"Taeyeon sings with the emotion of a woman who has been divorced seven times."
— Yoo Yeon-seok, composer
Taeyeon (full name Kim Tae-yeonnote , born March 9, 1989 in Jeonju, South Korea) is a South Korean singer. She initially achieved fame as the leader of Girls' Generation in 2007, as well as a main vocalist in their sub-units Girls' Generation-TTS and Oh!GG. She is also one of two representatives of Girls' Generation in the supergroup GOT the Beat, along with Hyoyeon.
After several soundtrack appearances, Taeyeon officially debuted as a solo artist in 2015, which has been her main focus with Girls' Generation's group output slowing down. She starred on stage in a musical adaptation of Midnight Sun in 2010, but she has since stated that she has no interest in pursuing an acting career.
Taeyeon has an Instagram account
as well as a YouTube channel, Taengoo TV (currently inactive as of 2022).
Discography
Full-length Albums
Mini-albums
Promotional Singles
Soundtrack Appearances
Concert Films
- My Voice - 2017
- Purpose - 2019
- INVU - 2022
Mini-albums
- I - 2015
- Why - 2016
- This Christmas: Winter is Coming - 2017
- Something New - 2018
- Voice - 2019 (Japanese debut)
- #GirlsSpkOut - 2020 (Japanese)
- What Do I Call You - 2020
- To.X - 2023
Promotional Singles
- Rain - 2016
- 11:11 - 2016
- Stay - 2018
- Four Seasons - 2019
- I Do - 2019
- Happy - 2020
- Weekend - 2021
- Night Into Days - 2023
Soundtrack Appearances
- "If" (from Hong Gil Dong) - 2008
- "Can You Hear Me" (from Beethoven Virus) - 2008
- "I Love You" (from Athena: Goddess of War) - 2010
- "Missing You Like Crazy" (from The King 2 Hearts) - 2012
- "Closer" (from To the Beautiful You) - 2012
- "And One" (from That Winter, the Wind Blows) - 2013
- "All About You" (from Hotel del Luna) - 2019
- "Into the Unknown" (from the Korean version of Frozen II) - 2019
- "Little Garden" (from Jirisan) - 2021
Concert Films
- S... - Performed in 2018, released 2019
- Taeyeon - Japan Show Case Tour 2018
- Released as a bonus disc on a Special Edition of Voice
- Signal - 2019 Japanese tour
- The Unseen - Performed in 2019, released 2020
Tropes related to Taeyeon:
- Album Closure: The final song on INVU is called "Ending Credits."
- Animal Lover: Absolutely loves dogs.
- She has an Instagram account for her dog Zero. Her family's dog Ginger used to frequently appear as well.
- For her 30th birthday, she met up with fans at a dog shelter to feed abandoned dogs.
- She has an Instagram account
- Break Up Song: Common theme in her music, including the singles "11:11," "Fine," and "Four Seasons."
- Canine Companion: She is rarely seen without her miniature poodle Zero.
- Concept Video: Has a few under her belt:
- "I" has Taeyeon unhappily working as a waitress.
- "Starlight" has guest singer DΞΔN fall for a Manic Pixie Dream Girl played by Taeyeon.
- "Something New" has Taeyeon fighting off would-be assassins in a luxury hotel.
- "What Do I Call You" takes inspiration from Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind as it has Taeyeon and her boyfriend break up. She subsequently decides to erase all her memories of the relationship.
- "Can't Control Myself" stars Taeyeon as a star actress, trying to deal with her fading relationship with her co-star while still trying to put on a happy face. She finally succumbs to her feelings by the end, symbolized by the myriad of cuts on her body as she puts on a small smile.
- "INVU" has Taeyeon become Artemis, the Greek goddess of the moon and hunt. She wields a bow and arrow and even has a couple scenes where arrows are flying all around her.
- Contagious Laughter: Her ahjumma laugh, which makes other people laugh.
- Cool Big Sis: Plays this role to her younger label mates at SM Entertainment, notably the members of Red Velvet, aespa and the late former f(x) member Sulli. She also plays this role to her actual younger sister, but the public does not obviously get to see it.
- Darker and Edgier: Downplayed. While Girls' Generation's stuff is considered to be fun and "poppy", Taeyeon's music is far moodier and biting. It should be noted that she does veer into "fun" territory every now and then, such as in her 2016 mini-album Why.
- Taken to new heights with "Can't Control Myself," in which both the song and video portray her as the victim of an emotionally abusive relationship.
- Foreign Language Title: As is the standard in K-Pop, several of her songs have English titles, and those without are all given alternate English titles to accommodate international fans.
- Gamer Chick: Taeyeon is a big fan of Player Unknowns Battlegrounds, to the point where the developers sent her a box of merchandise after she posted a video of herself continually doing a victory dance from the game in public.
- Gaslighting: The subject matter of "Can't Control Myself."
- Genre Roulette: Her discography is incredibly varied, including genres such as R&B, soul, pop, ballad, jazz, blues, pop-rock, and alternative pop.
- Genre Shift: In general, Taeyeon's solo work is stylistically different than Girls' Generation. While her group goes for bubblegum and electronic pop, her solo work leans toward R&B, soul, ballad, and alternative pop with some pop, pop-rock, and jazz snuck in there.
- Gratuitous English: Many of her songs feature random English, though it sounds pretty natural.
- Hotter and Sexier:
- "I Got Love" most certainly is, with much more seductive lyrics and vocals than what Taeyeon usually goes after.
- "Shhh" has no business sounding so seductive, especially since it's a Christmas song. It's worth mentioning that the live performance has confetti being blasted right as the climax of the song hits. Taeyeon is audibly
trying not to laugh in some points of the song.
- Idol Singer: Both as a solo artist and as a member of Girls' Generation. She tends to lean away from her "idol" image when she's promoting solo.
- Lighter and Softer:
- Why is far more lighthearted than most of her work before and after the album was released, featuring some of the most poppy songs in her discography.
- "Happy" is a lovely doo-wop song that talks about a love that the protagonist never wants to let go.
- After a string of more somber-leaning tracks, "Weekend" is a synth-pop/city pop song that talks about the singer's desire to go somewhere else. As a bonus, she raps (well, more like sing-talk) in the middle of it.
- Lyrical Cold Open: "I"
- Melismatic Vocals: Some of her songs get to show off her amazingly skilled runs, such as "Fashion" and "Hands on Me".
- New Sound Album: Why and Something New both largely stray from the acoustic pop and ballads she's most famously known for. What Do I Call You and INVU are rather somber lyrically, but have a more experimental pop edge.
- Older Than They Look: This tiny, youthful woman was born in 1989.
- Painting the Medium: Occurs frequently throughout the music video for "Fine." Faces get blurred out, text on street signs get jumbled, the picture gets crumpled like paper and literally drawn over.
- Pep-Talk Song: "Spark," Verbal Jint's guest verse in "I."
- Pintsized Powerhouse: She's only around 158 cm. (5'2"), but this girl can sing like no other.
- Precision F-Strike: Taeyeon has replaced the line "no thanks, baby" with curse words during live performances of "I'm Okay" on more than one occasion.
- Silly Love Songs: Subverted. While Girls' Generation's singles (as well as pop music in general) are rife with these, these are usually relegated to album tracks in Taeyeon's solo work. This is however Played Straight with "Starlight".
- Solo Side Project: Taeyeon debuted as a solo artist in 2015. As of 2023, she is still a member of Girls' Generation and the subunit Oh!GG.
- Sugar-and-Ice Personality: She's a self-admitted loner and keeps a lot of her emotions to herself, but she deeply cares for her members, labelmates, and fans (whom she has a nearly Vitriolic Best Buds relationship with), not to mention all the juniors that come in contact with her have nothing to say but positive things about her and leave the meeting with heaps of advice on how to survive the industry.
- Take That!: Taeyeon is known as a "savage queen". Notable examples:
- Her Instagram post after a reality show claimed that a trainee was supposed to be part of Girls' Generation:Our team is not a bus stop where anyone can just stop by.Unless you manipulated the members’ memories somehow or have actually worked hard and sweat with us, I wish people would stop bringing up Girls’ Generation’s name so easily.
- Calling out her record label at a concert for producing defective CDs after being presented one by a fan.
- Casually criticizing KBS Music Bank for having improper earpieces in the midst of a thank you speech.
- Taking a swipe at former Big Bang member Seungri's legal troubles:Taeyeon: I'm just going to do all that I want to...*Beat*Taeyeon: ... within legal boundaries.Subtitle: Unintentional reflection period.
- Her Instagram post after a reality show claimed that a trainee was supposed to be part of Girls' Generation:
- Textless Album Cover: Purpose, the "Fine" edition of My Voice.
- Title Drop: The first lyrics of "11:11" are "It's 11:11"
- Took a Level in Cynic: Downplayed. Girls' Generation's songs are generally considered to be light fun, but Taeyeon's discography has quite a few break-up songs and a far moodier soundscape.
- A Wild Rapper Appears!: Common in her solo work.
