Early Life

See also: Girls' Generation Taeyeon was born in Jeonju, South Korea on March 9, 1989. Her family consists of her parents, brother and sister Kim Hayeon, who made her solo debut in 2020. Taeyeon believed that she “only had talent in singing”, so she dreamed of becoming a singer when she was young. When she was in her second year of middle school, Taeyeon accompanied her father to take vocal lessons at SM Academy (formerly the Conservatory of Music, an affiliate of SM Entertainment). Although his father did not encourage Taeyeon to become an artist at the time, he convinced his daughter to give her a chance after the school principal recognized Taeyeon's "clean" voice. For the next year, Taeyeon would accompany her father from her hometown to Seoul every Sunday to receive vocal lessons from The One. She cites BoA, Whitney Houston and Hikaru Utada as her pre-debut inspirations. Taeyeon trained under The One for three years. In a 2011 interview, he described Taeyeon as a "smart" student who "unlike other people who come to him with dreams of becoming a celebrity...[she] wants to be a singer and make her mark on her own "Taeyeon's talent was at its peak." In 2004, he "wanted to recognize Taeyeon's potential" and offered her the opportunity to participate in his song "You Bring Me Joy." In the same year, she won first place in the SM Youth Best Competition and signed a contract with SM Entertainment. The training process was so arduous that she almost gave up. However, she persevered and made her debut as a member of the girl group Girls' Generation in August 2007. Both the SM Academy director and The One later called Taeyeon one of their most memorable students. Taeyeon graduated from Jeonju Art High School and received the school's Lifetime Achievement Award in 2008