This year has been quite a roller-coaster ride for K-pop mega group Girls’ Generation. In the wake of Jessica Jung leaving, the remaining members — Taeyeon, Sunny, Tiffany, Hyoyeon, Yuri, Sooyoung, Yoona, and Seohyun — have banded together, forming an even stronger bond than ever before. As a result, Girls’ Generation’s comeback as an eight-member group wasn’t just highly-anticipated, but met with high praise. Their first hit, titled “PARTY,” was well-received for it brought in the spirit of summertime. However, the follow-up with both “ Lion Heart ” and “You Think” added further establishment that the removal of one member did not effect them as a whole.
Needless to say but Girls’ Generation’s eight-member comeback was a major success. Now promotions for said comeback are starting to level out as its individual members branch off to pursue solo endeavors. Out of the eight though, Taeyeon is receiving the blunt of attention because of her solo music debut. Usually, solo careers from members of K-pop groups are either a hit or miss. In Taeyeon’s case, she is surely starting out as a hit with her chart-topping debut song “I.”
From what is known among K-pop fans, Taeyeon’s first single titled “I” was released on iTunes respectively with a music video (attached below) on the official YouTube page for SM Entertainment (known as SM Town). According to the details given by the M/V, it was uploaded on Tuesday, October 6, 2015. As of the publication of this article (Thursday, October 8, 2015), it has already received almost 4 million views. More than 200,000 of those viewers expressed have liked it.
For those who are huge fans of K-pop, possibly honorary Sones for Girls’ Generation, the first noticeable detail about Taeyeon’s debut song is its direction. It is totally different from the more upbeat (at times bubblegum pop) direction Girls’ Generation is synonymous for. KpopStarz provided more insight on the music video , including the fact rapper Verbal Jint is featured in it. They also reported that less than 12 hours after “I” made its debut, it rose to the top of eight major real time music charts in South Korea including Melon, Naver Music, Bugs, Genie, Mnet, Olleh Music, Soribada, and Monkey3.
Such popularity and praise will equate in Taeyeon’s debut, and EP named after her debut song, selling well. Along with “I,” other songs include “Gemini,” “Stress,” “Farewell,” and “U R” (in which the last song is current ranked third on real time music charts now).
It is good that Taeyeon’s debut is doing so well because it helps cement her relevance years from now in the ever-changing K-pop music industry. As much as Sones do not want to hear this, there will be a day when Girls’ Generation will retire. This usually happens when its members get too old for such a scene giving way to newer K-pop groups. For Girls’ Generation, that group will most-likely be Red Velvet. For a rookie group only two-years-old, they’ve already established a unique sound and unique image in which the latter was brought to the forefront with their hit song “Dumb Dumb.” Sones however can be assured such a tragic event won’t happen for at least two years.
As for SM Entertainment (SM Town), Taeyeon’s solo debut and career helps keep them competitive against other K-pop group individuals going solo as well. This is definitely true pertaining to YG Entertainment and 2NE1’s CL whose solo debut will actually be in the American music scene. If CL hits it big, it will surely grant a lot of music industry power to YG Entertainment not just regionally (Korea, Asia), but internationally.
Taeyeon, along with SM Entertainment, is now promoting her solo career, making appearances and interviews. She will also be performing in her first solo concert from October 23, 2015, to October 25, 2015, and October 30, 2015, to November 1, 2015, at the SMTOWN Coex Artrium.
[Featured Image via Taeyeon’s Solo Concert Poster, Post Image via Screen Capture of “I Got A Boy”]