One of 10 - Nicole Lee Snsd

9.Oh!

There was an article saying how we girls got a vacation after Christmas and New Year which wasn't true at all. We were busy preparing for our comeback with "Oh!" The first time I heard that song I thought it was just an album track.

"No it's the new "Gee" and will be released as the first single" Kenzie told us.

I glance in slow motion to Hyoyeon and Taeyeon and see them almost hurling.Yuri didn't look happy either.

"Gee" to me was an infectious song with a great beat and rhythm. It was the perfect song for a girlgroup with more than five members.In the song we one by one sort of shared our little love confessions that played off each other well with innocence and joy."Oh" in my opinion lacked message and was just like a 'Oppa look at me aren't I pretty?' It wasn't a song like "Gee" that you could make into a ballad or rock version because the melody wasn't transcendent."Oh!" also lacked the build up to the Taeyeon,Jessica and I sung finale of vocal burst.

In a meeting with the head of A&R and PR we brought up the question.

"Do we really have to do "Oh!"?I just don't think it's good." I said.

"Maybe we can do something different or have it as a second single" Tiffany carefully suggested. The room got quiet and I just felt 'Ok here we go.'

"You have no say in what single is being put out. Kenzie and the other producers are the music professionals and you should trust their judgment and just sing!""Yes" we say and bow slightly.
All the other girls had been told off or gotten scolded like this since they were like 12.
Tiffany and I always brought the feelings we had in our gut.It did happen people in meetings gave us a secret side eye when they thought we  didn't notice  and whispered something" American style ..foreigners"

If you listen to the first part of "Oh!"  that's also the chorus you can hear it's only Taeyeon and Jessica's who sings. They are joined by Sunny on the"Oppa,Oppa part" .I asked to sing as little as possible on the song and I think it offended Kenzie a little bit.On set of the music video as we walked into the locker rooms I got filled with a lot of excitement.

"Oh my god suddenly I feel homesick!"I say with pom-poms between my fingers.

"I know, me too" Tiffany says as she arrives behind me. It did hit me harder than I thought. I didn't miss high school but there was something about the time that was nostalgic, maybe the amount of rest. "Oh!"  video shoot was not as intense as "Gee" had been.We did have a small break in between. If it was because the economy was better or because I put my foot down I'll never know. Maybe both. One time Onew of SHINee actually said that the incident inspired him and Jonghyun to ask for sleep breaks as well. They filmed for 36 hours straight which is illegal considering Taemin was a minor and only 15 at the time. We all worked ridiculously hard never knowing if it was going to make any money. Through gossip, I heard one parent from somewhere even contacted a group's manager and asked how they could demand this level of work and they needed to contact a lawyer.

When I was a kid and other kids were not nice to me, I always felt the support from adults. Here strolling around as a kpop star in knee-high pink boots I realized it was now the other way around. Adults were against us. Not always, but often.

"Oh!" Luckily was a full studio album even though it didn't give the same punch as "Girls Generation"It was nice to have a full body of work released.

"Oh!"the song exploded.The downloads tripled that of "Genie".Fans all over with their Girls Generation chocolate phones . ( A commercial we did not our own phone)downloaded the song and "Oh" was often heard as the ringtone.

"Mani Saranghae"(I love you so much)*In Korean*. The fans yell as we make our comeback stage on Music core. Each girl picked a number they wanted to have on their t-shirts and jerseys. Taeyon picked 9 to represent us, her friends , Tiffany picked 0 don't know why and I picked 15 because it is the date of Donghae's birthday.Nobody realized this and just assumed that it came from mine.