Girls' Generation (Hangul: sonyeosidae; RR: Sonyeo Sidae), also known as SNSD, is a South Korean girl group formed by S.M. Entertainment. The group is composed of eight members: Taeyeon, Sunny, Tiffany, Hyoyeon, Yuri, Sooyoung, Yoona and Seohyun. Originally a nine-piece group, Jessica later departed from the group in September 2014. Girls' Generation debuted in 2007 with their Korean eponymous debut album.

Prior to the group's debut, some of the members were already involved in the entertainment industry. Yoona had gone through about 200 auditions for music videos, dramas, and movies before becoming a singer for Girls' Generation. Sooyoung was exposed to the Japanese music scene as a member of a pop duo named Route th, which disbanded one year after its debut in 2002.  The first member of the group to join S.M. Entertainment's training system was Jessica in 2000, after she and her sister, Krystal Jung, were scouted in a mall in South Korea during a family vacation. That same year, members Sooyoung and Hyoyeon were cast into S.M.'s training system through the 2000 S.M. Open Audition, in which Hyoyeon danced for her audition. Yuri was the next Girls' Generation member to become an S.M. trainee after coming second in the 2001 S.M. Youth Best Dancer competition. Yoona was cast the following year through the 2002 S.M. Saturday Open Casting Audition, where she sang and danced to her favorite singers, BoA and Britney Spears. Seohyun, the group's youngest member, was scouted in the subway by an S.M. scout; she then auditioned in 2003, singing children's songs.  The group's leader, Taeyeon, was cast in 2004 after winning first place in the S.M. Youth Singing Competition. That same year, member Tiffany auditioned at S.M.'s Starlight Casting System in Los Angeles, and joined the company in October 2004. The final member of the group to be added was Sunny, who had become an S.M. trainee in 1998 and trained for five years before moving to another company, Starworld. At Starworld, she trained to debut in a duo named Sugar, which never debuted. In 2007, on the recommendation of Korean-Japanese singer IconiQ, Sunny moved back to S.M. Entertainment and became a member of Girls' Generation.  In July 2007, Girls' Generation had their first stage performance on Mnet's School of Rock, where the group performed their first single, "Into the New World" (dasi mannan segye; Dasi mannan segye). On August 5, 2007, the group officially made their debut on SBS's Inkigayo, where they performed the same song. Girls' Generation subsequently released their self-titled debut studio album in November 2007, which was preceded by the singles "Girls' Generation" (sonyeosidae; Sonyeo sidae)--a remake of Lee Seung-cheol's 1989 song, and "Kissing You". Girls' Generation became the twelfth best-selling album of 2007 in South Korea, selling 56,804 copies. The album has sold over 120,000 copies in the country as of 2009. In March 2008, the album was re-released under the title Baby Baby. The album was preceded by a single with the same name, which was released on digital music sites on March 17, 2008.

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Prior to the group's debut, some of the members were already involved in the entertainment industry.