On January 11, former Girls' Generation member Jessica held her solo concert in Malaysia. During the concert, she surprised audiences by performing a medley of Girls' Generation hit songs, including "The Boys," "I GOT A BOY," "Genie," "Mr. Mr.," "Gee," and "Into The New World."
At the venue, the crowd erupted with excitement as many became nostalgic over Jessica's days as a Girls' Generation member, and the reactions were just as heated on the platform X.
Meanwhile, on an online forum, netizens discussed Jessica's decision to perform the group's songs after having departed under unresolved circumstances and later publishing books that many felt alluded to the members.
This sparked a debate, with some netizens taking issue with the medley, while others downplayed the controversy by saying, "There is nothing wrong with her wanting to sing her own songs," arguing that the tracks include Jessica's vocals and were originally recorded by her.
Others who were taken aback by the performance shared reactions such as, "If I were a current Girls' Generation fan, I'd be so angry," and "I wish she would live a good life of her own now without making references to Girls' Generation that bring upon her nothing but malicious comments."
Those who were especially critical of the decision to perform the medley 'called out' Jessica for "the many instances she directly and indirectly badmouthed the members of Girls' Generation" through her novels and past interviews.
At the same time, there were others who expressed how much they "missed" her voice, writing "how good it must have been had she never left," and even noting that she performed a medley that felt more dynamic and Girls' Generation oriented than some of the current members do at their own concerts or fan meetings.
"Still, I think it sounds nice. If only she hadn’t left… how great would that have been."
"Putting everything else aside, her novel was honestly absurd."
"Didn’t the two members who left TVXQ even hold concerts with those songs and get good reactions…? Jessica’s tone is still nice."
"I’m honestly glad she flopped. Her business ventures all failed, and she doesn’t even have popularity in China anymore."
"Wow, she’s really going all the way. This is the worst."
"She really has zero consideration for the fans who, out of the last bit of affection they had left, still wished her happiness and a good life."
"People sing complete strangers’ songs at cover concerts too. If it’s a song she participated in, she can sing it. I don’t get why people are tearing her apart for it."
"Did you even read the novel? The way the other Girls’ Generation members were portrayed was seriously cringe."
"What’s wrong with her… this is embarrassing."
"Oh, is it allowed to use that at a concert?"
"If she dragged them through the mud that much in a book, she should at least not sing the songs."
"Well… she wants to sing songs she used to sing."
"Whoa, fans are going to lose it."
"She did Girls’ Generation songs more generously than actual Girls’ Generation members do at their solo concerts or fan meetings…"
"Even if you leave, sure, you can technically do it, but after going around giving interviews and releasing a novel clearly referencing Girls’ Generation and continuously ruining their legacy, why do this? The nerve is unreal."
"Damn, but on the other hand, I also feel kind of sorry for her and wish her well ㅠ Just stop mentioning Girls’ Generation so you don’t get dragged, and live your life…"
"Aside from her tone, you can really see her skills have declined. Her dancing looks like basic motions. Girls’ Generation kept promoting, so their skills improved a lot."
"She’s still promoting these days? It’s surprising she still has fans."
"Why did she even leave? LOL. Now she wants to cash in on nostalgia?"
"From my perspective, I feel like she thought Girls’ Generation’s popularity equaled her own popularity, so she figured, ‘If I go solo, people will cheer for me just the same.’ Then why even stay in the group? Honestly, that’s not how it works. I don’t even really follow my own favorite idol’s solo activities LOL."
"She had a lot of questionable interviews, and the novel she wrote after leaving the group got the worst reaction. She created characters clearly corresponding to each Girls’ Generation member, with them being jealous of and bullying the main character, who was basically herself. There are plenty of ex members in idol history, but this kind of victim complex is unique to her."
"Since she recorded those songs herself, I guess if she pays the usage fees and wants to sing them, she can. Still, it’s funny."
"If she’s paying royalties for songs she participated in, then fine… but she’s so bad even while lip syncing that it makes you wonder why she did it at all."
"I just saw a post saying she maliciously wrote the novel as a Girls’ Generation homage. I guess she really needs the name value."
"A lot of time has passed, and at some point she just became someone antis use to poke at Girls’ Generation fans. So now it’s just like, ‘Okay, sure, whatever.’ Live well."
"She ditched group activities at their peak to focus on her business and left. Who’s going to look kindly on that LOL. Just look at how the members have talked about it over the years—that says everything."
"It’s not like she left because she hated the group. She said she would leave first, and everything was supposedly discussed. But in the end she still caused damage to the team and left. Then after leaving, she kept bringing up Girls’ Generation here and there and released an autobiographical novel that made it easy to infer the group. Not in a positive way. Fans just wanted Jessica to remain as a good memory from Girls’ Generation days, but instead she left and kept bringing things up negatively, and it keeps getting dragged back up. It’s insanely stressful."
"She even wrote about Girls’ Generation in her book—what is she doing?"
"I remember how during the ‘AGaB’ promotions she was the only one who didn’t dance seriously. Her dancing is still… yeah. And the lip syncing is cringe."
"Oh… since she was in Girls’ Generation, I guess she can sing it."
"She made comments like ‘8 others,’ ‘clean slate,’ ‘when I left, Girls’ Generation was already on the decline,’ and ‘I felt indifferent when Girls’ Generation albums came out,’ and eventually even released a novel. If the reaction were positive, that would actually be stranger."
"But didn’t she not leave because she disliked the group? She said she wanted to do business alongside group activities, but they said no, so she left. I honestly don’t get why she gets so much hate every time. It doesn’t seem that extreme… it feels like she gets torn apart to death just over the phrase ‘8 others.’"
"She was in Girls’ Generation, so she can do it. As long as there’s no contract issue."
"Kids these days don’t even know who she is, or that she was in Girls’ Generation."
"There’s a reason people say not to spit in the well you drink from. She probably thought she’d never drink from it again LOL."
"It’s all lip synced, but they’re calling it ‘the authentic version’ LOL. Everything except her parts is fake. Since she can only promote in China and that’s where the demand is, her mindset itself feels knock off. Seriously, it’s embarrassing. And she’s singing a lot of Girls’ Generation songs LOL."
"If she’s singing over backing tracks that heavily, what exactly are people hearing to say her tone is good…?"
"The members all understood and waited, but you’re the one who couldn’t endure those few months and left LOL. I know you’re shameless, but how can you openly sing Girls’ Generation songs like that…"
"They’re songs she promoted with, so she can sing them."
"If it weren’t for that novel, I think I would’ve just thought, ‘Well, time has passed.’ But after reading about the novel, everything she does just makes me go, ‘Ah… haha.’"
"Maybe this is an unpopular opinion, but is this really something to get flooded with this level of hate comments over? The people leaving malicious comments seem worse."
"Hearing it like this, Jessica’s tone really was part of Girls’ Generation’s identity."
"Is that newly recorded? Are even the backing vocals all Jessica’s voice?"
"Honestly, I think Girls’ Generation’s sound is only complete with Jessica… she shouldn’t have left."
"I’m not even a Girls’ Generation fan, so is there really a reason to get angry? Hearing it again after a long time, I actually like it."
"I’m so tired of this. Why won’t she just do a clean slate?"
"Jessica’s been going around saying things like ‘I wasn’t emotionally invested in group albums’ this whole time, but then she does this, which is hilarious as hell."
"They’re her own songs, so what lol."
"It’s not someone else’s songs. It’s a group she was part of and songs that are part of her career, so what’s the issue…"
"Her dancing is way worse than I expected."
"It’s her own song with her voice in it, so what’s the problem? Jaejoong and Junsu, who left TVXQ, filled over 80 percent of their 20th anniversary concert with TVXQ songs, and it hit the hot posts one after another and got amazing reactions. There are probably Jessica fans who want to hear this too."
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