Kim Hyo-yeon

Kim Hyo-yeon (born September 22, 1989), referred to as Hyoyeon or DJ Hyo, is a South Korean singer, dancer, DJ, and television personality.

Hyoyeon was born in Incheon, South Korea on September 22, 1989.

She grew up with her parents and her younger brother, Kim Min-gu.

Hyoyeon's formal dance training started in elementary school.

At her neighborhood's small hip-hop school, she learned hip hop, jazz and Latin dance.

In 1999, she enrolled in Winners Dance School, a famous dance school in South Korea specializing in popping, locking, animation and various other hip-hop styles.

At the school she met Miss A's Min, with whom she formed the dance team Little Winners.

Hyoyeon auditioned for SM Entertainment at the age of 11 through the SM 2000 Casting System.

Hyoyeon said she auditioned because her mother brought her to the offices of S.M. Entertainment in the hopes of meeting H.O.T. Hyoyeon then danced in an audition show.

The duo performed at various showcases and was spotlighted by HipHoper.com in 2004.

In 2004, along with Super Junior's Siwon, she was sent to study Chinese in Beijing.

She received dance instruction from the Electric Boogaloos and top choreographers such as Kim Hye-rang, Poppin Seen, Kwang Hoo (aka Crazy Monkey), Poppin DS, Kwon Seok-jin (aka Locking Khan) and Black Beat's Shim Jae-won.

She also worked with one of Justin Timberlake's choreographers and a few foreign teachers.

Before debuting with Girls' Generation, she worked with a choreographer for Janet Jackson and was BoA's silhouette dancer during a performance at M.net KM Music Festival 2005.

She debuted as a member of the girl group Girls' Generation in August 2007, which went on to become one of the best-selling artists in South Korea and one of the most popular K-pop groups worldwide.

She has since participated in other SM Entertainment projects, including Girls' Generation-Oh!GG and Got the Beat.

In 2007, she teamed up with Jae Won for a dance collaboration to "Anonymous".

Hyoyeon was also picked as Korea's No. 1 idol dancer on Star News.

Hyoyeon officially debuted as a member of Girls' Generation, a South Korean girl group formed by SM Entertainment, in August 2007.

In July 2007, before the official debut Girls' Generation had their first stage performance on Mnet's School of Rock, where the group performed their first single, "Into the New World".

On August 5, 2007, the group officially made their debut on SBS's Inkigayo, where they performed the same song.

Girls' Generation subsequently released their self-titled debut studio album in November 2007, which was preceded by the singles "Girls' Generation".

On January 7, 2009, the group released their extended play (EP) Gee, its title track claimed the number-one position on KBS's Music Bank for a record-breaking nine consecutive weeks, becoming the longest-running number-one song on Music Bank until 2012, when Psy's "Gangnam Style" claimed the top spot for ten consecutive weeks.

Girls' Generation's second studio album, Oh!, was released in January 2010.

In September 2010, Girls' Generation released the Japanese version of "Genie" as their debut single in Japan.

In South Korean television, Kim was a part of the main cast of the variety show Invincible Youth 2 (2011–2012), Attraction TV: Season 2 (2017), My English Puberty (2017–2018), Where Is Mr. Kim Season 2 (2018), Secret Unnie (2018), as the contestant of several competition show Dancing with the Stars: Season 2 (2012), Hit the Stage (2016), Good Girl (2020).

After releasing three singles in Japan, their debut eponymous Japanese studio album was released in June 2011.

The album was met with tremendous success in Japan, peaking atop the Japanese Oricon Albums Chart and becoming the first album by a foreign girl group to top the Oricon chart.

Girls' Generation's third Korean studio album, The Boys, was released in October 2011.

The album was released in the United States by Interscope Records, marking Girls' Generation's debut album in the country.

On May 17, 2022, SM Entertainment announced that Girls' Generation will have a full-group comeback for their fifteenth anniversary in August, ending their five-year hiatus, which will include Hyoyeon.

Kim later had her own reality-show Hyoyeon's 10 Million Likes (2015) and Hyoyeon's 10 Million Likes (2016).

Hyoyeon also released solo singles: "Mystery" (2016), "Wannabe" (2017) prior made her solo debut as HYO with the single "Sober" in 2018.

Later in June 2016, Hyoyeon was featured in the song "Up & Down" from fellow Girls' Generation member Taeyeon's second mini-album Why.

In December 2016, Hyoyeon released her first solo song since debut titled "Mystery" as another single for SM Station.

To accompany her solo release, she performed the song on various Korean music shows.

In June 2017, Hyoyeon released her second single "Wannabe", a pop dance song featuring rapper San E.

On April 12, 2018, SM Entertainment announced that Hyoyeon would return with a new single titled "Sober" on April 18, with new stage name Hyo (stylized in all uppercase), under SM's electronic dance music label Scream Records.

The new single is a tropical-future house song characterized by electric guitar riffs and hook.

It was also revealed that she would also be promoting actively as a DJ in domestic club tours and EDM festivals under her new stage name.