[2011.07.30] Christians Vote Girls' Generation as Top Favorite

Recently, magazine "Ranking" conducted a survey on 512 participants throughout numerous churches in Korea. In the survey, Christians were asked to choose a favorable church partner from the three categories of entertainment, political figures, and athletes.

The survey revealed that Girls' Generation placed as the number one favorite for the entertainment industry, drawing in 22% of the votes. Second place went to Big Bang with 17.4%, followed by Lee Munse (16%), Jo Sungwoo (9.4%), and Wonder Girls (6.6%).

Park Geunhye and Kim Yuna were the favorites for politician and athlete respectively.

Source: christiantoday
Written by: jaygatsby@soshified.com

Cr: soshified

[2011.07.30] Reuters Publishes Article About Girls' Generation's Global Appeal

Global news agency Reuters published an article earlier this week touting Girls' Generation's exploding popularity throughout the world. They cited the success of the recent SMTOWN Live in Paris concert, the girls' solo tour throughout Japan, as well as last week's concert in Seoul. The full article has been reposted below.

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(Reuters Life!) - South Korea's Girls Generation, already a hit group at home and throughout Asia, are set to broaden their appeal and go global, taking their brand of hit songs and tightly choreographed routines to Europe and beyond.

The nine-strong line-up of 20-something telegenic young women again wowed fans from Asia on Sunday at a concert in Seoul's Olympic Stadium, having played to 140,000 Japanese fans in a series of concerts between May and July this year.

Two recent concerts in the Tokyo Dome organized by Korean Broadcasting System saw 45,000 fans attend and have generated 7.2 billion won ($6.8 million) in revenues so far, according to the organizer Korean Broadcasting System (KBS).

"After seeing the sensational response from fans, we are planning to broaden our perspective of concert, such as in Europe and South America, within this year," KBS Kwon Oh-jun, the producer of the Japanese concerts, told Reuters.

Girls Generation is part of a cultural phenomenon called the "Korean Wave" or "Hallyu" comprising girl and boy bands as well as South Korean soaps.

Reflecting Girls Generation widening global appeal, half of the songs played in Seoul on Sunday were in either English or Japanese.

Industry experts say the Korean Wave has generated billions of dollars in revenues and some even say it will one day help re-unify North and South Korea.

Two recent concerts in Paris by a group of South Korean bands, including Girls Generation, sold out their nightly 14,000 allocation of tickets almost as soon and they went on sale.

"I remember one European fan from concert in Paris, who wrote down Yoon A (one of the band) so that covered up his arm. We were all impressed by the love of European fans." Tae-yeon, the lead singer of Girls' Generation told a press conference ahead of Sunday's Seoul concert.

K-Pop's growing global fan base has seen the shares of S.M. Entertainment Co, the company that represents Girls Generation and other bands such as Super Junior, surge since their debut on the Seoul bourse.

Fans in Germany have bombarded the Korean Cultural Center in Berlin and Korean Broadcasting System with requests that their favorite stars play in Berlin.

"We are dying for K-pop stars to come, so we sent those letters because we couldn't just wait and do nothing. Hope our action would bring about change in K-pop stars arrival in Germany." 30-year-old Esther Klung, president of the German K-pop community, told Reuters.

($1 = 1051.900 Korean Won)

(Editing by David Chance)

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Source: Reuters
Intro written by: BigSunnyOnes@soshified.com

I ♥ SNSD

╲╭━━━━╮╲╲╭━━━━╮
╲┃╭╮╭╮┃╲╲┃ I ♥ SNSD
┗┫┏━━┓┣┛╲╰┳━━━-╯
╲┃╰━━╯┃━━━╯
╲╰┳━━┳╯╲╲╲

The leader of SNSD, one of the most popular Korean pop groups, SNSD or Girls’ Generation, had arrived in Singapore secretly with her family for a short holiday. However, once she was spotted by her fans, she was followed everywhere by over a hundred fans.

SNSD, the popular Kpop girl group groomed by SM Entertainment, is also Super Junior’s junior in the the Korean music industry, have a rather large loyal group of fans (SONES) in SG despite not having performed or visited Singapore since their debut in 07. On 31st May, Kim Tae Yeon had made used of her holiday break and visited Singapore with her family while travelling in low profile. (All 9 members of SNSD are currently on vacation before continuing with their activities.)

It is believed that for her first trip to SG, Tae Yeon has been travelling in low profile and she visited Sentosa’s Universal Studios, Vivocity, as well as travelled on the ‘Duck Tours’ without any crew or bodyguards around.

Kim Tae Yeon was spotted at the Singapore Flyer, dressed in casual wear, along with sunglasses to try to remain as low profile as possible, but she was still spotted by her sharp eyed fans there. The fans shouted excitedly, kept cheering and calling out her name while taking pictures and flashing the cameras right in her face, causing her to say ‘’please no pictures’’ in a slightly offended tone. The 18 secs clip taken of the incident has been uploaded online, and had active response, hitting over 25k views already.

Previously, when FTIsland had visited Singapore, one of their members had been ‘ambushed’ outside the hotel by fans.

Similarly, Kim Tae Yeon had also encountered crazy fans, who were rumored to have pulled at her hair. (However, there is another version of the incident where an itchy handed fan had reached out and grabbed at her hands.)

After the news had leaked, fans had left many messages online reprimanding the unruly actions of pulling at Tae Yeon’s hair and hands. Some fans had also reprimanded the others, saying that ‘’Tae Yeon is here for a holiday, and we should respect her privacy, as well as care about her feelings…. Please do not harass her, and if you see her please do not follow her and take photos’’.

It is said that Tae Yeon has already left Singapore and returned to Korea.

Online fans had mentioned on her FACEBOOK fan page that it was already part of her schedule to come to Singapore for a short trip, so she did not leave Singapore earlier just because she was spotted by fans. They also stated that Tae Yeon was not angry about her fans’ actions, but she felt apologetic to her family members who were travelling with her.

This section is under the same article but not related to Tae Yeon's trip in Singapore:

SNSD has come out strong, and together with their seniors Super Junior, they have taken the lion’s share of album sales in Singapore for the top half of the year.

SNSD is a 9-girl group groomed by SM Entertainment which had debuted in 07, and within 2 years, they had achieved high levels of popularity within Korea, China, Taiwan, and Thailand as well as within many other Asian countries. Each member had roles in movies, TV dramas, hosted television programs and had also been seen in many commercials. At the same time, various members are also well versed in Chinese, English and Japanese among many other talents.

Recently, for the top half of the year, results of albums sales in Korea has shown that SNSD, together with Super Junior have the highest records of sales, the 2 groups taking 1st and 2nd place respectively, with album sales shooting past 100k. At the same time, only the 2 groups SNSD and SJ had taken the top 4 places for album sales, while the mini album of Kpop king Rain had only taken 6th place.


Cr : LIANHE WANBO , translated by SNSDinmylife (Soshified Singapore),
QC-ed & edited by smirk7 (Soshified Singapore), posted by wh! (Soshified Singapore)

Intel gave some unique jewelry to the popular singing group 'Girls’ Generation.'

Intel revealed on the 28th that they gave Girls’ Generation a jewelry set made of Intel chips to commemorate the successful marketing of the 2nd Generation Intel® Core™ Processors and its subsequent results. As the CF models for Intel in Asia, Girls’ Generation greatly contributed to increasing the Intel’s 2nd Generation Core chips’ reputation and status through revealing 2D and 3D music videos and other various efforts. Intel and Girls’ Generation’s collaboration campaign music video ‘Visual Dream’ enjoyed great popularity, recording over 3.5 million views on Youtube within a month.

The jewelry set in question, comprising of necklaces and earrings, were made by the American jewelry boutique Shreve Co., and is a unique set made with Intel chips. On the back of each necklace are embedded the names of each member.
Intel representative Lee Heesung remarked, “the marketing activities with Girls’ Generation was a good opportunity to familiarize the Intel 2nd Generation Core Processors to not only Asian regions including Korea, but also to faraway places such as Europe,” and further revealed that they, “plan to continue novel marketing activities to closer approach consumers.”

Source: Sports Chosun
Cr: Soshified
Fanytastic

If Girls' Generation Wants to Become A Global Girl Group

I’m not saying this because I’m from England. I truly believe that England will be the ‘key’ to Girls’ Generation’s attempt to succeed internationally. First of all, it is easier to enter its market than the American one, and it is possible to use England as a launching pad to spread to America and the rest of the world.

Last week, I saw one of the early music videos of Girls’ Generation. I thought that they had changed immensely over the years. At the same time, I also thought that they had not actually changed that much. Maybe they had just naturally matured over time. [..]**Comments unrelated to Girls’ Generation omitted**

Regardless, the truth is that Girls’ Generation has totally matured. They give off the feel of professional entertainers now. I like listening and watching Girls’ Generation’s songs and performances. I cannot help but admit that I enjoy watching 9 charming girls dance and sing. Maybe that is why I am not particularly interested in Super Junior. My daughter, though, also shows a bigger reaction when Girls’ Generation comes out than when Super Junior does. Maybe it is because Girls’ Generation is objectively more charming.

Girls’ Generation now has fans from all over Europe. The Paris K-pop concert was a very interesting event. I was sometimes skeptical about Korean reports of the “Korean wave”. It was reported that the Wonder Girls and Rain successfully entered the American market, but, in reality, the majority of the attention they received were from Asians.

However, the SM tour this time around was different. A considerable number of French and European fans gathered in Paris to see SM artists, and this was proof that Korean culture’s effect on other countries had grown. Although there was the language barrier, the strength of Korean pop music was enough to overcome it.

I do not think that an Asian pop group has had global success before. It is possible for groups to make profits performing in various countries while not being internationally successful. The Wonder Girls have performed here and there, but everyday people walking down the streets in America’s major cities do not know who they are.

Girls’ Generation has to overcome this same problem, but they have a higher chance of success than the Wonder Girls. The Wonder Girls’ entry into the American market seemed like a desperate attempt to me. I am not sure why, but that is the feeling that I got. The Wonder Girls behaved as if they had risked it all on their entry in to the American market and it seems like they have completely forgotten about Korea. They definitely made a mistake. That is because, regardless of whatever activities they have in other countries, they cannot forget about Korea, their “home base”. And we know very well the Wonder Girls’ situation after returning from America.

And the fact that they wanted to hold an American tour with just one song did not bring good results. “Nobody” is not a bad song, but it was not quite strong enough to have staying power. It is inevitable that songs like that will become boring quickly. On the other hand, Girls’ Generation brought several hit songs to Paris and showed their charms to fans from a wide variety of cultural backgrounds.

If groups, including Girls’ Generation, want international success, the correct way to do it is Europe -> England -> America. I will say it again, but I am not saying this because I am a biased Englishman. I just want to stress the fact that there is a statistically higher chance of success in America after succeeded in England. Whether that has anything to do with it or not, the music industry’s core is America, so succeeding there means being recognized as a “global band”.

Succeeding in France is not very helpful. The French market is very limited and not recognized on an international scale. It has improved, but the French market’s overall quality continues to be lacking.

If Girls’ Generation is able to sing songs in English, their chances of success will increase even more. However, it is very difficult to succeed while singing a different language. Although people in France, Germany, and Spain are used to listening to foreign music, they normally listen to English songs.

Meanwhile, people in England and America are not used to songs in foreign languages. It is not something I am proud of, but that is the reality of English and American pop culture.

As far as I can remember, there have only been 3-4 non-English songs in the past 30 years that have become hits. On top of that, you can only expect one-hit wonders when singing in a foreign language. You have to sing in English to continue to be recognized in the music industry. Thus, I think that groups should first conquer England’s smaller and easier market.

If you decide to enter the U.S. market without previously making yourself known, you will have to work harder and be able to handle a more difficult schedule to make yourself known. The chances of success diminish greatly, too. Artists who are interested in performing internationally have to realize this. If you succeed in England and you are lucky, you could become famous in America before even landing there. Even if you are not lucky, you have already established a base camp from where you can seize the world’s largest market.

You can stay in England for a few weeks and make TV and radio appearances as well as hold showcases and concerts before returning to Korea and resuming activities there. If you succeed in England, people across Europe and other countries will naturally become more aware of you. You can also make a splash in the U.S. market, which is your ultimate goal.

Girls’ Generation is a charming girl group that has the talents and skills needed to succeed internationally. I also believe that this is an okay time. I look forward to seeing Girls’ Generation becoming the first Asian group to become a global sensation.

Source: Nate - original article by John Duerden, soccer columnist for The Guardian, ESPN, The New York Times, Sports Illustrated, MSN.
CR: Soshified

Taeyeon Takes Selca Picture With a Cute Expression

On July 27th, a picture of Girls' Generation's Taeyeon titled "Cute Taeyeon" was uploaded on the bulletin board of a portal site. The leader of the nine-member girl group took a self-camera picture of herself hugging a green cushion and posing with a cute expression.

After the sexy appearance that she showed throughout their "2011 GIRLS' GENERATION TOUR" concert, Taeyeon went back to the "Kid Leader" image that she is famously known for among fans. Taeyeon uploaded the picture and used it as her new UFO image as she replied the fans' messages, thanking them for the endless support they have given to Girls' Generation. When asked if she was hugging a caterpillar, she responded, "It's my pea... Don't call it a caterpillar."

Netizens left comments like, "Too cute Taeyeon is the best" and "Our minion is so cute".

Girls' Generation ended their second solo concert which was held on July 23rd and 24th with great success, leaving fans yearning for more.

Girls' Generation to Appear on Billboard in Los Angeles for 4th Anniversary

To congratulate Girls' Generation's 4th anniversary, a huge event was put together.

Girls' Generation's representative international fan community, Soshified, revealed that a Girls' Generation billboard measured at 10.4m x 7.3m (roughly 34 feet x 24 feet) would be displayed in the middle of Los Angeles on the 5th of August, which is recognized as the group's official debut date.

This will mark the 4th year since Asia's representative girl group debuted with their single "Into the New World" back in 2007.

This grand event was created by international fans in order to congratulate Girls' Generation on their anniversary. According to Soshified, Girls' Generation's billboard is one of the biggest in size and will be displayed in downtown Los Angeles, which is expected to draw a lot of attention.

The billboard from Soshified will be displayed for 8 consecutive days starting from the 1st of August, on top of the Aroma Wilshire Center Building.

The advertisement that will be displayed on the video billboard can be viewed below.

Fanytastic 

Cr: Soshified