Taeyeon of Girls’ Generation: leader of legendary K-pop girl group whose otherworldly voice has earned fans across the world
- Taeyeon made her debut with the nine-member Girls’ Generation in 2007 after years of training that were so difficult she nearly quit
- The K-pop idol also has a successful solo career, has dabbled in hosting and acting, and says she will ‘work hard to try to show myself and my true colours’
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.
Her early life
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.
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.”
