It’s been more than a month since Jessica was forced
to leave SNSD by SMent and ‘the other 8 girls’. I remember waking up in the
morning to find #SICA and #JESSICA was on TTWW. It took
seconds for me to know why, thanks to twitter. Initially I thought it was a joke.
I mean, this is SNSD! Their strong bonding was well known. And this is about Jessica,
one of their main vocalists! One of the most popular members with huge fandom
for her alone! It seems impossible that SMent and ‘the other 8 girls’ took a decision to expel Jessica from SNSD. But
then I had to take it as the truth after SMent confirmed the news in the same
day. It was no joke. I felt hurt.
I don’t consider myself as a SONE (SNSD’s loyal fan),
but I admit that I like their songs. Oh yeah, there was a time when I
underestimated SNSD. I thought they only sell their beauty with no talent
whatsoever. I even thought that they don’t really sing. I imagined some other
people sing in the backstage and SNSD just do lip-sync. But then I learned
about SNSD and I found interesting stories behind them and k-pop in general.
K-pop wave aka hallyu
is huge in Indonesia. Super Junior and SNSD were (and are) the biggest. They
both are from SMent. I know I’m always late when it comes to trend. While Super
Junior hypnotised thousands of ELF and SNSD did the same with SONE, I was still
listening to ‘western’ boysband like Backstreetboys and Westlife. I preferred
Spice Girls to SNSD. I was not a k-pop enthusiast until I continued my study in
The Netherlands in 2013. Yeah, I’m new in this k-pop fandom.
You see, in The Netherlands I got 24/7 internet
connection. It was fast and free. It’s like a dream comes true from people
whose internet connection in their home country is slow. I know it sounds weird
but when in the Netherlands, I really missed anything related to Asian. I
didn’t consider myself only as Indonesian, I saw myself as an Asian. K-pop is
one of Asian’s symbols. With this 24/7 internet connection and a bunch of
curiosity, I listened and watched k-pop songs and k-series. If only I knew they
could be so addictive…
I started to recognise Super Junior members. It was
pretty easy because they have different look and style. It’s not the same with
SNSD. Their first music video (mv) I watched is “The Boys”. I knew SNSD
consisted of nine members, but I couldn’t tell who is who. They looked the same
(except for Sunny because she was the only one with the short hair). The first
member I knew is Yoona because she is the face of SNSD. Even so, in “The Boys”
I had mistaken her with Jessica and Taeyeon.
It took me weeks before I knew the name of each
member in SNSD. It took months for me to recognise their voice (I was surprised
that they do sing). I started to watch more music videos of them, I even
enjoyed their reality shows also their performance in many other shows. I also
like their dances; I tried to copy but I failed miserably. I read articles and
blogs about SNSD, and like I said earlier, I found interesting stories about
this national girlsband of South Korea.
SNSD (or Girls’ Generation) were formed in 2007 by
SMent. They were formed to be the female version of Super Junior which was a
big hit in Korea. Before SNSD’s debut, SMent did the training for potential
members since 2000. And guess what, Jessica is the first member to be in the
training!It’s sad that she is also the first to leave. Sunny was the last
member to join in 2007. SMent didn’t merely look for singers for SNSD. I think
this also applies for any other girlsband/boysband from SMent. It explains why
some members in SNSD are good in singing while the others are not but good in
anything else, like dancing, acting, or modelling.
Let me start with the members. SNSD had nine members:
Taeyeon, Yoona, Yuri, Sooyoung, Hyoyeon, Seohyun, Sunny, Tiffany and Jessica.
The last three were American born eventhough it’s only Tiffany and Jessica that
are fluent in English (Tiffany even has thick Californian accent). In general,
SNSD is divided into two roles: singing and dancing. The main vocalist were
Taeyeon, Jessica, Tiffany, Seohyun, and Sunny (I put it from the strongest to
the weakest based on my opinion). The main dancers were Hyoyeon, Yuri, Yoona,
and Sooyoung. With this scheme, it’s ridiculous to ask Yoona to sing as good as
Tiffany, or ask Jessica to dance as powerful as Yuri. While Taeyeon is the
leader of singing team, Hyoyeon is the leader of dancing team. However, in
general Taeyeon is the leader of SNSD. Yoona holds a special position as the
face of SNSD.
If you really try, it's easy to tell who is who (source: Google)
Why Yoona? Well, in Korean standard (I read it
somewhere), she is the prettiest in SNSD. Korean love her. She is also the
first actress in SNSD to play in several k-series. No wonder she is considered
as the most famous member in SNSD (at least in Korea). Unfortunately, she is
also the member with biggest amount of haters. Haters think she can’t sing,
dance, or act well which I don’t agree. Yoona may be weak in singing and
acting, but her dancing skills are cool. Besides, she has many commercial
films. It must be for some reasons, right?
As the face of SNSD, Yoona often has a central
position in a photo shoot or dance choreography. Camera loves her. A blogger
pointed out that in “The Boys”, Yoona has 36 seconds for herself in the beginning of the video while the rest (8 other
members) had to share 24 seconds for them all for the intro.
In their early years, SNSD stayed in a dorm together
where they did the training. I watched their documentary “Girls’ Generation
Goes to School” and I learned they practiced hard. There was a scene in which
Jessica almost passed out because she was exhausted. Their success was not
without pain.
I learned about Korean culture while enjoying k-pop.
In the beginning, SNSD was the ‘dongsaeng’
(junior) but now they are the ‘sunbae’
(senior). As the junior, SNSD showed the respect to their senior by taking a
bow when they met them. SNSD’s members are not in same age. To the older
members, younger members call them ‘unnie’because
they are all female. For older men, SNSD’s members greet them with ‘oppa’. Younger men will call SNSD ‘noona’. Younger men will call older men
‘hyung’. Seohyun is the youngest in
SNSD so she has a nickname ‘maknae’. For
the same age or younger members, they only call name because they close to each
other. However, in some TV show they put ‘-ssi-‘
after someone’ name to show respect and formality.
SNSD’s first single was “Into the New World” in 2007
but they really got public attention in 2009 with “Gee”. This song is the
most-watched SNSD’s mv. SNSD put a platform about what Korean girlsband look
like: pretty, thin, cheerful, and cute (watch “Gee” and you know what I’m
talking about). This stereotype was criticized by many, but also loved by many
as well. In further k-pop development, another girlsband like 2NE1 avoid this
stereotype and have their own style.
Plastic surgery is always mentioned in any discussion
(or debate) about Korean’s idols. What about SNSD? Google and you will find the
answers. Die-hard SONE will say SNSD didn’t do the surgery. For me, I believe
they did it eventhough I don’t know to what extent. I mean, plastic surgery is
so common in Korea it becomes a gift from parents to their children. To be
fair, I also can’t neglect that make up does make differences. Korean’s
eyebrows are popular in Indonesia right now. It does change the appearance.
Hyoyeon is the perfect example for this. Her before and after appearance is
more or less influenced by her eyebrows make up look.
SNSD are famous for their dance. They always have
something unique in their dance. SONE have nickname for each dance like ‘crab
dance’ for “Gee” or ‘leg dance’ in “Genie/Tell Me Your Wish”. “Hoot”, “Run
Devil Run” and “Mr Taxi” are my favourites.
Before I’m into k-pop, I was so into classical music.
I listened to Hayley Westenra, Celtic Woman, and Josh Groban. I enjoyed
soothing and calming music; I did enjoy the voice.
But in k-pop, I purely enjoy the music and the beat. I don’t really care about
the voice. Good enough is enough. In SNSD, only Taeyeon that has top quality
for singing. The other main vocalists have weaknesses; some aren’t powerful
enough, some aren’t stable. They are one or two levels below Taeyeon, even for
Jessica. But then music is about taste. Taeyeon may be the best singer in SNSD,
but I prefer Jessica’s voice.
When it comes to SNSD’s songs, my ultimate favourite
is “All My Love is for You”. It’s a bit ironic because it’s in Japanese instead
of Korean. I also enjoy “Beep Beep” (also in Japanese), “Dancing Queen” “Oh!”,
and “Way to Go.”
In 2012, SNSD’s subunit TTS were formed. TTS is the
abbreviation for Taeyeon, Tiffany, and Seohyun. This subunit focuses on vocals
with fewer dances. TTS’ songs are more ‘difficult’ compared to SNSD’s. I can’t
imagine “Twinkle” and “Baby Steps” are sung by SNSD. It will be a mess.
Actually I wondered why Jessica was not a part of TTS. In my opinion, her vocal
is better than Tiffany or Seohyun. Later I knew that SMent was rumoured to form
JungSister that consisted of Jessica and her younger sister Krystal Jung (she
is a member of girlsband f(x)). Too bad it was never happened as the problem
occurred between Jessica and SMent. I also heard there will another SNSD
subunit that focuses on dance. Hyoyeon must be on the list if it ever happened.
In Korea, idols belong to the company (especially
when it’s SMent) and fans. Everything they do is ruled by the management and
for fans’ services. They have a long list of do’s-and-dont’s. Being in romantic
relationship is one of the top of don’ts.
In the beginning of this year, SMent confirmed
Yoona’s relationship with Lee Seung Gi. It was shocking because usually
management tries to hide this kind of news. Lee Seung Gi’s management also
supported this couple. Fans are usually against their idol’s relationship, but
Yoona and Lee Seung Gi proved it wrong. I can say people love them more as a
couple.
Lee Seung Gi is a singer and actor. He is my bias
(bias is a term to show that you are a fan of someone). I like him in his
famous k-series “The King 2 Hearts”. He is well known as a sweet, smart and
down to earth guy. In Korea, it’s common to ask idols about their ideal
partner. For years, Lee Seung Gi always mentioned Yoona as the answer. Lee
Seung Gi had to compete with many male idols who also answered Yoona as their ideal
girl. He won her heart eventually! Many people say that Lee Seung Gi is lucky
to get Yoona, but for me, Yoona is luckier to have Lee Seung Gi.
After Yoona and Lee Seung Gi, Sooyoung was also
confirmed to date Jung Kyung Ho. Unlike Yoona’s, Sooyoung’s relationship wasn’t
really well received by fans. It’s because Sooyoung was considered lying to
fans for years about her relationship. But the biggest disappointment was
referred to Jessica with her rumoured boyfriend Tyler Kwon. Tyler was mentioned
as one of the reasons why Jessica was expelled from SNSD.
Well, it’s not really about Tyler actually. Jessica
was out because she insisted to build her own company ‘Blanc and Eclare’. She
was into design and with the help of Tyler, she was encouraged to take a move.
SMent and the other members thought Jessica would not give 101% for SNSD if she
had her own company. Jessica was forced to choose between SNSD and ‘Blanc and Eclare’.
While the negotiation was on (after several meetings), Jessica was expelled one
day before SNSD’s meet and greet in China. The heart breaking part was Jessica
was not aware of the situation that she flew back from New York to attend the
meet and greet. She must be devastated and felt betrayed. I can understand if
SMent did it, it’s only about benefits and losses. But what about the other
members? They have been together for 14 years but it seemed not enough for them
to keep themselves as nine. SONE now are divided into pro-Jessica, pro-8 girls
(OT8), and pro-SNSD when it still had nine members (OT9).
As the main vocalist, Jessica had many lines to
sings. In SNSD’s latest concert in China, I knew some Jessica’s lines were
covered by Sunny, Yuri, or Tiffany. It felt wrong to listen her lines were sung
by other members. Moreover, in SNSD’s recent song “Mr Mr”, Jessica sang a part
in which she had to interact with male dancer. Her moves and voice in that part
were so iconic it was weird when Sunny replaced her.
Anyway, past has passed. Now SNSD only consist of
eight members. It seems impossible to bring back Jessica to SNSD. It hurts a
little to see Jessica is written as the former
member of SNSD in Wikipedia. It hurts a lot when I realised I didn’t watch
their concert in Indonesian (twice) simply because I didn’t like them at that
time. Their second concert was when I was in The Netherlands. I missed the
chances.
I only hope someday SNSD will return to Indonesia. I
want to watch them live. It will be a bonus if they come with Jessica. Maybe
Jessica can sing in one or two songs. SNSD
feat. Jessica Jung. Oh well, I think I dream too much…
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