The early years of Girls’ Generation contain more than their fair share of saccharine B-sides. Even among those, Kissing You stands out as one of their most unabashedly upbeat. Look at those lollipop mics!
Kissing You, released in 2008, is representative—and is in many ways the pinnacle—of Girls’ Generation’s early thematic beats: innocence, naïveté, and good, wholesome cheer, wrapped up in a major-key power ballad package. Apart from Kissing You, the group’s early discography includes such gems like Baby Baby from the same album:
And Way To Go, from 2009's legendary Gee EP:
More than a decade after Kissing You was released, it’s still one of Girls’ Generation’s most well-known songs, floating back to the surface every time a TV show needs a cheerful soundtrack or a girl group decides to cover it. At one of 2018's year-end capstone concerts, fans got a real treat when members from six different girl groups (Twice, Red Velvet, GFriend, Oh My Girl, Lovelyz and (G)I-DLE) collaborated on a performance: