The Catalyst - So Nyuh Shi Dae

 

There is no doubt in my mind that Girls' Generation (소녀시대) has been one of the most dominant acts ever in K-Pop. In fact, if they would announce a full OT8 or even OT9 (I can dream, can't I) comeback tomorrow, I'm pretty sure it will automatically top the charts regardless of what kind of song it would turn out to be. Such is the incredible impact this trailblazing girl group has had.

It would be unfair to state that their dominance of that era was due to a lack of any real competition. You have to remember that this was the second generation, where they were going toe to toe with other GG powerhouses such as Wonder Girls, T-ARA, KARA, 4MINUTE, After School, and 2NE1, just to name a few.

I personally feel that they did pave the way for those large-numbered girl groups though, because you have to remember that during the first generation, the predominant GGs at the time (S.E.S, FinKL, etc) only comprised of 3-4 members. This was actually quite the risky undertaking for SM, who actually did a similar debut for a massive boy group you may have heard of that goes by the name of Super Junior.

 

 Like I had mentioned during one of the introductory posts, I was drawn in by Gee, which then got me falling deep into the rabbit-hole which I still have yet to emerge from to this very day.😅

I thought it would just be a passing fancy, but as I got more and more interested in telling the members apart and knowing them individually by name, I began looking up more videos.

Then I saw the helipad performance..

 

Tell Me Your Wish (Genie) was so different from Gee. For me, it had a hell lot of spunk and swagger which began with the rhythmic beats of the introduction. And wow, this MBC rooftop video was so damn impressive!! I cannot recall another group having that much pull to be able to execute something like this. They were even shot from a freakin' helicopter! (remember that this was just early 2009, and drones were not yet as widely available as they are today).

Having been sold with the idea of getting aboard the GG train, I proceeded to search through their available discography at the time. I was not so well-versed with using Youtube at the time, so the searches were not as easily executed. I found myself turning to fansites to get my daily dose of content. A performance video that struck me in particular was the ice skating rink performance of Oh!.

 

Yup. This one.

As the days went by (remember that this was a tough time in my life, so I had quite an amount of time on my hands), I delved more and more into the content, watching not only MVs and performances, but also interviews and variety show appearances. With that, I became so emotionally invested into the group. It was weird actually, I had never fanboyed this hard for anything in my life. I mean, guys have hobbies and interests (mostly concerning our games and toys to be honest), but I found myself genuinely concerned whenever I heard that one of them was injured, or gotten really angry whenever I read a derogatory comment about them. I guess the line of thinking was "They were OUR girls, and we had to protect them". The emotional attachment stemmed from knowing their stories and backgrounds, what they endured/are enduring as an idol group, and getting a glimpse of how much they love their fans in return. I actually found myself tearing up while watching clips of emotional moments from their concerts and other activities. 😥 Of course, I am now aware that some of the raw emotions they displayed may be true, the actual situation they may have once the cameras leave may be totally different from what you expect.

One of the things that fans admire is their apparent "sisterhood", or as hardcore SONE (pronounced So-One) would say, their legendary "SoshiBond". This illusion of infallibility was totally shattered after Jessica left tyhe group in 2014 and left many a SONE's heart (mine included) aching and bleeding for many agonizing months. That's why you see a lot of these "OT" when you read through conversations/threads about K-Pop groups. I believe OT stands for "One True", and in the case of SNSD, OT9 refers to the original composition of the 9-member group. I myself am an OT9 stan, and I stubbornly refuse to accept the current OT8 concept just because Jessica left (was booted out of?) the group. She was, and always will have been a part of their meteoric rise to international superstardom, and to deny that would be a disservice to her, as well as to everything that SNSD has been able to accomplish up to that point where they parted ways.

I had hoped that they would persist like Shinhwa, the legendary boy group known for their longevity who are presently still together, and was really hoping against hope that they would be able to celebrate their 9th anniversary together. 9 had become such a sacred number to me. Girls' Generation was 9, and no one else had the right to it. and it broke my heart that they would not reach that epic milestone intact. They did manage to keep the grip on the title of "only girl group with 9 members" for quite some time, although I recall being annoyed with Nine Muses since I felt that they were trying to imitate SNSD by debuting 9 members, but there's an interesting story behind that as well, which I will be discussing in a future post.

The earlier tracks they made were more on the cutesy side, and didn't really appeal much to me. I did however, enjoy their remake of the track "Soneoshidae" (literally Girl's Generation") originally sang by Lee Seung-Chul.

 

The girls were able to successfully take this legendary song that was their namesake, and totally mold it into their own, and Lee Seung Chul approved of it!

 

Eventually I learned to appreciate their debut song Into The New World, because of it's inspiring message, powerful vocals and dance, and let's face it, that was where it really all began.. and now I can't help but get a little emotional whenever I hear it..

Black Mamba much? 😜 But that's a discussion for a whole 'nother article

Surprisingly, I was not too fond of their 2012 release The Boys, despite it being my first official comeback as a SONE. I guess it was a little to experimental for my taste? I still spazzed over it though, because SNSD! 😜 This song actually propelled them to try and break into the US mainstream market, with lackluster results to be honest.. Even an appearance with Letterman was not enough to give them that much-needed push toward US success. 

I admit that it took me a while to warm up to Run Devil Run, but when I realized it was the other half of the Oh! storyline(?), it began to grow on me. Besides, it was AWESOME!

I wish I could say the same about HOOT though.. It was the video that actually triggered my interest in getting to know the girls, because Sooyoung was so gosh darn pretty here, and she may as well have been my first ever K-Pop bias. 😅 It helped that she looked very distinct from the others, so I guess that was a good place to start as any. However, it never remained high on my SNSD playlist, being displaced by the more catchy staples like Gee and Tell Me your Wish.

I was lucky enough to have been able to witness the entire spectrum of their musical exploration before I went on my own K-Pop hiatus, and I Got A Boy definitely did not disappoint. I was fast paced, catchy, and highlighted their various vocal colors.

Whenever I watch the Mr. Mr. music video or live perfs, I feel a tinge of sadness because that was the last time I saw Jessica appear as part of OT9..

As their discography grew, so did their influence across other parts of the globe. In contrast to the US, their foray into the Japanese market was quite successful, as they were able to produce quite a number of hits.

Bad Girl was particularly striking for me. The total image makeover was just insane, but they pulled it off so well, being the seasoned veterans that they already were at this time. Surprisingly, I liked a lot of their Japanese tracks.

Mr. Taxi was another runaway hit, but I never really warmed up to the Korean version. For me, the song should be enjoyed the way I was originally meant to be. That's why I am not too fond of translated versions, even though these would be "originals" by the artists themselves.

I enjoyed the seizure-inducing music video of Galaxy Supernova A LOT, and I recall playing it on a loop while driving, because it was just that good!

Another song worth mentioning is The Great Escape. This epic track truly deserved to have it's own music video, seeing how epic the performance video turned out. Unfortunately, some things were never really meant to be, and I just have to be content with videos of live performances. Check out the Youtube upload here. You're welcome. 😉

Paparazzi was another Japanese promotion that definitely turned heads. The girls had matured into savvy veterans with their own sound, and it definitely shows!

Unfortunately, after Jessica left, I kind of lost interest in Kpop for a bit, and instead concentrated on other worldly things like specialty training. It was during this time of my personal kpop blaackhole that I totally missed out on the debut of the most epic GG I have ever laid my eyes on, but I'll talk about that in another post.

Yes, I used an unofficial OT9 GIF, and yes, I know this is not and will never be canon, but just leave me be.

Catch Me If You Can was SUPPOSED to be the final comeback of SNSD as OT9 before Jessica left, but circumstances happened, and she left them prematurely (?).. The song is still incredible though.

I kind of ignored the other OT8 releases as I was very much preoccupied when they came out. By the time I had enough free time to jump back into the fandom, I found that SNSD had been whittled down to 5, as Tiffany, Seohyun, and Sooyoung had opted to take their talents elsewhere after their contracts expired...

Lil' Touch by the Oh!GG subunit (aka OT5) was nothing short of INCREDIBLE! It was just unfortunate that SM did not allow them to promote this song on live stages.

I will no longer go into the specifics of the individual promotions or even the TTS era, as I am biased towards following them as a whole group. I support them individually though, but I have been so used to seeing them perform as a unit that it's a little difficult for me to look at them separately.

- B. Oppa

Further down the rabbithole..

Picking up where I left off in this previous post, my exposure and awareness to k-pop idols grew exponentially when I was exposed to variety shows. I was well on my way to becoming a hardcore SONE (Girls' Generation fandom name, pronounced so-won), and thus began gobbling up whatever content I could get my hands on. Variety show appearances are a good place to start getting to know your favorite idols because they can show their funny or dorky sides, as well as those ubiquitous "personal talents" which would supposedly further endear them to the public, often at the risk of humiliating themselves in the process. 

So I watched them, and did I watch a LOT! 😜 But among all of these, one show made quite an impact on me and opened my eyes to the wonderful world of multifandom:

Invincible Youth (Season 1) had a basic premise (from my understanding) of taking representative female idols from different groups and letting them live in the countryside on weekends doing local chores, all the while creatively promoting their respective groups. It had a good mix of veteran and rookie idols that featured Narsha (Brown Eyed Girls), Yuri and Sunny (Girls' Generation), Hara (KARA), HyunA (4Minute), Hyomin (T-ARA), and Sunhwa (SECRET). Take note that they actually had TWO members of SNSD on the show, which gave it ample firepower to rule the airwaves during its timeslot.

I guess the show was really effective in its role in giving these idols a platform to promote their groups, because I eventually found myself looking them all up and wound up becoming a fan of most of them (Sorry BEG and SECRET 😅).

 

Shows like this seem to have more potential impact for rookie groups (at the time) like T-ARA and SECRET, as it was their chance to put their teams on the map. Episode after episode, you would find Hyomin tirelessly making a fool out of herself in order to gain screen time and generate buzz for T-ARA. I wish I could say the same for Sunhwa, who had the unfortunate reputation of always being edited out. 😜

This really pulled the trigger on my sense of fandom and soon I was also a member of the T-ARA internatinal fansite Tiaradiadem.com, which further unlocked more fandom content for me to spazz over. 😅

Although I have confined myself to actively stan only SNSD (and T-ARA later on), I managed to delve into the different active groups at the time, thus creating a healthy mix for my K-pop appetite.

After a couple of years of actively fanboying, I had identified myself as a SONE, and whatever the hell the male T-ARA fans really called themselves (I'm sorry, but calling your fandom QUEEN's just won't cut it for the dudes 😜).

I guess that pretty much sums up my journey down the rabbithole. Will be delving into specifics from this point on. I honestly can't wait to get certain stuff out of the way so I will be able to discuss more current content, especially since this is the first time I will be stanning a group from debut (STAYC girls, its going down!😅)

- B. Oppa