okay, to begin, because it is most important to get this out of the way: in the entertainment business, it is pretty universally known that after a person passes away their contact as it is known “ends”, but this does not mean that all of their ties to their company are severed. it is much more complicated than that. it really doesn’t matter who the person is: after an entertainer has passed all of the rights to their work are turned over to (usually) the person that they designated for it to be on the off-chance that them passing away happens. we really have no way of knowing if sm’s contract touches upon death, but we do know for a fact that all of jonghyun’s content was left for his mom and sister. that being said: it is clear that sm and his family had some sort of sit down post-december 18th that included a discussion of all of this. if they hadn’t, poet | artist wouldn’t have been released at the time that it was. that being said: neither jonghyun’s family or sm have released any sort of statement saying that the company does not have the rights to use his name. this has just been baseless rumor spread throughout the fandom taken as fact. if either would have said that i would have made a post about it here on fyjjong.
moving on: yes, sm has been very wishy washy in regards to jonghyun and this has been something that has been the source of both debate and fighting within the shawol fandom for months now. to start, it is important to point out that it is clear that jonghyun’s family wants jonghyun to continue to be associated with shinee and regarded as a member of shinee. shiny foundation was technically named after shinee, they have shinee’s albums on display and music playing on rotation at their official office in seoul, and they allowed fans the choice of submitting to the art contest for the shiny foundation festival in december to have their work be inspired by “our page”. so, there’s no denying that they respect and cherish his time spent with shinee and want to continue to have his legacy include that. even so, sm has been confusing about how they’ve dealt with virtually everything in relation to jonghyun post-december 18th, and this has led to high emotion within fandom. not much else can be said there, but we all know that sm sucks at an astronomical level so nothing is really surprising in regards to them. sm also promised to release images and videos of jonghyun’s temporary memorial last year after there was backlash about it being closed in k-fandom, but they are yet to follow through with their promise.
now, to switch over to the rising discussion lately about rebranding shinee. yes, this is something that has, once again, caused heated debate within certain … sections of the fandom. it started back in late october when sm released a small preview of shinee’s 2019 seasons greetings. with the exception of snsd’s (which was promoted as being oh!gg), shinee’s was the only cover to include member names on it. this immediately caused backlash which led to sm changing the cover to not include any names (which made shawols happy for the most part, though the initial cover was not forgotten). after this, there was also issue with sm using a four person silhouette on the pantone products that they released, and most recently, redesigning their old chocolate bars to include member names on them. with this debate, it is important to acknowledge the following: most shawols don’t expect sm to use pictures of jonghyun or his name in new products. this has been acknowledged and understood, but they are upset with the new route that sm has taken in the release of shinee merchandise which includes erasing ot5 symbolism in favor of branding shinee as just “four”. this is understandable because it is not illegal for sm to use the shinee five brand, and there are abstract ways that it can be represented too (such as using five diamonds or the 5hinee logo). in retrospect, none of this is really a shock though. sm has a long history of aggressively and blatantly attempting to rebrand their groups after a member has left the line up. (they did this when sulli left f(x), and when jessica’s time with snsd ended.) the only difference here is: jonghyun never left shinee. essentially, all it does is rub salt into a wound that is ever present. shawols have no forgotten that he is not here with us physically anymore, and all that the aforementioned does is make that wound ache more (which is saying a lot because it’s painful enough as it is).
another quick note because i know there’s been confusion on it: yes, jonghyun has been included in merchandise following the release of his album last year. there was merchandise that included his name that was released for the tenth anniversary party (a ring, a drink stirrer and a key chain strap). he was included in new merchandise for smtown museum after it opened last may (1of1 related goods and printable polaroids from smtown v). his name was included in a set of pins that was released at coex after the release of shinee’s final ep last summer, and his name was included in the album jacket for sunny side last july. sm also clearly has the right to post his name and image on their official accounts and website. if they did not they would not have posted their memorial video for him last month, nor would they have tweeted about poet | artist topping the gaon chart alongside voice, nor would he still be listed on shinee’s official profile (which he is). (this also raises the question as to why his birthday was not included on shinee’s official website calendar for this year - which is another one that has caused emotions to rise due to sm having posted about his birthday last year, but we’ll see how that one goes when april comes around.) taking all of this into account, it is clear that his family has given sm permission to continue posting about him, and that they have okayed his name to be used in new merchandise on more than one occasion post-december 18th. this is why people need to stop saying that “his family doesn’t allow” it or that it’s illegal when something new pops up and shawols are upset or simply just debating about it. neither sm or they have said anything, and until they do we shouldn’t be putting words into their mouths (nor should we be glossing over how gracious jonghyun’s family has been and how hard they have been working to keep is legacy moving forward, both as a soloist and as a member of shinee).
so, basically, what shawols want is: for sm to properly acknowledge that shinee will always be five, and for them not to rub salt in the wound. they also want for sm to stop being so wishy washy in relation to jonghyun. i’m gonna end this with saying: if people are upset about something they have every right to be upset about it. if people were upset about his birthday not being included on shinee’s official schedule (website schedule, not the season’s greetings though they also have the right to be upset that not there wasn’t even a symbol indicating his birthday in that) … they have the right to be. if they were upset about sm not tweeting about jonghyun’s bonsang win … they have the right to be. (sm needs to hire new social media managers regardless; they suck about using all of shinee’s in general.) if they’re upset about the new shinee chocolate design emphasizing on shinee “being four” … they also have the right to be. shawols have a right to be upset and wary, blingers have a right to be upset and wary. many people are untrusting of sm and it’s for good reason: they haven’t always treated shinee the best, and that’s saying a lot given they treat a lot of their other artists even worse.
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