In this issue of Ask Oppa/Ask Unnie, MoonSoshi9 and letaengbutt will be answering those questions that have caught their eye. Again, letaengbutt will be using AhjuMaknae as her nickname, while MoonSoshi9 will be using Oppa. We are both looking forward to receiving your interesting questions and hope that you will keep them coming. Remember, there is no such thing as too many questions, so don’t forget to ask!

As always, there are three ways for you to send us questions, and we need to continue to receive them from you in order to keep this column going. Just remember that we’re looking for opinion-based questions, and that questions about Girls’ Generation facts can be answered here instead. Also, remember that there is NO deadline for submitting questions. If we didn’t answer your question this month, it doesn’t necessarily mean that we’ll never answer it, and we can save it for later months.
Method 1) Email questions to us at [email protected] with the subject “Ask Column“.

Method 2) Leave questions in the official Ask Oppa / Ask Unnie Question Submission Thread here on Soshified.

Method 3) Submit questions to the official Ask Oppa / Ask Unnie Formspring page. So what fascinating questions did you all ask this month?

Let’s dive right in and find out!

 

Hyoyeon has always been known as the dancer of Girls’ Generation, especially for her popping and locking skills.  There are still a lot of dances that she hasn’t tried, and now that she is on “Dancing With The Stars II”, what dance would you really like to see her perform?
-Solstice Of Light

MoonSoshi9-Oppa

I was really happy to see Hyoyeon do a Paso Doble on “Dancing With The Stars II”. That dance is a really powerful style that fits well with Hyoyeon’s skill set while still challenging her in a more formal dance. Unfortunately, what I really want to see Hyoyeon do is Contemporary, but it’s not a ballroom style so it won’t ever happen on “Dancing With The Stars II”. It’s like the complete opposite of her popping and locking, so I would love to see how she would do with that style. Hyoyeon has great musicality when she dances, which I think would translate well into Contemporary. She has shown that she is a naturally talented dancer by doing all these different ballroom dances really well, so it would be quite interesting and cool to see how she would adapt her hip hop roots to the more free-flowing Contemporary style of dance.

letaengbutt-AhjuMaknae

Before I answer this question, I have to make a confession. As much as I would love to, I don’t have the time to follow Hyoyeon’s progress on “Dancing With The Stars II” so I’m not too clear as to what dances she has attempted and what she hasn’t. Please don’t stone me though! I love Hyoyeon. As mentioned above by MoonSoshi9, I’d love to see how Hyoyeon dances Contemporary. I’d actually like to see how she interprets Ballet, but I think it would be a little too extreme for her. Hyoyeon is known for her strong and fierce moves, so it would be very interesting to see how she pulls of a dance which is all about smoothness and fluidity.

 

Do you prefer Girls’ Generation’s Korean songs or their Japanese songs and why? Into the New World, Girls’ Generation, Gee, Genie, Oh!, Run Devil Run, Hoot, The Boys and Twinkle versus MR. TAXI, Girls’ Generation First Japan Album and Repackage and Paparazzi.
-Nyokou

MoonSoshi9-Oppa

Well, if I list my favorite Girls’ Generation songs, the majority of them are the Korean ones, but I think it’s more complicated than that. The style of the Japanese songs is so different from the Korean ones that it’s almost hard to compare. I absolutely love how polished, refined, and succinct all the Japanese songs are. The production quality is unmatched. There is a consistent, yet varying style with all the songs on the first Japanese album, whereas the Korean catalogue is a wide range of sounds and concepts. Right now I love “PAPARAZZI” for how complex both the sound and choreography are, but I think in the end I have to go with Girls’ Generation’s Korean songs. Another bonus is I can somewhat understand the Korean songs, whereas I am completely lost with Japanese lyrics. Also, the Korean language itself is more pleasing to my ear. “Twinkle” is also one of the very best Girls’ Generation albums, so there’s that, too.

letaengbutt-AhjuMaknae

Oh god…this question is so unfair. How do I choose?! I think as a whole, I prefer the Japanese songs. The Japanese songs are more towards the electronic, fast-paced beats whereas the Korean songs are more towards catchy and repetitive tunes. I like songs which have addictive and unique beats, so I guess the Japanese songs fall into that category. Some of my favourite Japanese songs are “The Great Escape”, “Time Machine”, “Beautiful Stranger” and “PAPARAZZI”. The Korean songs are very catchy and one thing that I love about them is that I can easily sing along as I can somewhat understand the lyrics, but I can’t say the same for the Japanese songs.

I’ll never forgive you for adding “Twinkle” into the list and making my life so difficult though…the album is fantastic.

Why do you think Yuri is the tannest among the 9 girls?
-Kaisiong26<3Yuri

MoonSoshi9-Oppa

Yuri has an extremely rare and exotic condition that has the effect of making her into a dark amazonian goddess. They call it the “curse of the black pearl”. [letaengbutt: And Sunny has a condition called “Dead Man’s Chest”, hahahahaha]

letaengbutt-AhjuMaknae

Yuri loves suntanning, so one day while the girls were over at my house swimming, Yoona and Sooyoung decided to play a prank on her. They took suntan lotion and swapped the contents with a bottle of sunblock before passing it over to Yuri. After applying what she thought was sunblock, Yuri fell asleep while suntanning. Yoona and Sooyoung then applied more “sunblock” on Yuri and when the poor girl woke up, she discovered that she had become a “black pearl”.

Then Taeyeon and Tiffany hugged me.

What are your opinions on Girls’ Generation producing an all English-language album for world release in the future?  Do you think that their Korean fans will understand and support them, or will their attention shift to another act while the girls are out of the country?  Sometimes, it seems that Korean fans tend to focus their attention on other groups promoting in Korea while their idol group is out of the country.
 -S. Shirai

MoonSoshi9-Oppa

I think the girls definitely have to keep a presence in their home country somehow even while promoting an English album overseas. Look what is going on in Japan for instance. “PAPARAZZI” is doing quite well, already selling over 100,000 copies, but it didn’t sell as fast as “MR. TAXI”. They have been out of Japan for a year pretty much, with only a brief re-appearance for the first Japanese album repackage and a performance of “The Boys”, but other than that, they haven’t kept a constant presence there like they do in Korea. I think it shows how important it is for even small appearances on television shows to stay in the news and on people’s minds. If they went all out on English promotions it could hurt their home fanbase depending on how long they leave for. Fame is fickle unfortunately. However, all eyes would be on Girls’ Generation if they do pull the trigger on full blown world album promotions, and given their stature in Korea, if it’s a success, it might not even matter if they are away for awhile since their global popularity would still reach their homeland.

 

letaengbutt-AhjuMaknae

Promoting an all-English album might either grant them popularity in the West, or cause them to lose fans back in their homeland. Either way, I think that you have to lose some in order to gain some. If the girls promoted in the West and took a short hiatus from their homeland activities, I think that there will definitely be fans who leave the fandom. As MoonSoshi9 mentioned, “Fame is fickle”. We can never guarantee that five years down the road we will still be listening to the same type of music and supporting the same artists that we love now. Staying relevant in the music industry of one country is competitive enough as it is, but with the Japanese and Korean markets already on their plates, it might be even harder for them to gain popularity in the West and still be at the top of the game back in the East.

Written by: letaengbutt@Soshified, MoonSoshi9@Soshified
Photos by: CGG, SMTOWN, kwonyuri125

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