Claim: Girls' Generation has girls.

Kim Tae-yeon -LRB- born March 9 , 1989 -RRB- , referred to monomously as Taeyeon , is a South Korean singer . She had been a trainee at S.M. 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 in the Asian music scene and further participated in the agency 's projects Girls ' Generation-TTS and SM the Ballad . 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 , 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 -LRB- 2016 -RRB- , charted at number one on the Gaon Album Chart and yielded two Gaon Digital Chart top-ten singles `` Starlight '' and `` Why '' . Her debut studio album My Voice -LRB- 2017 -RRB- and its two singles `` Fine '' and `` Make Me Love You '' achieved similar success .   Following her debut , she was awarded Best Female Artist at the Mnet Asian Music Awards . In 2016 , Gallup Korea ranked her as the most popular idol of 2016 ; the year before she was ranked third . Also in 2016 , Forbes Korea listed her among their Top 40 Power Celebrities of the year . Taeyeon is renowned for her vocal abilities : she was voted in a survey by 40 music industry officials as the best K-pop vocalist in October 2015 , and as the best female vocalist by twenty music companies in April 2016 .