Shinee fucking ran so that kpop could walk and those are just the facts that everyone should accept.
They debuted when kpop had a very specific style and concept of what young boy groups could do in order to sell but Shinee really knocked on the doors with replay and as soon as they opened, they deadass shot out Lucifer and Ring DD and no body was prepared lmao.
They legitimately redefined kpop and I really don’t think they get enough credit for that? FROM DAY ONE, they had the most intricate and class choreographies in kpop. There’s a reason why shinee are called performance legends. It’s because you can pick any damn shinee choreography and it’s just so amazingly well executed; Not to mention they’re the first kpop idols who started releasing choreography practice videos and dancing without backup dancers which as y’all can see, has become the norm now.
Also, TILL DATE Shinee had the most packed schedule for any kpop rookie group ever. They were out there performing for 8 hours and then going back home just to rehearse for another 8. Their success was so unexpectedly high and they were literally teenagers handling all that fame. Taemin was a literal child with a bowl cut ffs. Also, don’t come for my bowl cut children, they looked PRECIOUS in the replay MV.
Even as early as 2011, Shinee being known as variety show and pilot experts because they’re naturally so funny and have a bond within them that easily puts people at ease and makes for one crazy episode with no chaos or anything “extra” per say. Just shinee being shinee is enough. In an industry where idols don’t even react to other female idols at award shows cause of the knetz, ya bois, Taemin and Minho really went fuck it and did whole collab stages with Sunmi and Yuri. The flex. Not to mention the way Shinee and especially Jonghyun & Taemin said a huge Fuck you to Korea’s oh so precious “masculine aura” and just went on with releasing pretty boy and Taemin saying makeup isn’t something for girls and that makeup is for all genders, a legend.
The way Shinee had fans in countries like Dubai, Russia, India and many many others at a time when kpop really wasn’t a thing? It was just Korean music for Koreans but shinee went ahead and did their thing and it broke language barriers as if they were air. It’s 2020 and Barack Obama talking about shinee still feels like a fever dream to me tbh.
Not even mentioning anything else now BUT just their music and it’s impact man?? The way shinee put out ALBUM after ALBUM with no rest and the fact being that, Every damn song they put out was a WHOLE BANGER.
Like?? SHINEE’S FUCKING DISCOGRAPHY??
JULIETTE, SHERLOCK, RING DD, REPLAY, LUCIFER, STRANGER, GOOD EVENING, VIEW, PICASSO, MARRIED TO THE MUSIC, WHY SO SERIOUS?? BRUH WHAT EVEN?
SHINEE songs that get covered by rookie idols everyday, mentioned by established idols as their inspiration during trainee days, songs that the entire population of Korea would know. Songs that trainees practice on for hours hoping that one day they too, would debut.
Shinee, a boygroup who’s know as the group who “made their own concepts” and everyone else simple followed.
And the craziest part is they are one of the longest standing groups in kpop, been together for 12 whole years and are still as relevant and iconic as ever. The fact that all five members have so much solo potential and even then nothing trivial like fame or money had ever seemed to break shinee up as a group is really a feat.
Taemin is no doubts THE best dancer and one of the most successful soloists in the entire kpop industry. A living legend tbh. His discography is hot, molten GOLD. Jonghyun’s VOCALS are liter-al-ly one of the strongest vocals in the entire industry and every damn shinee song is a proof of his sheer excellence as a main vocalist. Cue to Stranger. Onew deadass sang opera for a loaded audience once and left everyone shook and his 40 sec long note. Also, this man leads the chaos that is shinee, mad respect. Key’s rapping style is honestly so distinctive. y’all put him in a room with 10 rappers and he’ll still outsell. Also, his ‘born to shine’ solo stage. HE DID THAT. Minho really out there being a multi talented class act, who’s a main rapper but has vocals that could kill. Not only that, man be out here having acted in so many successful dramas.
Imma say this once and I want all you third gen kpop stans to print it out, Shinee did for kpop what no one else did so you might not stan them or listen to their music but the one thing your ass will do, IS RESPECT THEM. Respect shinee and everything that they went through in a time where kpop wasn’t shit and kpop artists were treated so heartlessly as if they were nothing but cash machines. Also they’re from SM so God knows what kinda shit that company has put them through and one can never imagine the sheer amount of pressure on the members to have been so young and so in pain but having no one to trust at the heights of their success; Imagine being loved and cheered on by thousands on a stage only to come back home to nothing but you and your head in the now deafening silence. Imagine waking up one day and finding out that a boy you spent half your lifetime with, shared your best and worst moments with, is suddenly gone? Just like that? AND THEN having the sheer fucking courage to go up in front of thousand teary eyes and questioning glances, leaving a microphone empty on a stage and while using his damn background vocals; singing your heart out to the songs he wrote under an aqua blue moon knowing, for sure, that what began in 2008 will never really end, ever.
THAT IS SHINEE. FIVE LEGENDS. PERIOD POINT BLANK.
5hinee; OT5 for life, motherfuckers.
