Date of birth: March 9, 1989
Position (SNSD): Leader, Main vocalist
Position (TaeTiSeo): Main Vocalist
Kim Tae-yeon is a South Korean singer and actress. She is a member of the South Korean girl group Girls' Generation, its subgroup TaeTiSeo, as well as the ballad group S.M. The Ballad. Tae-yeon has also released several soundtracks for various television dramas and movies.
At the age of 13, Tae-yeon discovered that she was "only talented at singing". During her years in middle school, she was enrolled at the SM Academy and commuted from Jeonju to Seoul on every Sunday, to receive her vocal training. In 2004, her former vocal instructor Jung Sun Won, also known as The One, "wanted to acknowledge Tae-yeon's potential" and gave her the chance to be in his song "You Bring Me Joy". Later, she won the first place at the SM Youth Best Competition and officially received a contract from SM Entertainment. Tae-yeon continued her training under SM Entertainment and debuted as a part of Girls' Generation in 2007.
Taeyeon is known as an OST queen due to several of her successful TV soundtracks. Over the years, her vocal ability has received many positive recognitions. Singer-songwriter Younha and singer IU described Tae-yeon as one of the best female vocalists, while Jung hwan from duo group J2M "listens to Tae-yeon’s song every day" and composed a song "to deliver his affection" for her.
Her mentor The One also expressed "...from the beginning the look in her eyes was different. It wasn’t that her gaze was hard or aggressive but her eyes confidently said, ‘I have something I want and a goal and I have something I need to do'”. 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."
In June 2014, Tae-yeon and fellow S.M. artist Baekhyun of EXO were confirmed to have been in a relationship since February.
In September 2015, It was revealed that they had since broken up.
On October 6th 2015, Taeyeon made her solo debut with 'I'. In July 2015, she made her first solo comeback with 'Why' and the prerelease song 'Starlight'.
On July 9th and 10th, Taeyeon held her first solo concert which was dubbed by media as "a milestone for all female idol singers".