Singer Taeyeon of Girls' Generation is back with her third solo full-length album "INVU" which dropped on Feb. 14. The album features 13 tracks including the title track "INVU," a synth pop track with a funky beat but melancholy lyrics saying "I envy you" toward a significant other who does not take love seriously.

Immediately after its release, "INVU" topped the iTunes charts in 21 regions including Canada, Sweden, Australia, Japan, Indonesia, Taiwan, Brazil, Mexico, Hong Kong and Malaysia. The album has sold over 97,300 copies as of Wednesday, according to Korea's album sales tracker Hanteo Chart. It also received a "Platinum Album" status, given to albums that surpass 1 million yuan ($157,400) in sales, on China's digital album sales chart QQ Music a day after it dropped.

The title track "INVU" reached No. 1 on local music streaming sites, and the music video for "INVU" has garnered some 5.7 million views as of Thursday morning. Taeyeon is set to upload a dance performance video of the title track on the YouTube channel Studio Choom on Friday.

This year marks 15 years since Taeyeon debuted as a member of Girls' Generation in 2007 with the girl group's EP "Into The New World." The girl group's 2009 megahit "Gee" is considered to have established catchy and easy-to-remember K-pop "hook song" tunes as we know them today. Girls' Generation is still active and is a legendary figure in K-pop thanks to its iconic hits such as "Genie" (2009), "Run Devil Run" (2010), "The Boys" (2011) and "I Got a Boy" (2013).

Known for her voice as the lead vocalist of Girls' Generation, Taeyeon's first solo song was "If" in 2008, which was part of the soundtrack of the KBS series "Hong Gil-dong" (2008). Her official solo debut came in 2015 with the EP "I." Since then, she has released hits "Rain" (2016), "Fine" (2017), "Four Seasons" (2019) and "Weekend" (2021).

Taeyeon has participated in various subunits — Girls' Generation-TTS which debuted in 2012 with the song "Twinkle," and Girls' Generation-Oh!GG which debuted in 2018 with "Lil' Touch." Last month, she was active as a member of GOT the beat, a new supergroup of seven female singers under K-pop powerhouse SM Entertainment.

GOT the beat, the first group of the "Girls On Top" (GOT) project which presents combinations of members from SM's different girl groups, consists of idol stars BoA, Taeyeon and Hyoyeon of Girls' Generation, Seulgi and Wendy of Red Velvet and Karina and Winter of aespa. Dubbed the "Female Avengers of K-pop," the group dropped its digital single "Step Back" on Jan. 3.

In March, Taeyeon is set to appear as the host on Mnet's survival program "Queendom 2," which will see six high-profile K-pop girl groups compete by each releasing a new song on the same day. In the first season of "Queendom" (2019), the winner was awarded with a solo comeback show on Mnet. The show will air every Thursday at 9:20 p.m. for 10 weeks from March 31.

Taeyeon (Kim Tae-yeon)


Date of birth: March 9, 1989

Zodiac sign: Pisces

Birthplace: Jeonju, North Jeolla

Debut: August 2007 as a member of girl group Girls' Generation

Agency: SM Entertainment


Singer Taeyeon debuted in 2007 as a member of Girls' Generation, the legendary girl group best known for its 2009 megahit "Gee." She released her first solo song "If" in 2008 and made her official solo debut in 2015 with the EP "I." As a solo artist, she has released hits such as "Four Seasons" (2019) and "Weekend" (2021). Taeyeon is also a member of subunits Girls' Generation-TTS (2012-) and Girls' Generation-Oh!GG (2018-), as well as K-pop powerhouse SM Entertainment's female supergroup GOT the beat, which launched in January 2022.

This information was confirmed by SM Entertainment on Feb. 16, 2022.

BY HALEY YANG [yang.hyunjoo@joongang.co.kr]