Introduction

Dubbed the Queens of KPOP—Girls’ Generation (RR: Sonyeo Sidae), also known as SNSD, is an eight-member South Korean girl group formed by SM Entertainment. The group comprises eight members: Taeyeon, Sunny, Tiffany, Hyoyeon, Yuri, Sooyoung, Yoona, and Seohyun. Originally a nine-piece, main vocalist Jessica departed the group in late 2014.

Girls’ Generation debuted on August 2nd, 2007, with their eponymous Korean album and the single “Into the New World.” The group eventually rose to fame in 2009 with the single “Gee,” which claimed the top spot on KBS’s Music Bank for a record-breaking nine consecutive weeks and was Melon’s most popular song of the 2000s. Girls’ Generation solidified their popularity in South Korea with follow-up singles “Genie, “Oh!” and “Run Devil Run,” which were released between mid-2009 and early 2010. Their back-to-back achievement earned them the title “The Nation’s Girl Group.”

Besides South Korea, Girls Generation ventured into the Japanese music scene in 2011 with their eponymous Japanese album, which became the first album by a non-Japanese girl group to be certified million by the RIAJ and led to a total of three Japanese albums. Their hit single “The Boys” was the first released in English, Korean, and Japanese and led to numerous promotional appearances in 2011-2012.

They are credited as the lead female group that shifted the public’s focus back to female idols after the Korean music industry experienced an influx of male idol groups from 2002 to 2007. Their success has influenced various K-pop girl groups for future generations. Girls’ Generation is also the first Korean celebrity to have official postage stamps distributed by the Korea Post. In 2017, Billboard honored Girls’ Generation as the “Top K-pop Girl Group of the Past Decade, published in 2019.

In October 2017, SM Entertainment announced that members Tiffany, Sooyoung, and Seohyun decided not to renew their contracts with the company to focus on their acting or solo music careers. However, with the change of music labels, the group was said not to be disbanded, and future activities of the eight-member group remain to be discussed.

After five years of hiatus, Girls Generation returned with their seventh studio album, “Forever 1,” on August 5th, 2022—the same day as their fifteenth debut anniversary.