Kim Yeonji

Kim Yeonji (Hangul: 김연지; born October 30, 1986)^[1] is a Korean singer who came to prominence as the lead vocalist for the K-Pop vocal group SeeYa.^[2] Kim became a solo artist following SeeYa's disbandment in 2011. During her tenure with the group, Kim was noted for her dynamic vocal style and wide vocal range.^[3][4]

Biography

Kim was raised in Anyang, Gyeonggi in South Korea. While attending Pyeongchon Information and Industry High School, Kim won awards in various singing and dancing talent contests^[5] and was eventually scouted by the record label and management company GM (currently Core Contents Media).^[6] After more than a year of training under the label's auspices,^[7] Kim debuted in 2006 as the lead (main) vocalist of the label's new act, the vocal trio SeeYa, along with members Nam Gyuri and Lee Boram. SeeYa's first album was an instant success,^[8][9] resulting in the hit singles "Scent of a Woman," "Because I Love You," and "Shoes." The group followed up with a successful sophomore effort in 2007, which produced the hits "Love's Greetings" and "Shall We Marry," and enjoyed high album airplay and internet streaming.^[10] During this period, Kim entered the Postmodern Music Department at Kyung Hee University. In early 2008, Kim suffered from dizziness and nearly fainted on stage during a non-televised performance.^[11] The incident was among a string of incidents in which young K-Pop artists suffered fatigue-related illnesses, which led to media attention on the strenuous recording and performing schedules of successful K-Pop acts.^[12]

While SeeYa started out primarily as an R&B vocal act, Core Contents Media decided to change the group's image and musical genre, and began releasing dance tracks as lead singles. The decision was met with mixed reception by fans and critics,^[13][14] and the group's first dramatic departure in style, the "electronica" single "Hot Girl" (2008), was plagued further by criticism that the song's composer, Jo Young Soo, had referenced existing songs too heavily.^[15] SeeYa's troubles were compounded as its leader Nam Gyuri, who wanted to leave the group to pursue a solo career, became embroiled in a bitter legal dispute with the label in the process.^[16] SeeYa's next studio album, the Rebloom EP, was released five months after Nam's departure, and was led off by another dance track, "His Voice" (2009). Newcomer Lee Sumi replaced Nam, maintaining the group's formation as a trio. While the group initially faced backlash associated with the controversy surrounding Nam, "His Voice" eventually fared better commercially than its predecessor, and expanded SeeYa's popularity with overseas audiences, especially in Thailand.^[17][18] As an album, Rebloom was noted for the strength of its vocal performances.^[19] In interviews, Kim noted that the group's forays into specialized genres, such as different kinds of electronic dance music, were closer to combining elements of the genres with the group's characteristic focus on prominent melody lines, rather than pure examples of genre music.^[20]

Despite the relative success of "His Voice," Core Contents Media decided on a major reshuffling of the group in 2010, by moving Lee Sumi to the label's new act, Coed School.^[21] While SeeYa, now a duo, continued to release intermittent project and original soundtrack singles with considerable chart success,^[22] it did not release any studio albums of its own during 2010, and stayed mostly out of the public view. At the end of the year, Core Contents Media announced that the group would be disbanding after the expiration of the members' contracts in early 2011.^[23] In an interview during the one-week-long promotion of SeeYa's farewell album, See You Again, Kim commented, "SeeYa was everything to me. It allowed me to realize my dream and make a name for myself in this world. Sometimes, it helped me grow by bringing me pain. It was such a special team for me; each moment still feels like a gem."^[24]

After SeeYa's disbandment, Kim returned to Kyung Hee University's Postmodern Music Department as a full-time student, focusing on absorbing the department's orientation toward jazz, blues, and cross-cultural music.^[25] At the end of 2011, she appeared during the 2011 SBS Drama Awards as actor Lee Jaeyoon's duet partner for a performance of the Lee So-ra song "Proposal."^[26] In early 2012, Kim contributed the song "Run" to the vocal music series M/Project, and the song "Love is Right" to the original soundtrack of the jTBC miniseries Padam Padam. In May 2012, the Modern K Music Academy, a prominent K-Pop "incubating" school,^[27] announced that Kim would be participating as an invited vocal instructor for its summer K-Pop training program in Vancouver, Canada.^[28] In March 2013, Lee Jinsung of Monday Kiz announced through Twitter that he had collaborated on a duet song with Kim, which he described as "memorable because it was work with a pure person who loves music so much."^[29] The song, "Hurting but Happy," was written and produced by Lee and released in March as a preview track from Monday Kiz's fifth LP album.^[30] Kim contributed the song "In My Eyes" to the SBS miniseries I Can Hear Your Voice (Hangul: 너의 목소리가 들려; RR: Neoui Moksoriga Deulrye) in July 2013.^[31] Later that summer, news sources reported that Kim was graduating from Kyung Hee University, with an unusually high GPA for an entertainment figure and having submitted a portfolio of musical arrangements and a thesis on the songs that she had participated in.^[32]

Discography

Compilation albums

• 2010: All Star: Composer Jo Young Soo Project Album ("Let's Meet Again")

Project singles

• 2006: "To My Lover" (with JeA) (Brown Eyed Girls & SeeYa Project Single Album)
• 2012: "Run" (M/Project No. 1)

Original Soundtrack contributions

• 2008: "Crazy Woman" (with Lee Haeri and Lee Jungmin) (Original Soundtrack from the MBC drama series East of Eden)
• 2012: "Love is Right" (Original Soundtrack from the jTBC miniseries Padam Padam)
• 2013: "In My Eyes" (Original Soundtrack from the SBS miniseries I Can Hear Your Voice)

Featured artist appearances

• 2007: M to M LP Album - The Colorful Voices (Track 9: "Love Song")
• 2010: Zia EP Album - Difference (Track 2: "I Have a Favor to Ask of Time")
• 2013 Monday Kiz LP Album ("Hurting but Happy")

Awards

See also

SeeYa

References