The album was preceded by the pre-release single, "Dancing Queen", released on December 21, 2012. The title track, "I Got a Boy", was released digitally on January 1, 2013. According to Billboard , the album contains "polished K-pop confections" that combines many different musical elements such as 80s new wave, electronic dance music, and modern R&B, that would appeal to not just K-Pop fans but also other listeners of popular music as well.
Background and development
This album is really different from our usual ones. It’s like
challenging a person’s limits. I’m looking forward to what the fans will
think, and because it’s still a secret amongst us, I just feel nervous.
—Seohyun, talks about the group's album.
In the November 2012 issue of South Korean fashion magazine CeCi, Seohyun told the magazine that the group had been preparing for the album for some time. The group had originally planned to make a Korean comeback during the months of October and November.
However, plans were ultimately scrapped for the group to focus on
Japanese promotions for the remainder of 2012. It was also revealed that
the group have been working on their comeback in Korea as well. During
their free time in between their Japan schedule, the group have been
recording and working on their new album for Korea. 
On November 16, 2012, it was revealed the group were to make a Korean comeback after fourteen months away from the industry. The following month, on December 11, 2012, a representative for SM Entertainment stated that the group were in the final stages of preparation for their fourth album, however, the release date was still undecided.
Release
After the group's label S.M. Entertainment revealed the group intended to return in January, 2013, MBC announced on December 11, 2012, that the group would be receiving a separate broadcast depicting the album process in preparation of the album's release in January 2013. On December 20, 2012, SM Entertainment released a teaser image through their official Twitter account. The text on the emblem reads, “Girls' Generation 2013", with the date and time, “2012. 12. 21 10 A.M.”.This was later revealed to be the pre-release single, "Dancing Queen", which was released on the corresponding date.On December 20, 2012, SM Entertainment posted a teaser image containing the words "2012. 12. 21 10 A.M." on their official Twitter.
After the release of "Dancing Queen," the group began the release of teaser pictures, with the first member being Hyoyeon, who donned multi-colored rainbow hair. Another picture of Hyoyeon was released, which features her neck with the album title tattooed on her neck with a male face and the group member names. Leading up to the album, the group was promoted online via Korean entertainment, Naver. Previews of their individual comeback messages were released on Naver. The full length comeback messages were only released on the Naver Line app.
On the same day, the group's teaser images were leaked causing SM Entertainment to release all the teaser images via their official Facebook account and Korean site Naver. Comeback messages from the group continued with Yuri on December 23, 2012. On December 24, Sunny's comeback message was released along with teaser pictures of herself, Taeyeon, Jessica, Tiffany, and Yoona. On the same day, it was announced the group's MBC special entitled "MBC New Year Special – Girls’ Generation’s Romantic Fantasy" would be broadcast on January 1, 2013.
The official teaser for the drama version of the music video was released on December 26, 2012 at 5 p.m. KST. Yoona's message was released on December 27, 2012. SM Entertainment revealed on the same day that the group would not be wearing high heels during promotional performances for "I Got a Boy" as members plan to focus on the choreography and performance. On December 28, Hyoyeon's video message was released along with a new teaser picture of the group. Jessica's message was released on December 29, 2012, assuring fans the group had ben practicing for both the upcoming album and their Second Japan Arena Tour. Sooyoung and Seohyun's messages were released on December 30 and 31, respectively. A highlight medley of the album was released on December 31, 2012, as well.
Live performance
The first of the group's comeback performances will began on January 3, 2013, on Mnet's M! Countdown. Seven members appeared on Mnet's Wide Open Studio program prior to their comeback performance, Yuri and Hyoyeon were not present as they were preparing to emcee M! Countdown. The group will continue their first week of performances for the album on KBS' Music Bank, MBC's Music Core and SBS's Inkigayo on January 4, 5 and 6, respectively. Girls' Generation held an hour-long "Virtual Concert" broadcast live via Naver Music on January 5, 2013. The group also performed it on their MBC comeback special; Girls’ Generation’s Romantic Fantasy on January 1, 2013. The group also performed on KBS Hope Concert.Critical reception
Los Angeles Times described “I Got a Boy” as something “as strange and structurally progressive as anything in the current commercial pop realm”, likening the song to a crossword puzzle or a “modern-day ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’”. Randall Roberts also compared “I Got a Boy” to the works of popular artists in the American music industry today, including Skrillex and Ellie Goulding. Billboard released a review for “I Got a Boy”. The title song got high praise as “one of the most-forward thinking lead pop singles heard in any country” for its intense mix of different sounds and melodies. Jeff Benjamin, the author, commended Girls’ Generation for “[setting] the bar truly high for pop in 2013″ with “I Got a Boy”.Grantland.com listed “I Got a Boy” first in its “Songs of the Week” article. Amos Barshad mentioned K-Pop’s significant break into the American music scene with PSY’s “Gangnam Style” and continued by commenting on “I Got a Boy”‘s musical complexities and unique lyrics.
Composition
The next album is really going to be something new. Because we were
thinking of testing the limits with the genre and music color. When we
first heard the song and saw the choreography, we had doubts as to
whether or not we could do it. It’s a dance we’ve never danced before,
so it could be something the person doing it would fear. It could also
be a new attempt for the company, but my heart also beats that much
more.
Dsign Music,
the group of famous composers that composed the hit song, 'Genie’, as
well as the top composers of Europe including Will Simms and Sarah
Lundback, and the composer from Korea, Young-Jin Yoo participated in the
making of the album. I Got a Boy is an electronic dance song that mixes
pop, retro, and urban genres. Talk Talk is the Korean version of
Boomerang which was in the 2nd full-length album released in Japan, and
the Korean lyric tells a guy who does not understand a girl’s heart
should try to talk to his girl that it gives the feeling different from
Japanese version while it has the same melody and arrangement.Baby Maybe, composed by the popular English singer-songwriter, Pixie Lott, mixes the lyrics written by Sooyoung, Yuri, and Seohyun that expresses the fluttering heart of a girl in love with a cheerful melody, and ‘XYZ’ with a powerful synthesizer pattern is also written by Yuri and Seohyun. The album also contains ‘Lost in Love’, the duet by Taeyeon and Tiffany, which compares the moment of the tear in the eyes with ‘Glass’, and it expresses the changes of heart that accepts the breakup with the lover along with the time passes. The track Promise is a medium tempo ballad while Express 999, the retro pop combining various genres. "Look at Me" combines organic beat, playful melody, and easy-to-sing-along chorus. "Romantic St." is a swing jazz style song.
Single
"Dancing Queen" was released as a pre-release single on December 21, 2012. "Dancing Queen," a remake of Welsh singer Duffy's song "Mercy" was recorded in 2008 as a comeback song after a nine-month hiatus, however plans were scrapped and the group went with "Gee". "Dancing Queen" received an all-kill on all seven Korean music sites within a day of its release
With only a day of sales, the song sold over and debuted at
number-seven on the Gaon Digital Download chart, while debuting at
number eleven on the Gaon Single Chart. The song achieved its highest debut at number four on the K-Pop Hot 100."I Got a Boy" was released digitally on January 1, 2013. Two teasers for the video were released; drama version was released on December 26, 2012, while the dance version was released on December 28, 2012. The "I Got A Boy" music video and album were released simultaneously at 5 p.m. KST. The video, as well as the teaser in the "Dancing Queen" video, became the center of public scrutiny after several screenshots from the video circulated on the internet with Sunny's hat having the words "Welcome Motherfuckers" printed on it. Seohyun wore the same hat, however majority of the wording was covered over. Sooyoung and Yoona both wore similar hats with "Fuck The System" printed on both.
Music video
Dancing Queen
Background
Most of the video was originally filmed in 2008 and features scenes from the music video for album's title track "I Got A Boy". Although originally supposed to be their comeback single preceding "Kissing You" and initially slated as the title track for the group's first Korean mini-album, due to last minute copyrights issues the release the song were scrapped. The outfits and the concept featured in the music video would instead be reworked into what would become "Gee". The music video and single were finally released on December 21 2012, four years after work on the song was completed. A screenshot of the music video was leaked in 2011 along with the audio of the Korean version of "Boomerang," which was later officially released in Japanese on their second Japanese album Girls' Generation II: Girls & Peace. In an interview with Korean music site member Yuri described the choreography as "trying to a cat paw-like shape, and move [like this] like a cat trying to act cute.
and jeans combination from the "Gee" music video.
Synopsis
The music video, with a running time of 4 minutes, 23 seconds, has a time machine themed plot. The video begins with the members in a pink furnished play doll-like room interacting with one another. Yoona opens up a present that she received to find a small device, they then quickly gather around to found out it is a time machine bring them back from the year 2013 to 2008, a 5 year span. The room transform in to a retro style diner. Tiffany turns on a jukebox with Jessica while they both sing the intro in English. The first verse mainly focuses on the in the diner with a light pink counter top. While in the diner, the video transitions from each members line in a pan-order around the diner. The second verse is focused on the white set. The white-top and jeans costumes are reused from the "Gee" music video considering the fact they were both film on short notice. During the bridge, the members throw a party while dancing in groups of three while Tiffany approaches a DJ telling him to play a song, the video then cuts back to the center of the diner where the group is seen dancing and fellow customers and diner staff are dancing. Confetti is thrown during the final chorus while the party continues with a final pose in the t-shirt and jean costumes. At the end of the song, the time machine moves forward to 2013 as the words "Ayo GG" spoken by Sooyoung are heard, leading into the teaser for the album's title track, "I Got a Boy." The background is a pink fluorescent diamond in a black room. The first part of the teaser is met with audio using mid rock-synths then breaks down into dubstep as Tiffany says, "Ayo stop, let me put it down another way". At the end of the video, the "I Got a Boy" symbol was used with "2013.01.01 comeback" seen below it.
I Got A Boy
Background
The first teaser for the video was integrated in the "Dancing Queen" music video as part of time machine theme. The teaser showed each member, both close-up and mid-shot in a dark room with a pink fluorescent diamonds in the background, accompanied by rock-influenced synths which then breaks down to a dubstep-influenced section with the words "Ayo stop, let me put it down another way" spoken by Tiffany. The teaser for the video's drama version was released on December 26, 2012, at 5pm KST. A teaser for the dance version of the video was released two days later on December 28, 2012. Choreography for the song was handled by renowned choreographers Nappytabs who also worked with label mates TVXQ and BoA. Nappytabs had previously tweeted a picture of themselves along with nine dancers and SM Entertainment performance director Jae-won Shim.The music video was released on January 1, 2013 on 5:45 p.m. KST (as shown on Hyoyeon's digital watch in the Drama Teaser) and has garnered more than 26 million views on YouTube as of January 12, 2013.
wearing multi-colored outfits.
Synopsis
The video, running for five-minutes-and-five-seconds, begins in the same room as seen in the "Dancing Queen" music video, with the girls in a pink chatting in a pink-colored room; Tiffany and Yuri are sitting at a table drinking tea, Sooyoung is writing, Sunny and Yoona are joking by the bed, Jessica is spraying Girl de Provence, Taeyeon and Seohyun are discussing clothing choices and Hyoyeon is blow-drying her hair. A man (Kim Ian) is then seen walking to the girls' apartment, who then rings the doorbell, the girls stop everything they're doing and rush to the door to look through the peephole, the man is then seen walking away with the words "That's weird" and "Is anybody home?" seen in speech bubbles. The camera then zooms-in through the peephole to the girls and then back out again to a multi-colored room with the entire group dressed in military-inspired clothing, the sequence begins with a rap intro performed by Sooyoung and Yuri and then cuts to a street with the members dressed in hip-hop-inspired outfits with the members beginning to perform the choreography as Tiffany performs a spoken intro.The video then cuts to several close-ups of each member, as well as scenes featuring the man flirting with each member. It then abruptly stops with the members throwing their hats toward the camera which then cuts to a second room with a strip of yellow and red triangles extending from behind the group and over them, following this, the video cuts between scenes of the members with the man as well as them in the three sets performing the song's choreography. Tiffany is then seen dressed in a pink trench coat and a orange-blonde wig singing into a retro-microphone in runway set with pink fluorescent diamonds in the back, as seen in the teaser, followed by Taeyeon wearing the same wig and a red trench coat, the video then cuts back to close-ups of the group, scenes with the man and the three dance sets. The video ends with the group posing in the street with their Korean and English names seen above the "I Got a Boy" logo from the single and album covers.
Commercial performance
Following the release of "Dancing Queen," the song became an immediate hit on all Korean music websites, reaching number-one on Naver Music, MelOn, Monkey3, Bugs, Soribada, Olleh Music, and Mnet by the morning of December 22, 2012; known in Korea as an "all-kill". With only one day of sales, the song managed to sell 139,344 copies. A week later, the song jumped to the number one spot on both of the Gaon Single and Download chart. The album has managed to top all the real-time music charts in Korea like Melon, Bugs, Olleh, Mnet and Soribada. I Got a Boy also managed to top the iTunes charts in various Asian countries and also enter the Top 20 on iTunes' Top Albums chart. 'I Got a Boy' debuted at the number one spot of Billboard's 'World Album Chart. They also placed 2nd on the Heatseekers Albums Chart and 23rd on the Independent Albums Chart.Track listing
| CD | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Producer(s) | Length | ||||||
| 1. | "I Got a Boy" | Yoo Young Jin, Will Simms, Anne Judith Wik, Sarah Lundbäck Bell | Will Simms, Yoo Young-jin | 4:31 | ||||||
| 2. | "Dancing Queen" | Yoon Hyo-sang, Jessica Jung, Tiffany Hwang, Steve Booker | Steve Brooker, Kenzie | 3:35 | ||||||
| 3. | "Baby Maybe" | Choi Sooyoung, Kwon Yuri, Seohyun, Mich Hansen, Jonas Jeberg, Ruth-Anne Cunningham, Pixie Lott | Mitch Hansen | 3:43 | ||||||
| 4. | "말해봐" (Talk Talk) | Kim Tae-sung, Charlie Mason, Oscar Gorres, Danny Saucedo | Charlie Mason | 2:46 | ||||||
| 5. | "Promise" | Moul, Joseph Belmaati | Joseph Belmaati | 3:15 | ||||||
| 6. | "Express 999" | Kim Jung-bae | Kenzie | 3:27 | ||||||
| 7. | "유리아이" (Lost in Love) | Park Chang-hyun | Park Chang-hyun | 4:00 | ||||||
| 8. | "Look at Me" | Jun Kandi, Johan Gustafson, Fredrik Häggstam, Sebastian Lundberg, Louis Schoorl | Trinity (Johan Gustafson, Fredrik Häggstam, Sebastian Lundberg) | 3:01 | ||||||
| 9. | "XYZ" | Kwon Yuri, Seohyun | Stereotypes, Victoria Horn | 3:15 | ||||||
| 10. | "낭만길" (Romantic St.) | Hyuk Shin, Matthew Heath, Hailey Collier, DK, Jordan Kyle, Jee Yoon Yoo, Lee Shinsung, Lee Chanmi, Sumi | Hyuk Shin, Jordan Kyle | 4:00 | ||||||
Total length:
|
37:34 | |||||||||
- Notes
- "Dancing Queen" (recorded in 2008) is a remake of the song, Mercy, by Welsh singer Duffy.
- "Baby Maybe" was originally co-written as a demo in English by English singer-songwriter Pixie Lott under the title as "What You Do." The song was later given to Girls' Generation with Seohyun, Yuri and Sooyoung re-writing it.
- "Talk Talk" (previously titled Boomerang) was recorded in 2008. A Japanese version was included in their second Japanese studio album, Girls & Peace (2012).
Personnel
Credits for I Got a Boy adapted from album liner notes.
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Chart performance
Albums chart
| Chart | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Gaon Weekly albums chart | 1 |
| Gaon Monthly albums chart | |
| Japan Oricon Weekly Albums Chart | |
| US Billboard World Albums | 1 |
| US Billboard Heatseekers Albums | 2 |
| US Billboard Independent Albums Albums | 23 |
Single Chart
I Got a Boy
|
Dancing Queen
|
Other Charted Song
Sales and certifications
| Chart | Amount |
|---|---|
| Gaon physical sales | |
| Japan Oricon physical sales (Korean Edition) |
Release history
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