Girls' Generation: 'Releasing Album Targeting All Around World Is Meaningful Challenge'

The title song of Girls' Generation's third album, "The Boys", has been released all around the world at the same time. They challenged themselves with various trials with their new album, and they will advance to the American music industry in November.

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Tiffany Young: "It has been only four years since we debuted, and I am very glad that we can have this huge and excellent challenge in a short period of time".

Taeyeon: "We did not target to achieve a huge success with this song, we rather thought that the song itself, which would be released targeting all around the world, was very meaningful".

Hallyu star Girls' Generation made a comeback with more mature images. They came back to Korean music industry after one-year break by releasing their third album entitled "The Boys" since they released their mini album "Hoot" last year in October. "The Boys" means something to Girls' Generation as one of the top three musicians, Teddy Riley, composed the title song, "The Boys", and the song was released worldwide through Itunes at the same time on October 19. Their music video was also released through YouTube and Facebook on the same day. In addition, the song will be officially released in America as a form of maxi single by the music distributing company, Interscope Records, which is an affiliated company of Universal Music USA. The official album "The Boys" will also be released in the world music market including the USA, Europe, and South America by Universal Music. Their plans can reveal Girls' Generation's status in the world beyond Asian countries.

The members of Girls' Generation came to the SM building in Cheongdamdong to give an interview on October 17. All the members agreed, saying, "We feel pressure as we release our album after such a long break, but, at the same time, we are greatly anticipating because we have fully prepared for the album". Seohyun said, "We would like to see our fans as fast as we can because we have not been holding activities in Korea for a long time. When we held concert tour in Japan, many of our fans asked us why we did not begin holding activities in Korea and they said that they greatly missed us. As we begin our activities in Korea, we want to show our grown-up appearances to our fans. We are highly anticipating". Kwon Yuri said, "We contained various songs in this album. There are songs that are filled with energy, which has been the strength and characteristic of our songs. You can expect about those songs". As the members of Girls' Generation already mentioned, the new album contains songs with different atmosphere and genre. The title song "The Boys" has strong beat and powerful rap, "Telepathy" and "Say Yes" are very cheerful, the R&B ballad song "Spring Day" has been written by the member, Choi Soo-young, and the song "Mr. Taxi", which had already been released in their first album in Japan, is sung in Korean. All those songs of different styles create excellent album.

Among those songs, the title "The Boys" is extraordinary. It contains the message, saying, "You have to have your own dream and pull yourself to achieve your dream", and it leaves strong impression with its strong energy. Girls' Generation tried rap for the first time since debut and they gave up the "hook melody", repeated chorus, which has been regarded as the most important factor to become successful in the music industry up to now, because they wanted to produce a song that is likely to be loved by people in all around the world. Choi Soo-young said, "I think that every Singer in Korea might agony about the usage of 'hook melody' because it is highly believed that only the song with 'hook melody' can be successful. But after we listened to many other popular songs in the world, we concluded that not many people in other countries prefer the melody that can remain their minds for a long time as much as Korean people. In case of 'The Boys', you have to listen to the song from the very beginning to the end if you really want to enjoy the song. I hope that our song achieves a great success, and its success can create the atmosphere to produce more songs that have to be listened from the beginning to the end".

Girls' Generation did not change their own concept only because they release the worldwide album. Taeyeon said, "I could find out that many people in other countries watched our music videos through YouTube and danced to our songs, and they liked our songs not because our songs are similar to those songs in America and Europe, but because they liked our own style. Even though we included some parts of lyrics in English, we did not try to fit our song to American and European styles". Instead, their costumes and choreograpy have been changed and they look different from their previous styles. Tiffany Young said, "We tried to present individual members' different charms. We tended to wear same costumes like uniform, but this time, we wear all different costumes". Kwon Yuri explained, "Our dance performance looked famine before, but the new dance seems to be very masculine. The movement became bigger and more splendid than before. There will be a dance that all nine members sit together at the same time as if we are stretching". Choi Soo-young added, "The choreographer originally asked only four of us to sit down, but we insisted that it would look more splendid if we all sit down together to disappear from their view at the same time. I injured my coccyx last August, but I practiced enthusiastically after the very moment that I was recovered from the injury". Her last comment provided a huge laugh.

Girls' Generation debuted with their single entitled "Into the New World" in 2007, and they have kept their top position in the severe world of competition among many idol groups. Their third mini album "Hoot" garnered every grand prize in different awards ceremonies held at the end of last year. And they successfully advanced Japan by recording a total album sale of 680,000 copies and attracting 140,000 audience members to their Arena tour in Japan, which contributed greatly to "K-Pop boom". Asked about the driving force of their success, the members all agreed, saying, "We could achieve a success because we like our performance itself". Seohyun said, "I have never thought that I am working. I have always been exciting whenever I perform with other members together". Choi Soo-young also said, "It might have beeb possible because we liked to do it. All nine of us are very happy to perform together. I like to see our appearances on the stage. We are completely immersed in music while performing with the audience. We feel proud of our appearances on the stage, and I think that it could be the driving force of our enthusiastic performance".

Girls' Generation has to compete with other girl groups such as Wonder Girls, who will make a comeback next month, Tiara, and Secret, but it seems that the word "competition" means nothing to the members, who enjoy their performance itself. Taeyeon said, "We are friends of the members of Wonder Girls. We miss them, and I think that it will be very fun to hold activities together with Wonder Girls". Choi Soo-young also said, "We know that they have learned many things from their activities in the USA, so we are very much anticipating about their performance".

The members of Girls' Generation revealed that they would like to regard the activities with "The Boys" as their new start. They said, "We had come to feel more affaction towards our performance and each other among members while we were holding concert tour in Japan. We become more concrete. We want to repay our fans who have shown their great love and anticipation to us with upgraded appearances. We want to go further in the future".