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This article is from a Finnish magazine called JapanPop, it's from August 2009. The magazine focuses on Japanese music and pop culture, but it sometimes features articles on other Asian pop phenomena.
The article has a few mistakes in it and I don't think the writer really knows SNSD.
The parts I found not that relevant are in a smaller font. 
EDIT: This is the performance of GG with Lee Seung Chul that is mentioned in the article.
Some people were looking for it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJuHOslRf0c
While you read this please keep in mind that
- Finnish humor is a bit difficult for others to understand so some parts might seem weird to you. The writer is however saying only positive things about SNSD
- In Finland the word Otaku is used to describe anyone who's into Japanese pop culture.
Here's the original article
SNSD - Korea strikes back [/size]It has happened before: after copying Japan for some time, comes the day when Korea beats Japan in their own game. It has already happened with video games. But pop idols, that are so very Japanese? No one can outdo Japan when it comes to pop idols, right?
Wrong. To prove it, here's 9 carefully selected and trained shining performers, who debuted in 2007. In Korean they are So Nyuh Shi Dae, in English they go by the name Girls' Generation. In Japan they are known as Shojo jidai and to fans they are SoShi. Their career has followed the Japanese way exactly, including roles in tv-dramas, their own tv-show, touring, subgroups and jealously keeping their personal lives a secret. The outcome has been a perfect success story.
The generation of 1989
Their name origins from one of their first singles, Girls' Generation (So nyuh shi dae, in Korean), that was originally a hit by Lee Seung Chul. The original song was more rock'n'roll, but composer Kenzie turned it into a disco cover for SNSD.
According to an old joke, the difference between jpop and kpop is about 20cm. A more suitable comparison would be 6 years, since the members of SNSD were not 13-year-old rookies when they debuted.
6 out of 9 girls from SNSD, Taeyeon, Jessica, Sunny, Tiffany, Hyoyeon and Yuri, were born in 1989, the same year Lee Seung Chul recorded his hit song. Sooyoung and Yoona were born a year later and the baby of the group, Seohyun, was born 1991. Though Taeyeon is the leader, the lastborn Seohyun is considered to be the real mother figure of the group.
In 2008 the singing and dancing group's second single Kissing You made it to number one on the charts. SNSD toured around Asia, all the way to Thailand and Taiwan, with other artist of the same company (BoA, TVXQ, Super Junior). During the brake that followed, Yoona starred in the tv-drama Cinderella Man and was awarded newcomer of the year for her performance. Jessica, Tiffany and Seohyun recorded a new single, Bad Oppa.
The Otakus go crazy
The word "comeback" used to describe a band's return to the spotlight after years and years of silence. Today every artist that has had a three-month brake seems to be making "a comeback". SNSD has announced a comeback two, if not three times in just two years. The more notable one occurred in January 2009. It was the beginning of a very successful chain of events, during which SNSD broke all the previous records on the South Korean charts, achieved worldwide fame and became an Internet phenomenon. Gee, the catchiest, most unbearable pop tune in the world was released. Behold these incredibly expressive lyrics:
Oh so so pretty, Your heart is so pretty
I was captured from first glance, caught so closely
Gee gee gee gee baby baby baby
Gee gee gee gee baby baby baby
Pop-lyrics never won the Nobel prize, but had the song been recorded in Japan, would someone like Yasushi Akimoto have made the lyrics a little wittier and raised them to another level, just like Seifuku ga jama wo suru. If kpop falls behind lyrically, it's definitely way ahead musically. The leader of Japanese disco-pop, AvexTraxin, has for years been trying to put too much into one song and it just doesn't work right. Around the time of Ayumi Hamasaki's third album, Avex's mainstream jpop turned into nonsense, and not even into musical nonsense. This is where Koreans differ. They are able to pick a theme and repeat it with a different arrangement. In Japan, pop has been turned into a much more complex and polished thing than it actually is.
Gee stayed number one on the KBS Music Bank -countdown for a record nine weeks, awoke male attention worldwide with the choreography, and inspired many parodies and covers especially among the Korean boy bands and comedians. In western countries Gee became an otaku-hit comparable only to Levan polkka. And it didn't even require any scallion. Shorts and sneakers were enough.
Original tv-show
SNSD was only missing their own tv-show and it was surprisingly original. Horror Movie Factory was a hidden camera show where one member at a time the girls were surrounded by paranormal events, all carefully scripted and enacted. The best scenes had reality and setups blended in a very distracting way. Unfortunately, after only three episodes, the show faded into a typical entertainment program. A hidden camera in the haunted house was replaced with limbo in a bright light studio. The light does show their pretty legs a bit better, but nonetheless?
Artists grow up and idols pass. In just a few years these Korean little sisters have had to come up with a way to go from cheery girlishness to the role of a more mature woman. The leader Taeyeon said in an interview that the girls see their first album as "the good old times".But what if SNSD weren't singers? Taeyeon is a radio DJ and dreams of becoming a presenter. Sooyoung would like to continue her career as an actress. Hyoyeon and Jessica are into fashion with dreams of becoming designers. Seohyun wants to become a voice actor. Yoona's ambition is to cook, even though she says she blows at it. Sunny thinks she could make an excellent businesswoman. And Tiffany and Yuri would be singers even if they died doing it.
SNSD is produced to the max and everything is spot on. However, the girls tend to be insecure on stage. Gee is not their best performance. Their best one yet was seen on KBS Music Bank on November 16th 2007. SNSD came out to perform their song Girls' Generation. In the beginning of the second verse, Lee Seung Chul joined the girls on stage with his guitar. Everyone danced exactly to the beat and choreography, Seohyun didn't rush her steps, Hyoyeon got a real kiss from Sunny, and the audience went crazy. Stripy socks, shirts four sizes too big, cute overload, unbearable pop-tunes, perfection.
There you have it! Thanks for reading!
Edited by _katri, 22 June 2010 - 12:07 PM.
