"Lion Heart" is a song that was recorded 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-piec ...

for their fifth

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of the same name. It was released as the album's title track by

SM Entertainment SM Entertainment Co., Ltd. () is a South Korean multinational entertainment agency established in 1995 by Lee Soo-man. It is one of South Korea's largest entertainment companies and has been responsible for fostering and popularizing the car ...

on August 18, 2015.

Composition

"Lion Heart" was described as a

soul pop Soul music is a popular music genre that originated in African-American communities throughout the United States in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Catchy rhythms, stressed by handclaps and extemporaneous body movements, are an important hal ...

-inspired

bubblegum pop Bubblegum (also called bubblegum pop) is pop music in a catchy and upbeat style that is marketed for children and adolescents. The term also refers to a more specific rock and pop subgenre, originating in the United States in the late 1960s, th ...

song by ''

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''. It embraces a 1960s American retro sound and has a jazzy melody as well as "an ear-grabbing bass line". Lyrically, the song talks about women falling in love with men who have a cheating heart and how they try to tame him like taming a lion.

Music video

The music video was released on August 18, 2015. The music video narrates a story where the members of Girls' Generation each fall in love with a male protagonist, who turns out to be the same man (with his head being that of a lion, representing the song's conceptual "lion heart/lyin' heart" pun). They become upset and team up against him, then go on to reject further advances from him separately. The song was choreographed by the American choreographer

Tony Testa Anthony Joseph Testa (born 31 March 1987) is an American choreographer, creative director, educator and dancer. Early life Testa started dancing at age eight in his hometown of Fort Collins, Colorado at Westin Arts Academy & Artistic Fusion Dan ...

's choreographer Shim Jaewon. It became third most viewed music video on

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by a South Korean act in August 2015.

Reception

'' praised the song for its retro themes and shifting of member roles saying "But what is new, musically, is the division of lines – namely when Yuri, a member who typically only chimes in with a line or two, gets to handle a majority of the second chorus. It's a decision that further shows how Girls' Generation is embracing change in their eighth year..." The song was deemed the 7th best

K-pop K-pop (; an abbreviation of "Korean popular music") is a form of popular music originating in South Korea. It emerged in the 1990s as a form of youth subculture, with Korean musicians taking influence from Western Electronic dance music, danc ...

single of 2015 by ''

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''. Meanwhile, Idolator chose it as the 24th best K-pop song of the year.

Awards and nominations

"Lion Heart" received 14 music program awards in South Korea. It was nominated for Song of the Month (September) at the 5th

Gaon Chart Music Awards The Circle Chart Music Awards (), formerly known as the Gaon Chart Music Awards, is a major music awards ceremony that is presented annually in South Korea by the Korea Music Content Association primarily based on the commercial performance of t ...

, but lost to iKon's "My Type". It was one of the Digital Song Bonsang winners at the 30th Golden Disc Awards and was nominated for Digital Daesang.

Credits

Credits are adapted from ''Lion Heart'' liner notes.

Studio

* SM Blue Ocean Studio –

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* SM Blue Cup Studio – recording * SM Concert Hall Studio – mixing * Ingrid Studio – recording,

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* MonoTree Studio – recording, additional vocal editing * Sterling Sound – mastering

Personnel

– executive producer *

Lee Soo-man Lee Soo-man (, born 18 June 1952) is a South Korean business executive and record producer who is best known for being the founder of SM Entertainment, a multinational entertainment company based in Seoul. He has also been referred to as the "p ...

– producer * Kim Young-min – executive supervisor *

– vocals **

Taeyeon Kim Tae-yeon (; born March 9, 1989), known mononymously as Taeyeon, is a South Korean singer. She debuted as a member of girl group Girls' Generation in August 2007, which went on to become one of the best-selling artists in South Korea and one ...

–

background vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are u ...

* Jeon Ji-eun – lyrics * Hwang Seon-jeong – lyrics * Kim Jeong-mi – lyrics * Choi So-young – lyrics * Joy Factory – lyrics * Hwang Hyun – lyrics, vocal directing, recording,

Pro Tools Pro Tools is a digital audio workstation (DAW) developed and released by Avid Technology (formerly Digidesign) for Microsoft Windows and macOS. It is used for music creation and production, sound for picture (sound design, audio post-productio ...

operating * Sean Alexander –

composition Composition or Compositions may refer to: Arts and literature *Composition (dance), practice and teaching of choreography * Composition (language), in literature and rhetoric, producing a work in spoken tradition and written discourse, to include ...

* Darren "Baby Dee Beats" Smith – composition,

arrangement In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orchestr ...

Claudia Brant Claudia Alejandra Menkarski (born July 21, 1966), known as Claudia Brant, is an Argentine composer, producer and singer

– composition * Avenue 52 – arrangement * Shin Agnes – background vocals * Kim Cheol-sun – recording * Jung Eui-seok – recording * Jung Eun-kyung – recording, digital editing * Choo Dae-kwan – additional vocal editing * Nam Koong-jin – mixing * Tom Coyne – mastering

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end chart

Sales

Release history

References

External links

* {{authority control Girls' Generation songs 2015 singles 2015 songs SM Entertainment singles Songs written by Sean Alexander Songs written by Claudia Brant