SoWon (Perfect For You) - Girls' Generation

I still remember how I stumbled upon their videos late last year. It was a bunch of funny clips edited by one of their fans. I have to admit, the videos were hilarious and it drove my curiosity level of them up. After that, I started to look for videos that the funny clips originated from. Then, I became what I am today, a SONE, a very proud one to be exact.

It all started with a few of my friends singing a few lines from their hit song, Gee. I was curious as to what kind of song was it that went ‘gee gee gee gee gee’. So I got the title and artist’s name from one of them and went onto youtube to search. The song that came out was a very cute song. The dance was cute and the song itself was catchy and addictive. There were nine girls dancing in the music video that I saw. At first I thought it was just one person dancing and they edited it into nine people. Can’t blame me, they look almost the same in the dance version of the MV.

I went on a trip a few days after I heard and fell in love with that song. During my trip, I was able to sing that song together with my friends. I would sing a part of the lines and they would continue. That was how my journey to be a SONE started; thanks to my friends and a camping trip.

After I got back from the trip, I watched a series called Factory Girl, telling the story of the girls becoming intern editors for ELLE and how they handle the missions given to them. It was then it hit me, they’re not the same, they look different from each other. Though it took me forever to remember which name fits which face, I enjoyed watching Factory Girl. I can say that Factory Girl was the true beginning of my SONE-ness.

The ending of Factory Girl brought a shroud of emptiness within me. It was as though I was lost without anything to do, nothing to fill my online time and nothing to do. An idea came; a light bulb was lighted above my head. I went to the uploader’s channel and found another series, filmed during the girls’ debut era, called Girls Go to School, showing how the girls went from nobodies to who they were back when they debuted. GGTS was about the girls’ journey to become the guests for a program called School of Rock. Watching episode after episode made me realize that the girls have been through a lot and that the Korean public can be very hostile towards people as they left comments that hurt the girls after their first performance. Nevertheless, the girls continued to work hard and became guests on the show. GGTS is really something a new SONE should watch first but I guess I watched the wrong thing first. It’s alright, I still turned out ok. =]

A few weeks after I started listening to Gee, this happened before I finish Factory Girl, my friends told me that song was already out, and that the new song Genie is what’s in these days. I was bewildered but I went to check it out anyway and I am very happy that I did. I immediately labeled that song as awesome during my first time listening to it. The chorus part was the one that reeled me in. The music video gave a totally different feel from Gee. For one thing, it gave a more grown up feel and I can really see the girls as matured ladies instead of the girls in Gee. One person that really captured my attention was the one that had her bangs pulled back and had ad-libs towards the end of the song. I still didn’t know who she was yet at that time. Back then, the only person I could recognize at first glance was Tiffany for she was the first person I saw on a magazine article about them.

All I knew about them was only the two songs that had been replaying over and over again on my mp3, Gee and Genie. I didn’t really know what other songs they had and I assumed that they had just debuted with Gee at that time. It wasn’t until when my friend introduced Into the New World and Kissing You to me that I started to search for their songs and MVs. Slowly, one song after another, my collection of their songs started to grow, from Baby Baby until the most recent songs, I downloaded them all. But I found out that they prefer their fans to buy their albums instead of downloading them illegally online. So I made a promise to myself that I would buy the next album that they release.

Seeing me now and how defensive I get when others criticize them, it’s hard to believe that I used to do the same as well. Back when I just heard Gee and Genie, my friends bombarded me with various examples of the girls being rude and disrespectful. They even claimed them to be plastic and I saw many videos online about that topic as well. I was frequently asked ‘why do you like them?’ and I would answer ‘I like their songs, but not them.’ Thinking back about this, I’m quite ashamed of myself for behaving like that.

Like I said, Factory Girl changed my perception on them a lot. I learnt that they’re not really as bad as my friends made it sound to be. Either that; or I have yet to see them being rude and disrespectful.

Now, I’m proud to call myself a SONE. I bought their latest album, Oh! And Run Devil Run. My SoShi collection is going to keep expanding from now on. My next target is their first official photo book and hopefully will be able to attend their concert in the near future.

***

this was written somewhere during mid2010. of course, my doubts about them are long gone and i give them my fullest support, as a SONE.

oh yea, my collection has expanded since then! i am now, the proud owner of:

1. Gee - The First Mini Album
2. Oh! - The 2nd Album
3. Run Devil Run - The 2nd Album Repackaged
4. Genie - Japanese Debut Single
5. Hoot - The 3rd Mini Album
6. Girls' Generation Into The New World - Girls' Generation The First Asia Tour
7. Girls' Generation First Photobook in Japan

hehe i'm going to add All About Girls' Generation DVD to my collection soon ^^