Kim Tae-yeon (born March 9, 1989), more commonly known mononymously as Taeyeon, is a South Korean singer. She had been a trainee at SM Entertainment's Starlight Academy during her middle school years before debuting as a member of the agency's girl group, Girls' Generation, in 2007. Since then, she has risen to prominence due to the group's success on the Asian music scene and further participated in the agency's projects Girls' Generation-TTS, SM the Ballad, and Girls' Generation-Oh!GG. Aside from group activities, she has also recorded songs for various television dramas and movies.
Taeyeon began a solo career in 2015 with her first extended play album, I. It peaked at number two on South Korea's Gaon Album Chart and its title track sold over one million digital copies. Her second extended play, Why (2016), charted at number one and yielded two Gaon Digital Chart top-ten singles "Starlight" and "Why". Her debut studio album My Voice (2017) and its two singles "Fine" and "Make Me Love You" achieved similar success.
As a solo artist, Taeyeon has received several awards, including four Golden Disc Awards, two Mnet Asian Music Awards, two Seoul Music Awards, two Seoul International Drama Awards, one Mnet 20's Choice Award, one Melon Music Award, one Cyworld Digital Music Award, and one Gaon Chart Music Award.
