Lee Tae-yong, professionally known by the mononym Taeyong, is a South Korean rapper, singer, and songwriter. He is best known as a member of the boy band NCT. In 2016, he debuted in the group's first sub-unit, NCT U, and later that year went on to become the leader of the second sub-unit, NCT 127. As a songwriter, Taeyong has participated in writing over 30 songs in four different languages, released mostly by NCT's various units. Taeyong's first solo single, "Long Flight", which he wrote and co-composed, was released on July 18, 2019 through the SM Station project. On August 8, 2019, it was announced Taeyong was chosen to become a member of SuperM, a K-pop supergroup produced by SM Entertainment in collaboration with Capitol Records. The group debuted in October 2019.
Career
2012–2016: Pre-Debut
Lee Taeyong was born on July 1, 1995 in Seoul, South Korea. He graduated from the School of Performing Arts Seoul. At the age of 18, he was scouted on the street by an SM Entertainment recruiter and joined the company after successfully passing the audition by singing the national anthem. He was introduced as a member of SM Rookies, a Pre-Debut Training Team, on December 2, 2013. Upon debut, he was assigned the roles of main rapper and main dancer, despite having no background in dance prior to his training and his dance coach expressing doubts whether he would be able to catch up. In 2014, a video of Taeyong performing a fragment of his song "Open the Door" was published on SMTown's YouTube channel. Later that year, Taeyong featured on Red Velvet's song "Be Natural". He was credited in both releases as "SR14B Taeyong".
2016-18: Debut with NCT, NCT U, NCT 127
In April 2016, Taeyong debuted as a member of NCT U with the song "The 7th Sense", which was also the first release of NCT overall. In July of that year, he debuted as a member and leader of NCT 127 with their first EP NCT #127, for which he co-wrote 2 songs, including the main single "Fire Truck". In January 2017, NCT 127 returned with the EP Limitless. Taeyong participated in writing four songs for the album, with the song "Baby Don't Like It" marking the first time he was credited as a composer. In June, the group released their third EP, Cherry Bomb. All of the songs on the album, save one, were co-written by Taeyong. The title track, "Cherry Bomb", was later named as one of the best K-pop songs of the year by Billboard and Idolator. In 2017, Taeyong participated in two collaborations with fellow SM Entertainment artists. "Around", an experimental song produced by Hitchhiker, was released with an accompanying music video in May, through the SM Station project. Lee also worked with singer and producer Yoo Young-jin on the rock ballad "Cure", which was released in August 2017, also through SM Station. Together with NCT 127's vocalists Taeil and Doyoung, Taeyong appeared on the OST for the drama "School 2017", featuring as rapper and songwriter for the R&B ballad "Stay in My Life". In March 2018, NCT released their first full album as part of a large-scale project uniting all of its subgroups - NCT 2018 Empathy. Taeyong appeared in five of the units featured on the album. He participated in writing five songs for Empathy. He made his debut in Japan with NCT 127's EP Chain in May 2018. The album peaked at number two of the Oricon Weekly Albums chart. That same month, Taeyong joined the cast of Food Diary, a variety show following a group of celebrities exploring farming and the process of food production, together with labelmate BoA. Taeyong co-wrote four songs for NCT 127's first full length album, Regular-Irregular, including the promotional single "Regular". The song was initially released in two languages: English and Korean, but later also served as the debut single of the Chinese sub-unit, WayV.
2019-present: Solo work, SuperM
In April, NCT 127 released their first full-length Japanese album, Awaken, for which Taeyong co-wrote the song "Lips". In July 2019, Taeyong released his first solo song, "Long Flight", which he had written and co-composed, with an accompanying music video. The track served as the finale of Season 3 of the SM Station project. The song debuted at #6 on Billboard World Digital Song Sales chart. On August 8, 2019, Taeyong was revealed as a member of SuperM, a K-pop supergroup created by SM Entertainment in collaboration with Capitol Records. The groups promotions began in October, aimed at the American market. The group released their first EP, SuperM, for which Taeyong co-wrote the song "No Manners". The album debuted at #1 on Billboard 200 Album chart. That same month, Taeyong and Punch collaborated on an OST song for Hotel del Luna, a television series starring IU and Yeo Jin-goo. The release, titled "Love del Luna", is the soundtrack's thirteenth part. In November 2019, Taeyong featured on Marteen's "Mood". In March 2020, NCT 127 released their second full album, Neo Zone. Taeyong participated in co-writing three songs for the album. The album was commercially successful. It debuted at number five on the US Billboard 200 and together with the repackage, Neo Zone: The Final Round, was sold more than one million copies in South Korea.
