Girls’ Generation’s Taeyeon returns with songs about complicated feelings of love

Taeyeon from K-pop group Girls’ Generation was back to the music scene Monday with a new individual studio album, which she said reflected her personal and complicated feelings about love.

“I tried to reflect as much of me of now as possible in ‘INVU,’” the singer said during an online press conference to promote the upcoming album, referring to its name. “If I had released music with autobiographical stories, this time I tried to express complex emotions in various ways under the theme of love.”

The idol singer began her career as an individual artist, dropping her first EP “I” in October 2015, and has since released many hit singles, such as “I,” “Rain,” “Why,” “Four Seasons,” “Happy” and “Weekend.”

“INVU” is the first full album from Taeyeon in about two years and three months since “Purpose,” her second full album released in October 2019.

K-pop singer Taeyeon poses for photographers during an online press conference for her third full album “INVU” on Feb. 14, 2022, in this image provided by SM Entertainment. (Yonhap)

“I put my heart and soul into it since a full-length album usually gets higher public anticipation,” she said.

“As I always do, I aimed to compose various songs and wanted to give unity and a certain degree of connection in them,” she said. “I also paid much attention to the lyrics because they were love-themed songs as a whole, while exerting efforts to grow a step further as a vocalist.”

The third studio album “INVU” has a total of 13 songs, including the title track “INVU” and two pre-released songs, “Can’t Control Myself” and “Weekend.”

The lead single is a house-based pop dance song with a very dreamy and soft atmosphere. Its lyrics are about a girl who never stops loving somebody even though she knows she will be eventually hurt and exhausted every time and her complex feelings toward the love opposite who is so different from herself, according to a release from her agency, SM Entertainment.

As the title, which is short for “I envy you” in English, indicates, she said, “The song’s narrator tells him, ‘I envy you because you receive this much love from me’ or ‘I envy you because you are not as sick as me.’”

Taeyeon said she hopes to show all she has got through the album and share her feelings with fans.

“My bigger goal is similar. That’s to make every single person who listen to my songs empathize with me,” she added, smiling.

sshim@yna.co.kr