After a long hiatus of a year and a half, Girl’s Generation is back with their fourth album I Got a Boy on January 1st. After a cliff hanging teaser released in December that got fans on the edge of their seats their comeback wasn’t
as good as people said. With this album being their comeback after such a long break a lot of their fans anticipated and wondered what their new concept was. I Got a Boy was released on Jan. 1 and it got a lot of attention all over the world, with the music video for I Got a Boy having over 10 million views after the first week. After such a long break it seems like the 10 track album, with a running time of 35 minutes, got more attention from worldwide fans than the album is actually worth.
Girl’s Generation first debuted in 2007 with their single album Into the New World. The group is made up of nine girls Yoona, Sunny, HyoYeon, TaeYeon, SeoHyun, Jessica, Yuri, Tiffany, and SooYoung. The girls took Asia by a storm in 2008 when they released their song Gee. Capturing the hearts of young and old alike, dancing along to the song. Since then the group has been traveling around the world having concerts in various cities such as London, Los Angeles, San Jose, Tokyo, and New York. Their most successful ones being the ones that took place in the Tokyo Dome and Madison Square Garden in New York.
The songs I Got a Boy and Dancing Queen introduced a new side to the girls, having a unique beat which is quite addictive. Once you listen to I Got a Boy it’s hard to try and get it out of your head. But as you listen songs like Express 999 and Lost in Love make the what thought to be catchy album a have different perspective. The album was really different from their past albums, with this album having more variety in genres from the slow ballad Lost in Love to the upbeat I Got a Boy.
Their title song I Got a Boy got a lot of attention with its unique beat and lyrics. SM Entertainment, one of the highest and most popular entertainment companies in Asia, known for cute goody two shoe concepts tried to take a new direction in their music. The girls decided to take a more hip-hop like concept with their new song. It seemed almost as if SM was imitating YG Entertainment’s 2NE1 and their style of music. SM or Girl’s Generation never had a hip-hop like concept before. This concept really got people questioning whether this new idea was the one that fans were looking forward to. SM really gambled this time on the concept and a lot of people had split opinions.
The songs are really catchy and would get stuck in people’s heads easily. But SM, who is known for putting in ridiculous unknown sound effects, didn’t fail to do so once again. At one point in I Got A Boy, it sounded like they made a donkey or cow like cry which made the song seem more comical rather than it being serious music. SM is not known for their hip hop gangster like rap skills from their artists. Out of the nine girls only one member could really rap. But despite their weak skills, the album has been receiving praise all over Asia. It seems like other groups making a comeback in January will have trouble trying to beat Girl’s Generation in the rankings.
This may have been a unique take on their songs and concepts but this album when in comparison to their past ones wasn’t as good as people expected. After such a long break you would expect more from Girl’s Generation and SM Entertainment, this whole hip-hop like concept just didn’t work with their girl-next-door reputation that they have been building since their debut in 2007. The other songs in the album were no different from I Got A Boy. For $11.99 on iTunes this album is a pass and a ripoff. Unless you love and adore the girls this album is a definite pass.
by THERESA KIM
