SONEs Place: Girls' Generation : History

I'm back! I wanna share about Girls' Generation History^^ Wish you like this!

PRE-DEBUT

After the success of S.M.Entertainment's boy band, Super Junior, the company planned to debut a new girl group, which would ultimately turn into Girls' Generation, featuring a start-up roster of 11 members. For nearly two years, Korean websites speculated about which of the female SM Entertainment trainees would be placed into the group. The candidate members were professionally trained primarily in singing and dancing, while some were also selected to be trained in acting and modeling. Many of the candidate members had already made names for themselves in the Korean entertainment industry through their participation in magazine advertisements, television commercials, and small television drama or film appearances, and Sooyoung even debuted in the Japanese market in 2002 as part of the pop duo, Route θ, which soon disbanded in one year. The group witnessed several revisions, as members were either added or cut, until final line-up of the debuting nine was decided. Prior to their announcement, it was rumored that the group would be named "Super Girls" after their so-called male counterparts, Super Junior.

The first member of the group to join SM Entertainment's training system was Jessica in 2000, after she and her sister, Krystal Jung (now a member of the girl group f(x)), were scouted in a mall in Korea during a family vacation. Also in 2000, members Sooyoung and Hyoyeon were cast into SM's training system through the 2000 SM Open Audition, in which Hyoyeon danced for her audition.Yuri was the next Girls' Generation member to be accepted into SM's training system after finishing second in the 2001 SM Youth Best Dancer competition. Yoona was cast the following year after auditioning singing and dancing to her favorite singers, BoA and Britney Spears, in 2002 SM Saturday Open Casting Audition. Seohyun, the group's youngest member, was scouted in the subway by an SM scout, then auditioned in 2003, singing children's songs. The group's leader, Taeyeon, was cast in 2004 after being discovered at SM's 8th Annual Best Contest winning "Best Singer 1st Place & Grand Award". That same year, member Tiffany auditioned at SM's Starlight Casting System in Los Angeles, and joined the company in October 2004. The ninth and final member of the group to be added was Sunny, who entered the system in 1998, training for five years before transferring to another company, Starworld, where she trained to debut in the duo "Sugar", which ultimately never debuted. Then, under the recommendation of the singer Ayumi, she re-transferred back to SM Entertainment in 2007. Sunny is also the niece of S.M. Entertainment's founder, Lee Soo-Man.

FIRST SHOWCASE

Leader: Lee Yeon-hee (1988) | Maknae: Kim Ye-jin (1993)

In 2005, SM Entertainment debuted a large boy group Super Junior, and then proceeded to plan a similar large girl group counterpart. SM put together a showcase comprised of internal trainees; the number of girls were 11.

As a result, this project group’s line-up didn’t last long. The line-up went through its first major revision. Out of 11 girls, only 6 of them stay in the group.

IN: Seo Hyun-jin, Park So-yeon, Stella Kim, Jang Ha-jin, Lee Hwan-hee

OUT: Lee Yeon-hee, Hwang Bo-ra, Bae Seok-bin, Zhang Liyin, Kim Ye-jin

Both Lee Yeonhee and Hwang Bora are now known as actresses. Yeonhee resume including movie ‘Millionaire First Love’, ‘Hello! Schoolgirl‘ (Sooyoung had a role as her bff in the movie), and drama ‘East of Eden’. Hwang Bora starred in upcoming movie, ‘Jumunjin‘ with Super Junior’s Kim Kibum. Zhang Liyin (also known as Jang Ri-in) debuted as solo singer in 2006. While ’93ers Kim Yejin is still listed as SM trainee, she also starred on SHINee‘s A.MI.GO music video. With the exception of Hwang Bora, they are still under SM Entertainment.

Interestingly enough, the six girls who stay in the group are Jessica Jung, Kim Hyoyeon, Kwon Yuri, Choi Sooyoung, Im Yoona, and Seo Joo-Hyun. There were more line-up revisions coming, but we all know that those six made it to the final line-up. They pretty much had secured their place in the project group even from the get go.

REVISION 1

Members: Seo Hyun-Jin, Park So-Yeon, Jessica Jung, Kim Hyo-Yeon, Kwon Yu-Ri, Choi Soo-Young, Stella Kim, Im Yoon-Ah, Jang Ha-Jin, Seo Joo-Hyun, Lee Hwan-Hee

There was five new addition to the group; Seo Hyunjin, Park Soyeon, Stella Kim, Jang Hajin, Lee Hwanhee. Prior to the project group, Seo Hyunjin was a main vocalist and maknae of disbanded SM girl group, M.I.L.K. Trainee Park Soyeon was plotted to be one of the main-vocalists of the group. While Korean-American trainee, Stella Kim, was not only part of main vocalists; but she also plotted to be the ‘face’ of the group (along with Im Yoona, that is).

Due to various reasons, SM decided to replaced the oldest (Seo Hyunjin) and the youngest (Lee Hwanhee) members with two relatively new trainees, Kim Taeyeon and Korean-American Tiffany Hwang. At that time, both Taeyeon and Tiffany had ‘only’ trained for about two years.

IN: Kim Tae-yeon, Tiffany Hwang

OUT: Seo Hyun-Jin, Lee Hwan-Hee

REVISION 2

Members: Park So-yeon, Kim Tae-yeon, Jessica Jung, Stephanie Hwang, Kim Hyo-yeon, Kwon Yu-ri, Choi Soo-young, Stella Kim, Im Yoon-a, Jang Ha-jin, Seo Joo-hyun

This line-up is probably the most well-known line-up for the so-called female counterpart of Super Junior. At this point, netizens started calling this project group as Super Girls. In fact, SM Entertainment initially planned to debut this 11-member girl group. They even already took group picture of them.

REVISION 2 - PICTURE GROUP

The roster’s line-up had Soyeon as leader (as she’s the oldest among the eleven girls) and Seohyun as the magnae (the youngest). The main vocalists were Soyeon, Taeyeon, Jessica, Stephanie, Stella, and Seohyun. The main dancers were Hyoyeon, Yuri, Sooyoung, and Yoona. While the ‘visual line’ (a.k.a the pin-up girls) of the group were Jessica, Stella, Yoona, and Hajin.

The new addition, Kim Taeyeon and Stephanie Hwang both scouted by SM in 2004. Taeyeon won the Best Singer Grand Award on 2004 SM 8th Annual Best Contest. Park Soyeon, too, scouted after won the same contest in 2005.

Despite the plan to debut this project group, SM decided to add more people to the line-up. In the other hand, Stella Kim and Jang Ha-jin ended-up being cut from the group. There was a rumor that it was because of their lack of dancing skills. As for Stella, some also said that her parents refused to let her debut before she get a degree. I think the later is more plausible as Stella Kim is supposedly one of most prominent and famous SM trainee, along with Jessica, Yoona, and Hyoyeon (yes, the current ‘least popular member’ Hyoyeon was known as one of the prominent one thanks to her dancing skills, nice vocals, and long time of training)

[Update]

It was said that both Stella Kim and Jang Hajin had quit the project group to focus on their education. This was proven by the fact that both of them are now full-time college students. Stella goes to New York University (NYU) back in her hometown, while Jang Hajin enrolled to the prestigious Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST). In 2011, Jang Hajin published an autobiography titled “소원을 말해 봐 (Tell Me Your Wish)”. The book told the stories about her trainee life with SM Entertainment and as a part of the project group, as well as her first impressions and relationship with the SNSD members; which puts the members in a good light. Hajin said that she doesn’t stay in touch with SNSD members.

IN: Lee Soon-Kyu, Lee Hwan-hee, Heo Chan-mi

OUT: Stella Kim, Jang Ha-jin

REVISION 3

Members: Park So-yeon, Kim Tae-yeon, Jessica Jung, Lee Soon-kyu, Stephanie Hwang, Kim Hyo-yeon, Kwon Yu-ri, Choi Soo-young, Im Yoon-a, Seo Ju-hyun, Lee Hwan-hee, Heo Chan-mi

Leader: Park So-yeon (1987) | Maknae: Heo Chan-mi (1992)
The third roster revision had Lee Soonkyu, Lee Hwanhee, and Heo Chanmi as the newest addition. Soonkyu was recruited thanks to the rave recommendation from SM Towner Ahyoomi (now is better known as Iconiq) . Prior to her audition to SM Entertainment, Soon-kyu trained in Wheesung‘s company. Unfortunately the company went bankrupt. Lee Hwanhee was re-recruited to the group. Heo Chanmi joined the group as the youngest one.

This line-up has 12 members, unlike the initial plan of 11 members. At this point (somewhere around mid 2006), the group went a lot of trials to decide who got cut out from the group. Sites like Naver and Daum had posted this>>line-up prediction

SUPER GIRLS - before SNSD name

SUPER GIRLS #1

SUPER GIRLS #2

SUPER GIRLS #3

As you can see, the last two picture are the closest one to final line-up. The second to last picture has nine members line-up, but unlike the final line-up, it’s Chanmi instead of Stephanie (Tiffany). In the last picture, both Lee Hwanhee and Heo Chanmi were being cut from the group. Some source said that SM actually planned to debut the group with this 10 members line-up. Unfortunately, one of the main vocalists and ‘leader’ Park Soyeon decided to quit due to “harsh” training. She wasn’t the only one who felt that way. You may have heard about how Kim Taeyeon, too, had thought about quitting. She even had runaway for one day before coming back to the training process.

As we have known, this project group debuted under the name So Nyuh Shi Dae (SNSD) in 2007, shortly after Soyeon, Chanmi, and Hwanhee left the group. However, two years later in 2009, Park Soyeon finally debuted under MNet’s Core Content Media (CCM) in the girl group T-ara.

Regarding her past trainee days with SNSD, Soyeon explained, “Back then it was tiring. And I went through much hardship.” Thus, she dropped out of her training. She also said, “Even now, I’m still in contact with the SNSD members. I’m really happy that SNSD is doing well. Going forward I will try my best as a member of T-ara. Although we’ll be in competition with SNSD, I would like it to be a friendly competition between us.”

[Update]

It’s quite interesting that after Park Soyeon debuted under CCM, Heo Chanmi also debuted under a CCM “mixed” idol group called Co-Ed (Nam Nyuh Gong Hak) in 2010. Co-Ed is consisting of 5 male members and 6 female members. The female members, including Chanmi, debuted under a sub-group called 5dolls in 2011.

Chanmi, who was once designated as SNSD’s youngest (maknae), spoke her thoughts about being a part of the SM Girl Group Project, “I was a trainee for a long time. I had participated in the recording for SNSD’s title track, and even completed the photoshoot. Since I was young, I was upset at not being able to debut with them.” She continued, “However, I was understanding because I knew that it hadn’t been that long since I started training. I supported the SNSD unni and hoped for the best.”

IN: —

OUT: Park So-yeon, Lee Hwan-hee, Heo Chan-mi

SM FINAL Girls #1

Members: Kim Tae-yeon, Jessica Jung, Lee Soon-kyu (Sunny), Stephanie Hwang (Tiffany), Kim Hyo-yeon, Kwon Yu-ri, Choi Soo-young, Im Yoon-a, Seo Joo-hyun (Seohyun).

Leader: Kim Tae-yeon (1989) | Maknae: Seo Joo-hyun (1991)

Well, we are all know very well who made it to the final line-up. The group of nine girls then named as ‘소녀시대 (So Nyeo Shi Dae)‘ which literally means ‘The Era of Maidens’. No joke. Even the girls themselves were taken aback by their old-fashioned, grandeur name. When the group name was announced, Koreans bewildered and amused at the odd choice of name. Thankfully, they have ‘Girls’ Generation’ as their English name instead of the literal meaning. (Well, anything is better than ‘The Era of Maidens’..) The name itself was taken from Lee Seung-chul‘s 1989 hits… ‘So Nyuh Shi Dae’. I found it interesting how the song was a hit in year 1989, the very year where most of SNSD members were born. And who would have thought that they managed to live it up to their name, leading the pack of girl-group domination, two years after they debuted.