Taeyeon Third K-Pop Comeback Of 2016: Leader Of Girls’ Generation Sings About Heartbreak And Moving On From A Relationship In ’11:11′ [Video]
Ever since she stepped out of the girl group mold in Girls’ Generation to pursue a solo career, Kim Taeyeon, better known by her K-pop moniker, which is simply her first name, has been on a roll. She made an impact with her solo debut last year with her first extended play (EP) mini-album, I, which featured a title track of the same name. The release became her first song to hit number one on the Korean chart.
However, 2016 is proving to be Taeyeon’s year, so far. Back in February, she performed her second song to hit number one on the Korean chart, “Rain.” It was also the song to initiate SM Station, a platform to showcase SM Entertainment artists and producers and to incorporate collaborations with artists outside of the label. Taeyeon also released her second EP mini-album, Why, which had two featured tracks, “Starlight” and “Why.”
Now, Taeyeon continues to make 2016 her year with the release with her third K-pop comeback. This time, Taeyeon sings about heartbreak and moving on from a past relationship in “11:11.”
News of Taeyeon’s third K-pop comeback for the year with “11:11” came about as a surprise, as reported by Korean news outlet Naver. SM Entertainment released a teaser image promoting the non-album, digital single on October 28. It was described as a pop ballad featuring a calm melody played on an acoustic guitar which would be reminiscent of the Autumn season. Famous lyricist Kim Eana worked on the lyrics for “11:11” too, though, it is not mentioned if she assisted or wrote the song itself. Finally, SM Entertainment made it known “11:11” would be released today, November 1, at 11 p.m. KST through various music charts and online stores.
The one detail from the image teaser above, which would further be confirmed in three more image teasers and a video teaser for the “11:11” music video, that got K-pop fans’ attention, especially Sones (Girls’ Generation fan club members) and Taegangers (Taeyeon fan club members), was Taeyeon’s hair. For the longest time, her hair was either blonde, dirty blonde, or light brown brunette. In the teasers, Taeyeon’s hair is a dark shade of brunette. The last time anyone has seen Taeyeon’s hair that color was possibly back in 2009, especially in the music video for “Gee.”
Right now, “11:11” has been available for the K-pop community to enjoy for just over 12 hours. The music video is doing well and has been received favorably. On SM Entertainment’s official YouTube page, “11:11” already has over 461 thousand views with almost 125 thousand of those viewers liking it.
Some K-pop fans might think the viewership numbers for Taeyeon’s latest K-pop comeback are low. To be fair, they do have a valid point given that she is probably the most popular female K-pop idol in the industry today. On top of that, she is the leader of the most popular K-pop girl group in the industry today too, Girls’ Generation. It is possible the reason the response to “11:11” seems lower than usual is the fact it had a very short time for promotion. Not only that, “11:11” was a surprise, and the promotion was quite subtle.
Nevertheless, “11:11” is a fantastic way to conclude the year for Taeyeon. It is possible she might make another K-pop comeback during the Christmas season for a Christmas-themed song, but they are usually made as one-third of Girls’ Generation’s subgroup, TaeTiSeo. As for 2017, it is believed Taeyeon, as well as the other members of Girls’ Generation, will concentrate more on their K-pop girl group responsibilities. This will probably be true if 2017 does turn out to be the year that many K-pop fans dread the most, and it is the year Girls’ Generation disbands.
[Featured Image by SM Entertainment]
