Oh Em Gee! SNSD’s 2nd Album- Hot or Not?
So Nyeo Shi Dae was the dominant girl group of 2009 (though 2NE1 put up one hell of a fight). These nine comely young women won over ahjusshisSouth Korea with their blend of cutesy, non-threatening, long-legged aegyo and attractiveness.
SNSD is now attempting to reign over 2010 as well, with their second full-length album, “Oh.” Will the Power of Nine prove triumphant once again? Probably – but as that is a foregone conclusion, this article will have less to do with their more-than-certain success, and more about a simple k-pop fan’s review of the merits of this album.
It’s a bit significant that my first album review would be for Girl’s Generation – when I first became immersed in k-pop, they were really the first big girl group I encountered; I think “Gee” was the first k-pop song I placed on my mp3 player. I remember not really liking the song at first, but it was extremely different from anything I normally listened to, in genre, pitch and tone and…everything. But as with all k-pop, the song wormed its way into my brain and refused to let go, and and I ached to hear more.
If I wanted to be matter-of-fact about it, that description sums up my relationship with SNSD’s music as a whole. Most of the songs they produce are just not up my alley, stylistically or aurally. But something – perhaps it’s the bubbly, happy MVs, the carefully choreographed performances – prevents me from writing them off completely as “just not my thing.” And maybe that is why they are and continue to be so popular – as much as some may dislike their music, their personas, their fans or are overtaken plain old jealousy- there’s a little place in our hearts for So Nyeo Shi Dae , and damn it, it’s all SM’s fault.
As for their album, as a whole I found it a bit disappointing – again, most of So Nyeo Shi Dae’s music is simply not to my taste, so that colors my opinion of their efforts a bit. However while perusing the album, I ran into some pleasant surprises.
- Oh! – I put this in the same category as “Gee” – annoying as hell, but sticks to you like a leech after a few listens. Unfortunately for a single, I think it lacks that melodic enthusiasim that permeated the latter.
- Show! Show! Show! – The only unreleased fast song I liked on the album. More in the “Genie” vein, I wish their entire album had leant more in this direction, instead of the bubbly pop that eventually takes over.
- Fun(Sweet Talking Baby) – Got excited when I heard the classical music in the beginning, then.. mmm, no. Overall I think it was incorporated well into another happy, chipmunky SNSD pop song.
- Ditto, for “Be Happy”, “Boys&Girls” (wasn’t digging the retro feel) and “Stick Wit U” (which I wrongly assumed was a remake of the PCD song). My God, “Stick Wit You”. It would go perfectly at the beginning of a wacky, crazy shojo anime, don’t you think?
- (Forever)
- (Talk To Me)
- (Day by Day)
- (Star Star Star)
I’m placing these songs all together, because not only were they my favorites on the album, but the were the slowest. I feel like the girls (particularly Taeyeon, Tiffany and Jessica) really shine on these songs, and they eradicate some of the groups more manic qualities. Also the slow songs are just nicely produced in my opinion; soft and sweet, and showcasing the girls’ voices. Also, I may be showing my age, but “Talk To Me?” Totally could have been an Aaron Neville jam! They get points for that alone.
Overall. It’s not a bad album, but maybe there’s something to be said that for me, the slowest songs made the most impact. I’m not holding my breath, but maybe they’ll promote “Star Star Star” after “Show! Show! Show!”? It would be keeping with the triple title theme at least.
When I first heard “Oh” I was disappointed in the fact that I thought SM said they would being showing a more mature side of SNSD, which I clearly didnt get from this single and defintely not the MV. But the best of that MV honestly was the last 5 secs, with the surprise of a dark SNSD. I’m looking foward for that.
Another thing, it’s obivous this song will big on the charts, no doubt on that. But, I mean it totally lacked the wow power. I felt like they were trying to combine “Gee” with the cute-close ups, and bubble faces, and “Genie” with the dance moves and outfit all into “Oh”. Which didn’t really flow as well.
I was really hoping they would escape that glowing bubblegumpop, all sprinkles type box, but i understand they don’t control their concept, i do. But, hello, SM they are in their twenties now, i think giving then a stronger and more mature concept while still incorporating their SNSD charm would do them wonders in furthering the group.
Oh, I don’t think will be at Gee level, but it might past Genie, though.
Anyway, I kinda hope they don’t sweep the charts. lol. all the way, cuz there are a lot of groups out like c.n blue and 2am they can get and i think deserve some awards.
But, whatever, more power to ya.
I feel so bad for Taeyeon. That girl’s got a freaking POWERFUL and amazing voice..yet here she is, trying to sound all high-pitched, girly and squeaky in songs like “oh!”
Jessica and sunny can pull of that kind of singing cause their natural singing voices are highpitched and squeaky..But I feel so sorry for Taeyeon not being able to show her full voice capabilities.. :/ Genie did SO much justice to her voice, and i love it <3
This? Not so much.
yes sorry for Taeyeon, but what about Hyoyeon? She’s an amazing dancer and like Tae, they’re stuck doing things that will not allow them to perform to their full potential. :-( I feel so bad for them some times, but to stay in the business u just gotta give up some things or join a diff company.
agree with both..
i have yet to listen to the full album (probably will never), but i found “oh” and “show show show” kind of annoying and very underwhelming. Whether it will be a success is not the problem here, because they will sell like hot cakes…But there is something about their music that just bores me and makes no impact whatsoever. Don’t get me wrong I tolerate SNSD, but I want to see some sort of growth. But the just never happens. Reason why I gave up on SME artists, they are the same from first album release to the last…Not my cup of tea (at least Suju finally evolved)
just like the author said star star star and forever showcased their talents i was very surprised by these songs it really shows off their vocal abilities, dont judge before hearing the whole album
i’m talking about “oh” and ’show show show” in my post..nowhere did i mention the rest of the album. gee gee gee baby baby baby, take time to understand what you reading.
hon bubbles is just explaining how SNSD songs can be so repetitive dont be so defensive anyways im waiting for 2ne1’s album to compare with snsd’s album.
star star star and forever showcased their mature side, and showed their vocal abilities. I honestly thought the whole album was gonna sound like oh but, i prejudged which isnt good. Dont judge until you hear all the album
i truly listened to the whole album and i can say that this album is still nowhere near what i was expecting. i believe what bubbles is trying to say is that for a PROMOTIONAL song, oh didn’t showcase anything. when i heard oh, when i saw the MV, and when i saw the performance on music core, i came to the conclusion of utter disappointment. i wanted more. i expected more. i know they can do better with a promotional song.
as for star star star and forever, those are probably the only songs i will listen to on this album. SM needs to stop milking the ahjussi population with their bubblegum cute crap and send them more towards the vocally challenging, more mature and sophisticated side of the kpop world.
cuz we all know that no matter what song snsd promotes, they’ll be up the charts.
never i fan of snsd songs because their songs just too cheesy for my taste
this album is ok for me, too many songs in here just have that cute, girly baby voice(esp. jessica’s voice) that just turn me off..the ballad songs are good but not WOW
7/10 for me
Oh! was pretty disappointing for me
it lacks originality, and doesn’t really have a WOW factor
the song is a bit like gee, just catchy and sugary
the choreography was all legs again like genie
sm seriously needs to come up with a new concept with snsd instead of the “i’m so innocent but my shorts are barely shorts and my songs are sexual!”
seriously these girls can do better
lol its cause “i’m so innocent but my shorts are barely shorts and my songs are sexual!” sells in korea. especially to all the males from teens to old men. its the reason they became so popular in the beginning.
totally agree. i loved talk to me the most. it has the lounge feel which i totally loved.
not into jessicas chipmunk sounding voice. but i kinda fell for tiffanys voice. its really sweet and nice.
I agree. I like Tiff’s voice too but Jessica, from the way she acts on stage to her persona and to her voice, she’s just really irritating.
hahaha that made me laugh lol “i’m so innocent but my shorts are barely shorts and my songs are sexual!”
seriously these girls can do better lollllll
I expected them to really WOW me, since I had a lot of expectations after the Genie album. I thought they’d pick it up a notch, but unfortunately they only did it with just a few songs.
Byul Byul Byul is my favorite – it’s simple, heartfelt and showcases vocals of members I haven’t even really heard through out the album.
Caramel Coffee (Talk To Me) – it’s a different type of song and definitely not one that I had expected to find on the album. They pleasantly surprised me with this one and Jessica and Tiffany’s voices really go well together. I just wish they stayed away from the English words that once in a while would pop up – ‘ice-cream’… really?
Overal, it was an okay album. There weren’t bad bad songs on it, but just not amazing as a whole. I do think that these girls are talented and it’s quite a shame that they are marketed the way they are now. Hopefully in a few years when they’re all more mature and older that they’ll take on a more sexier and sophisticated kind of image, which in my opinion really fits them.
For now, cute is what sells in Korea and they know it.
P.S. Also, this might just be me but this seems to be quite a smart move SM is making. They’re going for an overly cute, catchy, sugary image to maybe WOW the public even more with what’s the concept that’s up next – ‘Bad’ SNSD.
After listening to all the tracks on this album. I conclude that star star star is my favourite.
OMG I reviewed the album on my blog http://kpopjpopomy.wordpress.com/ and I feel exactly the same! My favorite songs on the album happen to be those slow songs you mentioned at the end, except for Day by Day, not my style. I wish they would have stayed with the Genie vibe D=
I find that this song is not as good as Genie or Gee because in those two songs, Taeyeon usually has a big vocal blasting vocal part in the end. (she usually does in most of snsd’s main songs) But in Oh! there wasn’t really any “climax” to the song I find. It’s just gets squeakier.
Thats so funny coz i totally loved the slow songs but not the fast poppy ones too! And Talk to Me was such a sweet tune. It really showed the members singing abilities which were previously masked by the catchy but no so vocally challenging Gee and Genie
While the Oh album is not ground breaking, it is an improvement in the right direction. I am still not a fan of SNSD the group but I do appreciate that some of these girls are indeed talented (not all but definitely some), but SM dumbs down that talent. I agree with the writer though that the only songs I really like on this album were the ballads/slow songs because it actually shows the talent that some of these girls possess. I hated Gee and to be perfectly honest that song annoyed me to no end because the vocals were bad to be honest.
Many fanboys like to believe that if you don’t like SNSD you are an anti or jealous. To be honest I am not a fan of SNSD because the cutesy music is not my taste. Also being quite educated makes it very hard to digest the concepts that SME gives these girls to appeal to the male/ajussi fanbase. The lollipops, sailor suits, and cheerleader outfits make the intelligent and therefore slightly feminist in me cry.
I tried so very hard to resist listening to “Oh!” but I gave in and unfortunately its three minutes of my life I can never get back. I honestly try to like them because as much as I hate to admit most of the girls are really talented but sadly as long as they are apart of SME they will probably never get a chance to display how talented they truly are which is sad.
I hated “Gee” which a passion, I almost stopped listening to K-pop after that song came out. “Genie” was decent and that “Chocolate Love” was decent. Other than that I cannot see myself enjoying them. Maybe if I were a dude…
I agree with hapacalgirl I’m not an anti nor jealous its just cutesy pop music is not my thing. I think that its really sick how SME promotes to the male fanbase. Those cannot think that they are popular because of their talents and music. It obvious well to most of us has everything to do with their aesthetic appeal to the male fans and impressible young girls.
What happened to the kpop back in the day? When singers actually sang? You know the pre-auto tune days? When singers did less variety shows, and cf, and modeling. I want the old kpop back, when it was more about the music less about looks and appeal. I appreciate heart-felt lyrics music. Not just music made for popular mass! But whatever as long as fans keep giving in to the mindless music it will continue being popular!
Actually wasn’t lipsynching the norm for kpop back in the day?
to sum it up real nicely and neatly:
it’s a typical SME album. a few songs go to your ipod (maybe even on repeat), the majority you forget about completely.
I love the new album! ^^
But yeah it’s not that good compared to gee. Oh! was pretty disappointing when i first listened to it but after a few more listen, it’s really pretty addicting. So loving it <3
Overall, the album's awesome.. I personally like the balllads – Forever and Star Star Star., these are really nice songs. Their voices are really beautiful.
SoShi is finally back and will dominate 2010 as well!
SNSD hwaiting! <33
Hmm. Oh is pretty catchy and I absolutely love their outfits (not the cheerleading ones though), but I really don’t think the song is an indication of their talent.
Taeyeon’s voice is deep, beautiful and expressive. Why is SME making her sing these squeaky auto-tuned songs? I think Oh will be a big hit on charts, but music-wise, it’s really an empty song meant to sell and not to showcase.
Their dark and sexy concept this year is a bit like Gee and Genie; first show a cutesy ahjussi-alert bubblegum side, then a sexy mature side. Sad case, but this is marketing.
When I first heart “Oh!” I was disappointed, to be honest. Since, I’m a huge Girls’ Generation fan, I knew how good these girls good be vocally-speaking and I knew that they could do so much better than this annoying-but-addictive song called, Oh. But like Gee, it just sorta grows… you know.
And I don’t know but it’s also OUR (the audience’s) fault why SNSD just couldn’t break away from this image. I mean… it sells more. Although, we can see the efforts they’ve made to break from it like… Genie… and now Show! Show! Show! Like some say, it IS the sad truth of marketing.
But I hope everyone would actually listen to the song, “Star Star Star”. It’s amazing and it displays how well these girls can sing… so I hope everyone gives it a chance and not just listen to Oh and Gee and judge the girls’ talent solely by those cutesy bubblegum pop songs.
:)
This album was disapointing just like the ‘genie’ mini album. Most songs were a bit annoying and the ballads were not special. :( I really try to like their music, but it’s impossible because SME only release these type of music.
I wonder if ‘Oh’ will be banned, The lyrics and the way it’s sung is so dirrrrrrrrty and sexual specially the ‘oppa I’ll be down, down, down’ and the ‘i’m now with a hot body’ and all the ‘oh’ and ‘ah’ that sound like you know what…
Korean broadcast channels bans songs which much less sexual content (or less offensive stuff) and for stupid reasons like how they banned K.Will and Outsider’s ‘Hypnosis’ song (amazing song by the way), Rain’s ‘Rainism’ and SeungRi ‘Strong Baby’, for example. It’ll be unfair if they banned those songs and don’t ban SNSD’s song that have more scandalous lines and sexual content than the previous songs.
PS: Not that I want the song to be banned. But it’ll be unfair to the other artists and groups that had their song banned for even less sexual and offensive lines than SNSD’s ‘Oh’ song.
K.Will and Outsider’s ‘Hypnosis’ song was AMAZING song and it was banned after 1 or 2 live performances because of a stupid reason. It was so unfair… And if K.Will and Outsider got their song banned, then Korean broadcast channels should treat all artists and groups the same which means (according to their standards) SNSD’s ‘Oh’ song should be banned as well.
Fanboys may like Oh! because it makes ‘em jizz in their pants,but personally,Oh! disappointed me because I don’t like the fact that the whole “concept” is very degrading-towardswomen and the girls’ themsleves.
Not only is the title an inneundo,but the song itself also has plently of sexual references to keep fanboys or male ajusshis happy.Though I suppose that is the whole point-making male fans happy=$$ to SME.
I would say that I dislike the concept because I think it makes the girls’ themsleves cheap.I don’t mind sexy,
but the girls’ don’t really pull it off the way “mature”
groups like CSJH or AS do.Maybe it’s because
SME wants them to do cute and sexy at the same
time,and in the end,it comes of as schoolgirl like
or trying to hard.It’s getting incredibly superficial-but at the end of the day,I’ve always thought of SNSD as an entertaining girl group,and they don’t fail to entertain me….
Also,I do agree with the rest of the fans here that the vocal ranges do not really suit the girls,though I wouldn’t mind TaeYeon not getting a “powerful” part for the main album song,not that I don’t like her singing,but her vocal chords these days are VERY strained,and it hasn’t been up to par for a very long time.The JETI duet was pretty decent,but I thought it lacked something Star Star Star is really the best song out of the whole album me
thinks,and overall I doubt the album is really worth it,unless you’re buying it for the SNSD girls’ themsleves.
Agreed.
I’m leaning more towards..has SM forgotten that SNSD also has fangirls? It’s really disappointing that the promo song is obviously aimed at the boys…
I wonder what it’d be like if SNSD sang R&N. I think it would fit Sooyoung, Yuri, Sunny, and Hyoyeon. SM should step out of their comfort zone.
i agree with you abt the ballads. they were pretty good! I think my favorite might be Forever. too bad SM is never going to let SNSD promote them, though I think with such a large loyal fan-following that SM should let the girls experiment with promoting a ballad. If they want to attract the male audience, they can still have the girls wear really cute outfits while singing the ballads. it will be like 9 princesses singing.
SNSD – Oh! muscle relaxant pop version (slowed down) :D
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mE34m3jbxIA
I loved the ballads — really really fond of Taeyeon’s voice being showcased…
I am disappointed that Oh! is the promotional song for the album, but I gotta admit, Gee grew on me after a while and I’m expecting Oh! to be the same annoyingly addicting LSS tune.
Though I understand that addictive Gee-like songs get more love in S.Korea than Genie-like songs, I expected ITNW-like songs from its original composer~
I -am- looking forward to the dark concept~ >:)
TBH slow songs and ballad r easily likeable. as for the others song in the album , u gotta like SNSD music style to like the songs. on a side note, i dont see any song in the album that can be promoted using the “dark” concept. is there a possibility that the repackage album will have those kind of song?
kinda dislike Oh when I first listen to it because there isn’t climax at all for me, for example hyoyeon’s music remix and my fav taeyeon’s vocal. but after sometime, I find it quite nice though. However, “Star Star Star” is my fav song in the whole album. I’ve listened to it hunderds of time and still loving it! Still anticipating for the “Bad” so nyuh though.
I’m really digging their slower songs too. Star Star Star and Forever wow’ed me. These songs reminds me that the most of the girls are actually vocally talented. Taeyeon, Sunny, and Tiffany out-shone the other members in vocal department, imo (though, for Sunny, she still has problem in singing while dancing ._.)
ngl, I love the cutesy SNSD. I love their cute, happy songs. Be Happy is really fun to listen to. Martian Virus (Boys & Girls) is a pleasant surprise, it’s such a pop song yet it has an ~edge~ to it. Taeyeon and Hyoyeon, yes, the dancing queen Hyoyeon, shine in that song.
Yeah, I hope SM somehow will promote Star Star Star (Byul Byul Byul) too. Or at least let SNSD perform it once in music show… Oh, and I can’t wait for the “Bad SNSD” concept teased on the MV!
Agree. Really wish to see “Star Star Star” live!
i agree with you as those are my favorite tracks as well. i love the ballads but they wont be heavily promoted cause that’s not how they make their hits. i can see star being one of the songs they perform later down the line with their second lead single but i dont sense an mv in sight. its like with dear mom. love the song, best song on the gee album but it didnt get the play it deserves. but this might be my fav girls album yet. im holding judgement until i get the album later today. after rocking out it to ill make my final judgement
To be honest, the teasers for “Oh” got me really excited for the rest of the song, but its not that great, its defenitely missing something.
And I agree, “Star Star Star” is such a pretty song! Its very different from anything else they have ever done and I would LOVE it if they promoted this one next.
So I’m not the only one that was hoping for 별별별 to be promoted?
Sadly I predict that they won’t knowing SME, they won’t, despite the skill presented, I doubt that SM is willing to push their ballad skills to the forefront.
Not hot in the slightest. They’re promoting overrated members like Tiffany and Yoona who do absolutly nothing for the group (can’t they pull a Sunmi and leave?), use their recycled cutesy two year old cute act and yet again Hyoyeon is pushed to the back when she’s easily the best dancer. Fail for SNSD yet again…
Well I didn’t like Oh at first but my 4 year old saw the video and was like “Mommy their so pretty, I want to dance like that” that is when I knew …..aigoooo man I almost screamed and tried to find any cool dance thinger ma jigger I could find on youtube to no avail.
My kid has been SNSD-ized HELP!