’re diving into Girls’ Generation.

Who are Girls’ Generation?

Along with SHINee, this is probably the group I was most embarrassed to have never listened to before. Why? Because Girl’s Generation (which is 소녀시대, or Sonyeo Sidae, in Korean, hence the abbreviation to SNSD) are LEGENDS. As a big ARMY, I have seen many a comment online debating the argument that ‘BTS paved the way’ or ‘BTS broke new ground’, and it is Girls’ Generation, along with Big Bang, whose names come up the most as their forebears. Originally a nine-member girl group (of course, now eight: wouldn’t be K-pop without member complications), Girls’ Generation debuted under SM Entertainment in 2007. This is actually the same company that created SHINee, just to further contextualise the company’s importance. Over the course of their career, the group garnered such huge popularity that they were dubbed ‘The Nation’s Girl Group’, and, in 2018, entered the Guinness Book of World Records for most awards won at the Melon Music Awards. This is one of the biggest awards shows in Korea, and they are still in the top five most awarded as of 2021 (three guesses who is number one). They are also one of the first groups to really solidly attempt to crack the US market, even if the attempt was not entirely successful. They have been sighted as the Asian equivalent of The Spice Girls, and if that doesn’t show you impact I don’t know what will. These gals are a big deal.

Style wise, their sound is mostly associated with bubble-gum pop, though of course there is an eclectic range of other genres thrown in at various points, because this is what happens in K-pop. I am genuinely excited to get down to listening to these tracks, as, from what I’ve said, you can see that their work formed the bedrock of what K-pop is today. Let’s bloody go then.

The First Song

Again, we journey back to the time of thin eyebrows, caked on foundation and weirdly thick belts sitting higher than could ever be practical- the 2000s. Girls’ Generation’s first single, the almost prophetically titled Into the New World, was released in July 2007. I was fourteen, and only aware of Rihanna’s Umbrella. But anyway. The song is honestly, not mind-blowing, but still incredibly endearing. I want to say that in its bright tone, rich singing and solid instrumentation it reminds me of early GFriend, but of course it’s actually GFriend who would be reminding me of this much earlier song. The chorus has particularly rich vocal layering, with some beautiful harmonies and impressive belting towards the end. The video quality is very….well, very 2007. The heavy fringe in a variation of brown colour clearly began earlier than I thought as a hairstyle, and the locations and outfits? Not exactly Hollywood. But it’s a very well structured way to introduce these girls to us, through different scenarios such as ballet on a roof (sure), decorating a moped (why not) and preparing to fly a plane (well OK then). One notable thing was how much natural smiling there seemed to be, a trait you absolutely don’t see as much of in modern girl groups. Not that I’m telling women to smile more, fuck that, but there is something sad about the idea that it isn’t as desired to see us smile as it is to see a vacant expression. Well done on that Girls’ Gen. The song feels full in many ways- the strong voices, the lack of gimmicks, and, ya know, the amount of lyrics. Again, not always a given. It isn’t a start that knocks my socks off, but it shows off how talented these women are, and hints at more to come.

Five of the Big Hits

In order to really get this right here- Girls’ Generation have been making music for over ten years with huge success, there are probably a lot of hits- I took to Reddit to ask the experts. Or, at least the people on the K-pop help subreddit. They certainly sound like experts. The songs that kept coming up are my choices here: Gee, Tell Me Your Wish (Genie), Oh!, I Got A Boy and Run Devil Run.

I started with Gee, which was voted the number one K-pop song of the 2000s. No pressure then. The song is absolutely classic bubble-gum pop, which is probably to be expected: it sounds like this was actually kind of the template for the style. It’s tight, with a consistent up-tempo beat, and keyboards balancing out perfectly with the vocals. The lyrics in the chorus are solidly bouncy, and so well-constructed that what would otherwise really put me off (cutesiness and babyish nonsense lyrics, like the title refrain) actually entertains. The video is still in pretty innocent mode, with two members wearing some very fetching pink dungarees. We’re clearly not into the bright hair era of K-pop yet.

Next on the YouTube recommended page was 2010’s Oh!, another absolutely rock solid fizzy pop track. I really like how much Girls’ Generation seem to fill their music, mostly with their voices but, in this case, also with arcade-game style synths that don’t veer wildly from loud to quiet, or one-note to crashing and banging. There is a total level to their music. The central refrain of Oh! Is the title sound, but it decorates the chorus rather than being the only thing there. I also really enjoyed the melody progression in the second part of the chorus, and the brief, controlled flash of Autotune. Genie is also from 2010, but here I was less impressed, the style being more EDM than the light pop of Oh!. I really liked the opening and following verses, all minor sounds and gradually growing synths, but something in the sound of the voices in the chorus felt flat to me. Again, I don’t have enough musical knowledge to say how, the melody just felt mismatched with how things had started. The video has more in common with Oh!, with what I’m realising is Girls’ Gen’s signature of wearing matching uniforms of some kind, with hotpants. Here it’s in the military style for some reason. There is also a giant lamp at the beginning, which I’m going to pretend didn’t happen. There are still a lot of smiles here, and, considering the literal uniformity in style, I can really see personalities come through. Again, this is refreshing, and something I want more of.

Next I watched Run Devil Run, and immediately realised I should have watched it straight after Oh!. The latter video takes the form of the ‘dark’ version of the girls confronting the cutesy cheerleaders of Oh!, and thus presenting an ‘edgier’ song. This one is not cutesy, instead revelling in the brassy backdrop that was so popular around the late 2000s/early 2010s. The sassiness of the tune in the chorus, combined with the rhythmic, almost cheerleader chant-esque beat, adds a new dimension to the group’s sound. Here are the girls not just having fun, but having confidence.

Flash forward slightly to 2013, and we have I Got A Boy. Wow, when I said that these girls like to fill out their music, here that seems to be by actively stuffing about five different genres into one song. There is hip-hop, electro, pop, bubble-gum, and even a little touch of dubstep, all in under five minutes. I can’t say it doesn’t work though: it’s a testament to the production team here that everything does indeed blend so well, even when the rhythm actively changes at various points. It all, just- works. All of these songs, except for maybe Genie, do exactly that- work.

The Latest Song

The latest release from Girls’ Generation is 2017’s Holiday, and at this point I have to stop complaining about songs sharing names with other famous records because it’s clearly a thing. We’re back to the trumpet/sax backing here, along with a strong central beat, in a straight-up summer bop. I like that more rapping seems to have come into their songs as time has gone on, and this is definitely a more mature take on the style they began with ten years prior to this song. I would call this the big, sensible sister to one of Red Velvet’s (the big third gen girl group from SM) summer anthems, like Power Up or Umpah Umpah. It’s joyous, with a celebratory feel, if not quite as experimental as something like I Got A Boy.

The Latest Album

It would seem that Second Generation groups are serving me more full albums to listen to over EPs; not that they never released the latter, far from it. It’s just, with these big groups, they obviously have the time to release a variety of formats of music, and that the album seems to be what they leave people with when they are less active. A full-length studio album is less common in K-pop generally, so it makes sense that they aren’t made until the act is established. With Girls’ Generation, their latest album was Holiday Night, from 2017. I wonder if Holiday will be on it.

Spoiler: it is. This album seems to be building both the concept of being back (Girls Are Back) and looking back nostalgically, possibly for the last time (One Last Time). Because of this, the album is pushing anywhere new in its sounds, preferring to work on perfecting the styles the group has already dominated. Girls Are Back is the album’s opener, and it’s relentlessly funky and confident, leaning back on the sax/brass flourishes to provide the party atmosphere. Songs like All Night hit a strong eighties sound (with a playful dubstep drop in the base), whilst the same brass that bolstered Holiday is used for an R & B groove in Sweet Talk, and for a full-on swing, big band corker in Love is Bitter (there is some seriously jazzy piano playing going on here). These aren’t things I haven’t heard before, but rarely have I heard them with such high quality. Even the big ballad of the album, One Last Time, deploys its piano well, and allows the eight voices of the members to really deliver. It’s probably because the title is the same as an Ariana song, but the song’s melody reminds me of her own, delicately floating tune. This album is stuffed full of different genre moments, well distributed and, demonstrably, well executed. Again, the music, and the album, is just full. The music is pieced together well, the vocals don’t miss a beat, and the sense of women returning to remind you that they own this town is strong.

Thoughts?

I am obviously an idiot, having not dedicated weeks and months to the wonder that is Girls Generation. I apologise sincerely to all nine members (even Jessica, who left) for this error, please forgive me. When you debuted I didn’t know where Korea was (geography- not my strong point), but now I’m here there is no excuse. Their music is just such high quality, never feeling messy, always well-constructed and enjoyable. Their personalities also shine through in their work, and I just want to know more about them. This must be how they earnt the title of ‘The Nation’s Girl Group’: through solid talent, beautiful energy, and a legacy of great music. Be right back, going to listen to everything else they ever recorded.