Girls’ Generation (SNSD) turned some heads on Monday as the K-pop starlets prevailed over the likes of Psy, Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber, Miley Cyrus, One Direction and others to walk away with the “Video of the Year” award for the hit music video “I Got a Boy” at this year’s inaugural YouTube Music Awards ceremony.

“Oh my gosh, thank you so much,” said SNSD member Tiffany, who was present at the live awards ceremony at Pier 36 in New York and accepted the award on the group’s behalf. “This is beautiful, YouTube is my best friend. … I mean to be here at the first YouTube Awards is a treat itself, but to win video of the year, this is absolutely unexpected and exciting and all together humbling at the same time.”

“I Got a Boy,” which is the lead track of the ladies’ most recently released fourth studio album, was first unveiled in January and has since been viewed more than 74 million times on YouTube, as well as accumulating more than 425,000 “likes.”

Local rap star Psy, nominated in three categories for this year’s event including Video of the Year, YouTube Phenomenon (awarded to Taylor Swift “I Knew You Were Trouble”) Artist of the Year (awarded to Eminem), was unable to snag any wins despite achieving numerous feats on the video-sharing site including holding the record for most-watched video for “Gangnam Style.”

By Julie Jackson (juliejackson@heraldcorp.com)