Jae-Yeon
Also known asDancing Queen
Born (1997-02-11) February 11, 1997 (age 27)
San Diego, California
GenresK-pop, hip hop, electropop
Occupation(s)Singer, dancer, promotional model, actress, rapper
Years active2013-
LabelsS.M. Entertainment
Korean name
Hangul
김효연
Hanja
Revised RomanizationLee Jaeyeon
McCune–ReischauerLee Hyoyeon


Jae Lee(Korean name: Jaeyeon Lee; Hangul: 김효연; Hanja: 胡晓媛, born February 11, 1997) is an American-Canadian singer, dancer, rapper, music producer, songwriter and promotional model of Filipina-Chinese descent. She is a former member and co-director of a famous San Diego-based dance crew Indecisive Dance Krew (iDK). As Jae grew up as a singer and dancer, she has become well known for these skills, her charismatic performances, and great stage presence.She was described as a "born entertainer" by legendary Korean pop singer, Kwon Jiyong and the The New York Times quoted the president of digital music distributor, DFSB Kollective, describing Jae as "not just an artist, but also her own PR agent, fan club president and TV network."

Jaeyeon initially rose to fame as Super Junior-M member, Henry Lau recorded a demo song and featured her for his album “On My Mind” and collaborated with her due to his visit in Canada. After this, she garnered more attention as Lau who happens to be a good friend of hers filmed two of his episodes of iAMHenryLau (a document series) where she captured the audiences hearts due to the love-line Strings created called “Henlee”. By coincidence, SM Entertainment’s CEO Lee Soo-Man and Kim Young Min caught attention of her refreshing personality and charisma as well and immediately recruited her to become a trainee.

Background

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Jae Lee was born in San Diego, California on February 11,1997 but grew up in Toronto, Canada. Although she attended Cardinal Carter School of Arts and St.Thomas More Catholic High School, she dropped out of Grade 10 in order to pursue her musical career and withdrew from being an active co-director in her dance crew to venture her luck in South Korea.

Biography

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Jaeyeon's father is from Spain and his mother from Manila, Philippines. Jaeyeon's areas of expertise lie in piano, popping, drum, breakdance, latin dance, ballet, beat box, rap, song-writing, composing music, acting, modelling and singing. Jae started to sing even before she spoke after her birth and learned how to play the piano by ears. She also learned a unique dance technique which she calls fluid hip-hop dancing. At the age of 9, Jae was competing in dance competitions and shows and gained many awards and achievements. Jaeyeon said she had planned to become a professional dancer or lawyer but never expected to become an idol star before being selected by S.M. Entertainment in 2012.

She was raised in Ontario,one of the most affluent cities in Canada. She attended Cardinal Carter School of Arts, St. Antoine Catholic School and later on moved to St.Thomas More Catholic Secondary School before she moved to South Korea in the beginning of her second year.

Pre-Debut and Training Background

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On September 2012, she was featured on Henry Lau’s first EP album called “On My Mind” with the song called “Hello” garnering the netizens attention as to who and what kind of person she is and why the famous Super Junior member talks of her so highly for. Because of this, she was able to rise from popularity all over South Korea, maximizing her success right away.

On November 18, 2012, Jaeyeon filmed her special pre-debut documentary film called “JaeLeeTV: Into The New World”, showing her journey and transformation from being a normal high school girl to being South Korea’s most successful rookie in the early 2013.

In the first few episodes, it showed how her exceptional singing techniques, natural nature for the media and her out-of-the world dancing skills, she was able to advance from being a Class-D trainee to Class A, setting a record of beating about 100 trainees(both girls and guys) in a span of two weeks only as well as her adventures around South Korea, China and a glimpse of her hard ships in preparation for her debut showcase.

Debut Preparation and Showcase

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After New Year, SM Entertainment released 7 special teasers for Jaeyeon’s debut showcase featuring selected members from the same company. In her first video, Lee collaborated with EXO-K’s Kai for a dance collaboration called “Anonymous and a remix of Chocolate Love” where she showed her newly routined dance with a mixture of ballet, hip-hop, contemporary and jazz (something nobody in the Kpop industry has done before) earning her the title as the “Dancing Queen” alongside, with her partner Kai who was titled as “Dancing King”

In her second teaser video, she recorded an original called “One” together with Super Junior-M Henry and SHINEE’s Key. The song itself talks about all her hardships as a child and a teenager, which highlighted her song-writing skills well.During her third teaser together with (f)x member, Amber and EXO-M’s leader Kris, Jaeyeon showed off her charisma by rapping and acting. Again, something that she, as a girl has achieved throughout the K-pop history.

2013: Debut

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Prior to debut, SM prepared Jaeyeon to debut at MTV Gongdae Hall where about 5,000 fans are expected to come. However, after releasing the tickets on the 23rd of January, the tickets was rapidly sold out and the fans all over Seoul filed for a concert ticket petition, causing the venue to be changed to Olympian Stadium with more than 16,000 fans who attended, an unusual number for a solo rookie. At this venue, it was announced that all BAP members, TVXQ Yunho and Changmin, Super Juniors, B2ST Kikwang and Doojoon, alongside with G-Dragon of Big Bang and CL of 2ne1, Kara's Nicole, Narsha, Miss A Min and Suzy, etc. attended to watch and support the concert as well.

Awards and nominations

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Year Award Category Nominated work Result Ref
2013 Asia Song Festival New Artist Award Won
Cyworld Digital Music Awards Rookie of the Month (February) "I Am Jae" Won Song of the Month (February) Won
Mnet Asian Music Awards Best New Female Artist Won
So-Loved Awards Best Female Newcomer Won
MelOn Music Awards Best New Artist – Rookie Award Won
Soompi Gayo Awards Top 50 Songs - #3 "보여줄게 (One)" Won
Top New Artist - Gold Won
Golden Disk Awards Best New Artist "I Am Jae" Won
Seoul Music Awards Rookie Award "One" Won
Allkpop Awards Best Female Solo Won