Girls Generation Fanatics

2008-2009 = Mini Albums

2008–2009: Other activities, return with mini-albums

It was announced in autumn 2008 that Girls’ Generation would be starring in a reality show on M.Net. Titled Factory Girl, the show chronicles the girls working as interns at fashion magazine “Elle“. The program began airing in early October.During their absence from the music scene, they appeared in many commercials for MapleStory and Mabinogi. It was then announced that the group’s first mini-album, Gee, would be released in January 2009. A teaser video was released in January 2009 and the first single “Gee” released soon after. Interest in the song rose after the digital release, topping Cyworld’s hourly music chart on the release day. The song also went #1 on all major digital music charts within two days.

The group began its album promotion on January 2009 on MBC Show! Music Core. They sang their new single, “Gee”, and “Him Nae/Way To Go“, another track from the Gee mini-album. This song is a remake of the song “Haptic Motion” that was used in cellphone advertisements (Samsung Anycall) and is a mix of bubblegum pop and punk rock. Meanwhile, questions were raised when the group did not appear on KBS’s Music Bank with “Gee”, even after winning #1 on the music chart show.

“Gee” is the record holder for the longest-running #1 on music portal M.net (for 8 weeks), surpassing the previous record of 6 weeks set by the Wonder Girls‘ “Nobody”.They also broke the record on KBS’s music show Music Bank by being #1 for 9 consecutive weeks, previously set by Jewelry‘s “One More Time, which had 7 wins. They won the award for best-selling song for the first half 2009 for “Gee“. Promotions for the song ended at the end of March.

After a short break, SM Entertainment announced that the girls would be back with a new single and showing a “Marine Girl” concept; the song, titled “Sowoneul Malhaebwa (Genie)” (Korean: “소원을 말해봐”, literally “Tell Me Your Wish”), the mini album was released digitally on June 22, 2009. The mini-album includes a duet between Jessica and Shinee member Onew called “One Year Later”.

On May 3, 2009. Girls Generation was starred in their new reality show “SNSD Horror Movie Factory“, with the premier episode receiving a viewership rating of 3.3%. The show was then cancelled after 6 episodes due to low ratings.

Since June 23, 2009, Girls’ Generation are starring Cable TV program called “SNSD’s Hello Baby” of KBS Joy, where they are taking care of a child and somewhat experience how motherhood is like. In that show, they take care of a boy name “Cho Kyungsan” (Korean: “조경산”), and each week they (or fathers, male guests who come out time to time) select “The Best Mom” and “the Worst Mom” among the members according to their work for the day. Despite the late-night time slot, the show received fairly high ratings and had been extended for several episodes. The show ended on November 17, 2009.

On June 26, 2009, Girls’ Generation’s comeback performance was recorded on KBS’s Music Bank.The group then had their return performances on MBC’s Music Core and SBS’s Inkigayo on June 27 and 28, 2009. Girls’ Generation’s 2nd mini-album Genie was released on June 29, 2009.

Their first win for their single “Tell Me Your wish (Genie)” was obtained at the July 10, 2009 episode of KBS Music Bank. Their second award was claimed at the July 12, 2009 episode of SBS Inkigayo. The group finished promotions for “Tell Me Your Wish (Genie)” in August 2009.

On October 7, Girls’ Generation, along with label-mate f(x) released a digital single named “Chocolate Love” for the 4th edition of the Blacklabel series LG CYON phone, “Chocolate”. Girls’ Generation sang the “Retro Pop Ver.” of the song while f(x) sang the “Electronic Pop Ver.”

In July, selected members, alongside selected Super Junior members, released the song “S.E.O.U.L. Song“. The music video was released as part of South Korea’s tourism initiative.

The group also announced its first solo tour, with two Korean dates in December and other Asian locations to follow. The Korean dates sold out in 3 minutes. The concert is titled “Into the New World : 1st Asia Tour“ after the name of their debut single. Due to the success of the first concerts, the group confirmed that they will be holding encore concerts on February 27 and 28.

2009: Gee, Genie, first Asian tour, and rising popularity

After a short break, SM Entertainment announced that the group would be back with a new mini-album sporting a "Marine Girl" concept. The new single was to be titled "Tell Me Your Wish (Genie)", with the full mini-album being released digitally on June 22, 2009.[40][41] The group started their promotional activities on June 26, 2009, appearing on KBS Music Bank.[42] The performance was followed by follow-up comeback performances on MBC Show! Music Core and SBS Inkigayo on June 27 and 28, 2009. The physical release of Genie was delayed by SM Entertainment in order to redo the album art, and was released four days later on June 29, 2009.[40] Their first win for their single "Sowoneul Malhaebwa (Genie)" was obtained at the July 10, 2009 episode of KBS Music Bank. Their second award was claimed on the July 12, 2009 episode of SBS Inkigayo. Within a few days, the song topped on 10 different digital music charts.[43] The track proved to be a success as it conquered various music sites, including Melon, Dosirak, Mnet, and Bugs, and it was number one on the weekly charts and the SKT ringtone weekly charts of the first week of July.[44] The mini-album sold an estimated 50,000+ copies in its first week after released (almost double the numbers from the first-week sales of Gee), an unusual feat for any Korean girl group.[45] The albums went to sell over 200,000 as of 2010.[46]A teaser video was released in January 2009 and the first single "Gee" released soon after. "Gee" topped Cyworld's hourly music chart on the release day.[33] The song also went number one on all major digital music charts within two days.[34] The group began its album promotion in January 2009 on MBC Show! Music Core where they sang their new lead single "Gee" and the track "Himnae (Way To Go)", another song from their mini-album. A week after its release, "Gee" went #1 on KBS Music Bank.[35] "Gee" also went to #1 on SBS Inkigayo a week after their return. "Gee" went on to become a phenomenal hit, breaking the record for consecutive number one wins on KBS Music Bank with nine consecutive wins, as well as receiving a triple crown on SBS Inkigayo. The song then broke the record by staying on top a seventh week,[36] and remained in the position for an eighth week. It also tied[37] then broke the record for longest-running #1 on Music Bank, beating the 7-week record previously set by Jewelry in 2008 with "One More Time".[37] "Gee" achieved its ninth #1 on the show on March 13, 2009. SM Entertainment stated that over 100,000 copies of the mini-album were shipped to stores, while sales analyst company Hanteo reported sales in excess of 30,000 copies within the first 10 days of its release. The track also showed strength on other charts, topping the Mujikon, Melon and Mnet charts for eight consecutive weeks, the Dosirak chart for seven weeks, the Muse chart for six weeks, and the Baksu chart for four weeks.[38][39]

On November 2009, SM Entertainment announced the group's Into The New World Tour. The tickets for the tour went on sale on November 19,[47] and sold out in 3 minutes.[48] The tour initially consisted of two Korean shows on December 19 and 20, 2009.[49] The tour began at Seoul's Olympic Park Fencing Stadium on December 19 and 20 and continued onto other Asian cities including Shanghai.[50]

(Girls' Generation performing "Genie" at the LG Mobile Worldcup in 2009.)-There's the picture