![]() It is a mainstay of SNSD’s early aesthetic. Aegyo is used to describe an exaggerated and bubbly cuteness, best represented in certain gestures of innocent affection. However, one can argue that their 2008 video “Kissing You” does very well in establishing SNSD’s early “cute” aesthetic, the exact Korean term for it being Aegyo. SNSD debuted in Korea in 2007 with their track “Into The New World.” The video itself is rather unremarkable compared to their later successes, retaining all the features of mid-2000s K-Pop, and of pop music in general, and the rest of their pre-Gee releases are of the same mold. Their aesthetic and musical style have influenced multiple girl groups after them, most notably A-Pink, which the website KpopStarz is hailing as the heir to SNSD’s cute aesthetic. By many they are considered to have been the most influential girl K-Pop group in the history of K-Pop, and rightly so. Though in the last entry we talked about SNSD as simply a catalyst to the Internet revolution for K-Pop through their video “Gee”, their career marks much more than that. The origin of SNSD’s name is explained at the end of an SNSD fansite, SNSD Korean, as well as SNSD’s pre-debut roster changes. Interestingly enough, most of SNSD’s members were born in 1989, when Lee’s single was released, but this could be a coincidence. ![]() SNSD’s English name Girls’ Generation, however, is much more representative of their overall aesthetic. Their Korean name is taken from a 1989 hit by Lee Seung-chul, and it is translated to mean “Era of Maidens”. As a result, most of the conversation in these features will be primarily discussing music videos of that group, as well as subgroups and solo acts. Additionally, in this Internet-based era of K-Pop, a lot of groups’ careers are tracked by their digital releases and music videos on YouTube. I’ll generally close off with the Spotlight video being from the group, either another dissection or just my personal favorite video from the group. In these group features, I hope to give a quick synopsis of the group’s career and accomplishments, dissect several videos for their influences and motifs and hopefully learn something about why this group is so influential or so representative of the western artistic foothold in K-Pop. While the Wonder Girls’ video came first, many K-Pop fans that I know today cite SNSD as their gateway drug, and I thought it would be prudent to spend my first Group Feature discussing SM’s flagship girl group. One of them was Wonder Girls’ “Nobody” and the other was SNSD’s “Gee”. So last entry we were able to touch on the 2nd generation of K-Pop, and how it was largely spurred by the explosion of interest following two videos.
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