Group: Girls’ Generation
Song: Into the New World
Album: Into the New World & Girls’ Generation
Release Date: August 3, 2007
Lyrics: Kim Jeong-Bae
Composers: Kenzie
Arrangement: Kenzie
Producer: Lee Soo-Man
Label: SM Entertainment
Average Age of Members: 17.6
Numbers
Total Number of Words: 212
Average words per Member: 13.1
Standard Deviation: 7.6
Margin of Error: 2.5
208 (98.1%) in Korean vs. 4 (1.9%) in English
98 (46.2%) Sung by All vs. 118 (55.7%) by Individual
Member with the Highest Number of Words: Taeyeon - 33 (15.6%)
Member with the Lowest Number of Words: Yoona - 8 (3.8%)
Rank
Taeyeon - 33 Words (15.6%)
Jessica - 18 Words (8.5%)
Seohyun - 13 Words (6.1%)
Yuri - 10 Words (4.7%)
Hyoyeon, Sooyoung, Sunny, Tiffany - 9 Words (4.3%)
Yoona - 8 Words (3.8%)
Awards
Won: 1
Nominated: 0
Music Show Wins: 1
Points: 209.9
Girls' Generation Masterlist
Masterlist
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K-pop Discography Deep Dives: Girls Generation / SNSD (Part TWO)
Here are my credentials: So, I’m absolutely a fan of Girls’ Generation, although I’m in that weird space where I’m more than a casual one yet not quite a SONE (a full fan), but just like with Sunmi, I have a feeling that this deep dive will make me one. I’ve heard almost all of their title tracks, and a decent amount of b-sides, but since they have over 100 songs, I’m sure I’ll find some new ones to love too. I’m also a fan of both Taeyeon and Tiffany’s solo careers.
I’m going to take a quick intermission to discuss some of SNSD’s Japanese releases here, which I don’t normally do. Mr Taxi, with its heavy autotune and electronic background, reminds me of a female version of SHINee’s Ring Ding Dong. One of the things I enjoy the most here (besides the roller disco, of course) is that the chorus is given space to breathe when they could’ve cut it for time. Time Machine is a sadder, slower song, and in lesser hands, it could be a snooze fest, but Girls’ Generation’s great voices turn it into a bonafide power ballad.
Paparazzi, as mentioned before, feels like it arrives on a red carpet rather than simply starts with its “ooh la la la”, which is perhaps fitting for a song about fame that features a snippet from Singing In The Rain. This one is probably my favorite of their songs in Japanese; it definitely takes inspiration from disco in the best way, and had me shaking my shoulders and wanting to get a pair of cat-eye sunglasses. Flower Power too is disco, but with a darker synth spin that feels more distinctly Japanese action movie.
Love & Girls takes after SNSD’s cutesier early discography with its colorful styling, poppy background, free-wheeling anti-drop summer chorus, sharp whistles, and peppy ad libs. Beep Beep too follows this thread, but I was won over, as I often am, with its catchy inclusion of several different languages (Italian, Korean, Chinese, Japanese, and English) and fun comic book style illustrations. I also quite like its bridge and last chorus.
So, back to the Korean releases! Catch Me If You Can follows in the footsteps of The Boys and especially Run Devil Run. It has a surprisingly youthful and bubbly pre-chorus, that’s unfortunately followed by the mother of all anti–drops. Unlike in the other songs of theirs that have used one, though, Catch Me If You Can doesn’t do anything interesting with it, and ends up feeling like a dozen other songs. The post-chorus does help it, but overall the track feels incomplete.
PARTY sees Girls’ Generation dipping their toes into a summer fun track, which is new territory for their singles. It’s a little toothless when compared to such iconic and important tracks like Gee, I’ve Got A Boy, or Oh, but it’s still a fun time and it’s a nice break to see them looking so happy. It’s not ending up on my Top 10 list, but I’m not going to skip it if it comes up on shuffle.
Opposite from Genie, which I assumed was much later in their careers, I’d assumed that Lion Heart had been much earlier than 2015, though I’m not sure why. This time, they draw inspiration from doo wop, and turn it into a satire of midcentury love-at-first-sight rom coms. Besides the (as always) great clothes, the MV got some good chuckles out of me with its ridiculousness, over-the-top sound effects, and 60’s dance moves that look right out of a Get Smart episode.
You Think is about as different from Lion Heart as it’s possible to get, with a far more “girl crush” image and a hip-hop beat mixed with synthpop. Funnily enough, I’d actually heard this song’s chorus before (“you think you’re real cool?” “You’re NOT!”), but I didn’t know it was an SNSD song, so that was a nice surprise. It veers a little close to an anti-drop, but thankfully avoids it by the skin of its teeth.
From the Lion Heart album, I really liked the venture into chill bossa nova in One Afternoon, the appropriately vaudeville-style flair and sudden speed-up in Show Girls (which was my hidden gem), the synthy fun of Fire Alarm, and the background guitar in Green Light.
Holiday starts with a guitar riff and an energy that doesn’t slow down to catch its breath until its 3-and-a-half minutes are over. It’s a lot of fun, and immediately makes you want to get up and dance with your closest friends, and besides that, feels like a nice summer vacation for Girls’ Generation too; a new and improved version of Party with a sunny beat straight off a Broadway stage. I enjoyed it much more than I expected to, truth be told, and it went right into my music library.
All Night is the second single from the album, and, although it’s also a dancefloor track, it takes a more minimalistic, sleek approach. The chorus, though I did like it, felt a bit out of left field to me with its tempo change, and the rap likewise didn’t quite fit, but overall I liked this one too, especially the bridge. It’s always a pleasure to see drag queens covered in sparkles on my screen, alright?
From Holiday Night, though I did like the dancefloor citypop of Fan, the expert mix of happy and sad in One Last Time, and the jazzy flair of Love Is Bitter, you can’t do much better for a hidden gem than the confident, movie-soundtrack worthy, anthemic Girls Are Back, which I think perfectly captures the magic of SNSD. Can you really beat “we’re gonna break some hearts tonight, we’re gonna make some noise tonight?” Nope.
Lil’ Touch isn’t exactly a Girls’ Generation song, as it was released with only five of the members, but it’s basically considered one, so I included it. As their discography goes, it’s not the most unique, but it’s still quite solid. Part of that is due to the girls’ vocals, of course, which elevate whatever material they have, but the chorus is genuinely catchy and got stuck in my head. I think that if it wasn’t up against such heavy hitters in their other singles, it would be more highly regarded.
Besides Lil’ Touch, Forever 1 arrives both five years after SNSD’s last comeback and exactly fifteen after their debut with Into The New World, and arrive it does. This was the song that made me a fan of Girls Generation, and for good reason. From the “we’re not stopping!” to the utterly, delightfully sappy profession of love both to their fans and to each other to the “I will love you in my next life”, Forever 1 is a gleeful celebration of friendship and a decade and a half spent in an industry almost impossible to succeed in. Really, it’s everything I love about k-pop in one song, so how could I not love it?
From Forever 1, the album, I wasn’t sure what to choose as a hidden gem. There’s the nostalgic Seventeen, the fast-paced beat of Villain, the chill synths of Paper Plane, and the constant genre shifting of You Better Run (which harkens back to I Got A Boy). It’s a very strong return. Lucky Like That wasn’t technically a single but BTS footage was released as a special video to mark Girls’ Generation’s 16th anniversary. It’s a pretty standard pop song, truth be told, but with the video, it's undeniably charming and made me feel undeniably nostalgic. It was great to see them all smile and have fun performing together, and I wish more groups would have videos like this. I saved it for last, and it was a great place to end.
My Top 5 songs are Into The New World, Hoot, Lion Heart, Top Secret, and Girls Are Back with Show Girls, Love Is Bitter, and Goodbye as honorable mentions. Girls Generation gets a 9.25 out of 10 from me, which I’m not surprised about. There’s a reason I wanted this to be my first review of the new year, and it wasn’t just because they’re a huge group, but also because I had a feeling it would be a lot of fun.
(Please enjoy this photo of the girls celebrating Tiffany’s birthday a couple years ago!) Next time, we’ll be back to our regularly scheduled programming with a one-week boy group. I’m excited about this one, so I’ll see you then! Tchüss!
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