Kim Hyoyeon (born September 22, 1989) is a South Korean singer, dancer, DJ, rapper, and television personality. She is best known as the main dancer of Girls' Generation, whom she has been with since their debut in 2007. Along with Taeyeon, she is also one of two representatives of Girls' Generation in the supergroup GOT the Beat.
Hyoyeon's first solo single, "Mystery," debuted in 2016. In 2018, she began releasing songs and doing club tours under the name DJ Hyo (or sometimes simply Hyo). Her solo material is markedly different from her work with Girls' Generation, belonging more to the genres of electronica and hip-hop than standard pop music.
While her solo music always performed respectably, it wasn't until 2020 that she really broke out on her own. After appearing on the reality show Good Girl, the English-language version of her song "Sober" — which was already two years old by that time — jumped in popularity from a few million views on YouTube to tens of millions in the matter of a few months, eventually surpassing the view count of every solo track from Girls' Generation's members except for Taeyeon. Her next single, "Dessert," quickly racked up a high view count upon release.
She released her first mini album Deep on May 16, 2022, comprising two new singles ("Deep" and "Stupid") along with some pre-released tracksnote .
Solo discography:
Singles- "Mystery" (2016)
- "Wannabe" (featuring San E) (2017)
- "Sober" (with Ummet Ozcan) (2018)
- "Punk Right Now" (with 3LAU) (2018)
- "Badster" (2019)
- "Dessert" (featuring Loopy and Soyeon of (G)I-DLE) (2020)
- "Second" (featuring BIBI) (2021)
- "Deep" (2022)
- "Picture" (2023)
EPs
- Deep (2022)
Collaborations
- "MAXSTEP" (2012) (as part of the Younique Unit)
- "Up & Down" (2016) (with Taeyeon)
- "Born To Be Wild" (2016) (with Min of Miss A and Jo Kwon)
- "Think About Me" (with Raiden, featuring Coogie) (2020)
- "Party" (2023) (with PimryPie)
Tropes related to Hyoyeon:
- Animal Motifs: In "Deep" it's sharks and spiders - the lyrics of the song describe her and the other person as two predators circling each other before Hyoyeon whips the waves into a frenzy to bring the other person to her and defeats them, while the music video has a lot of spider imagery, including several shots of her standing still while eight dancers around her function as her "legs".
- Cool Big Sis: Played this role to Wheein of Mamamoo in an episode of the show Secret Unnie.
- The Cover Changes the Meaning: "Sober." In the Korean version, she is sober because she has moved on from her ex. In the English version, she is literally drinking wine, and only loves the subject when she is sober.
- Dancing Royalty: She is often considered one of the best dancers under SM, and possibly one of the best in the entire industry. Her solo endeavours only show her skill further.
- Foreign Language Title: She has yet to release a single solo track with a Korean title.
- Genre Shift: Hyoyeon's solo material leans heavily into rap and electronica, completely eschewing the bubblegum pop in Girls' Generation.
- Jack of All Trades: Hyoyeon can rap, sing, dance, and DJ. Outside of her music, she's no slouch at skiing, and has begun golfing as well.
- Kaleidoscope Hair: While she usually bleaches her hair blonde, she had multi-colored hair in "I Got A Boy", dark silver in "Catch Me If You Can", pink in "Holiday", her natural brown hair in "Dessert" and jet black in "Deep" and "Picture".
- Love Is a Drug: Subverted in the Korean lyrics to "Sober." Her ex's love was like a drug, but now that she has moved on, she is sober.
- Lighter and Softer: Her song "Second" is much more akin to dance pop than to her usual edgy, electronic sound.
- Malapropism: She's very prone to this, as seen here
and here. - Pintsized Powerhouse: She's one of the "midget trio" in Girls' Generationnote , but she's a powerful dancer and rapper.
- Translated Cover Version: "Sober," "Punk Right Now," and "Badster" were all released in both Korean and English simultaneously.
- Unusually Uninteresting Sight: The "Second" challenge, in which one person or group of people dances to the chorus of "Second" while everyone else ignores them, usually doing a mundane activity instead.
- Vitriolic Best Buds: With Seohyun. Partially subverted in that Seohyun is genuinely sweet, and Hyoyeon will often respond with deadpan sarcasm.
- Dear god, with Yuri. If they're not ribbing at each other, they're making fun of someone else.
- A Wild Rapper Appears!: Her features in "Maxstep" by Younique Unit and "Up & Down" by Taeyeon.
- As one of the designated rappers of Girls' Generation, anytime there's a rap break she's inevitably one of the ones performing it.
