The Boys (Girls' Generation album)

The Boys
Studio album by Girls' Generation
Released	October 19, 2011
Recorded	July–September 2011
Genre	Dance-pop electropop
Length	39:39
Language	Korean English
Label	S.M. Interscope Polydor
Producer	Lee Soo-man (exec.)
Girls' Generation chronology
Girls' Generation (2011) The Boys (2011) Girls & Peace (2012)
Mr. Taxi reissue cover
Singles from The Boys
"The Boys" Released: October 19, 2011 "Mr. Taxi" Released: December 15, 2011

The Boys is the third Korean-language studio album and the fourth overall by South Korean girl group Girls' Generation. Lee Soo-man, former chairman of the group's agency S.M. Entertainment, served as the executive producer of the album. 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 album was released on October 19, 2011 by S.M. Entertainment, and was distributed in South Korea by KMP Holdings. A reissue titled Mr. Taxi, which 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 Boys domestically, Girls' Generation appeared and performed on several music programs including Music Bank, Inkigayo, and M Countdown. To further promote the record to international audiences, the group performed on US television shows Late Show with David Letterman and Live! with Kelly and Michael, and French televised program Le Grand Journal. The title track "The Boys" was released as the album's lead single on October 18, 2011, and claimed the top spot on South Korea's Gaon Digital Chart.

Upon its release, The Boys received mixed 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

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic[1]
IZM[2]

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 The Little Mermaid, 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.^[3]

On October 1, 2011, SM Entertainment released the first teaser for "The Boys", followed by 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 a 16-second teaser clips for both the Korean and English version of the "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 a re-release of the album will be out on December 8. The Korean version of "Mr. Taxi" was promoted as the lead single from this re-release.

The album was promoted with the tour "Girls' Generation World Tour Girls & Peace, kick off on June 8th, 2013, in Olympic Gymnastics Arena, Seoul, South Korea, ended in Cotai Arena, Macau, on February 15th, 2014. The tour also promotes their 4th studio album I Got A Boy.

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.^[4] 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. With the exception of 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. In addition, four remixes of "The Boys" are 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.

Single

"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.^[5] However, the Korean Version debuted at number 1 on the Billboard's Korea K-Pop Hot 100.

Korean version of "Mr. Taxi" was the lead single from this re-release.

Commercial performance

The Boys has been commercially successful in Asian regions. It debuted at number 1 on South Korea's Gaon Weekly Albums chart, and had sold over 400,000 copies in South Korea alone. The album 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 moved 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,^[6] but debuted at number 2 on the Billboard World Albums^[7] and re-entered the Heatseekers Album Chart at number 17.^[7]

Track listing

The Boys – Standard edition[8]
No.	Title	Lyrics	Music	Length
1.	"The Boys"	Yoo Young-jin	DOM, Richard Garcia, Taesung Kim, Teddy Riley	3:48
2.	"Telepathy" (Hangul: 텔레파시)	Kim Boomin	Hitchhiker	3:45
3.	"Say Yes"	Kim Young-hu	Kim Young-hu	3:46
4.	"Trick"	Jo Yoonkyung	Sarah Lundback Bell, Martin Hansen	3:15
5.	"How Great Is Your Love" (Hangul: 봄날)	Choi Sooyoung	Jean T. Na & Jenny Hyun (Jenzye)	3:54
6.	"My J"	Hwang Sungje	Hwang Sungje	3:53
7.	"Oscar"	Kim Jungbae	Kenzie	3:23
8.	"Top Secret"	Hong Jiyu	Peter Wennerberg, Mathias Venge, Gabriella Jangfeldt, Sharon Vaughn	2:59
9.	"Lazy Girl (Dolce Far Niente)"	Kim Taeyoon	Lucas Secon, Thomas Troelsen	3:05
10.	"Sunflower" (Hangul: 제자리걸음)	Kim Boomin	Hitchhiker	3:50
11.	"Vitamin" (Hangul: 비타민)	Hwang Hyun	Hwang Hyun	3:10
12.	"Mr. Taxi" (Korean Version)	STY	STY, Scott Mann, Chad Royce, Paolo Prudencio, Allison Veltz	3:32
13.	"The Boys" (English Version)	Tiffany Hwang, Teddy Riley	Teddy Riley, Taesung Kim, DOM, Richard Garcia	3:47
Total length:				43:26

The Boys – International edition[9]
Track listing
No.	Title	Lyrics	Music	Length
1.	"The Boys" (English Version)	Tiffany Hwang, Teddy Riley	Teddy Riley, Taesung Kim, DOM, Richard Garcia	3:47
2.	"Telepathy"	Kim Boomin	Hitchhiker	3:45
3.	"Say Yes"	Kim Younghoo	Kim Younghoo	3:46
4.	"Trick" (Typical)	Jo Yoonkyung	Martin Hansen	3:15
5.	"How Great Is Your Love"	Sooyoung	Jean Na	3:54
6.	"My J"	Hwang Sungje	Hwang Sungje	3:53
7.	"Oscar"	Kim Jungbae	Kenzie	3:23
8.	"Top Secret"	Hong Jiyu	Peter Wennerberg, Mathias Venge, Gabriella Jangfeldt, Sharon Vaughn	2:59
9.	"Lazy Girl (Dolce Far Niente)"	Kim Taeyoon	Lucas Secon, Thomas Troelsen	3:05
10.	"Sunflower"	Kim Boomin	Hitchhiker	3:50
11.	"Vitamin"	Hwang Hyun	Hwang Hyun	3:10
12.	"Mr. Taxi" (Korean Version)	STY	STY, Scott Mann, Chad Royce, Paolo Prudencio, Allison Veltz	3:32
13.	"The Boys"	Yoo Young-jin	DOM, Richard Garcia, Taesung Kim, Teddy Riley	3:48
14.	"The Boys (Clinton Sparks & Disco Fries Remix)" (featuring Snoop Dogg)	Tiffany Hwang, Teddy Riley	Clinton Sparks, Disco Fries	4:16
15.	"The Boys (Bring Dem Boys)" (featuring Suzi)	Tiffany Hwang, Teddy Riley	Teddy Riley	3:36
16.	"The Boys (Bring The Boys Out)" (David Anthony Remix)	Tiffany Hwang, Teddy Riley	Teddy Riley, David Anthony	4:24
17.	"The Boys (Bring The Boys)" (Teddy Riley Remix)	Tiffany Hwang, Teddy Riley	Teddy Riley	4:01
Total length:				62:10

Mr. Taxi – Repackage
Track listing
No.	Title	Lyrics	Music	Length
1.	"Mr. Taxi" (Korean ver.)	STY	STY, Scott Mann, Chad Royce, Paolo Prudencio, Allison Veltz	3:32
2.	"The Boys"	Yoo Young-jin	Teddy Riley, Taesung Kim, DOM, Richard Garcia	3:48
3.	"Telepathy (텔레파시)"	Kim Boomin	Hitchhiker	3:45
4.	"Say Yes"	Kim Younghoo	Kim Younghoo	3:46
5.	"Trick"	Jo Yoonkyung	Martin Hansen	3:15
6.	"How Great Is Your Love (봄날)"	Sooyoung	Jean Na	3:54
7.	"My J"	Hwang Sungje	Hwang Sungje	3:53
8.	"Oscar"	Kim Jungbae	Kenzie	3:23
9.	"Top Secret"	Hong Jiyu	Peter Wennerberg, Mathias Venge, Gabriella Jangfeldt, Sharon Vaughn	2:59
10.	"Lazy Girl (Dolce Far Niente)"	Kim Taeyoon	Lucas Secon, Thomas Troelsen	3:05
11.	"Sunflower (제자리걸음)"	Kim Boomin	Hitchhiker	3:50
12.	"Vitamin (비타민)"	Hwang Hyun	Hwang Hyun	3:10
13.	"The Boys" (English ver.)	Tiffany Hwang, Teddy Riley	Teddy Riley, Taesung Kim, DOM, Richard Garcia	3:47
Total length:				43:26

Bonus items from physical release

1. Girls' Generation Photocard (All Member).
2. A random photocard. There are 9 in total.

Personnel

Credits for The Boys are adapted from AllMusic.^[10]

David Anthony – Remixing Boo Min Kim – Composer Byung Seok Kim – Bass Byung-Ok Seo – Make-Up Chan Yong Eom – Engineer, String Engineer Hanna Cho – Repertoire Jane Choi – Marketing, Promoter Disco Fries – Remixing Eui Seok Jung – Engineer Eun-a Kim – Publicity, Public Relations Eun-Jeong Kwak – Engineer Eun-Kyeng Jung – Engineer Lola Fair – Vocals (Background) Gang-Mi Kim – Make-Up Richard Garcia – Arranger, Composer Gi-Hyun Kim – Publicity, Public Relations Girls' Generation – Primary Artist, Vocals (Background) Hae Young Jung – Composer Hae-Young Lee – Copyright Coordinator, Publishing Nikki Semin Han – Supervisor Martin Hansen – Arranger, Composer Hee-Jun Yoon – Artist Development Ho-Jin Kim – Management, Promoter Hoon Jeon – Mastering Greg Hwang – Choreographer, Direction Hye-Young Eom – Management Hyoyeon – Group Member Hyun Hwang – Arranger, Composer, Director Hyun-Jung Ryu – Make-Up Neil Jacobson – A&R Jae Myoung Lee – Vocal Director Gabriella Jelena Jangfeldt – Arranger, Composer Kyle Chang-Hwan Jeong – Director Jeung-Ah Lee – Artist Development Ji-Hong Kim – Management, Promoter Ji-Young Choi – Hair Stylist Ji-Young Lee – Make-Up Ji-Yu Hong – Composer John Hyun-Kyu Lee – English Supervision Jong-Pil Gu – Engineer, Mixing Jung Bae Kim – Composer Jung-Ah Kang – Management, Promoter Jam3s K3nn3dy – Additional Production Ji Hyun Kim – Vocals (Background) John Kim – Marketing, Promoter Tae Woo Kim – Photography Yongdeok Kim – Management, Promoter Young-Hu Kim – Arranger, Composer, Director, Engineer Young-Min Kim – Executive Supervision Kwang Wook Lim – Arranger Chris Sung-Su Lee – A&R, Coordination, Direction Jinny Lee – Marketing, Promoter Ji-Sun Lee – Publicity, Public Relations Nile Lee – Conductor, String Arrangements Seongho Lee – Engineer, Mixing Soo-Man Lee – Producer Sung Ho Lee – Marketing, Promoter Lin Kang – Marketing, Promoter

Sarah Lundback – Arranger, Composer Scott Pearson Mann – Arranger, Composer Tony Maserati – Mixing Sam McCarthy – Arranger, Composer Hee Jin Min – Art Direction, Design, Visual Direction Mina Jungmin Choi – Marketing, Promoter Min-Kyong Kim – Copyright Coordinator, Publishing Mirae Seo – Vocals (Background) Jean T. Na – Composer Rino Nakasone – Choreographer So Young Nam – Managing Director Jin Namkoong – Engineer, Mixing Hun-Young Park – Visual Direction Hye Jin Park – Repertoire Jun-Young Park – Video Director Paolo Prudencio – Arranger, Composer Teddy Riley – Arranger, Composer, Director, Engineer, Mixing, Remixing, Vocals (Background) Adros Rodriguez – Mixing Chad Royce- Arranger, Composer Sang-Hee Jung – Publicity, Public Relations Lucas Secon – Composer Seohyun – Group Member Seong Je Hwang – Arranger, Composer, Director, Engineer Jae Shim – Choreographer, Direction Agnes Shin – Vocals (Background) Mikkel Remee Sigvardt – Composer Snoop Dogg – Featured Artist Soo Wan Jung – Guitar Soo-Koung Suh – Stylist Soonsoo-a-Reum Kim – Hair Stylist Soonsoo-Kyoung-Mee Shin – Jacket Design, Make-Up Clinton Sparks – Remixing Sung Gun Oh – Engineer, String Engineer Sung-Woo Choi – Management, Promoter Tae Yoon Kim – Composer Taeyeon – Group Member Tesung Kim – Arranger, Composer, Director, Engineer Thomas Troelsen – Composer Sharon Vaughn – Arranger, Composer Allison Veltz – Arranger, Composer Mathias Peter Venge – Arranger, Composer Peter Lars Wennerberg – Arranger, Composer Yong Shin Kim – Arranger, Conductor, Piano, String Arrangements Janie Yoo – A&R, Coordination, Direction Yoo Young-jin – Composer, Director, Engineer, Mixing, Vocals (Background) Yoo-Da Soonsoo-Heewon – Hair Stylist Young Hyun Kim – Conductor, Guitar, String Arrangements, Supervisor, Vocal Editing Young Shin Kim – Director Young Son – Video Director Soo Young – Composer Young-En Kweon – Hair Stylist Young-Jun Tak – Choreographer, Director Yung Strings – Strings Yun-Kyoung Cho – Composer

Charts

Weekly charts Chart (2011–12) Peak position France (SNEP)[11] 130 Japan (Oricon)[12] 2 South Korea (Gaon)[13] 1 Spain (PROMUSICAE)[14] 64 Taiwan (G-Music)[15] 3 U.S. Billboard World Albums[16] 2 U.S. Billboard Heatseekers Albums[17] 17

Year-end charts Chart (2011) Position Japan (Oricon)[18] 95 South Korea (Gaon)[19] 1 Chart (2012) Position South Korea (Gaon)[20] 33

Release history

Region	Date	Edition	Format	Distributor(s)	Ref.
South Korea	October 19, 2011	Standard	CD digital download	S.M. Entertainment KMP Holdings	[21]
Hong Kong	October 26, 2011		CD	Universal Music Hong Kong	[22]
Japan	November 5, 2011			S.M. Entertainment	[23]
Australia	November 11, 2011		Digital download	Universal Music Australia	[24]
Taiwan	November 18, 2011		CD	Universal Music Taiwan	[25]
South Korea	December 9, 2011	Repackage: Mr. Taxi		S.M. Entertainment	[26]
Taiwan	January 13, 2012			Universal Music Taiwan	[27]
United States	January 17, 2012	International	CD digital download	Interscope Records	[28][29]

See also

• List of Gaon Album Chart number ones of 2011
• List of best-selling albums in South Korea

References

1. Sendra, Tim. "The Boys | Overview". AllMusic. All Media Network. Retrieved April 3, 2016.
2. "The Boys – Girls' Generation". IZM (in Korean). October 2011. Retrieved April 3, 2016.
3. 소시, 3집 韓발매연기 공식발표 "美앨범발매때문". Star News (in Korean). January 21, 2010. Retrieved October 2, 2011.
4. "Girls' Generation releases full PV for "Time Machine"". allkpop. Retrieved June 9, 2012.
5. "Girls' Generation Makes Big U.S. Debut on 'Letterman': Watch". billboard.com. Feb 1, 2012. Retrieved July 8, 2012.
6. SNSD "The Boys" Debuts at number 2 on Billboard's World Chart | Soompi
7. "SNSD "The Boys" Debuts at number 2 on Billboard's World Chart". Soompi.
8. "`The Boys` The 3rd Album" (in Korean). Melon. Retrieved April 30, 2015.
9. "The Boys – Music". Google Play. Archived from the original on April 21, 2015.
10. "The Boys Credit". AllMusic. Retrieved April 18, 2015.
11. "The Boys – Album" (in French). Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique. Archived from the original on October 29, 2013.
12. "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.
13. "Week 44 of 2011, Album Chart" (in Korean). Gaon Music Chart. Archived from the original on February 6, 2015.
14. "Girls' Generation – The Boys (Album)" (in Spanish). Productores de Música de España. Archived from the original on November 12, 2013.
15. "Albums: Week 42, 2011" (in Chinese). G-Music. Archived from the original on October 24, 2011.
16. "World Music: Top World Albums Chart (Week of February 4, 2012)". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Archived from the original on March 25, 2015.
17. "Heatseekers Albums: Week of February 18, 2012". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Archived from the original on April 18, 2015.
18. "年間　CDアルバムランキング" (in Japanese). Oricon. Archived from the original on April 10, 2015.
19. "Gaon Album Chart" (in Korean). Gaon Music Chart. Archived from the original on October 24, 2013.
20. "Gaon Album Chart" (in Korean). Gaon Music Chart. Archived from the original on October 24, 2013.
21. "'The Boys' The 3rd Album" (in Korean). Melon. Archived from the original on July 22, 2014.
22. "The Boys" (in Chinese). Universal Music Hong Kong. Retrieved May 27, 2015.
23. "The Boys by Girls' Generation" (in Japanese). Universal Music Japan. Retrieved May 27, 2015.
24. "'The Boys' by Girls' Generation". Getmusic.com.au. Archived from the original on May 27, 2015.
25. "The Boys – Girls' Generation" (in Chinese). Universal Music Taiwan. Retrieved May 27, 2015.
26. "Repackage 'Mr. Taxi'" (in Korean). Hanteo. Retrieved May 27, 2015.
27. "Mr. Taxi – Girls' Generation" (in Chinese). Universal Music Taiwan. Retrieved May 27, 2015.
28. "The Boys: Music". Amazon.com. Retrieved May 27, 2015.
29. "Girls' Generation: The Boys – Music". Google Play. Archived from the original on April 21, 2015.