As Girls’ Generation celebrates its 19th anniversary, let’s take a look back at some of the legendary girl group’s best, but often-forgotten hits. Most of them were for ads they also starred in.
Girls’ Generation boasts an extensive discography that even their most dedicated fans might not know fully about. These legendary queens of K-pop have been around for 19 years now, and they’ve made all sorts of tracks, even in different languages. Some were fairly big when they first dropped, but now, they’ve largely been forgotten.
Girls’ Generation, or “SNSD” (So-Nyeo Shi-Dae), were once the “CF Queens” of Korea. Countless brands featured them in their TV and online advertisements, and oftentimes, they released original songs just for these tie-ins. Do you still remember Chocolate Love? How about Visual Dreams? Surely, even the most dedicated Sones still know their Cabi Song, right?
1. Chocolate Love
Widely regarded as one of the best CF songs in K-pop history, “Chocolate Love” had everything to be a hit SNSD single. Catchy melodies? Check! The group’s amazing vocals? Check! Easy-to-follow choreography? Check! If not for the fact that the music video is essentially a commercial for the LG Cyon Chocolate phone, you’d think this was part of the group’s Genie mini album.
There are actually two versions of the song. The first is SNSD’s more vintage-sounding and girlier version, and the second is a darker and more powerful rendition by fellow SM girl group f(x).
2. Visual Dreams
Also known as “Pop! Pop!” Girls’ Generation’s infamous “Visual Dreams” served as their sixth digital single. They released it as a tie-in for Intel in 2011, used to promote their Intel Core i3, i5, and i7 CPUs.
Why is it infamous, though? Because the music video features the girls committing several choreography mistakes. The usually polished “Nation’s Girl Group” is seen fumbling many moves of what is one of their simpler dances. They later confessed that the making of that music video, from learning the choreography to the eventual shoot, was all rushed.
3. Vitamin
Not a lot of people, including Sones themselves, know that “Vitamin,” a track from their best-selling 2011 album, The Boys, was also used for an advertisement. Around the same time they were promoting the album, Girls’ Generation collaborated with Vita500, a Korean vitamin drink brand, to promote the product using the song.
Unlike the other singles on this list, however, the group never released a full-blown music video for the campaign. Instead, they filmed dance clips wearing cheerleader outfits in the brand’s color scheme, reminiscent of their “Oh!” style. They never even filmed a group dance for it.
4. Hahaha
2010 was arguably SNSD’s peak year. They had already broken countless records with “Gee” in 2009, and by this point, were already regarded as “The Nation’s Girl Group.” So in 2010, they were truly inescapable in Korea. Their faces were plastered on practically all of the billboards and TV commercials, and one of them was Samsung’s “Hahaha” ad campaign.
Legend has it that the campaign was made to help cheer up the Korean people after the country experienced economic turmoil following the 2008 Recession. Whether this is true or not, there’s no denying that the song and the campaign helped introduce SNSD to an even broader public in the country.
5. Day by Day
This song stands out among the others on this list since it wasn’t used for an advertisement. It was used for three different purposes instead. The first is that it was included as part of the original soundtrack for Beethoven Virus in 2008, one of the most successful K-dramas at the time. The second is that it was part of their second full album, Oh!, released in 2010.
Later that year, the popular Korean search engine Daum also used the song as part of their promotional screensavers featuring all nine SNSD members. They eventually released a music video compiled of all nine of their individual displays.
6. S.E.O.U.L.
In 2008, only a year after they debuted, Girls’ Generation collaborated with fellow SM group, Super Junior, for “S.E.O.U.L.,” a promotional single for the capital city. The track came with a popular music video that features select members from both groups. From SNSD, there were only Taeyeon, Jessica, Sunny, Seohyun, and Sooyoung, and from Super Junior, there were only Leeutuk, Kyuhyun, Ryeowook, Sungmin, and Donghae.
The music video featured these eight SM idols in various couple situations throughout Seoul. For better or for worse, it helped SNSD gain more fame, but also notoriety among Super Junior’s predominantly female fanbase.
7. Cabi Song
Often touted as one of the ultimate 2nd-Gen collabs, SNSD and 2PM turned up the heat with “Cabi Song” in 2009. The single promoted Caribbean Bay, the waterpark at Everland Resort in Yongin, Gyeonggi-do. A now-iconic music video starring Yoona, Yuri, and Seohyun from Girls’ Generation, and Taecyeon, Nichkhun, and Chansung from 2PM accompanied the song.
The video is most remembered for its steamy storyline featuring all six idols competing to be lifeguards at the waterpark, showing off their abs and slender waistlines. It was one of the first times that members of Girls’ Generation were seen in a sexy light.
As iconic as they were, Girls’ Generation released many songs that most K-pop fans have probably never heard of or forgotten about. Most of them are tie-in singles used for their many advertisements at the time of their peak.
Sources: LGEPR(LG Electronics’ Flickr account)/ Wikimedia Commons, SMTOWN Official YouTube Channel, Girls’ Generation Official YouTube Channel, Yuka Morimura YouTube Channel, kathryniii YouTube Channel.
