Many of the music industry’s top female vocalists – think Madonna and Beyoncé – have long been known by their first names. Taeyeon is no different. The soulful singer has spent more than half her life singing professionally, becoming one of K-pop’s representative voices both as a member of a legendary girl group and a renowned solo performer. Learn more about the life of the member of K-pop girl group Girls’ Generation. Her early life Kim Tae-yeon was born in March 1989 in the touristy city of Jeonju, South Korea. The middle child in a family with two musical parents, a young Taeyeon believed her only talent was singing and looked to follow her idols such as BoA and Whitney Houston . She took vocal lessons with the professional singer/vocal coach known as The One, who gave her a chance to share her voice with the world in a 2004 ballad You Bring Me Joy . The same year the song was released, Taeyeon won first place in a local youth talent competition and signed a contract with K-pop company SM Entertainment, which was becoming a pop music empire with successful acts including S.E.S, BoA and TVXQ . Taeyeon once said that her years of training at SM were so difficult that she nearly quit, but she pushed on to make her debut with the nine-member Girls’ Generation in 2007. Her role in Girls’ Generation While Taeyeon’s talent would naturally place her as Girls’ Generation’s main vocalist, she reluctantly became the group’s leader after initially feeling that the troupe shouldn’t have one, as six of the members were all born in 1989. Yet her leadership has been key to Girls’ Generation’s legacy – the girl group has stayed together for more than a decade, been a consistent chart-topper since the beginning and has survived the departure of a member. Taeyeon has also served as a lead vocalist for the two Girls’ Generation splinter groups: Girls’ Generation-TTS (featuring members Tiffany, Seohyun and Taeyeon), as well as Girls’ Generation-Oh!GG (Yoona, Sunny, Hyoyeon, Yuri and Taeyeon). Her solo career Not only has her strong voice played a central role in the success of Girls’ Generation, Taeyeon has been able to forge an outstanding solo career as well. While it would be years before she recorded a proper solo album, Taeyeon quickly became recognised as a powerhouse vocalist due to her performances on the soundtracks to various South Korean television dramas. Soundtracks have remained a staple through her career – from 2008’s Can You Hear Me for Beethoven Virus , which earned her an award at the prestigious Golden Disc Awards (an annual South Korean music awards ceremony), to scoring a No 1 single with All About You from the 2019 drama Hotel del Luna . Taeyeon has also dabbled in hosting and acting, including early career stints in radio and lead roles in musicals. She even boasts her own fashion reality shows including 2019’s Fashionista Taengoo and 2020’s Taeyeon Beauty Log . But Taeyeon truly became a certified superstar when her solo career began in 2015 with the empowering pop anthem I . Now with two full-length studio albums, four EPs, one Japanese record and more than three dozen singles to her name, Taeyeon’s solo career has remained fruitful as well as creative, dabbling in R&B, jazz, soul, electronica and dance music, among other genres. Her image Much of Taeyeon’s success is because of her standout vocals – her otherworldly voice has earned praise across the global music industry, with one of the most famous comparisons coming from South Korean composer Yoo Young-seok who said she sang like “a woman who has been divorced seven times”. Her work has inspired a range of other singers, including many members of younger girl groups, and she was even named as an inspiration for BTS’ 2014 single Boy in Luv . Taeyeon has promoted the face of many companies in the food, drink, skincare, mobile gaming and fashion industries. She is often considered one of the most popular K-pop idols among the general public and from fellow musicians. Even when her image was at risk when news leaked that she was dating her younger SM labelmate Baekhyun of Exo, both artists’ commitment to their craft helped them move on from the relationship that many felt rocked the label in 2014. In her own words While Taeyeon has been open about her battles with depression and the pressures of fame, the singer now accepts who she is and aims to show her true self, no matter what. “In the past, the concern of ‘How will I be portrayed to the public?’ always came first,” she told High Cut magazine in late 2019. “But now I work hard to try to show myself and my true colours. I’m going to keep doing music – it’s not like I’m going to stop after trying once.”