The Boys (Girls' Generation album)
The Boys is the third Korean studio album and the fourth overall by South Korean girl group Girls' Generation. The record saw the contribution of the group's previous collaborator Hitchhiker, who produced the tracks "Telepathy" and "Sunflower". The title track, "The Boys", was a result of experimenting with new producers, including American Grammy Award-winning producer Teddy Riley. Musically, The Boys mostly contains uptempo dance tracks and occasionally empowerment ballads.
| The Boys | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | October 19, 2011 | |||
| Recorded | July – September 2011 | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 46:02 | |||
| Language | ||||
| Label | ||||
| Girls' Generation chronology | ||||
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| Mr. Taxi version | ||||
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| Singles from The Boys | ||||
The album was released on October 19, 2011, by SM Entertainment, and was distributed in South Korea by KMP Holdings. An alternate version titled Mr. Taxi featured a Korean-language version of the group's 2011 Japanese-language single "Mr. Taxi", and an English-language version of "The Boys" was released on December 9, 2011. An international version featuring the English-language version of "The Boys" was released in January 2012 by Interscope and Polydor Records, which are affiliated with Universal Music Group, in order to expand the group's endeavor to the global music scene. To promote the record for international audiences, the group appeared on television shows in the United States and France.
Upon its release, The Boys received generally positive reviews from music critics. Commercially, the album was a success in the group's native country South Korea, peaking atop the Gaon Album Chart and was the best-selling album of 2011 in the country. The project won the Digital Daesang Awards at both the 26th Golden Disk Awards and 21st Seoul Music Awards. It also achieved success in other Asian countries, including Japan (reaching number 2 on the Oricon Albums Chart) and Taiwan (reaching number 3 on the G-Music chart). The record additionally charted at numbers 64 and 130 in Spain and France, respectively. In the United States, The Boys reached number 2 on the World Albums and number 17 on the Top Heatseekers.
Background
In August 2011, S.M. Entertainment confirmed that the group will be back in September with their third full-length album, but the release date was eventually delayed to October due to Sooyoung’s unexpected car accident injury.
Release and promotion
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [2] |
| The Borneo Post | Positive[3] |
| IZM |  [4] |
| Spectrum Culture | 4.25/5[5] |
On September 26, 2011, the first teaser photo featuring Taeyeon was released online for the impending comeback for "The Boys", followed by Sunny and Hyoyeon on September 27, Jessica, Sooyoung, and Tiffany on September 28, and Yoona, Yuri, and Seohyun on September 29. The girls all represented a fairytale theme, with Taeyeon as Snow White, Sunny as Little Red Riding Hood, Hyoyeon as Thumbelina, Jessica as Elisa, Sooyoung as Rapunzel, Tiffany as Ariel, Yoona as Milady de Winter, Yuri as Karen, and Seohyun as The Snow Queen. On September 30, 2011, SM Entertainment announced that the album would be indefinitely postponed due to ongoing discussions about an album release in the United States, with details to be released as soon as they were confirmed.[6]
On October 1, 2011, SM Entertainment released the first teaser for "The Boys", followed by the second teaser on October 7, 2011. Both teasers showed Yoona picking up a black crystal, and proceeds to show the rest of the members in an outside, misty atmosphere. Later on October 13, 2011, SM Entertainment released 16-second teaser clips for both the Korean and English versions of "The Boys". The teaser depicts the girls rapping and chanting along to the song. On the same day, SM released 30-second teaser clips of "The Boys", which showed a longer version of the previous teaser videos.
The album was officially released on October 19, 2011, and the group's comeback performances commenced on October 21, 2011, starting with Music Bank. It was confirmed on November 27 that an alternate version of the album will be out on December 8. The Korean version of "Mr. Taxi" was promoted as the second single from the album and the main promotional single off the alternate version of the album.
The album was promoted with the tour "Girls' Generation World Tour Girls & Peace, starting on June 8, 2013, in Olympic Gymnastics Arena, Seoul, South Korea, and ending in Cotai Arena, Macau, on February 15, 2014. The tour also promoted their 4th studio album, I Got A Boy.
Japan
A Japanese version of "The Boys" was produced for the repackaged album of Girls' Generation, released on December 28, 2011. It included the song "Time Machine", for which an MV was revealed on March 13, 2012.[7] However, it was never officially promoted on Japanese TV broadcasts. On December 19, 2011, Girls' Generation performed the Japanese version of "The Boys" live on the Japanese TV reality show, Hey! Hey! Hey! Music Champ.
North America
"The Boys" was announced for an American release on November 19, 2011, under their American label Interscope Records, but after postponement, the single was released digitally on December 20 instead. SM Entertainment confirmed that the girls would promote their debut US single, "The Boys" on the late-night talk show the Late Show with David Letterman and on syndicated daytime talk show Live! with Kelly on January 31 and February 1 respectively.
The Boys was released in the US on January 17, 2012. This marks Girls' Generation's first physical release in the country, using the Korean single cover of the title track as the American album cover. Except for the English version of the title track, the entire album consists of Korean-language songs, all of which were taken from the original edition of The Boys. Four remixes of the English version of "The Boys" are also included in the US edition, the first of which features American rapper Snoop Dogg.
Europe
They performed "The Boys" on the French show, Le Grand Journal after it was announced that they were to release "The Boys" on February 13, 2012, through Universal Music Group’s Polydor Records in France.
Singles
"The Boys" was released worldwide via iTunes on October 19, 2011. In an interview with MTV K, members Jessica and Tiffany mentioned that the recording of both English and Korean versions took a week to finish. The song marked the first time a Girls' Generation member had written a single for the group, with Tiffany writing the English rap and final chorus of the song. In the US, the single failed to enter the US Billboard Hot 100 but entered the Top 100 on the iTunes 200 Top Songs, and later reached the Top 30 for a moment on its first day of release. It dropped off the chart three days later; despite this, the song managed to sell over 21,000 copies.[8] However, the Korean Version debuted at number 1 on the Billboard's Korea K-Pop Hot 100. The Korean version of "Mr. Taxi" was the album's second single to promote an alternate version of the album.
Accolades
| Year | Ceremony | Award | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | Mnet Asian Music Awards | Album of the Year | Nominated | |
| 2012 | Gaon Chart Music Awards | Album of the Year – 4th Quarter | Won | [9] |
| Golden Disc Awards | Disc Bonsang | Nominated | [10] | |
| Mnet 20's Choice Awards | Album of the Year | Nominated | ||
| 2014 | iF Design Award | Packaging Design | Won | [11] |
| Red Dot Design Award | Communication Design Award | Won | [12] |
Commercial performance
The Boys was commercially successful in Asian regions. It debuted at number 1 on South Korea's Gaon Weekly Albums chart and sold over 460,000 copies in South Korea alone, which made it the best selling girl group album of the 2010s decade in the country. The album also peaked at number 2 on the Oricon Weekly Albums Chart, the standard album chart of Japan, with sales records of more than 100,000 copies in the country. In addition, the album sold 26,000 copies in Taiwan. The album charted both in Spain and France at position number 64 and number 130 respectively for one week. A total of ten songs charted within the top ten on the Gaon Chart, including "Telepathy", "Top Secret", "Vitamin", "How Great Is Your Love", and "Mr. Taxi".
The US edition of The Boys has not replicated the same commercial performance as it did in its native country; the album failed to enter the Billboard 200,[13] but debuted at number 2 on the Billboard World Albums[14] and re-entered the Heatseekers Album Chart at number 17.[14]
Track listing
Credits adapted from Naver
| No. | Title | Lyrics | Music | Arrangement | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "The Boys" |
|
| 3:48 | |
| 2. | "Telepathy" (텔레파시; Tellepasi) |
| 3:45 | ||
| 3. | "Say Yes" | 3:46 | |||
| 4. | "Trick" |
|
| 3:15 | |
| 5. | "How Great Is Your Love" (봄날; Bomnal; lit. Springtime) |
|
| 3:54 | |
| 6. | "My J" |
|
|
| 3:53 |
| 7. | "Oscar" |
| 3:23 | ||
| 8. | "Top Secret" |
|
|
| 2:59 |
| 9. | "Lazy Girl (Dolce Far Niente)" |
| 3:05 | ||
| 10. | "Sunflower" (제자리걸음; Jejarigeoleum; lit. Walking on the spot) |
| 3:50 | ||
| 11. | "Vitamin" (비타민; Bitamin) |
|
|
| 3:10 |
| 12. | "Mr. Taxi" (Korean Version) |
|
|
| 3:32 |
| 13. | "The Boys" (English Version) |
|
| 3:47 | |
| Total length: | 46:02 | ||||
| No. | Title | Lyrics | Music | Arrangement | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "The Boys" (English Version) |
|
| 3:48 | |
| 2. | "Telepathy" (텔레파시; Tellepasi) |
| 3:45 | ||
| 3. | "Say Yes" | 3:46 | |||
| 4. | "Trick" |
|
| 3:15 | |
| 5. | "How Great Is Your Love" (봄날; Bomnal; lit. Springtime) |
|
| 3:54 | |
| 6. | "My J" |
|
|
| 3:53 |
| 7. | "Oscar" |
| 3:23 | ||
| 8. | "Top Secret" |
|
|
| 2:59 |
| 9. | "Lazy Girl (Dolce Far Niente)" |
| 3:05 | ||
| 10. | "Sunflower" (제자리걸음; Jejarigeoleum; lit. Walking on the spot) |
| 3:50 | ||
| 11. | "Vitamin" (비타민; Bitamin) |
|
|
| 3:10 |
| 12. | "Mr. Taxi" (Korean Version) |
|
|
| 3:32 |
| 13. | "The Boys" |
|
| 3:48 | |
| 14. | "The Boys (Clinton Sparks & Disco Fries Remix)" (featuring Snoop Dogg) |
|
| 4:16 | |
| 15. | "The Boys *Bring Dem Boys*" (featuring Suzi) |
| 3:36 | ||
| 16. | "The Boys *Bring The Boys Out*" (David Anthony Remix) |
|
| 4:24 | |
| 17. | "The Boys *Bring The Boys*" (Teddy Riley Remix) |
| 4:01 | ||
| Total length: | 62:10 | ||||
| No. | Title | Lyrics | Music | Arrangement | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Mr. Taxi" (Korean Version) |
|
|
| 3:32 |
| 2. | "The Boys" |
|
| 3:48 | |
| 3. | "Telepathy" (텔레파시; Tellepasi) |
| 3:45 | ||
| 4. | "Say Yes" | 3:46 | |||
| 5. | "Trick" |
|
| 3:15 | |
| 6. | "How Great Is Your Love" (봄날; Bomnal; lit. Springtime) |
|
| 3:54 | |
| 7. | "My J" |
|
|
| 3:53 |
| 8. | "Oscar" |
| 3:23 | ||
| 9. | "Top Secret" |
|
|
| 2:59 |
| 10. | "Lazy Girl (Dolce Far Niente)" |
| 3:05 | ||
| 11. | "Sunflower" (제자리걸음; Jejarigeoleum; lit. Walking on the spot) |
| 3:50 | ||
| 12. | "Vitamin" (비타민; Bitamin) |
|
|
| 3:10 |
| 13. | "The Boys" (English Version) |
|
| 3:47 | |
| Total length: | 46:02 | ||||
Personnel
Credits for The Boys are adapted from AllMusic.[17]
|
|
Charts
Weekly charts
|
Year-end charts
|
Release history
| Region | Date | Edition | Format | Distributor(s) | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| South Korea | October 19, 2011 | Standard | [28] | ||
| Hong Kong | October 26, 2011 | CD | Universal Music Hong Kong | [29] | |
| Japan | November 5, 2011 | Universal Music Japan | [30] | ||
| Australia | November 11, 2011 | Digital download | Universal Music Australia | [31] | |
| Taiwan | November 18, 2011 | CD | Universal Music Taiwan | [32] | |
| South Korea | December 9, 2011 | Version B: Mr. Taxi | S.M. Entertainment | [33] | |
| Taiwan | January 13, 2012 | Universal Music Taiwan | [34] | ||
| United States | January 17, 2012 | International |
|
Interscope Records | [35][36] |
References
- "'The Boys' The 3rd Album".
- Sendra, Tim. "The Boys | Overview". AllMusic. All Media Network. Retrieved April 3, 2016.
- Bae, Jung (November 6, 2011). "Album Review: 'The Boys' takes SNSD in a gutsy new direction". The Borneo Post. Retrieved April 7, 2017.
- "The Boys – Girls' Generation". IZM (in Korean). October 2011. Retrieved April 3, 2016.
- Link, Trevor (February 2, 2012). "Girls' Generation: The Boys". Spectrum Culture. Retrieved September 20, 2020.
- 소시, 3집 韓발매연기 공식발표 "美앨범발매때문". Star News (in Korean). January 21, 2010. Retrieved October 2, 2011.
- "Girls' Generation releases full PV for "Time Machine"". allkpop. Retrieved June 9, 2012.
- "Girls' Generation Makes Big U.S. Debut on 'Letterman': Watch". billboard.com. February 1, 2012. Retrieved July 8, 2012.
- "SNSD's Tae Yeon hosts the 1st Gaon Chart K-Pop Award". Star News. February 24, 2012. Archived from the original on December 26, 2020. Retrieved May 5, 2015.
- "Korean 2011 Golden Disk Awards release nominations". Yahoo! Singapore. November 29, 2011. Archived from the original on May 26, 2022. Retrieved May 26, 2022.
- Kwon, Soo-bin (January 23, 2014). "EXO and SNSD's Albums Win 'iF Design Awards 2014'". Newsen. Archived from the original on December 28, 2014. Retrieved March 2, 2015.
- "SM Entertainment wins 8 awards at Germany's '2014 Red Dot Design Award' with EXO, Super Junior, SHINee, Girls' Generation, & f(x) albums". Archived from the original on February 1, 2016. Retrieved August 18, 2014.
- SNSD "The Boys" Debuts at number 2 on Billboard's World Chart | Soompi
- "SNSD "The Boys" Debuts at number 2 on Billboard's World Chart". Soompi.
- "'The Boys' The 3rd Album" (in Korean). Melon. Retrieved April 30, 2015.
- "The Boys – Music". Google Play. Archived from the original on April 21, 2015.
- "The Boys Credit". AllMusic. Retrieved April 18, 2015.
- "The Boys – Album" (in French). Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique. Archived from the original on October 29, 2013.
- "CDアルバムランキング: 2011年11月07日付". Oricon Style (in Japanese). Oricon. Archived from the original on December 27, 2014.
- "Week 44 of 2011, Album Chart" (in Korean). Gaon Music Chart. Archived from the original on February 6, 2015.
- "Girls' Generation – The Boys (Album)" (in Spanish). Productores de Música de España. Archived from the original on November 12, 2013.
- "Albums: Week 42, 2011" (in Chinese). G-Music. Archived from the original on October 24, 2011.
- "World Music: Top World Albums Chart (Week of February 4, 2012)". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Archived from the original on March 25, 2015.
- "Heatseekers Albums: Week of February 18, 2012". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Archived from the original on April 18, 2015.
- "年間 CDアルバムランキング" (in Japanese). Oricon. Archived from the original on April 10, 2015.
- "Gaon Album Chart" (in Korean). Gaon Music Chart. Archived from the original on October 24, 2013.
- "Gaon Album Chart" (in Korean). Gaon Music Chart. Archived from the original on October 24, 2013.
- "'The Boys' The 3rd Album" (in Korean). Melon. Archived from the original on July 22, 2014.
- "The Boys" (in Chinese). Universal Music Hong Kong. Retrieved May 27, 2015.
- "The Boys by Girls' Generation" (in Japanese). Universal Music Japan. Retrieved May 27, 2015.
- "'The Boys' by Girls' Generation". Getmusic.com.au. Archived from the original on May 27, 2015.
- "The Boys – Girls' Generation" (in Chinese). Universal Music Taiwan. Retrieved May 27, 2015.
- "Repackage 'Mr. Taxi'" (in Korean). Hanteo. Retrieved May 27, 2015.
- "Mr. Taxi – Girls' Generation" (in Chinese). Universal Music Taiwan. Retrieved May 27, 2015.
- "The Boys: Music". Amazon. Retrieved May 27, 2015.
- "Girls' Generation: The Boys – Music". Google Play. Archived from the original on April 21, 2015.
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| Studio albums |
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| Extended plays |
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| Compilation albums | |||||
| Video albums | |||||
| Concert tours |
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| Affiliated tours | |||||
| Filmography |
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