Music / SHINee

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SHINee (Korean: 샤이니, pronounced "shiny") is a South Korean five-member contemporary dance group under SM Entertainment. They debuted on May 25, 2008 with the song "Replay".

The group started very young with a colourful R&B image (since incorporating influences from genres like rock, hip-hop and EDM) and have accrued a fanbase known individually as "Shawols" and collectively as "SHINee World". They are also known for their incredible live vocals and highly synchronized and complex dance routines, and have since become one of the most popular groups in K-pop both in Korea and overseas, which earned them the title "Princes of K-Pop". While Jonghyun's and Onew's voices are the most celebrated, and Taemin is the stand-out dancer, every member is known to sing and dance competently.

While the group started out as a five-piece, Jonghyun tragically committed suicide on December 18, 2017 following a long period of depression, leaving the group as four.

On January 31st, 2021, the members confirmed in a live video that they would be making a comeback in February, releasing their seventh studio album after an almost three-year-long hiatus.

On March 31st, 2024, Taemin and Onew left SM Entertainment after deciding not to renew their contract. They will still be part of SHINee.

Trope it up for SHINee:

• The Band Minus the Face: The group has continued after the death of main vocalist and songwriter Jonghyun.
• Beauty Is Best: Minho's part in "Girls, Girls, Girls," a song in which the SHINee members give dating advice to a love-stricken Taemin, declares that the most important thing in getting a woman's heart is one's looks.
  Why are you all worrying so much?
  Do you really need to try that hard?
  Girls don’t look at anything else but
  Height and face
• Chronological Album Title: The group's first and fifth Japanese albums are called The First and Five respectively.
• Color-Coded Characters: The group's Japanese glowsticks have different colors for specific members. For reference:

  • Onew: Green
  • Jonghyun: Red
  • Key: Purple
  • Minho: Blue
  • Taemin: Yellow

• Concept Album: The arrangement of tracks on Romeo, SHINee's 2nd EP, portrays a narrative inspired by Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. Each song represents the trajectory of a couple, from their first meeting ("Talk to You"), the confession ("Juliette"), their conflict ("Hit Me"), separation ("Señorita"), longing ("Please Don't Go"), and reunion ("Romeo + Juliette") respectively.
• Cover Version: This is the case with their songs "Love Like Oxygen" (the original is titled "Show the World"; sung by Danish singer Martin Hoberg Hedegaard), "Forever or Never" (originally by the German glam rock band Cinema Bizarre), "Juliette" (the original was "Deal with It" by American singer Corbin Bleu) and "Hyeya (Y Si Fuera Ella)" (originally by Spanish singer-songwriter Alejandro Sanz).
• Cute Kitten: To promote their Japanese single "Kimi no Sei de", the marketing team put together a literal copycat group called SHINyan and even made an alternate parody music video featuring them. None of SHINee knew about this apparently, seeing as Key was baffled by this.
• Distinct Double Album: The Misconceptions of Us, a 2-disc album combining the previously released The Misconceptions of You and The Misconceptions of Me (and two additional tracks). The two "chapters", as they've been deemed, each focus on the dreams and ideals of love, and the contrasting realities respectively. Each part is also markedly different in sound—Misconceptions of You is bright and cheery, while Misconceptions of Me is mostly dark and abrasive.
• Fair-Weather Friend: "Y.O.U. (Year of Us)" mentions the tendency of friends to only stick around during good times, highlighting its overall message of being together with one's partner even when things get tough.
  Why is it that the people beside you when things were good
  All leave without looking back when it goes bad?
• Fun with Acronyms:
  • Rather than using English letters though, they use Korean syllables. An example would be "A.Mi.Go." which stands for the much longer Korean saying "아름다운 미녀를 좋아하면 고생한다." (Areumdaun Minyeoreul johahamyeon Gosaenghanda), which means "If you love a beautiful woman, you will suffer."
  • "Y.O.U." standing for "Year Of Us". Very clever.
• Genre Roulette: The group is known as an extremely experimental band and their discography contains R&B, Dubstep/Complextro, Deep House, Pop, Pop-Rock, Rock, EDM, Blues, Jazz, funk and several other genres. Almost all of their title tracks are in different genres.
• Genre Throwback: "1 of 1" sees the group channel early 1990s Boy Bands, both in sound and image. The song is a throwback to New Jack Swing, while the music video and promotional pictures feature the boys wearing dapper coordinated suits along with more casual but still '90s-tinged outfits coupled with lots of denim. The album was released on cassette as well as the usual formats, and versions of the album included photocards in the form of Pogs.
• Girl of My Dreams: "Dream Girl" focuses on a narrator smitten with a woman who only appears in dreams. Later on, the narrator ends up seeing the "dream girl" in real life, but before they can interact substantially the girl disappears.
• Hotter and Sexier:
  • Some called "Lucifer" this, what with the singing about chains, the hip action in the choreography, lots of shots of the guys touching themselves and/or glaring steamily into the camera, Jonghyun's backless vest, and Minho's shirtless teaser picture.
  • Their Japanese song "DxDxD" ("Dance Dance Dance"), as compared to their other Japanese singles. It had leather, body rolls and shirtless-ness.
  • Jonghyun's solo debut and his album, which is filled with what most fans would call "baby-making jams". Special mention also goes out to his live stage for "Hallelujah". His second album, 좋아 (She Is) made Base look like child's play, with some of the lyrics being very sexually charged.
  • Taemin's individual efforts are more racy than anything SHINee would put out as a group.
• In-Series Nickname: Early into debut, each member had a nickname they used in promotions and the like. You can hear them in their song "The SHINee World":
  • Onew is "Tofu Leader Onew"
  • Jonghyun is "Bling Bling Jonghyun"
  • Key is "Almighty Key"
  • Minho is "Flaming Charisma Minho"
  • Taemin is "Powerful Taem"
• Knife-Throwing Act: One scene in the "Married to the Music" music video has Key hooked up to a spinning wheel when a woman pulls out a butcher knife and strikes him directly in the neck, decapitating him. The strike is completely bloodless (apparently his inner extremities are made of lemon) and isn't fatal, as his head is seen lipsyncing to the song in later scenes.
• Likes Older Women: "Replay", the group's debut single, is about a younger man starstruck over an older woman who unfortunately doesn't reciprocate his feelings.
• Lyrics/Video Mismatch: "Married to the Music", lyrically, is a simple love song comparing a woman to music. The video is a surreal, kitschy romp featuring a woman taking off parts of the members to create her "perfect man", and has absolutely no connection to the song.
• Medium Blending: The video for "Atmos" features a brief 2D animated segment before the last chorus, amidst the rest of the otherwise live-action clips.
• Music Mashup: "Sherlock (Clue + Note)", from the Sherlock EP, is a mashup of two of their own songs, "Clue" and "Note" from the same EP. The verses come from "Clue" and the chorus comes from "Note". The music comes from both, with "Clue" being the dominant track.
• One-Woman Song: The group has "JoJo" (from the 2009, Year of Us album), a Break-Up Song song lamenting the loss of a woman of that name.
• Playful Pursuit: The video for their debut single "Replay (Noona Is So Pretty)" shows the group singing at and following an older woman who works at a coffee shop that they are all seemingly infatuated with. Different members follow her at different points (on the street, at a basketball court) culminating with the group dancing for her together at the end.
• Production Foreshadowing: "Spoiler", the intro track from The Misconceptions of You, uses a Song of Song Titles format to "spoil" both Misconceptions albums, including tracks from the then yet-to-release The Misconceptions of Me (like "Nightmare", "Dangerous", and "Evil").
• Pygmalion Plot: The music video for "Married To the Music" involves a bride who creates her "ideal" groom by using Key's head, Taemin's eyes, Jonghyun's mouth, Onew's nose, and Minho's body.
• Scatting: Jonghyun has worked in scatting in some of SHINee's songs, most notably in the bridge to "Clue" and after the bridge in "Poet + Artist" (the latter a remnant from Jonghyun's solo demo).
• Sequel Song:
  • "Love Sick" is the sequel to "Replay", where it contains a Call-Back to the age difference with the lines, "It's already been years / You said I was like a younger brother / You changed / You're my woman now." The choreography also uses some moves from "Replay." It later got itself a sequel in "Marry You", which calls back to the song with lyrics with "I need a doctor / Like an incurable disease, I'm still lovesick."
  • "Love Still Goes On" from Lucifer is a spiritual successor to "Love Should Go On" from Replay, the group's debut EP, and features many lyrical Call-Backs to the latter song.
• Shinigami: All members appear as death gods in the music video for "1000nen, Zutto Soba ni Ite..."
• Singer Namedrop:
  • A whispered "SHINee's back" features in two of their songs: "Sherlock" and "Dream Girl", both in the intros. The phrase is also often said during the group's live performances.
  • One of Key's rap lyrics in "Love Still Goes On" is "Key's gonna open / [in Korean] if you're there, it's heaven". This "Key's gonna open" pun is also repeated in his rap part in "Excuse Me Miss".
  • At the end of "The SHINee World (doo-bop)", a song that serves as an introduction to SHINee, Minho has a rap introducing the group's members and their nicknames: "bling bling" Jonghyun, "tofu On-leader" Onew, "almighty key" Key, "powerful Taem" Taemin, and "flaming charisma" Minho.
• Split Personality: "Obsession" from the Lucifer album is sung from the point of view of someone with a split personality, according to Word of God from Jonghyun, who wrote the song's lyrics.
• Stage Names: Onew for Jinki and Key for Kibum.
• Stealth Pun:
  • The music video of "Lucifer" has wisps of light zooming in on the members. The word Lucifer means light. The light motif still stays at the music video of the Japanese version.
  • Key and Minho's rap at the end of "Talk to You" features stealth references to both of their nicknames—Key raps "the one holding the key to her heart is none other than me", while Minho's "don't underestimate the power of the charisma in my heart" is a nod to his nickname of "flaming charisma."
• Stop and Go: The instrumental in "Ready or Not" briefly pauses when Onew says the word "stop" during his line "나 솔직히 지금껏 널 stop!".
• Talkative Cover: The covers for all of the members' debut solo album (and Jonghyun's Poet | Artist album) include a few sentences under the photo of the relevant artist, each different but all vaguely focusing on the members' outlooks as artists.
• Winged Humanoid: The SHINee members occasionally appear with black-colored wings in the Ring Ding Dong MV, as part of the video's "Fallen Angel" concept.