Look How Far Taeyeon Has Come: From A 16-Year-Old Trainee To The 1st Female Soloist Daesang Winner

From UWU to WOWEE, she has become irreplaceable.

On January 30, 2020 at the 29th Seoul Music Awards, Girls’ Generation‘s Taeyeon attended the celebration as a soloist — and took home three awards, including the daesang (grand prize) as the first female soloist of her generation to ever win it. As K-Pop fans remain extremely proud of Taeyeon for her accomplishments, they are looking back at her track record in the K-Pop world only to realize one thing: Taeyeon has never stopped working hard. If anyone deserved that daesang, it was most definitely her.

1. Traineeship

When Taeyeon turned 16 years old, she beat the competition 1:10000 at the Best Teen Contest and won her way into SM Entertainment as the Best Teen Singer.

2. Rookie Days

In 2007, Taeyeon debuted with Girls’ Generation. Her visual had K-Pop fans shook — and she immediately became one of the most popular members back in the day.

3. Soundtrack Queendom

As Girls’ Generation continued to rise to stardom, Taeyeon’s vocal power became more deeply appreciated. She began doing a number of K-Drama soundtracks, including the beloved “If” for Hong Gil Dong.

4. Radio DJ

By the time Taeyeon turned 21 years old, she became a DJ for the radio show Chinhan Chingu (Bestfriends). The radio show was wildly successful, always selling out their slots for advertisement campaigns in between segments.

5. Group Daesang

In 2009, Girls’ Generation as a group won daesang at the Golden Disc Awards for their hit song “Gee”. This particular song greatly contributed to South Korea’s most colorful skinny pants trend in the late 2000s to early 2010s.

6. Subunit Era

Came 2012, Taeyeon formed a subunit with Girls’ Generation’s Tiffany and Seohyun called Girls’ Generation-TTS. And boy, did these three twinkle.

7. Soloist Debut

Then, with “I” released 2015, Taeyeon finally took off in her official solo flight. Thanks to her incredible talent — and years of industry experience — she immediately became one of K-Pop’s most successful soloists.

8. Solo Concerts

After bops and bops dropping as part of her solo adventure, Taeyeon went on concert tours by herself. The tickets to these performances have since become impossible to book — proving how trusted she is among Korean listeners, to give one hell of a show.

9. Elsa-fied

In 2019, she embraced her inner Elsa by singing the Korean version of the soundtrack “Into The Unknown” for Disney’s Frozen 2 — and fans fell in love with Taelsa!

10. Soloist Daesang

Finally, in January 2020, Taeyeon reached peak of her soloist career as she took home the daesang at the 29th Seoul Music Awards as the first female soloist to do so. She is, indeed, unrivaled now and she will always be one and only.

Source: THEQOO

Girls' Generation