Girls' Generation (SNSD)

Name: Girls’ Generation (SNSD)

Label: SM Entertainment

Genre: K-Pop, Pop, Dance-Pop, Bubble-gum Pop, Electro-pop, R&B

Year Debuted: 2007

Fanclub: Sones

Fan Color: Pastel Rose

Sites: http://www.girlsgenerationusa.com/#!featured

The Members…

Taeyeon

Name: Kim Taeyeon

Position: Leader, Main Vocalist

Birthdate: March 9, 1989

Blood type: O

Height: 160 cm

Our Comments:

One of SNSD’s more popular members, Taeyeon is Girls Generation’s cute ajumma “kid” leader. Yes those two adjectives contradict each other, but both are perfect for describing this particular person. Though Taeyeon has her incredibly immature moments, her dorky childishness is very much balanced with her natural maternal instincts and strong love for her group. Taeyeon may express her love a bit differently than other people (i.e. perving on the rest of SNSD, grabbing people’s butts, harassing them), but the girl means well. One thing that we do notice about her though (and something SNSD seems to be bringing up in more recent interviews) is how closed up this girl tends to be. Taeyeon is the type of person to keep things to herself; naturally, as group leader, she wouldn’t want her members worrying about her, and stressing any more than they have to, but sometimes, you just can’t keep all the pain to yourself. And Taeyeon is the type to do just that. We don’t think it’s a matter of her being close to the girls (as they all seem pretty close), but it’s more of her just being an angsty child and not wanting to spread her troubles to others. We see your selflessness Taeyeon, but sometimes you just have to let a friend in on your loneliness!

P&B Scale

Appearance: 9.7

Taeyeon is a cute shortie. She has the typically tiny body, with legs on the shorter side and a longish torso. Contrary to groupmate Jessica who is also short but skinny as a twig, Taeyeon thankfully has a bit more meat on her body. Her short height adds to her cute “kid” image, and her young baby face only furthers that description. Taeyeon is more or less one of the never aging members of SNSD. Her bright eyes, small nose and lips are cute alright, but the real test of Taeyeon’s good looks comes from the fact that she can make the most dorky faces without looking insanely unattractive. How a person can look so cute making the faces she does will always be a mystery…

Talent: SC 9.6

We’ve previously raved about Taeyeon’s voice in our Best Female Vocalists of K-Pop post, so we won’t mention a super lot here. Bottom line is Taeyeon has a nice voice. The obvious best in SNSD, and our personal favorite females’ at SM. The girl has talent, and a voice smooth as butter to back it up. Her technique is good, her breathing, yeah it does fall short occasionally during SNSD’s lives but is strong nonetheless, and she’s proved her versatility and harmony multiple times. Really, let her voice do the talking and enjoy her talent. If there is one thing that we would ever complain about, it’s that her voice is not the strongest (and by this we mean volume wise). Though there are many that will beg to differ and claim that volume does not equal talent, let us take a look at some of the best singers shall we? Whitney Housten, Mariah Carey, Celine Dion all have marvelous voices and the prowess to really impress.

Personality: 9.5

Kim Taeyeon is the definition of a 14 year old perverted boy mixed with a 65 year old Korean grandpa. On the outside, she’s just this lazy butt who spends the day slapping butts, reading newspapers and screeching that ridiculous laugh of hers. We also love it when the rest of SNSD complains about her grandma-ish speech, the way she steals complementary snacks and candies from shows, and her noona ish tendencies as she preys on younger boys. Mixed in with this old ajumma personality is an immature going-through-puberty boy who loves laughing at immature stuff, cracking lame jokes herself and making dorky expressions at fancams she spots. Underneath it all though is Taeyeon, a motherly figure of SM, caring for her groupmates, her other dongsaengs, and her fans, cooking them amazing food, giving advice and wholehearted encouragement and tearing up because she’s so thankful for them.

Overall: 9.6

Jessica

Name: Jessica Jung

Position: Main Vocalist

Birthdate: April 18, 1989

Blood type: B

Height: 163 cm

Our Comments:

For K-Poppers, Jessica is SNSD’s resident “ice princess”. What began as a series of “SNSD’s Jessica is so rude” and “Where are her manners?” evolved into the creation of one of the greatest characters of K-Pop. Jessica’s distinct factor is that she is the ice princess of K-Pop. Known for her bitch-face, icy stare and blunt honesty, Jessica has garnered herself quite the character, and it works. How many people know Jessica because of the attitude she chooses to portray? Easily one of the more recognizable members, we ourselves can attest that she was the first SNSD member that we could easily identify, simply because she has an it factor that gives her a different umph as compared to the rest of the SNSD.

For Sones though, Jessica is the awkward, socially-inept girl, shy and quiet around strangers but a great friend for the lucky few who get to know her better. Much of Jessica’s “icy facade” is largely because she’s such a shy person, and doesn’t really know how to be funny and/or interesting. And to those who know this, it makes Jessica all the more adorable, with her lazy dancing, childish humor and s l o w reactions.

P&B Scale

Appearance: 8.4

Jessica is usually regarded as one of the prettier SNSD members, and we do agree- yes, Jessica is stunning, but alas, much of this beauty is refrained to first impression. When you first look at Jessica, she does indeed look gorgeous, with her stoic gaze and doll-like features. But while “doll-like” features look cute on dolls and other inanimate objects, they look misproportioned on humans, as best seen on Jessica. We’ve always had a problem with her mouth (her lips and teeth are so incredibly small, and her tiny jaw only makes her mouth smaller), but lately we’ve started to notice how abnormally small her nose is as well. Especially when you compare these features to her eyes, which look large in comparison.

We don’t want to hear any people commenting on Jessica being a natural beauty either. And we’re not talking about plastic surgery; though, we don’t doubt most of the members of SNSD (not to pick on them specifically, as this applies to all idols) have had cosmetic surgery, whether it be “minor” work such as double eyelids, skin whitening or veneers, or “major” plastic surgery, like nose jobs. We’re talking about Jessica being a natural beauty as in, she looks great without make-up. As fellow make-up wearers ourselves, we know the true power of make-up, and just how much it can transform you. Jessica, as “pretty” as she may be with her make-up on, looks (as gently as we can put it), nothing near the same without make-up.

Talent: SC 8.4

We’re just going to be totally honest here- we don’t find Jessica’s voice very attractive. Neither one of us has a thing for nasally high voices. But we will admit that Jessica is rightfully SNSD’s second best vocalist. She has the right control going for her, and while her range is limited to higher notes, she can hit some pretty high octaves impressively. The one thing we do notice though is a slight lack of emotion, and some problems with vocalization. Jessica’s vocalization can sound really awkward sometimes; she often Mariah-Carey vocalizes the wrong notes, and the breathtaking effect that should be left is disturbed.

Personality: 9

Jessica is a strange one. As we have already mentioned she is more than often not referred to as the “ice princess” of SNSD. This image first arose after Jessica’s seemingly stand-off-ish personality, and she was regarded as someone who thought they were way too cool to befriend /commoners/. However, Jessica’s “Actual” personality has been described by fellow friends to be naturally cute, and that her “ice princess” image is mainly because she has trouble expressing her emotions and is just a socially awkward girl. From what we’ve observed, Jessica seems to honestly be a sweetheart: she cares for SNSD, gushes about her sister and parents, and seems to be an overall lovable person. She’s just… different. Different in expressing herself, different in terms of what she feels is rude/not. She has displayed her blunt honesty multiple times on television, and her curt responses usually instigate a variety of responses for example. In any case though, whether its her “ice princess” image or not, Jessica has created a strong character for herself.

Overall: 8.6

Sunny

Name: Lee Soon-Kyu

Position: Supporting Vocalist

Birthdate: May 15, 1989

Blood type: B

Height: 155 cm

Our Comments:

Sunny, also known as SNSD’s “energy pill” is probably the cutest female in K-Pop. Everything from her small, bunny-like appearance, to her gross perfect aegyo, to her sincere heart make Sunny a treasure. We find that many people actually like Sunny; they respect her I-don’t-care-how-I-look personality, her bravery and her good-hearted nature. One of our favorite Sunny moments is when Taeyeon was kidnapped on stage by some fan, and Sunny was the only Soshi girl quick to react and brave enough to come between them. And let’s not forget how scarily open minded she is to things, like chasing after chickens, playing in mud and changing diapers. Sunny reminds us of the super popular girl that you can’t hate because she’s honestly cool and you can’t find a personality fault in sight. Sunny has yet to do something that earns her a boatful of antis, as she just seems like that person everyone wants to be chill with.

P&B Scale

Appearance: 9.5

A for adorable. Her face, laugh, smile, height; everything is cute as can be. As SNSD’s shortest member, she knows how to use her height to her advantage (see: Sunny’s aegyo). Her face reminds us of a bunny, in a completely nice way. We dare you to tell us it isn’t an accurate description of her. Sunny is just so tiny, and her lovable personality makes her all the more squishable and huggable. (Not saying she can’t be hot though, cuz wow can Sunny really mold into different concepts)

Talent: 6.8

Overall, Sunny is talent mediocre. She’s kind of a filler member in SNSD. Her dancing is a little less than okay, though she is probably the best dancer in SNSD’s Dancing Incapable (Taeyeon, Sunny, Jessica and Tiffany). As far as our knowledge extends, Sones are more likely to acknowledge her singing rather than her dancing. If this is the case, the we just have to say we’re not entirely impressed. Sunny has a very aesthetically pleasing voice, but we really hope she remains to just being a member of Girls Generation and doesn’t go anything beyond a couple OSTs here and there. Once again, it’s not that her voice is nasty (because it really isn’t!), but she definitely lacks the control and /talent/ that makes one a singer. 

Personality: 10

Sunny is amazing. And that three-word phrase could not be any more true.

Lee Soonkyu has firstly proven herself to be a variety queen. Sunny just seems to be good at anything, and we do mean anything. She was the best Soshi mom on SNSD’s “Hello Baby”, proving herself hardworking and greatly knowledgeable about babies. On “SNSD and the Dangerous Boys”, Sunny was a fantastic mentor, and all we could process throughout the show was “Sunny- you’re doing it right”. She’s hilarious on “Infinity Challenge” and has numerously proven herself to be daring, whether it’s her catching chickens, rolling around in mud, revealing her real height or baring her naked face for all. Her honest nature makes us absolutely love her, and we adore that she has an “I don’t care” outlook on what others think of her. When people bashed Sunny for her “disgustingly cute” image and aegyo (which, by the way, we should all know Sunny is the queen of), the girl didn’t care, and kept doing the same gushy-mushy act on shows. Normally, we can’t stand aegyo, but Sunny’s is just so purposely exaggerated it’s hilarious. Granted, though we love the more “boy-ish” charm she’s been exhibiting lately, we’ve never had anything wrong with Sunny’s great personality.

There’s just so more we can talk about. Her great sense of humor, how she isn’t ashamed to make silly faces and poke fun at herself, her fearlessness when she saved Taeyeon after she got dragged off a performance, how good she is to her dongsaengs and the strong shoulder she provides to SNSD.

Overall: 8.4

Tiffany

Name: Stephanie Hwang

Position: Lead Vocalist

Birthdate: August 1, 1989

Blood type: O

Height: 162 cm

Our Comments:

Tiffany is SNSD’s Sungmin.

Sorry guys, but she just seems so fake in our eyes, it hurts. Which sucks, because we want to like her- her face screams sweetheart and her actions shriek adorable. Not that we’re implying she isn’t cute, we’re just not sure she’s as cute as everyone would like her to be. But maybe we’re being too hard on her.

Tiffany’s had a tough life, so to speak. At 15 years old, Tiffany left her home in Diamond Bar, California a little after her mother’s death for the promising lands of Seoul, South Korea, forever tensing relations with her father and changing her future forever. Not knowing a lick of Korean, and still recovering the death of a loved one, Tiffany’s first couple years in Seoul were hard, and her debut with SNSD was even rougher. A foreigner in the group, she suffered the wrath of K-netizens: her manners “sucked”, she didn’t bow “long” or “far enough”, didn’t use honorifics, yadda yadda yadda.

Point is, this girl’s had it rough. And we do respect her for that. But personality wise, she just doesn’t get on our good side. Sometimes, Tiffany seems like she’s trying a little too hard to make herself seem likable. Now, we totally get that these girls need to have a pleasant appearance for camera, but what bothers us about Tiffany is just how large the gap seems to be between her super bubbly self on cam, and her rather normal demeanor off cam. On cam, she’s too fake, and it bothers us.

P&B Scale

Appearance: 9.7

In our honest opinion, Tiffany (along with Sooyoung) is the prettiest member of SNSD. She doesn’t exactly hold the typical standards of Korean beauty (like having a v-line, a “small” face, and more doe-like features), and as such, Yoona or Jessica are usually the two members that are praised to the high heavens for their beauty. We like Tiffany’s face though- her smile is absolutely gorgeous, her eyes are cute (especially her famous eye smile) and though about the only facial feature we find off is her nose (which is a tad bulbous), her friendly demeanor definitely makes itself present in her pretty and bright complexion. Tiffany’s far more unique and distinguishable appearance is extremely appealing to us.

Talent: SC 8.4

Tiffany’s voice will always be iffy to us. On one hand, it is absolutely gorgeous. Her much more husky and deep voice provides amazing contrast to the other girls in SNSD, whom have more delicate and softer tones. In Girls’ Generation, we find Tiffany’s voice by far the most aesthetically pleasing. Not only is it throaty and sexy (and, if we may mention, totally unique), the girl knows how to make her singing rich with emotion. The only thing Tiffany lacks in is control. She falters a bit live and dancing, and even when she’s solely singing, you can hear her struggle to reach her notes. Her rendition of  ”Bleeding Love” is a perfect example of this- Tiffany’s voice is beautiful as always, but towards the end of the song, her control begins staggering, and her voice strained.

Personality: 9.4

We have a bit of a problem with Tiffany’s personality. On one hand, Tiffany seems to exhibit the “perfect” imperfect character. She’s kind, charming, uber-friendly and faithful. Her hyper tendencies and optimistic charming nature lead many to call her SNSD’s brightest member. Tiffany has this totally open, carefree vibe around herself, and while she is a member that has gotten into trouble in the past, mainly due to her western-mannerisms that made her seem rude in traditional Korean customs, this isn’t why we have a problem with her. Our issue with Tiffany is that we can’t help but feel she’s so fake. And yes, we know it’s so immature and typical anti to call an idol “fake”, and truth be told, we’re nothing near antis to extremely lovable-Tiffany, she just seems so surreal to us. Hardly have we ever met a person, as dazzling and happy as Tiffany in real life whom is actually that way. Most people that put up a happy front usually aren’t as gleeful in real life, and this feeling is so nagging whenever we see Tiffany on a variety show, or holding an interview.

Overall: 9.1

Hyoyeon

Name: Kim Hyoyeon

Position: Main Dancer, Supporting Vocalist

Birthdate: September 22, 1989

Blood type: AB

Height: 158 cm

Our Comments:

Hyoyeon, along with Sunny, is one of the more lovable members. But while Sunny is admired in that kind of “Wow, she’s so cool” kind of way, Hyoyeon is a little bit of that mixed with “Ouch, why so mean to her? She’s not bad at all”.

Poor Hyoyeon has been the subject of much male scrutiny over her years: Only until recently, Hyoyeon was constantly bullied for her appearance, with such remarks like “She’s the ugliest SNSD member”, “She doesn’t look Korean”, “Hyoyeon: Least favorite member”. Hyoyeon is a beautiful girl, only getting prettier by the day, but looks aside, her personality is one of the better ones in SNSD. Aside from being a variety show knock-out, she’s funny and witty when she needs to be, and sweet any other time. Her comebacks are hilarious, she seems to be the only member that can combat Jessica’s snark head on (resulting in a great friendship between the two), and she’s such a good sport about the most awkward of situations (such as when she wore a Princess Fiona outfit, while her fellow members wore pretty princess outfits) that you just can’t help but pity, and then love her. It’s great that Hyoyeon’s only getting more confident nowadays, though not without losing her natural sweetness and gratuity that she is famous for.

P&B Scale

Appearance: 8.9

Hyoyeon’s status in SNSD really makes us sad. Too often is she usually regarded as the “ugliest” member in SNSD, by both Korean and International fans. And it usually stems from the fact that her features are “un-Korean” and too abrasive. We, however, actually find her more unique features cute, and while no, Hyoyeon may not be perfect (on a more negative side, her nose is a bit wide and her lips asymmetrical), Hyoyeon is beautiful all the same. Lately, she has actually been getting prettier and prettier, and we’d say she’s definitely one of the lookers in SNSD these days.

Talent: SC 9.4

Hyoyeon breaks our hearts sometimes. She really does. A Wonderful talented dancer such as herself is only going to waste in a group like SNSD. The occasional few times Hyoyeon is allowed to show off her dancing, like her solos and dance performances, she always manages to impress, but sadly, her skill seems to almost be deteriorating over time. Not completely gone, but well, as compared to if she had been in a more dance-focused group to her presently, it does seem like she’s capable of so much more. And this is not her fault at all. Hyoyeon can naturally pop and lock, move her hips, stomp and kick and so much more, but SM just wont let her. Her newest try as a Younique Unit member left us disappointed. Like seriously. MAXSTEP was awful, half the people in the group didn’t deserve to be there and Hyoyeon, who is totally capable of doing something like MAXSTEP was more of a featured singer rather than an actual member. Disappointment.

Personality: 10

Hyoyeon is one hilarious character. On variety, she’s funny, but not in the obnoxious way Sooyoung is or the naively embarrassing way Yuri is. She seems to rely more on snarky comebacks, being a good sport about ridiculous affairs and sharing embarrassing stories about herself and the others. Hyoyeon, from both fan reports and comments from other idols, is often labeled as the kindest SNSD member, naturally nice and grateful for her fans. Hyoyeon’s wonderful personality makes us wonder why she has so little fans as compared to the other members, but thankfully her popularity has only been growing since The Boys and we hope it continues to do so.

Overall: 9.4

Yuri

Name: Kwon Yuri

Position: Lead Dancer, Supporting Vocalist

Birthdate: December 5, 1989

Blood type: AB

Height: 167 cm

Our Comments:

Yuri is the SNSD member that you love but sometimes hate. It may be to a different extent in every person, but we’ve noticed this feeling plenty in many female, heterosexual sones.

We love this girl’s quirkiness. Yuri is just about one of the strangest people out there. She auditioned to SM by making dinosaur noises. She talks to herself. Like a lot. Encourages herself. Scolds herself. If that doesn’t scream crazy we don’t know what does. She has fun doing things that most people would find downright embarrassing. Like showing off body hair. Failing all the time on National Television. Dancing like an idiot. Making the most unattractive faces possible (though to be honest, all the girls love doing this). Yuri is just a plain fool and it’s cute. But she can because she’s Yuri. As much as she embarrasses herself, it will always be cute because she’s so darn attractive and humorous. This is where the “hate” comes in: Most girls have to admit that, if not a lot, they are the slightest bit envious of how amazing this girl is. Of all the SNSD members, she’s got all the boys, because she’s everything they want: fun, quirky and hot. Sometimes, Yuri’s dumb-funny act does seem a bit too try-hard, but it’s alright, because she has her serious moments too, where we are reminded that she’s not just an airhead.

P&B Scale

Appearance: 9.2

Let’s talk about Yuri’s body first and foremost. Mainly about how wonderful it is.

So it kinda goes without saying but Yuri undoubtedly has the best body in SNSD, and is a strong competitor in the best of’s for K-Pop. As the member with the most meat on her bones (during her good periods; but let us bury the dark anorexic skinny!Yuri days behind us) it’s thankfully manifested in all the right places (i.e. her legs and arms). Yuri has some big hips, big thighs, nice meaty arms and beautiful photoshop!calves. Much of her body, as is well known, is the result of Yuri’s healthy diet, and a tough workout regimen that consists of plenty of weight training and butt workouts as well as yoga and other firming exercise.

Body aside though (as difficult as it is to move on from that topic), Yuri is quite a pretty girl. She doesn’t have the same (star) gorgeous factor that some of the other members may have, but she is prettier than average in that girl-next-door kind of way. And let’s be real, that’s more than Yuri will ever need with all the other good things she has to offer.

Talent: SC 9.3

As SNSD’s second best dancer, Yuri has improved to such a distinct point. The girl can m o v e. And combined with her body makes for a very happy audience.

That point aside though, Yuri really is good. Compared to SNSD’s early days, she moves with a lot more power now, and there is a lot more fluidity in her movements. She’s definitely a natural, and seems a bit more versatile than Hyoyeon even. We remember once Hyoyeon joked that she was most wary of Yuri in the group, claiming that she was catching up to her fast in terms of dancing. This is definitely noticeable. At this point, the only real thing separating Yuri and Hyoyeon is Hyoyeon’s years of experience versus Yuri’s couple years of stepping it up. This only proves to us what a natural Yuri is.

Personality: 9.4

Yuri has one of our favorite personalities in SNSD. She is just so interesting. Sometimes described as SNSD’s most embarrassing member, we’d be surprised if Yuri had any shame left in her. From joining a watermelon eating contest, falling asleep whilst making kimchi, rapping to Big Bang, showing off her body hair to the world, participating in an ugly contest, auditioning to SM not singing or dancing but rather with her dinosaur impersonation, Yuri is full of wonder and happiness. Her fans love her outgoing, weird, kkab personality and the rest of SNSD seem to really enjoy laughing at Yuri (as we do). Her clinginess to the girls and prankster self remind us how childish she is also, and her obnoxious laughter makes hours go by.

Overall: 9.3

Sooyoung

Name: Choi Soo Young

Position: Lead Dancer, Supporting Vocalist

Birthdate: February 10, 1990

Blood type: O

Height: 170 cm

Our Comments:

Sooyoung brings out the obnoxious in SNSD. She’s their funny member, the one that makes the tough times better with her lame jokes and loud rambunctious attitude. But underneath the jokes and exaggerated actions lies a girl who we’ve found to actually be one of the more girlier members. Sooyoung is the boy-crazy, flirty girl in class that you sometimes wanna roll your eyes at but laugh at her silly antics. She’s a sweetheart too: Having been revealed as one of the more sensitive members, Sooyoung is actually pretty caring and gentle when she needs to be. She seems to get hurt easily too; after her recent Won Bin scandal, all the girl could talk about was how much the hate hurt her. Other than being SNSD’s obnoxious care bear though, Sooyoung is also one of the girls more privaledged members: as far as our knowledge extends, she comes from a wealthy family, has been flowered with opportunities and owns very religious and family-orientated goals.

P&B Scale

Appearance: 9.3

Choi Sooyoung is gorgeous, nuff’ said. Absolutely gorgeous. From her pronounces chubby apple cheeks, to her flawless glowing skin, to her huge eyes. Call us biased for her face, but it is rightfully so. We can find nary a thing wrong with her face; her unique features immediately made her stand out to us amongst SNSD, and while we see a lot of dissing towards this girl’s more abstract features, we think they come together exclusively beautiful. Choi Sooyoung has the face of a goddess, and unfortunately, we wish we could say the same about her way too thin body. Now, we know that Sooyoung is a self-proclaimed Shikshin, and the girl loves to eat. We aren’t blaming her for her fast metabolism, but Sooyoung would look even more great if she gained a few pounds. As the tallest member of SNSD, she should not be the skinniest.

Talent: 7

Sooyoung is one of SNSD’s “all-rounders”. As their third best dancer, she seems to focus more on versatility (or rather, the tango) and flexibility. Power wise she’s not that bad either. To be honest, we’d probably enjoy seeing her more if she weren’t so darn skinny. Half the time we’re watching her dance, we get distracted by her gaunty figure and twig appendages. Singing wise, she’s below average, and if you think otherwise, please stop. Sooyoung’s real “talent” honestly lies in her acting. Most idol-actors suck, but Sooyoung’s recent role in “The 3rd Hospital” was actually not bad. She’s without a doubt the best actress in SNSD and one of the better idols. Whenever SNSD breaks up, there may just be a promising career in acting for Sooyoung.

Personality: 10

Sooyoung has good variety sense. On screen, she’s loud, obnoxious and funny and Sones love her outgoing, exaggerating personality. Personally, her personality is not our cup of tea simply because there are moments where Sooyoung really has to turn it down a bit before she borders audacious, but overall she does seem rather cheery on television. Off screen, Sooyoung is described by others as cute and sweet. From our understanding, she’s a stout Christian, grew up in a pretty wealthy home and we do honestly notice this slight rich snobby attitude around her sometimes. Luckily, it’s not always heavy but sits still present nonetheless. What makes up for this slight flaw though is a greater positive; Sooyoung seems to be very patient. In fancams we see her retain a smile even around the most annoying of fans.

Overall: 8.7

Yoona

Name: Im Yoona

Position: Lead Dancer, Supporting Vocalist

Birthdate: May 30, 1990

Blood type: B

Height: 166 cm

Our Comments:

Im Yoona is a curious child; one that we find very interesting. A lot of Sones like to imagine Yoona as the resident choding in SNSD. Underneath the “face” image Yoona has, she’s an adorable immature girl with a childish sense of humor that sometimes has us facepalming. But while yes, we do see what a funny girl she is, we sometimes wonder what kind of pain is hiding under such a seemingly carefree girl.

Yoona, as is well known by her fans, was abandoned by her mother at a young age, brought up solely by her father, and growing up did not fit in with females so she resorting to being a tomboy. Today, Yoona is the member with considerably the most haters, and is the bearer of most of SNSD’s spotlight, be it good or bad. Most of Korea adores her, but with adoration comes hatred. Surely, a girl with a less-than perfect past and a sucky situation present day can’t be as all smiles and innocence as she seems. To us, Yoona is more strong than cute: she’s suffered her share, but holds her head up high above all these antis.

P&B Scale

Appearance: 8.9

Oh the ever so important part that comes when describing Yoona. Yes she’s pretty. In fact we’ve heard she’s even more stunning in real life, and this we wholeheartedly believe. But as pretty she is, it’s not /gorgeous/. And truthfully it can never be so. She’s cute in a girly, fresh-faced kind of way, but not in the gorgeous Hollywood scarlet kind of way. Of course, looks all come down to preference, but there just seem to be so many other SNSD girls that do have an “it” presence way more than Yoona does.

If we’re talking face, then yes Yoona’s is good. But her body is such a negative. Bow-legged, way too skinny, skinny arms, skinny legs. Somebody give her a hamburger or two.

Talent: 4

Oh Yoona. Not to call her out or anything, but anyone that argues Yoona sings and/or raps well is only kidding themselves. Don’t start with the whole “she’s improved” argument. That don’t mean anything if she hasn’t moved up at all in terms of where she is placed on SNSD’s vocal ranking. Debut period Yoona was last. 5 years later she is still last. And her rapping? Let’s just say we (kindly) decided not to grade any of these grades on that such category. The one thing Yoona has some sort of talent merit in would be her dancing, and even then it’s not anything incredible. In our ranks, Yoona is tied for third place with Sooyoung for best dancer, and even then Sooyoung is just a bit better- Yoona follows choreography. Yes, she does it (well), we’re not gonna lie, she knows how to follow moves that have been taught to her, and put about half of SNSD to shame with her dancing. But she’s not a natural. Sooyoung is more of a “natural”. I’d like to see Yoona do some freestyle somewhere at a club someday (that was sarcasm). She can’t move her body like the other three SNSD dancers can; she’s not a dancer.

Personality: 8.1

Yoona is SNSD’s number 1 choding. She’s immature, childish, innocent and playful and is a 5 year old trapped in a grown woman’s body. Some people may find her immaturity a turn-off, others find it endearing. We find it adorable about 80% of the time. The other 20% we’re sitting there wondering what the real Yoona is like. What she’s like when she’s serious, when she’s upset, when she’s genuinely happy. Underneath all the attention she receives, we find it amazing she doesn’t seem like an attention-whore at all, so huge props to her for always seeming pretty down to earth and honest.

Overall: 7

Seohyun

Name: Seo Joo Hyun

Position: Lead Vocalist, Maknae

Birthdate: June 28, 1991

Blood type: A

Height: 168 cm

Our Comments:

Seohyun is SNSD’s precious, innocent maknae. The definition of a prim lady.

Seohyun is more or less best known for her manners, intelligence, maturity and conservative nature. Whether Seohyun’s perfect poised innocent image is just an act or not, no one will ever know, but based on stories we here about her from her fellow members as well as other idols, the facts seem to align for this girl. We remember, for example, SNSD’s telling of a story where Super Junior’s Kyuhyun remarked how sexy Seohyun looked with a particular hairstyle, only to have the girl burst into tears. Or lets not forget her idea of the perfect gifts: books and vitamins. Or the story where she warned SNSD that eating a hamburger would kill them. Or the fact that her ideal man is UN security general, Ban Ki Moon.

Seohyun is just too cute to reprimand in her well-meaning personality, but there are times we really wish she’d be more open-minded about certain subjects. Seohyun obviously grew up in a proper home; she has a good relationship with her parents, is an only child, and never had problems growing up (least not that we know of). But Seohyun just can’t seem to grasp that not everyone is as fortunate as her. The best example of this would be her (awful) performance on SNSD and the Dangerous Boys. Seohyun was, without a doubt, one of their worse mentors; she just couldn’t get along with the boys, and in the beginning was horrible at attempting to understand things from their point of view.

P&B Scale

Appearance: 9.2

As one of the triplets in SNSD, Seohyun does on first glance bear strong resemblance to Yoona and Yuri, however, once you get to know SNSD better, definitely has a distinguishable face of her own. Seohyun has an extreme doe-eyed appearance. Her eyes are round and innocent, and her lips are small and (slightly) plump. Her skin is smooth and even, and she is definitely, along with Hyoyeon, getting prettier by the day. There are only really two things we have problems with for Seohyun. For one, her nose, which we find to be much bigger than should be for her face. Certain angles only make it look worse too. The other is her awkward smile. When Seohyun laughs, it’s cute, but when she smiles it just seems so fake.. which is unfortunate considering we really doubt she’s faking a smile all the time. It’s just the way her smile naturally looks and we don’t like it.

Talent: 8.4

Seohyun is the classic example of someone who is “the jack of all trades, but master of none”. SNSD’s maknae is the only member of SNSD to be part of both the “vocal” group and “dance” group of SNSD. And in both, she displays excellent talent. Originally, Seohyun’s vocal skills took some warming up to, but lately she’s been improving a lot. Before, we found nothing special about her skill or voice, but nowadays Seohyun has been showing off a unique sound that has really left an impression on us. Apart from being one of SNSD’s better vocalists, Seohyun is also part of SNSD’s “dancing” group. While she may not be as good as Hyoyeon or Sooyoung, Seohyun has demonstrated her ability to keep up with the them and follow SNSD’s choreography flawlessly.

Personality: 7.5

Seohyun is cute, to put it lightly. Widely known for being “Seobot”, Seohyun’s manners, respect and responsibility are well known throughout the fandom. Seohyun is as robot as can be, though not necessarily for a lack of emotions. Rather, we see her “Seobot” personna as being the result of her personality being extremely vanilla and mature. Some may find her mature maknae image cute, others may find it a bit bland and boring. This girl though is sweet as can be, even if she is a bit closed minded sometimes (cough. SNSD and the Dangerous Boys).

Overall: 8.3

Overall Girls’ Generation: 8.7

Girls’ Generation is South Korea’s Gem. The top girl group in all of Asia. Please do not argue otherwise. Whether they are the top group to you does not matter, what matters is that these girls are number one at what they do, and though there are other girl groups that are pretty darn popular, SNSD has yet to have their spot taken away.

Musically, SNSD isn’t the best, that we will admit. Aside from a few super catchy and well-made songs, most of their music is bland and tasteless. This, however, is not to rain down on their talent. One of the worst arguments we hear by haters is how “talentless” SNSD is. To these people we say: Fix your sentence. Yes, some members are pretty talent handicapped, but not all the girls. SNSD has one of the top female idol vocalists in K-Pop, and one of the top female idol dancers. Then there are other members who can sing, others who can dance, one who can act pretty darn well and one that has to face consistent scrutiny for being the pretty member.

These girls have worked hard to get to where they are today. They managed to bite through the tough times of their debut, the K-netizen hate, the Black Oceans, the death threats, the bullying. SNSD had one of the toughest times in their early years, and yet today they are one of the biggest K-Pop acts. They’re SM’s jewel, and downright deserve to be. So congrats to these girls, and we wish them all the more success.

♥ P&B

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