Kim Tae-yeon is a South Korean singer, TV presenter, dancer, actress and promotional
model.
She is a member of the South Korean girl group Girls' Generation, its sub-group TaeTiSeo
as well as S.M.
The Ballad.
Early life Tae-yeon was born on March 9, 1989 in Jeonju,
South Korea.
Her family consists of her parents, an older brother and a younger sister.
During her pre-debut days, Tae-yeon was greatly inspired by another artist, BoA.
The then-teenager was fascinated by BoA's fluent Japanese as well as her dancing and
singing skills.
At that time, becoming a person like BoA became Tae-yeon’s big goal.
Tae-yeon expressed "I have always wanted to be like her and have activities in Japan and
around the world" in which that came true when Girls' Generation, after debuting in
South Korea, also debuted in Japan in 2010.
Tae-yeon started receiving her vocal training at the SM Academy during her middle-school
years.
Lee Solim, the SM Academy's president, remembered her as his most memorable student and recalled
his memories of their first encounter at the school.
Initially, Taeyeon's father had not planned for her to become an entertainer; however,
after Lee saw the potential and passion within her, her father was persuaded.
During the following year, Taeyeon and her father traveled back and forth from Jeonju
to Seoul on every Sunday to take her singing lessons.
Subsequently, in 2004, she won the first place at the SM Youth Best Competition and officially
received a contract from SM Entertainment.
She was also featured in The One's song "You Bring Me Joy" during the same year.
Taeyeon continued her training under SM Entertainment and debuted as a part of Girls' Generation
in 2007.
In 2008, Taeyeon graduated from Jeonju Art High School and was awarded with the school's
Lifetime Achievement Award.
Music career Overview
Tae-yeon's vocal ability has received many positive recognition among the professionals
in the industry.
Park Jin-young, the CEO of JYP Entertainment, once expressed his wish to work with the singer,
emphasizing on her strength in expressing emotions "Rather than singers who sing well,
I like singers [Tae-yeon] who you can't differentiate from singing and talking."
Composer Yoo Youngseok, on the other hand, remarked "Tae-yeon feels like a woman who
has been divorced seven times", implying that her voice provokes sadness as if she has been
through many life experiences.
Composer Ahn Young Min, the producer of Tae-yeon's song "I Love You", further expressed "I was
so shocked by Taeyeon’s singing ability.
It’s a mature song so I was worried, but she made tears fall down my face.
Barely an hour into the production's process, and I remember clapping my hands."
Jonghyun, a fellow SM artist, also revealed his jealousy towards Tae-yeon, saying "Through
her expressiveness, you feel that she experienced an incredible amount, felt love and went through
separations.... that feeling existed even during Taeyeon's school and training days.
She expresses emotions very well..."
Reflecting on her own singing, Tae-yeon stated "When singing, you need performing skills
and a bit of imagination.
You need to treasure the emotions, and to not deviate from the color of the song while
pouring your heart into it."
Solo activities Over the life of her career, Tae-yeon has
released several songs for various television dramas and movies.
Some of them are her solos, while others are in collaboration with her fellow Girls' Generation's
bandmates and other SM artists.
In 2008, Tae-yeon released her first solo song "If" for the KBS2's drama Hong Gil Dong
and "Can You Hear Me?" for the MBC's Beethoven Virus.
The song "If" became popular on various online charts, around the same time Girls' Generation's
Baby Baby was released, while "Can You Hear Me?" received the YEPP Popularity award at
the 2008 Golden Disk Awards.
Tae-yeon was also featured on Kangta's album Eternity, singing the song "7989".
The two singers performed the song live on Mnet's M!
Countdown on March 27.
In 2009, she released the song "It's Love", a duet with Sunny for the MBC's drama Heading
to the Ground.
The song did not only hit the number one spot in various music charts, but has also been
hailed as the best soundtrack songs of the latter half of 2009.
Subsequently, she participated in the song "S.E.O.U.L."
as an effort to promote tourism for the city of Seoul in South Korea.
In 2010, Tae-yeon released a duet song, "Like A Star", with her mentor The One as well as
a solo song, "I Love You", for the SBS's drama Athena: Goddess of War.
The latter song was released on December 13, hitting high rankings on some charts.
During the same year, she also participated in "Cabi", a promotional song for the Korean
water park Caribbean Bay.
In 2011, Tae-yeon had a duet, "Different" with Kim Bum-soo.
The song reached number two on Gaon digital chart not long after it was released.
Two years later, the two met again at a Kim Bum Soo's concert, for another duet "Man and
Woman".
On March 28, 2012, Tae-yeon released the single "Missing You Like Crazy", for the MBC's melodrama
The King 2 Hearts which became number 1 on all charts such as Melon, Naver, Mnet, Soribada,
Bugs, Olleh and Daum, achieving an 'All Kill' on the online charts on the day of its release.
Tae-yeon had previously declined the offer to sing this song for the drama due to her
busy overseas schedules with Girls' Generation, but later took it up as she had made a promise
with PD Lee Pil-ho, the producer of "Beethoven's Virus", for which Tae-yeon also sang the OST.
PD Lee Pil-ho also stated that when he had first received the synopsis for "The King
2 Hearts", he had made special requests to only Tae-yeon, stating that she was the only
singer who could sing the OST for the drama.
In 2012, Tae-yeon also sang "Closer", for the SBS's dramaTo the Beautiful You starring
by fellow label-mates Choi Minho and Sulli).
She then sang "And One" for SBS's drama 'That Winter, The Wind Blows', which was released
on 13 March 2013.
The OST debuted No.1 on the Billboard Korea K-pop Hot 100 chart.
On January 4, 2014, Tae-yeon used her Instagram to upload a link to a video of her singing
a cover Justin Bieber's "Be Alright" on her personal YouTube channel.
Girls' Generation
Girls' Generation is a South Korean girl group formed by S.M.
Entertainment in 2007.
The girl group consists of 9 members: Tae-yeon, Jessica, Sunny, Tiffany, Hyoyeon, Yuri, Sooyoung,
Yoona and Seohyun.
Tae-yeon was selected as the leader of the group because she is the oldest member.
This pressure caused her to sleepwalk for a period of time.
During that time, Sooyoung spoke to the Korean media "While sleeping, Taeyeon solves math
problems and greets somebody by herself...
she also makes phone calls, it was scary."
As Tae-yeon could not remember any of this, the members told her about these sleepwalking
habits.
Subsequently, Taeyeon confessed, "It's hard to give out instructions when most of the
members are at the same age.
I’m also a timid person...At night, during our “discussions”, the fellow members
criticized me...
Because of that, our group decided we wouldn’t have a leader."
Despite this however, Tae-yeon still remains as Girls' Generation's true leader, but now
all the members participate and she does not have to burden everything alone.
In 2013, Tae-yeon and Tiffany have a duet of their own called "Lost In Love" in the
group's fourth Korean album I Got a Boy.
The two performed the song live on Music Bank, Romantic Fantasy, as well as You Hee-yeol's
Sketchbook.
Sub-group: TaeTiSeo Tae-yeon, Tiffany and Seohyun formed a subunit
called TaeTiSeo in 2012, releasing their first mini-album titled Twinkle during the same
year.
The subunit has a different musical direction and style concept from the 9-member Girls'
Generation, placing their emphasis on each member's vocal ability while the latter group,
on the overall songs and uniformed group performances.
SM The Ballad
SM the Ballad is a ballad group formed in 2010, consisting of several S.M.
artists.
Tae-yeon joined the group as a new member in 2014.
Being featured in SM the Ballad Vol. 2, she has a duet with Jonghyun for the title track
"Breath" as well as a solo song named "Set Me Free".
As an initial promotion, Taeyeon performed both songs live at the SM The Ballad Joint
Recital on February 12, 2014.
Subsequently, "Breath" was the only track in the album that was being promoted through
various music programs in South Korea.
It was also featured as a theme song of the Mnet's mini-drama Mimi.
Hosting career Radio hosting
Tae-yeon became a DJ on MBC Radio's Good Friend Radio, along with Super Junior's Kangin.
After Kangnin left the show in April 2009, Tae-yeon continued on until April 2010.
She gained the nickname "DJ Taengoo" while hosting the show.
Television hosting Tae-yeon was a sub MC for Kim Seung-woo's
talk show, 'SeungSeungJangGu' on KBS, MCing alongside 2PM's Wooyoung, Choi Hwa-jung, Kim
Shin-young, and Kim Seung-woo.
Tae-yeon, along with fellow Girls' Generation members Tiffany and Seohyun is an MC on MBC's
Show!
Music Core from February 11, 2012.
On February 22, 2012, she was a MC for First Gaon Chart K-Pop Awards together with Joo
Younghoon and also for 2012 Korean Music Wave in Bangkok which was held on April 7, 2012
together with Tiffany and Nichkhun.
During the hosting of the "First Gaon Chart K-Pop Awards" show, Tae-yeon suffered a toe
injury and was unable to receive the award with her members.
Acting career On May 7, 2010, she had her musical debut
as the main female role in Midnight Sun, based on the Japanese novel "Taiyō no uta" by Aya
Denkawa.
The musical is about Kaoru Amane, a 17-year-old girl, who suffers from Xeroderma pigmentosum,
which forbids her from going out during daytime.
She keeps her hopes up by writing songs and singing every night at a train station.
Tae-yeon received good press for her performance.
Furthermore, she learned to play guitar for her musical performance.
Tae-yeon and her band mate Seohyun were cast as voice actors for the Korean dub of the
3D animation Despicable Me.
Tae-yeon dubbed the voice of the character Margo, while Seohyun's role is Margo's younger
sister Edith.
TV shows She was featured on MBC's reality-variety
show We Got Married as part of the third rotation of couples; she was featured with comedian
Jeong Hyeong-don.
When this news was announced on January 7, 2009, it caused an uproar among South Korean
netizens due to the 11-year age difference between the two.
Angel Price Music Festival Incident In 2011, during a performance at the Angel
Price Music Festival, a male audience trespassed and tried to pull Tae-yeon off the stage.
Her bandmate, Sunny, reacted the fastest and intervened.
The trespasser was subsequently stopped and apprehended by the host Oh Jung Tae and security
staff.
Tae-yeon was later praised for her calm and professional attitude as she continued the
performance until it ended.
Coupang, the agency that handled the ticket sales for this event, could not avoid some
negative criticism from the public, even after offering an apology as well as full tickets
refund.
Personal life In June 2014, Taeyeon and fellow S.M.
artist Baekhyun were confirmed to have been in a relationship since February.
Trivia Tae-yeon placed #9 on TC Candler's The Independent
Critics List "100 Most Beautiful Faces of 2013".
Discography
Soundtrack appearances and solo performances Singles
Filmography
Film Television drama
Reality and variety shows Award shows hosting
Television shows hosting Music video appearances
Musical theatre Radio show
Endorsements Aside from her endorsements alongside Girls'
Generation, Taeyeon has also endorsed the following brands:
Awards
References
External links Kim Tae-yeon on Instagram
Kim Tae-yeon's channel on YouTube References