TWICE And GFriend Honor Girls’ Generation By Collaborating Their Hit Track ‘Gee’ On ‘Inkigayo’

Seven years ago, a fairly new K-pop idol girl group known as So Nyeo Shi Dae, better known as Girls’ Generation, released a new track that by all accounts shouldn’t have been as successful as it was. Prior to its release, many in SM Entertainment – the label agency Girls’ Generation works under – as well as the group’s members, especially their leader Taeyeon, did not think it had the potential to make a mark. Much to their surprise, it would be the track that not only catapults Girls’ Generation into K-pop super-stardom, but would become the anthem for the Hallyu Wave.

That popular track was “Gee,” a fast-tempo, bubblegum pop song about a girl who has fallen in love for the first time. After its release, it earned nine consecutive No. 1 wins on Music Bank and eight consecutive wins on the Mnet Chart, setting the record. It was also named “Song of the Decade” by Melon, and chosen to be the most popular song of 2009. Let’s not forget the bountiful number of awards it has won too.

Nevertheless, “Gee” and Girls’ Generation are considered the track and K-pop idol girl group to pave the way for future K-pop idol girl groups. Two of them that have made their mark back in 2015 are TWICE and GFriend and to show their thanks to Girls’ Generation, they will honor them by performing “Gee” together in an upcoming episode of Inkigayo.

For those who are unfamiliar with the Girls’ Generation’s track, “Gee” was the title track of their mini-album that came out in 2009, a prosperous year for K-pop. The music video, which was uploaded on SM Entertainment’s old YouTube channel prior to SM Town, has since accumulated over 157 billion views. As a matter of fact, it was one of the top 10 most watched K-pop music videos on YouTube of all time and was originally the most watched Girls’ Generation music video on YouTube until “I Got A Boy” surpassed it this month. Many Sones still watch “Gee” to reminisce, since the majority of the club’s seasoned fans credit the track for becoming a Sone in the first place.

In some respects, both TWICE and GFriend might be Sones at heart too. According to Kpop Herald, both popular, up-and-coming K-pop idol girl groups joined forces to collaborate on a cover of “Gee” on Inkigayo. TWICE officially announced the homage to Girls’ Generation via their official Twitter account.

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COMING SOON
2016.03.13(SUN) SBS ????#???? #TWICE #???? pic.twitter.com/lYf566fiUt

— TWICE (@JYPETWICE) March 6, 2016

As shown from the attached tweet above, Nayeon, Jeongyeon, Momo, Sana, Jihyo, Mina, Dahyun, Chaeyoung, and Tzuyu of TWICE along with Sowon, Yerin, Eunha, Yuju, SinB, and Umji of GFriend wore the colorful skinny jeans, a signature part of Girls’ Generation’s attire in the “Gee” music video. However, Sones (devoted fans of Girls’ Generation) – along with ONCE (devoted fans of TWICE) and Buddies (devoted fans of GFriend) – will have to wait for the March 13, 2016 airing of Inkigayo to see what else TWICE and GFriend incorporated into their cover of “Gee” from the original music video. Let’s hope we get to see the “crab walk” too.

Outside of this collaboration, TWICE is now working on their 2016 comeback. GFriend, on the other hand, already made their 2016 comeback with their third mini-album Snowflake. They are now dominating with its title track “Rough.” Finally, Girls’ Generation is working on solo endeavors. SM Entertainment confirmed they are releasing Taeyeon, Tiffany, and Yuri’s solo albums in a short span of time. The fact they are so close is peculiar, given the fact that a solo album for Jessica Jung, a former member of Girls’ Generation, is also dropping around the same time.

[Image via TWICE and GFriend‘s Official Facebook Pages, Edited by Jan Omega]