Taeil

I. Introduction

Moon Tae-il (Hangul: 문태일), known professionally as Taeil (Hangul: 태일) , is a Korean singer. He is one of the main vocalists in the permanent NCT sub-unit, NCT 127. NCT 127 sings primarily in Korean, as well as songs in English, Chinese and Japanese. He is also one of the main vocalists in the rotational NCT U sub-unit.

II. Career

III. 2016-17: SM Rookies and NCT Debut

Taeil was born on June 14, 1994 in Jangan-dong, Seoul. He was recruited from a singing contest in 2013 and introduced as a member of the pre-debut SM Rookies group on October 13, 2015. He began appearing with other members of SM Rookies in live performances and variety shows. He also recorded a song for an OST.

He debuted in NCT on April 10, 2016, as part of NCT's rotating combination unit, NCT U. NCT U utilizes different members to match the song and its accompanying performance, as well as serving to debut new NCT members. Taeil appeared as a singer on "Without You" in the Chinese and Korean versions.

Taeil appeared in the ongoing NCT reality show, NCT Life, from varying periods throughout 2016-2018. In April-May 2016, he appeared in NCT Life in Bangkok, focusing on the members of SM Rookies and their journey to debut. As part of the show, he prepared for shows and appearances in Thailand with other members, including Jaehyun, Hansol, Johnny, Taeyong, Yuta, Doyoung, Ten, Mark, Jeno, Haechan, Jaemin and Jisung.

On June 30, 2016, it was announced that NCT would debut its first permanent sub-unit, NCT 127. Taeil debuted with NCT 127 on the EP NCT #127 on July 10, 2016 as one of the main vocalists. Taeil's rich and powerful voice, with its wide range, forms the backbone to the NCT 127 sound, contrasting with the lighter tones of Doyoung and the deeper tones of Jaehyun, the other main vocalists.

In July-August 2016, he appeared in the third season, NCT Life in Paju, with the other NCT 127 members planning and enjoying games and activities in Paju.

In October-November 2016, he appeared in the fourth season, NCT Life: Korean Food King Challenge, a cooking competition show featuring his fellow NCT 127 members, as well as Ten.

In December 2016, he participated in a song for SM's digital Station project, "Sound of Your Heart" with other SM Entertainment singers, including Yesung of Super Junior, Sunny of Girls' Generation, Luna of f(x), Seulgi and Wendy of Red Velvet and NCT 127 member Doyoung.

IIII. 2017: Limitless and Cherry Bomb

NCT 127 released its second EP Limitless on January 4, 2017.

NCT 127 released its third EP Cherry Bomb on June 14, 2017. It made its first appearances in live shows in the U.S. throughout the summer.

In June-July 2017, Taeil appeared in the seventh season, NCT Life in Osaka, featuring NCT 127 members Taeyong, Doyoung and Winwin touring Osaka with Yuta as a guide.

IIIII. 2018: Empathy and first album

Taeil participated on an SM Station track, "Timeless," as part of NCT U with Doyoung and Jaehyun in January. He also participated with NCT during the NCT 2018 project on March 14, 2018, featuring all NCT members, and debuting three new ones. This project also included the first NCT full album, NCT 2018 Empathy. He appears as a singer on the re-released "Timeless" and "Without You" in Chinese and Korean, as well as the NCT 127 song "Touch." He is also a dancer in "Black on Black."

NCT 127 released its first Japanese EP Chain on May 23, 2018. Taeil's extended high note on "Chain," would become a motif repeated across several NCT 127 songs.

NCT 127 released its first full album Regular-Irregular on October 12, 2018, featuring a popular English version of its lead single, "Regular," that was utilized during the group's United States' based performances. The group also released a repackage Regulate on November 13, featuring the single "Simon Says."

Taeil also continued to feature on OST songs, including "New Dream" with Jaehyun and "Radio Romance" with Doyoung in 2018.

IIIV. 2019: First World Tour

In January 2019, NCT 127 began its first concert tour, Neo City - The Origin, with worldwide stops until May.

The group also released its first full-length Japanese album, Awaken. The group then increased its publicity in the United States ahead of the release of its fourth EP, We Are Superhuman, including appearing at the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade. They also released an English version song "Highway to Heaven" of the Korean song on the EP and an accompanying video filmed in California. On October 24, 2019, 127 released a live album based on the Neo City concert tour: Neo City Seoul - The Origin.

In addition to his activities with NCT 127, Taeil continued to appear as a guest on variety shows, as well as within special performances. Taeil appeared in the ninth season, NCT Life: Chuncheon and Hongcheon, with NCT 127 members touring parts of South Korea.

Taeil performed on other non-NCT 127 songs, including as a featured performer on Sohlhee's single, "Purple," in March 2019 and an NCT U song with his NCT 127 members Jaehyun, Haechan and Doyoung for SM Station, "Coming Home." He also appeared on variety shows, including the King of Masked Singer.

IIV. 2020: Neo Zone and Resonance

NCT 127 released its second full album, Neo Zone, on March 6, 2020, as well as a repackage Neo Zone: The Final Round on May 19.

Taeil participated in the NCT 2020 project in October 2020, featuring all NCT members, and debuting two new ones. This project also included a 2-part NCT full album, NCT 2020 Resonance Pt. 1 and NCT 2020 Resonance Pt. 2. He appears as a singer on 127's song "Music, Dance," as well as a part of NCT U combination units on 4 songs: "From Home," "Raise the Roof," "Dancing in the Rain" and "Faded in My Last Song." He also features in the combination single "Resonance," which combines multiple songs. The entire project also appeared on NCT World 2.0, a competition-focused show.

Taeil's vocals during a year-end performance on MAMA trended for his powerful vocal ad libs and riffs, where he was identified by viewers on Twitter as "beret guy."

IIVI. 2021: Double million selling albums, more solo work, second world tour and NCT 2021

NCT 127 released its second Japanese release, Loveholic, on Feb. 17. Taeil reaches another of his signature high notes on the title track, "Gimme More" at 2:57.

He also released a series of solo songs and duets throughout the year, including a duet with Moon Sujin, "The Moon," a solo song "Beautiful Person" on a tribute album, Morning Dew 50th Anniversary Tribute to Kim Min-Gi Vol.1 and featured on the lead track "Love Right Back" from Raiden's EP.

On June 4, NCT 127 released a digital single, "Save", a collaboration with the Korean hip hop label, Amoeba Culture.

NCT 127 released its third Korean studio album Sticker on September 17, 2021, which was also certified as a 2 million seller. Additionally, Taeil appeared in a new season of NCT Life, NCT Life in Gapyeong and two other new shows Stick Together and Analog Trip NCT 127: Escape from Magic Island.

In October, NCT released a repackage album of Sticker, Favorite, which became a million seller. On November 3, the group released a digital single "Freeze" in collaboration with the video game Kartrider.

Taeil participated in the NCT 2021 project in December 2021, featuring all active NCT members at the time. This project also included a NCT full album, NCT 2021 Universe. He appears as a singer on NCT 127's song "Earthquake," as well as a part of NCT U combination units on 3 vocally-driven songs: "Round&Round," "Sweet Dream" and "Good Night." The last two songs only feature NCT's main vocalists. He also features in the all-unit song "Beautiful." As part of NCT 2021 promotions, he also appeared in a special short digital series EuMARKJUNGsim, co-hosted by NCT group mates Mark and Jungwoo, and NCT 2021 YearDream, around the group's lore.

On December 19, NCT 127 started its second concert tour, Neo City: The Link, with 3 nights in Seoul. Taeil featured in a duet stage with Haechan with a song they co-wrote "Love Sign."

Taeil appeared with the other active members of NCT in December 2021 as part of the 2021 Winter SMTOWN: SMCU Express album on the song "Hope for Kwangya." He also featured on a song with other SM main vocalists Super Junior's Kyuhyun and Shinee's Onew, "Ordinary Day."

IIVII. 2022: First Solo OST and fourth NCT album

Taeil released his first solo OST "Starlight" in February 2022. The song peaked at #45 on MelOn, #28 on Gaon, as well as charting on Bugs, Genie, Flo and iTunes worldwide song chart. He talked about his work and performed on an episode of NCT's web show Music Space.

In July 2022, Taeil featured as part of the SM Station NCT Lab series, which highlights solo tracks, self-composed titles and more from NCT members. The song, "Rain Day", also features Kun and YangYang of WayV.

In September, NCT 127 released its 2 million selling fourth album, 질주 (2 Baddies). A new promotional series was also launched with the album, Fill It Up, which was similar to Stick Together, a mini reality series tied to Sticker promotions.

NCT 127 headlined at the Olympic Stadium in Seoul for their respective tours, joining only a handful of kpop groups who have headlined there. As part of the shows, Neo City: The Link+, the group debuted new mini sub-unit tracks. Taeil featured again with Haechan on a new jazz-infused R&B song "N.Y.C.T."

Taeil appeared with the other active members of NCT in December 2022 as part of the 2022 Winter SMTOWN: SMCU Palace album on the song "Happier" with Kangta, Yesung of Super Junior, Suho of EXO and Renjun of NCT Dream.

IIVIII. 2023: More OSTs and singles

In January, NCT 127 released its million selling repackage, Ay-Yo.

In February, he released the OST "Lovey Dovey."

In August, he featured with the rest of NCT 127 in the documentary NCT 127: The Lost Boys. He also featured with the members on the NCT all-unit album, Golden Age. He appears on "The BAT", "Kangaroo" and "Not Your Fault.'

However, weeks before the album release and the NCT Nation concerts, he was in a serious motorcycle accident and went on medical hiatus while recovering.

In September, he released "N.Y.C.T." with Haechan as an NCT U unit as part the SM Station NCT Lab series. He also released another OST, "Bandit."

In October, NCT 127 released its fifth album, Fact Check.

III. Discography

IV. Videography

V. Photos

NCT 2020 Resonance

NCT 2023 Golden Age

VI. Trivia

- His NCT emoji is 🌕 (moon, for his last name.)

- Taeil is the oldest member in NCT.

- He set a Guinness World Record for reaching 1 million Instagram followers in the fastest time after launching his account on July 6 and reaching that total in 1 hour and 45 minutes.

- Taeil plays the guitar and piano.

- Taeil is a quiet and caring member with a sense of fun who is deeply loved by the other members, who has been dubbed the oldest "maknae."

- He likes to cook and hosts a semi-regular tongue-in-cheek cooking show called Master Moon Chef, with a running joke about his new assistant.

- The other members love hearing his voice and will stop to listen quietly to his a capella vocals or his karaoke performances on episodes of shows.

- Members praise his singing ability, citing difficult songs like "Sticker" as a song only he can sing and hyping him up as "THE main vocalist", "NCT's main vocalist" or "THE Moon Taeil", often pausing to listen to him sing powerful notes in performances or karaoke.

- He also often interacts with his fellow member, the high-energy Haechan, who is known for his sunshine personality and stage name of Full Sun (Haechan), and are known as "Sun and Moon." They even hosted a mini web talk show Welcome to Sun & Moon for the launch of Resonance.

- His fans are called Moondanse.

- Taeil speaks some English and has notable English catchphrases.

- SM released a video using the audio from NCT's MAMA performance that captures the journey of the members through their career.

- NCT members have participated in a 24-hour relay cam that gives a snapshot of their daily lives.