Author’s Note: We know that the Japanese promotions are pretty far in the past now, and even though we started working on this review quite a few months ago, a number of circumstances led to the delay in publishing it. We hope to be quicker in the future when it comes to reviewing Soshi albums and merchandise and we hope to review more items besides just albums. Everyone here with the Soshified writing team will be working hard to improve upon the reviews in all aspects.
Japanese “Genie” and “Gee” MV review
It’s mentioned this before, but it bears repeating. I fall into the category of liking how the choreography is the same between the Korean and Japanese versions of “Tell Me Your Wish”/”Genie” and “Gee”. I applaud the efforts of the producers trying to keep some semblance of the original Korean versions in the new Japanese versions of the music videos, whether it’s the costumes in “Genie”, or the set in “Gee”, or letting each girl sing the same parts that she did in the Korean version. The Korean “Gee” is my favorite Girls’ Generation song, and I quite like “Tell Me Your Wish” as well, so I have no complaints about the music, especially from a pop standpoint. The Japanese music videos actually look better and more professional than their Korean counterparts. But that’s where my unconditional compliments end.
When the girls first entered the Japanese market, I was a little hesitant to listen to the Japanese versions of their songs, because most of the time the re-make is not as good as the original. Unfortunately, that’s the case with both “Gee” and “Genie”. The Japanese lyrics don’t fit the music as well as the Korean lyrics. This is expected because the music was written for a different language, but it’s disappointing nonetheless. I’m also not a fan of changing the meanings of the lyrics from the original. Granted, not everybody knows both Korean and Japanese, so it does not affect people. And perhaps the change was because the writers couldn’t figure out how to translate the lyrics into Japanese in a way that would fit the music or the English parts. But it’s still a little disappointing, especially since both versions already have similar choreography, costumes, and/or sets.
While I like how the costumes were similar to each other in the Japanese and Korean versions, the Japanese versions were somehow still inferior. The “Genie” costumes they use during the group choreography are fine. And no matter what, the girls look gorgeous in “Genie”. However, I am not a fan of the costumes used in their individual shots in “Genie” or during the entire video in “Gee”. Perhaps it’s because I don’t like the style, which somehow is a different sort of cute and sexy than what Girls’ Generation has done before. For example, I was never a fan of tying up a buttoned shirt. If you’re going to show the midriff, wear a short tank top that’s not supposed to cover the belly. On a related note, don’t wear pants that go so high that it covers up most of the midriff if the shirt is short or tied up. As for the “Gee” costumes, the colors are incredibly bold, and are so different that they don’t match well with each other. This is the same with the girls’ accessories. They’re too ostentatious and don’t go well with anything, much less the girls’ styles. The “Gee” music video would’ve been better suited with a dance version featuring only the white T-shirts and jeans in my opinion (I will say I love the random transitions between sets in the dance version regardless of costumes, especially in the middle of a dance move to the corresponding part on the other set), or taken the original costumes off of the mannequins at the beginning and wore those (which I will add featuring those, especially with Yoona and Yuri next to their own Korean costumes at the beginning, was a nice touch).
I don’t have a problem with the singing in “Genie”. It took me a while to get used to the girls singing in Japanese initially, but they sound great nonetheless. “Gee”, however, is a different story. I was actually dreading having to re-watch the Japanese version of “Gee” for this review due to the mismatched clothes colors and the higher-than-normal singing voices, which sound contrived. There is one moment singing-wise that I did find pleasing though. In the Korean version, when Yuri starts her solo, you can hear a raspiness in her voice as she starts singing. I was never a fan of that, whether from Yuri or Britney Spears or Christina Aguilera. So I give points to the Japanese version for getting rid of that. I wish they had left the “Matrix”-style camera pan in both “Genie” and “Gee” in the editing room, since I thought it was unnecessary and there just to be there.
It’s always hard for remakes to top original versions, and that’s the case with “Genie” and “Gee”. Now am I being harsh? Perhaps. Could it be because the Korean version of “Gee” is my favorite Girls’ Generation song and music video and “Tell Me Your Wish” is arguably the girls’ best music video to date? Maybe. But the point is, it doesn’t live up to the original. To those of you who think Girls’ Generation can do no wrong and only deserve 9/9 for everything, I regret that I burst your bubble. I’m harsh because I care. I think the girls and SM can do much better with their Japanese endeavors, and you can’t improve without knowing where to do so.
“Genie” song: 6/9
MV: 6/9
Overall: 6/9
“Gee” song: 4.5/9
MV: 5/9
Overall: 4.5/9
“Girls’ Generation: The 1st Japanese Album” Review
With an arena concert tour through Japan and Japanese product endorsement deals popping up left and right, Girls’ Generation is making a strong impact on the Land of the Rising Sun. But crucial to their success in Japan is their ability to produce original Japanese music that sells at a high rate. While the “MR. TAXI/Run Devil Run” single was the first step towards that goal, the next obvious move was to create a full-length album. “Girls’ Generation”, the self-titled first Japanese album by the girls, was released on June 1, held the number one spot on the famed Oricon music chart, and went on to break several records for sales by foreign artists in Japan. But beyond the sales numbers and records set by the album, were SONEs pleased with the album? Were the songs consistent with the level of quality that we’ve come to expect from Girls’ Generation? Was the high price of the deluxe and limited editions justified, considering what came along with them?
Unlike the “MR. TAXI/Run Devil Run” single, there’s a significant difference between the deluxe and limited editions, especially in terms of their packaging and included extras. The limited edition comes in a standard DVD-style case inside a plastic white sleeve. A clear section forms the words “Girls’ Generation” on the front so that the image of the girls can be seen. Group pictures of the girls occupy both the front and the back of the DVD case. In a persistent theme throughout the concept photos for both editions, the girls are all wearing white, and all of the photos present a light and airy feel, which I feel always suits the girls well. Inside the limited edition is the album itself, a DVD containing the original Japanese music videos for “MR. TAXI”, “Genie”, and “Gee”, and finally the photobook. The photobook contains two group photo of all the girls, two individual photos for each girl, and three photos of trios. The first trio photo is of Tiffany, Yoona, and Seohyun, while the second photo shows Jessica, Sunny, and Yuri, and the final trio is Taeyeon, Hyoyeon, and Sooyoung.
The deluxe edition comes in a sturdy box which has nine individual portraits surrounding the “Girls’ Generation” first Japanese album logo on both the front and the back of the box. The top of the box has a group picture which, upon closer inspection, is identical to the one on the back of the DVD case for the limited edition. Once the box is opened, three items are found inside: the DVD case containing the album itself as well as a music video DVD, the photobook, and a smaller box which holds the pink mini bag. The music video DVD for the deluxe edition is identical to the limited edition, but also includes the dance version of the “MR. TAXI”. While the total number of photos is nearly the same in both the deluxe and limited edition photobooks (the deluxe edition actually has one fewer group picture), the photos themselves are all different. Also, the deluxe edition photobook is slightly larger than the limited edition, and appears to have been printed on slightly thicker paper. While I can certainly see myself pulling out the photobooks from time to time to look at the beautiful pictures of the girls, I don’t quite have the same feeling about the mini bag. The bag is pretty enough (in the perspective of a male who doesn’t understand fashion on the highest level), but it’s not something I would ever see myself using for several reasons: it’s outrageously pink (and I’m not Tiffany), it’s very small, and it’s covered in glitter that apparently rubs off very easily. I say apparently, because I never took the mini bag out of the clear plastic wrap that it came in, and heard the glitter stories from others. Despite the fact that I kept the mini bag in the plastic wrap, I still managed to get some glitter on my hands.
Regarding the music itself, there are five tracks which have an element of familiarity to them: “MR. TAXI” and the Japanese versions of “Genie”, “Run Devil Run”, “Gee”, and “Hoot”. While we’d heard the first four of those well before this album was ever released, the Japanese version of “Hoot” is new to SONEs, and in my opinion the weakest of the Korean-to-Japanese converted songs. The flow of the lyrics, especially during the chorus, never feels natural as compared to the original Korean version. The other Korean-to-Japanese songs, while not as strong as the original Korean versions, all manage to retain at least some of the original spirit, and the strong beat and addictive melodies of “MR. TAXI” make it one of my favorite songs on the album.
But what of the new and original Japanese songs? The first new song on the album, “You-aholic”, follows in the footsteps of “MR. TAXI” with a strong electronic sound and powerful drum beats. With the lead-in whispers of “pyscho sexy super magic” as well as lines like “you’re the gin inside my tonic” and “I’m like a you-aholic” in the chorus, the presence of English lyrics is clearly felt. But make no mistake, the girls’ improved skill with the Japanese language is obvious when the climax of the song is reached and the powerful background vocals shine through. “Bad Girl” is a song that shows off the strength and range of Girls’ Generation’s vocals. While the vocals in the verses tend to reach some fairly low and husky notes, the girls lead the chorus along with powerful high notes. I might not claim that it’s one of my favorite songs from the album, but every time I hear it I marvel at the girls’ vocal range. A heavy beat fills “Beautiful Stranger”, but somehow the song itself just never left much of an impression upon me. The background vocals towards the end of the song stand out to me, but in general “Beautiful Stranger” is a song that feels just good to me, and not great. “I’m in Love With the Hero” is another song that I would just call good, but it left a larger imprint on me than “Beautiful Stranger”. Aside from the music breakdown at the 1:08 mark, the pace in “I’m in Love With the Hero” is very steady, and the melody never goes too high or too low. Towards the end, I get the sense that the song is building up to a strong finish, but when it ends, I feel a bit of an anticlimactic letdown.
After a couple of what I considered to be the weaker songs in the album, we reach what is my favorite song in the entire album, “Let it Rain”. The brass intro and the subsequent addition of the beat work perfectly together. Also, the auto-tune that filtered through a number of songs on the album is nowhere to be found in “Let it Rain”, allowing the girls’ vocals to truly soar. I get the sense that their voices have matured a great deal, as the low notes during the verses are rich and smooth, and hearing the girls serenading us with “Just let it rain, let it rain, let it rain” is an absolute treasure. “The Great Escape” has taken a strange journey through my mind, going from a song I didn’t like at all, to a song that I wished they performed all the time, to a song that is legitimately growing on me. We all started wishing they would perform “The Great Escape” more often after seeing their performance on “Music Station”, but despite the sexy choreography I still didn’t find myself liking the song. However, the more I listen to it, the more I like it, and while it isn’t my favorite song on the album by any stretch, it’s definitely a song I take notice of now. Finally, “Born to be a Lady” is the perfect song to end the album. The slower pace and beautiful vocals are equal parts relaxing and teasing. Jessica’s final soft and melodious “lady” leaves me breathless and eager to repeat the album every time.
With so much ground to cover, from the physical contents of the albums as well as all the songs, it’s difficult to come up with final scores for “Girls’ Generation”. The album itself has a much more mature feel to it than any of Girls’ Generation’s previous albums. Most of the songs don’t carry the cutesy feel that we had become accustomed to with Girls’ Generation. It’s a new musical direction for the girls, and one that I would consider a success. But the story with the packaging is a little less clear. I was excited to see all the beautiful photos inside the deluxe and limited editions, but everything else seemed like collector’s items to me in two ways: I collected them just to have them, and they are merely sitting on a shelf collecting dust. The pink mini bag and deluxe edition box serve no real purpose for me and don’t seem worth the high price tag I paid for them. There are collectors out there who must own everything the girls produce, and the packaging is high quality and impressive, but the amount of items you get doesn’t really seem to justify the cost. If Girls’ Generation is all about the music and nothing else for you, the limited edition should be the upper limit of your consideration, though even that can’t be considered a value.
Packaging Rating: 3/9
Songs Rating: 7/9
Overall Rating: 6/9
Written by: [email protected], [email protected]
Video sources: [email protected], [email protected]
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Disclaimer: Views expressed are solely those of the author and are not representative of the Soshified community as a whole.
I was also both excited and skeptical on the Japanese versions of their Korean songs. The MVs were really good. But honestly, I don’t listen really that much to the songs themselves. Nothing beats the original versions, IMHO. I was also quite shocked at the individual costumes in Genie too. Man… I couldn’t say if it’s sexy or just too skinny, something like that.
And yeah, the packaging on the Japanese full album is really a big issue to me. I think it’s so over-the-top that they actually overdid it. I find the whole packing quite bulky and unwieldy. Points do go for creativity. But the Japanese original songs are quite good, especially Mr. Taxi, Let it Rain, and The Great Escape, for me. Let it Rain, most especially, actually sent shivers down my spine because the vocals were good. The Mr. Taxi MV was also good. But the Bad Girl MV needs work. It felt half-baked, IMHO.
Thank you for the reviews. I do hope SMEnt do take into consideration these comments for the girls to improve more and for SMEnt to make better decisions in the future. I feel that sometimes SMEnt does too much to maximize the girls’ value that nowadays it emphasizes quantity over quality.
Michael,
Thanks for the review.
You made some interesting comments on the Japanese version of Genie and Gee. From the perspective of an average international fan who knows neither Korean nor Japanese, like me, lyrics normally have very little impact on one’s enjoyment of the music. We can only try and memorise the approximate meaning while listening to each song anyway. As long as the average Japanese person would not think these lyrics were failures, I guess commercial success should remain unaffected. I understand you were disappointed from a musical aesthetics perspective which I respect. However as far as SM is concerned, their Japanese endeavour is solid if there are decent numbers to speak for it.
There is no such thing as perfection in any form of arts that is made for mass consumption, which is why I found your bubble-bursting apology unnecessary and thus surprising. Lyrics issues aside, the remaining of your judgments – most noticeably those on tied-up button shirt, hot pants and bold colours – were personal (dis)tastes rather than factual analyses of production shortcomings on SM side. Of course we would like to hear your thoughts as this is the writers’ review section after all, but in the worst scenario we can just happily agree to disagree.
Lastly, interestingly, “Let it rain” is also my most favourite in the Japanese album but right next in line is “In love with the Hero”. I have always liked unconventional, short pieces as they are the inevitable interludes within streams of composition; just like paragraphs of scribbles people who love to write use to capture floating inspirations and thoughts. Sometimes these are so beautiful you want to turn them into complete works even in their preserved incomplete nature. In that sense, “In love with the Hero” reminds me of my favourite short piece from Kanye West, “Power”; which I am curious to see if you would find it anti-climatic too.
Haha, I hear you about the bag! I’m 21 and female, but it was a little TOO pink for me, and I detest glitter…it gets everywhere and stays there for months, urgh!
Safe to say the bag is still in its packaging for me. I do love the album in general. The ‘electropop’ (+autotone) sound took a little getting used to, but a few months later I can say that each and every song is solid, strong and enjoyable.
This whole year I LOVE GENIE(Japanese version) nothing can stop this because it has nice beat, nice dance moves and the language… Lazy Girl almost wins me but infact I’m still inlove with GENIE…
Fav song by the girls of all time will always be genie, it was cute, girly, sexy, and mature. And actually like the japanese version and the customers.
moving on, I’ve said this before but the Japanese album was their best album. And The boys didnt live up to it like i hoped it would. I was expecting sexy all they way through when it came to the boys but it wasnt. Only few songs on the album were good songs. And I was bit upset that they placed vitamin in there to be a filler song.But one thing about the japanese album that upset me or the songs is the awkward choreography, I hated the choreography because it looked messy and clustered at times.
Oh my goodness.. In the japanese version of Gee, Tiffany looks amazing… Hahaha weeellll good job in doing the music video girl… you rock :)
I agree, they will always look good in Genie. And Genie may be my favorite era, so far, the Japanese album is my favorite album. I love all the songs, the original Japanese songs, and even the songs from The Boys won’t beat it. The album showcased their improved vocals and I am especially happy that Yuri, Sooyoung, Yoona and Hyoyeon to have truly developed their vocals, especially Yuri. They also sashayed from the usual cutesy image and they have proved that, yes, they could venture into sexy, mature image as well as cutesy, girly-girl image. I am proud of their Japanese Album.
Well I agree to the writers point of you. No matter how I hear the jap version, the lyrics doesn’t go as well as the Korean ones. But Still, I think its not the way. It’s because that we started out hearing the Korean version so when the language change, we are not used to the new lyrics and the way the lyrics goes with the tune. For example, I asked my Japanese friend, he prefered the jap version. It might be because he understand the language but I thinks that since he started hearing the jap version first and he felt that the Korean version sounded weird.
lol, that’s a surprising score you gave there for Gee.
I’m not a japanese nor fluent in their language, but japanese people seem to favorite these both, proved by how much these debut vid. launch their popularity, and the record selling was a big hit.
As a non japanese nor korean speakers, I also agree that the korean ver. is slightly better. Even when these mv come out, I didn’t want to see it (lol). But there’s one mv that came out better than the original one, Run Devil Run. Anyway, talking about self control, even though I don’t like any of these, I won’t dare to say it to public, moreover around ssf, because it’s going to embarrass SoShi, that even their fans scored their idol bad.
I must say I agreed with most of what you wrote. I actually liked the Japanese MV for Genie – maybe because I like the fact that there is a magic lamp and that the girls look great in the blue outfits – as well as the song. I agree – I hate when the lyrics change, but I do feel that the song still poses the same meaning as the Korean one. I will go back and check this again though.
As for Japanese Gee – Gee has always been a bit too bright to my eyes so I can’t really talk on the colors. The song is awkward but it was cool to see that the original outfits were brought back. Did not notice that at first! So very cool.
I agree with the deluxe album – really only worth collectors item. Wish both versions came with a poster though….
Anywho! Thanks for writing!
I would like to request a “The Boys” review.
Also the INTW Concert DVD and the Japanese Concert DVD.
And AAGG.
The last 3 are thing I want to buy.
This album is Girls Generation’s best album yet. It shows their vocal range, the original Japanese songs have less noticeable hooks in them (if any), and all the songs are GREAT. The album has a nice flow to it and it ends beautifully with one of my favorite songs from them ever, “Born to Be A Lady” (which sounds remarkably like Bonnie Pink’s “Ring A Bell”).
Their Japanese has improved, but a lot of words are still pretty awkward-sounding (save for Sooyoung’s lines). That aside, all the re-releases of their Korean songs just sound better in Japanese to me (that might be because I speak the language, though…).
I’ve had this album on repeat ever since June, and it will continue on that way until their next (Japanese) release. I just hope it’s more solid J-Pop and not the mess that “The Boys” album turned out to be.
Agreed on that last statement. “The Boys” was a mess of an album; the songs were everywhere and most of them weren’t well produced… But on average it was better than most recent KPop releases.
“Trick” was a winner though…I ♥ that song :)
for me, who dont know hangul n’ only know a few japanese words, i personally think that genie is the best converted song..the lyric flows naturally at least the way it sounds (since i didn’t know the meaning back then)
while the weirdest song, for me it’s RDR.. idk y, i never like any version of RDR but the korean one.. I even dont really like kesha’s RDR… I think maybe because i love this song the most, that’s why i find it weird to listen this song in another language, or maybe the lyricist need to work harder :/
I thought SM should stop making a Japanese version of Soshi’s Korean song. They should produce a new song instead of making the same song with a different languages. I’m a little bit sad when I read the news about Soshi’s newest album would be a Mr. Taxi version http://soshified.com/2011/11/girls-generation-to-release-new-version-of-their-third-album-on-december-7th
It’s a good start to make an English song like The Boys due to their mission of conquer the world.
But if Soshi wants to take a hold of Japanese music industry they need to stop make a Japanese version of their Korean song or make a Korean version of their Japanese song.
Even, we SONEs will always support the girls, I hope SM could make the best of the best from our girls potential.
And my favorite song is Genie so I will always love every version of this song.. LOL xD
i love it when the writers put out these opinion-based articles. it is a great forum for intelligent debate over the girls activities. and i love disagreement, it generally lends itself to more insightful discussions. so if you are afraid of being open-minded, please avoid because i am about to disagree…why are we even comparing the korean and japanese versions of the songs? lyrically, we knew the japanese versions were going to sound worse than the korean versions to everyone but…you guessed it…the japanese fans! sm didn’t create japanese versions of these songs because they thought the lyrics and music were going to be transcendental, they did it to draw in the japanese fans because they could understand the lyrics and therefore make everyone more money. how excited could anyone but a japanese fan get that they were coming out with a song we already knew about. it is unfair to measure the girls on musical quality with this comparison. what would be a fairer comparison would be profit. that was all this move was really made for. this holds true for all the korean to japanese songs. as for the videos, they are trying to appeal to the japanese fan, so everyone else could take a hike at this point, and it seemed to work because the japanese fans sure liked it. as for the “deluxe ultra super limted press release edtion” of the album, i’ve always been annoyed by sm’s really sad and obvious attempt to make more money with stuff like this. as for the original japanese songs…i am going to almost completely disagree with you. my favorite song on the whole album was beautiful stranger. i got really excited when i felt the girls were starting to break away from pop to more r&b, but when they made me double-take and wonder if i had just started playing a rob zombie song, i was wicked excited. most sones will disagree with me on this, and it always sort of leaves me puzzled. we know the girls are maturing, we are excited for their new concepts, but we get upset when its not bubbly pop as usual. you can only have one or the other. i love them branching out into different, inherently more mature types of music. the rock-theme of beautiful strangers in a perfect example of that. way to go out on a limb girls, and i love it!!! i will agree though that let it rain was an amazingly unique song. second favorite. it was the other songs that sounded too familiar for me. i still like them, but they didn’t strike a chord like the new “rock & roll soshi” did with beautiful stranger. but when its all said and done, i think they did a great job! :-)
Great review on the Japanese album, Michael. I agree with most of your assessment aside from a few personal preference differences on the songs. I personally think Hoot is the best among Korean-to-Japanese converted songs; as for The Great Escape, it’s song that started out as a favorite and is still a favorite after many listens. Everything else is pretty much in line with my personal opinion, Mr.Taxi is my clear favorite song off the album. Overall, the more powerful, edgier and more mature sound is definitely very successful and much preferred in my opinion. I was quite disappointed that the style and sound of the Japanese album was not carried forward, and actually mostly abandoned, in their Korean album. With regards to the editions and the packaging, I cannot agree more, the Deluxe Edition doesn’t seem to justify the high cost, and the Limited Edition is the one to go for the budget conscious. Good job.