The Boys (Girls' Generation album)

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The Boys
Studio album by
Girls' Generation
ReleasedOctober 19, 2011 (2011-10-19)
Recorded2011
Genre
Length46:02
Language
Label
Girls' Generation chronology
Girls' Generation
(2011) 		The Boys
(2011)
Girls & Peace

(2012)
Mr. Taxi version
Singles from The Boys
  1. "The Boys"
    Released: October 19, 2011
  2. "Mr. Taxi"
    Released: December 9, 2011

The Boys is the third

uptempo dance tracks and occasionally empowerment ballads
.

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, 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

Top Heatseekers
.

Background

In August 2011,

Sooyoung
’s unexpected car accident injury.

Release and promotion

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[2]
The Borneo PostPositive[3]
IZM[4]
Spectrum Culture4.25/5[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 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 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.

International releases and promotions

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][unreliable source] 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

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

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

"

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 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

Awards and nominations for The Boys
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

The Boys – Standard edition
Tiffany Young
  • Yoo Young-jin
  • Teddy Riley
    • Teddy Riley
    • Dominique "DOM" Rodriguez (Audity)
    • Richard Garcia (Audity)
    • Taesung Kim (Iconic Sounds)
  • Dominique "DOM" Rodriguez (Audity)
  • Richard Garcia (Audity)
  • Taesung Kim (Iconic Sounds)
    		• 3:47
    Total length:46:02
    The Boys – International edition
    Tiffany Young
  • Yoo Young-jin
  • Teddy Riley
    • Teddy Riley
    • Dominique "DOM" Rodriguez (Audity)
    • Richard Garcia (Audity)
    • Taesung Kim (Iconic Sounds)
    		4:01
    Total length:62:10
    Mr. Taxi – The Boys Version B
    No.TitleLyricsMusicArrangementLength
    1."
    Tiffany Young
  • Yoo Young-jin
  • Teddy Riley
    • Teddy Riley
    • Dominique "DOM" Rodriguez (Audity)
    • Richard Garcia (Audity)
    • Taesung Kim (Iconic Sounds)
  • Dominique "DOM" Rodriguez (Audity)
  • Richard Garcia (Audity)
  • Taesung Kim (Iconic Sounds)
    		• 3:47
    Total length:46:02

    Personnel

    Credits for The Boys are adapted from AllMusic.[17]

    Charts

    Sales

    Region Certification Certified units/sales
    Japan — 107,800[28]
    South Korea — 471,620[29]

    Release history

    Region Date Edition Format Distributor(s) Ref.
    South Korea October 19, 2011 Standard
    		[30]
    Hong Kong October 26, 2011 CD
    Universal Music Hong Kong
    		 [31]
    Japan November 5, 2011 Universal Music Japan [32]
    Australia November 11, 2011 Digital download Universal Music Australia [33]
    Taiwan November 18, 2011 CD
    Universal Music Taiwan
    		 [34]
    South Korea December 9, 2011 Version B: Mr. Taxi S.M. Entertainment [35]
    Taiwan January 13, 2012 Universal Music Taiwan [36]
    United States January 17, 2012 International
    • CD
    • digital download
    		 Interscope Records [37][38]

    See also

    References

    1. ^ "'The Boys' The 3rd Album".
    2. All Media Network
      . Retrieved April 3, 2016.
    3. ^ Bae, Jung (November 6, 2011). "Album Review: 'The Boys' takes SNSD in a gutsy new direction". The Borneo Post. Retrieved April 7, 2017.
    4. ^ "The Boys – Girls' Generation". IZM (in Korean). October 2011. Retrieved April 3, 2016.
    5. ^ Link, Trevor (February 2, 2012). "Girls' Generation: The Boys". Spectrum Culture. Retrieved September 20, 2020.
    6. ^ 소시, 3집 韓발매연기 공식발표 "美앨범발매때문". Star News (in Korean). January 21, 2010. Retrieved October 2, 2011.
    7. ^ "Girls' Generation releases full PV for "Time Machine"". Allkpop. Retrieved June 9, 2012.
    8. ^ "Girls' Generation Makes Big U.S. Debut on 'Letterman': Watch". Billboard. February 1, 2012. Retrieved July 8, 2012.
    9. ^ "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.
    10. ^ "Korean 2011 Golden Disk Awards release nominations". Yahoo! Singapore. November 29, 2011. Archived from the original on May 26, 2022. Retrieved May 26, 2022.
    11. ^ 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.
    12. ^ "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.
    13. ^ SNSD "The Boys" Debuts at number 2 on Billboard's World Chart | Soompi
    14. ^ a b "SNSD "The Boys" Debuts at number 2 on Billboard's World Chart". Soompi.
    15. ^ "'The Boys' The 3rd Album" (in Korean). Melon. Retrieved April 30, 2015.
    16. ^ "The Boys – Music". Google Play. Archived from the original on April 21, 2015.
    17. ^ "The Boys Credit". AllMusic. Retrieved April 18, 2015.
    18. Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique. Archived from the original
      on October 29, 2013.
    19. ^ "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.
    20. Gaon Music Chart. Archived from the original
      on February 6, 2015.
    21. ^ "Girls' Generation – The Boys (Album)" (in Spanish). Productores de Música de España. Archived from the original on November 12, 2013.
    22. ^ "Albums: Week 42, 2011" (in Chinese). G-Music. Archived from the original on October 24, 2011.
    23. ^ "World Music: Top World Albums Chart (Week of February 4, 2012)". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Archived from the original on March 25, 2015.
    24. ^ "Heatseekers Albums: Week of February 18, 2012". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Archived from the original on April 18, 2015.
    25. ^ "年間 CDアルバムランキング" (in Japanese). Oricon. Archived from the original on April 10, 2015.
    26. ^ "Gaon Album Chart" (in Korean). Gaon Music Chart. Archived from the original on October 24, 2013.
    27. ^ "Gaon Album Chart" (in Korean). Gaon Music Chart. Archived from the original on October 24, 2013.
    28. ^ "オリコンランキング情報サービス「you大樹」" [Oricon Ranking Information Service 'You Big Tree'] (in Japanese). Oricon. Retrieved May 21, 2014.
    29. Circle Music Chart. September 9, 2022. Archived from the original on September 19, 2022. Retrieved September 19, 2022 – via YouTube
      .
    30. ^ "'The Boys' The 3rd Album" (in Korean). Melon. Archived from the original on July 22, 2014.
    31. Universal Music Hong Kong
      . Retrieved May 27, 2015.
    32. ^ "The Boys by Girls' Generation" (in Japanese). Universal Music Japan. Retrieved May 27, 2015.
    33. ^ "'The Boys' by Girls' Generation". Getmusic.com.au. Archived from the original on May 27, 2015.
    34. Universal Music Taiwan
      . Retrieved May 27, 2015.
    35. ^ "Repackage 'Mr. Taxi'" (in Korean). Hanteo. Retrieved May 27, 2015.
    36. ^ "Mr. Taxi – Girls' Generation" (in Chinese). Universal Music Taiwan. Retrieved May 27, 2015.
    37. ^ "The Boys: Music". Amazon. Retrieved May 27, 2015.
    38. ^ "Girls' Generation: The Boys – Music". Google Play. Archived from the original on April 21, 2015.
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