Happy 5th Anniversary, Girls' Generation!

August 5th, a special memorable day, a day celebrated by SONEs all over the world, because this is the day, that Kim Taeyeon, Jessica Jung, Sunny Lee, Tiffany Hwang, Kim Hyoyeon, Kwon Yuri, Choi Sooyoung, Im YoonA and Seo Juhyun debuted as a 9 girl group named 소녀시대, Girls’ Generation or simply called SNSD.

9 girls, who coincidentally met under the same company. They were born in different places, scattered around the world, but fate pulls them together. And that was how the group, dubbed as "The Most Popular Girl Group In The World" was formed.

Each of them were trained under SM Entertainment for years, with the longest starting from an early age of 11. These 9 girls were picked without further notice, when all 9 are in a room, the words which they had always dream of was heard,"9 of you will make your debut as 'So Nyuh Shi Dae'." All 9 cuddled up and cried together, and that marks the beginning of  soshi bond.



These girls literally stepped "Into The New World" as they made their official debut on 5th August, 2007. At the first stage of their debut, Girls' Generation had received a lot of critics, hatred and hurtful condemns, but these 9 girls never give up. From then on, they have achieved countless "all-kill" on music charts and digital charts, earning numerous grand awards for their "Gee", followed by "Run Devil Run", "Oh" and the latest Korean hit "The Boys".

The girls have also went on to receive some of the most prestigious music awards in the country such as Artist of the Year, Song of the Year, Best Female Group, Bonsangs, Daesangs, Digital Music Awards, Popularity Award, Hallyu Special Award and many, many more from the likes of Melon Music Awards, KBS Music Bank K-Chart, Seoul Music Awards, GaOn Chart Awards, Korean Music Awards, Hanteo, as well as awards from online music providers such as Bugs, Dosirak and Soribada.

That is without including of Girls' Generation successful debut in Japan with record breaking sales and the Arena Tour. Now the initial album 'Girls' Generation' passed sales of over 800,000, with shipments of 1 million.

Girls' Generation's third Korean album "The Boys" 'All-Kill' on music program charts. They also went on to receive a "Triple Crown" on SBS' Inkigayo. Overall, Girls' Generation had won twelve times on various music programs. With only two months of sales, The Boys managed to become the 10th best selling digital track in its native country of 2011, having sold 3,032,658 copies since its October release. As of April, 2012, the album had sold over 410,000 copies in South Korea, setting a Gaon Chart record for the best selling, non-repackaged album in the chart's history. 

This year April 29, Girls' Generation newly formed sub group TTS of Taeyeon, Tiffany and Seohyun had been received lots of attention. Netizens were amazed by the success of 3 members in Girls' Generation-TTS, thinking that even 3 is enough to dominate charts. 

The latest song released by Girls' Generation is the Japanese song "Paparazzi". Paparazzi proved to be another successful release for the group, debuting atop the Japanese Hot 100, selling over 92,000 copies in its first week, becoming their second best first week opening, following the 102,000 debut of Mr. Taxi, a year prior. "Paparazzi"'s release, boosted the groups total single sales in the country to over 647,000, according to SoundScan Japan. That same month, the group won "Best Album of the Year" for their debut Japanese album, at the 2012 VMAJs.

How many obstacles had they overcome, to reach this state, and I strongly believe that they will go further. The number of SONEs (the name of fans of Girls' Generation) all over the world is expanding gradually, and SONEs always know how much the girls love them.

Throughout the years, Girls' Generation stay strong and determined, they support each other in the group. The special bonding between the members, commonly called 'soshi bond' are the biggest reason how these girls became this successful. The 'soshi bond' is also what SONEs love about Girls' Generation. They are like family, like 9 sisters.

"I think it thanks to all the loving fans over anything else. This is not a day for us to be congratulated but a day for us to congratulate the fans. We can only shine brightest as SNSD when SNSD stand on one stage as nine." - Kwon Yuri (GDA, 9th Dec 2010)

"Nine people who are very different from each others, have now become one." - Choi Sooyoung (Golden Disk Award, 10th Dec 2010)

They cried together when they received their award, never proud of their achievements, they remained humble and thanks all the staffs, managers, members and the most important SONEs in their life. They always bowed 90 degrees to the audience, how often do you see an artist does so?

Girls' Generation will always do their significant "Jigeumen SoNyuhShiDae" cheer between the members before going on stage. These girls will always do their best on the stage, they'll still perform if they are sick or injured. They try not to disappoint SONEs and always stay cheerful on stage even though they are really tired because of the intense schedule.

Somehow, these girls are still young, they still act like kid sometimes, and being dorky all the while. You might thought that Girls' Generation will try hard to keep their image and act pretty but they don't, they spoil their own image, naughty and evil. 

They never fails to captivate SONEs' heart, with their flawless performance. Personally, I went to their solo concert before, I could see it in their eyes, how much they love us (SONEs). How tense and serious they are on stage, and do as much body language as they can, such as love shape with their hands and keep bowing to the SONEs. I see the tears in their eyes when we did paper events, the love from them are real.

Every members played a different role and that's what made up Girls' Generation, it's so hard to picture that if 1 day these girls' broke up and ain't 9 girls any more. We all appreciate Girls' Generation and treasure every moment of them. This is truely a generation of these 9 girls and we all know they'll be better.

As this article coming to an end, all of us from Soshi Site 9 would like to send our congratulations to Girls' Generation as well as SONEs  for the 5th Anniversary. We all wish that Girls' Generation will forever be 9, stay healthy, gorgeous and amazing.

지금은 소녀시대! 앞으로도 소녀시대! 영원히 소녀시대!


Right now, it’s Girls’ Generation! From now on, it’s Girls’ Generation! Forever, Girls’ Generation!

Source: wikipedia, google, fanwonder, as tagged for photos and video

Written by: May Yin and Mabel @ Soshi Site 9