"Paparazzi" is a song recorded in the Japanese language by South Korean girl group

Girls' Generation Girls' Generation (), also known as SNSD, is a South Korean girl group formed by SM Entertainment. The group is composed of eight members: Taeyeon, Sunny, Tiffany, Hyoyeon, Yuri, Sooyoung, Yoona, and Seohyun. Originally a nine-piece ensembl ...

for their second Japanese-language studio album, '' Girls & Peace'' (2012). It was released as the album's lead single on June 27, 2012. Written by Fredrik Thomander, Johan Becker, and Junji Ishiwatari, and produced by Miles Walker, the track was described as an

electropop Electropop is a hybrid music genre combining elements of electronic and pop genres. Writer Hollin Jones has described it as a variant of synth-pop with heavy emphasis on its electronic sound. The genre was developed in the 1980s and saw a re ...

and R&B song. To promote the single, Girls' Generation appeared on Japanese music programs '' Music Station'' and '' Hey! Hey! Hey! Music Champ'', while a music video for the song directed by Toshiyuki Suzuki premiered on June 10, 2012, in order to accompany the release of the song. Upon its release, "Paparazzi" received mixed reviews from music critics, who compared the song to the group's previous Japanese-language single "

Mr. Taxi "Mr. Taxi" is the first original Japanese song recorded by South Korean girl group Girls' Generation. It was released as a double A-side single with the Japanese version of " Run Devil Run" on April 27, 2011, as the third single from the group's ...

" in 2011. The track was ranked number 19 on ''

Spin Spin or spinning most often refers to: * Spinning (textiles), the creation of yarn or thread by twisting fibers together, traditionally by hand spinning * Spin, the rotation of an object around a central axis * Spin (propaganda), an intentionally b ...

s list of top 20 K-pop songs of 2012. The single was a commercial success in Japan, peaking atop the

Japan Hot 100 The ''Billboard Japan'' Hot 100 is a record chart in Japan for songs. It has been compiled by ''Billboard Japan'' and '' Hanshin Contents Link'' since February 2008. The chart is updated every Wednesday at Billboard-japan.com ( JST) and every Thur ...

and at number two on both the

Oricon Singles Chart The Oricon Singles Chart is the Japanese music industry-standard singles popularity chart issued daily, weekly, monthly and yearly by Oricon. Chart rankings are based on physical singles' sales. Until 2017, Oricon did not track download sales. In J ...

and

RIAJ Digital Track Chart The was a record chart that ranks the best selling digital singles in Japan, with data provided by the Recording Industry Association of Japan from April 2009. The chart measures cellphone downloads (着うたフル ''Chaku-Uta Full'') (not downlo ...

. "Paparazzi" was certified Gold in Japan for the sales of the single's digital and physical release, respectively.

Recording and release

"Paparazzi" is a song recorded in the Japanese language, which was described as a hybrid of

and R&B. It was written by Swedish songwriters Fredrik Thomander and Johan Becker, while production was handled by American producer Miles Walker. Japanese songwriter Junji Ishiwatari provided additional writing credits. The track was released as the lead single from the group's second Japanese-language studio album, '' Girls & Peace'' (2012), as part of the group's comeback to Japanese promotions. It was released for CD and DVD sales in Japan by Nayutawave Records, which is affiliated with Universal Music Group, on June 27, 2012. The song was made available for

digital Digital usually refers to something using discrete digits, often binary digits. Technology and computing Hardware *Digital electronics, electronic circuits which operate using digital signals **Digital camera, which captures and stores digital i ...

purchase globally on the same day. "Paparazzi" was also released in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and South Korea in mid-2012 under license by Universal Music Hong Kong, Universal Music Taiwan, and S.M. Entertainment, respectively.

Promotion

To promote the single, Girls' Generation performed "Paparazzi" on the Japanese music program '' Music Station'' on June 22, 2012, where the group wore tuxedos and pink gloves. On July 9, 2012, the group staged their second performance of the song on Fuji Television's '' Hey! Hey! Hey! Music Champ'', where the members wore tuxedos with black gloves. The accompanying music video for "Paparazzi" was directed by Toshiyuki Suzuki and is almost seven minutes long. In the video, Girls' Generation performs on stage in a theatre, with the set inspired by classic

musicals Musical theatre is a form of theatrical performance that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance. The story and emotional content of a musical – humor, pathos, love, anger – are communicated through words, music, movement ...

. The video begins with the members wearing trench coats and "whimsically prancing" to

Gene Kelly Eugene Curran Kelly (August 23, 1912 – February 2, 1996) was an American actor, dancer, singer, filmmaker, and choreographer. He was known for his energetic and athletic dancing style and sought to create a new form of American dance accessibl ...

's "

Singin' in the Rain ''Singin' in the Rain'' is a 1952 American musical romantic comedy film directed and choreographed by Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen, starring Kelly, Donald O'Connor, and Debbie Reynolds and featuring Jean Hagen, Millard Mitchell and Cyd Charis ...

". During the main performance of "Paparazzi", the video is intercut with scenes of the members being followed by photographers. They perform in two different outfits – showgirl-inspired costumes and tuxedos with pink gloves. Jeff Benjamin from ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

'' praised the dance routines for their "perfect nine-piece synchronization" and opined that the pink gloves of the girls resembled those worn by Marilyn Monroe.

Reception

Upon its release, "Paparazzi" received mixed reviews from music critics. Jeff Benjamin from ''

'' named it a "high-energy" track. James Hadfield, writing for the Tokyo edition of ''

Time Out Time-out, Time Out, or timeout may refer to: Time * Time-out (sport), in various sports, a break in play, called by a team * Television timeout, a break in sporting action so that a commercial break may be taken * Timeout (computing), an enginee ...

'', compared the song's R&B styles to those of the group's previous 2011 Japanese-language single "

" and called it a "redux" of the latter single, writing that "you'd struggle to spot many real improvements." "Paparazzi" was a commercial success in Japan, debuting at number two on the

on the chart issue dated July 9, 2012; the number one position belonged to KAT-TUN's single " To the Limit". The following week, it dropped to number ten. "Paparazzi" became the 58th best-selling physical single of 2012 on the Oricon chart, selling 136,181 copies. The single debuted at number 31 on the ''

on July 2, 2012. The following week, it rose up to the top position on the chart. On the chart issue dated July 16, 2012, the single dropped to number seven. "Paparazzi" ranked at number 50 on the year-end chart of 2012. The track as well charted at number two on the ''Billboard'' Japan Hot Singles Sales, number five on the ''Billboard'' Japan Adult Contemporary Airplay, and number two on the

. According to

Nielsen SoundScan Luminate (formerly Nielsen SoundScan, Nielsen Music Products, and MRC Data) is a provider of music sales data. Established by Mike Fine and Mike Shalett in 1991, data is collected weekly and made available every Sunday (for albums sales) and eve ...

, "Paparazzi" has sold 103,000 digital copies in Japan as of July 2012.

Track listing

;Digital Download # "Paparazzi" - 3:47 # "Paparazzi" (Instrumental) - 3:46 ;Regular Edition CD single – Type A # "Paparazzi" # "Paparazzi" (Instrumental) # "Paparazzi" (Music Video) ;Regular Edition CD Single – Type B # "Paparazzi" # "Paparazzi" (Instrumental) ;Special Edition # "Paparazzi" # "Paparazzi" (Instrumental) # "Paparazzi" (Music Video) # "Paparazzi" (Music Video: close-up version)

Credits and personnel

Credits adapted from the CD issue's liner notes * Girls' Generation – Vocals ** Taeyeon – Main vocals, Background vocals ** Jessica – Main vocals, Background vocals ** Sunny – Lead vocals **

Tiffany Tiffany may refer to: People * Tiffany (given name), list of people with this name * Tiffany (surname), list of people with this surname Known mononymously as "Tiffany": * Tiffany Darwish, (born 1971), an American singer, songwriter, actress kn ...

– Lead vocals ** Hyoyeon – Vocals ** Yuri – Lead vocals ** Sooyoung – Vocals ** Yoona – Vocals ** Seohyun – Lead vocals, Background vocals * Miles Walker –

producer Producer or producers may refer to: Occupations *Producer (agriculture), a farm operator *A stakeholder of economic production *Film producer, supervises the making of films **Executive producer, contributes to a film's budget and usually does not ...

, mixing and programming * Fredrik Thomander – songwriter * Johan Becker – songwriter *

Junji Ishiwatari is a Japanese musician, songwriter and record producer. He is also famous for being a guitarist of the Japanese band Supercar. Biography Ishiwatari found an ad looking for band members that had been posted by Miki Furukawa at a musical instru ...

– songwriter, translation * Tom Coyne – mastering

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Sales and certifications

Release history

References

External links

* {{Authority control 2012 singles 2012 songs Girls' Generation songs Japanese-language songs SM Entertainment singles Billboard Japan Hot 100 number-one singles Songs written by Junji Ishiwatari Songs written by Fredrik Thomander