Shinee (
샤이니, stylized as
SHINee, pronounced
/ˈʃaɪniː/ "shiny") is a
contemporary R&B South Korean
boy band.
[2] Formed by
SM Entertainment in 2008, they made their debut on May 25, 2008 on
SBS's
Inkigayo with their promotional single, "Noona Neomu Yeppeo (Replay)" ("
누난 너무 예뻐 (Replay)", lit. "
Older Girl, You're So Pretty (Replay)"). The group consists of
Onew,
Jonghyun,
Key,
Minho and
Taemin.
Since their debut, Shinee has released two full-length albums, three mini-albums, and various singles. They have also won many awards, held a
concert tour and starred in their own reality shows. Shinee is considered to be a fashion icon having started the "Shinee Trend".
[3] They are set to make their
Japanese debut in March 2011.
[1]
History
2008: Debut and The Shinee World
On May 23, 2008, the group's first
mini-album,
Replay was released from Label company, SM Entertainment.
[3] The mini-album debuted at #10 on the Korean music charts and peaked at #8, selling 17,957 copies in the first half of 2008.
[4]
On June 7, 2008, Shinee participated in the Dream Concert in the
Seoul Olympic Stadium along with other South Korean singers and groups.
[5][6] The group won their first award, "Rookie of the Month", at the Cyworld Digital Music Awards on June 22, 2008.
[7] Shinee took part in
SMTown Live '08, which was held on August 18, 2008 at
Seoul Olympic Stadium.
[8] On August 23, 2008, they attended MNet's 20's Choice Awards 2008, where they won the "Hot New Star" award.
[9]
Shinee released their first full-length album,
The Shinee World, on August 28, 2008.
[10] The album debuted on the charts at #3, selling 30,000 copies.
[11] The first single released from the album was "Sanso Gateun Neo" (
산소 같은 너 (Love Like Oxygen), lit. You Are Like Oxygen), a cover of "Show the World" by
Martin Hoberg Hedegaard,
[12] originally written by the Danish songwriting and production team of
Thomas Troelsen,
Remee and
Lucas Secon.
[13] On September 18, 2008, Shinee's "Sanso Gateun Neo (Love Like Oxygen)" was the No. 1 song on
M! Countdown.
[14] A few days later, Shinee received the "Mutizen" award for the same single on SBS's
Popular Songs.
Shinee performing at the SMTown Live Tour in Bangkok
Shinee participated in the 5th
Asia Song Festival, where they received the "Best New Artist" award with Japanese girl group,
Berryz Kobo.
[15] The group attended the 2008 Style Icon Awards on October 30, 2008, where they won the "Best Style Icon Award".
[16] On the same day, a repackage album of "The SHINee World" titled "A.Mi.Go." was released. The re-packaged album contained three new songs: "Forever or Never", a remix of "Sa. Gye. Han (Love Should Go On)" (
사.계.한) and the promotional single "A.Mi.Go" (
아.미.고).
[17] "A.Mi.Go" is a shortened version of the Korean phrase "Areumdaun Minyeorueljoahamyeon Gosaenghanda" (
아름다운 미녀를 좋아하면 고생한다 lit. Heart Aches When You Fall In Love With a Beauty).
[13]
On November 15, 2008, Shinee won the "Best Male Rookie" award at the 10th annual MNet's KM Music Festival, beating fellow newcomers
U-KISS,
2PM,
2AM and Mighty Mouth.
[18] At the 23rd Annual Golden Disk Awards, they performed a medley of their songs, "Noona Neomu Yeppeo (Replay)", "Sanso Gateun Neo (Love Like Oxygen)" and "A.Mi.Go (Amigo)" and won the award for "YEPP Newcomer Album".
[19]
2009: "Juliette" and 2009, Year of Us
In early February, 2009, Shinee won "Best Newcomer" award along with
Davichi and Mighty Mouth at the 18th
Seoul Music Awards.
[20] Later, SM Entertainment announced that Shinee would make their comeback with their second mini album
Romeo on May 21, 2009.
[21] On May 18, "Juliette", the first single was released,
[22][23] an instrumental remake of
Corbin Bleu's "
Deal with It".
[24] It was later announced that their comeback was going to be delayed due to Onew damaging his teeth and the release of the mini-album was pushed back to May 25, 2009.
[22][25] Shinee eventually had their return performance on June 5, 2009, on
KBS's
Music Bank, where they received the award for first place.
[26]
The group released their third mini-album,
2009, Year Of Us, on October 19, 2009, five months after the release of
Romeo. SM Entertainment stated that this
EP would showcase the group's vocals and demonstrate their unique qualities.
[27][28] The lead single, "Ring Ding Dong", was released digitally on October 14; the group had their comeback stage on October 16, on
KBS's
Music Bank.
[29] In early December, 2009, Shinee won the "Popularity" award along with fellow labelmate group,
Super Junior, at the 24th
Golden Disk Awards.
[30] In February, 2010, the group won the main "BonSang" award at the 19th
Seoul Music Awards.
[31]
2010: Lucifer and first concert
SM Entertainment revealed individual photo teasers of each member for the new album starting with Minho on July 8, 2010 and ending with Key on July 12. The teaser for the
music video of lead single was released on July 14, 2010 at the official channel of SM Entertainment on
YouTube.
[32] The group was originally set to have their comeback stage on KBS Music Bank, July 16, to begin their promotions for the new album, however,
[33] due to Minho injuring his ankle during a
Dream Team 2 filming on July 8, the comeback was postponed to July 23, 2010.
[34]
The second full length studio album, entitled
Lucifer, was released on July 19, 2010 in South Korea. The music video promoting the lead single, also named "
Lucifer", was released on the same day.
[35] Within hours of the release, the album topped various physical and digital sales charts in South Korea.
[36] The songs on the album "were more carefully selected than ever", and the album is said to "[give] listeners a great chance to experience the diverse musical characters and more mature vocal skills of the members."
[37] The group made their comeback on July 23, 2010 at
KBS Music Bank.
[34] Choreography of the
Lucifer was released on the same YouTube channel on August 3, 2010.
[38] The studio album was re-released a repackaged version, entitled
Hello, on October 1, 2010. The music video of the promotional single, also named "Hello", was released on October 4, 2010. The re-released version included three new tracks.
Amidst their promotional activities for the second studio album, the group also participated in the
SMTown Live '10 World Tour alongside their label-mates on August 21, 2010 at
Seoul Jamsil Olympic Stadium.
[39] They also performed at the concerts in
Shanghai and
Los Angeles on later dates.
[40]
On December 26, 2010, Shinee held their first concert,
Shinee World, in
Yoyogi National Gymnasium,
Tokyo,
Japan. The vent was attended by a total audience of approximately 24,000 attendees. They also revealed the
music video for their ballad track "Quasimodo", from their second album,
Lucifer. The group also announced that they will be releasing their first Japanese language studio release in March 2011 under the label of
EMI Music Japan.
2011-present: Japanese debut
On January 1, 2011, Shinee performed in the concert at
Olympic Park Stadium in
Seoul as a part of their tour,
Shinee World. On January 2, 2011, before the second running of the concert in Seoul, Shinee held a press conference. The group answered many questions related to their future plans, announcing that in March of 2011 they will be debuting in Japan, and the members also reflected on their success in 2010.
Image and artistry
Shinee is known for their fashion style, created by designer Ha Sang Baek (
하상백), which features high-top sneakers, skinny jeans and colorful sweaters.
[33] Their style has created a fashion trend amongst students which the media dubbed the "Shinee Trend".
[3] This has led to product endorsements, and the band has promoted Smart,
[41] Korean cosmetic company Nana's B,
[42] and
Reebok.
[43]
Members
There are five members of the band.
Lee Jinki (
이진기), better known by his stage name Onew (
온유) was born in the city of
Gwangmyeong,
Gyeonggi-do on December 14, 1989
(1989-12-14) (age 21). The Leader, Main Vocalist, and eldest member of the group, was discovered at the 2006 S.M. Academy Casting.
[44] Onew collaborated with Lee Hyun Ji, former member of project group Banana Girl, for his song "Vanilla Love" and with label-mate,
Jessica of
Girls' Generation for the song "Il Nyeon Hu (One Year Later)" (
Korean:
일년後" (One Year Later)").
[45]
Kim Jonghyun (
김종현), commonly known as Jonghyun, is the Lead Vocalist of the group.
[46] He was born on April 8, 1990
(1990-04-08) (age 20) and raised in
Seoul. He was discovered at the "2005 S.M. Casting System".
[44] Before debuting with Shinee, Jonghyun sang a duet, "Wrongly Given Love" (交错的爱), with
Zhang Liyin for her debut Chinese album
I Will.
[44]
Kim Kibum (
김기범), better known by his stage name Key (
키), is a Main Vocalist, one of the two Rappers and Dancer of the group.
[44] He was born on September 23, 1991
(1991-09-23) (age 19) and raised in
Daegu. He was a gifted varsity water-skier at Dae Gu Young Shin Middle School.
[47] He was discovered at the "2005 S.M. National Tour Audition Casting".
[44] Before debuting with Shinee, Key appeared in
Super Junior's
Wonder Boy music video as an extra dancer. Key was featured in label-mate
Xiah's solo "Xiahtic" in
TVXQ's concert, 2009: The 3rd Asia Tour Mirotic, in Seoul, Korea.
[48] In 2010 Key was featured in the song "치유 (
Healing)" on label-mates
TRAX's first mini album "Trax Mini Album Volume 1".
[49] Later, it was also announced that Key would have a small part in
Girls' Generation's song "Hwaseongin Virus (Boys & Girls)" (
Korean:
"화성인 바이러스 (Boys & Girls)") from their second studio album
Oh!.
[50]
Choi Minho (
최민호), commonly known as Minho, is a Sub-Vocalist and the other Rapper of the group. He was born on December 9, 1991
(1991-12-09) (age 19) and raised in
Incheon. Minho has also written several raps in their songs. He was discovered at the 2006 S.M. Casting System.
[44] Before debuting with Shinee, Minho modeled for Ha Sang Baek's "Seoul Collection F/W 08-09" in March.
[33] He has appeared in
Girls' Generation's music video "
Gee"
[51] and featured in VNT's debut music video, "Sound". Minho is also a permanent cast member in
KBS's
Dream Team Season 2.
[52] He also debuted as an actor on November 20, 2010 in a KBS Drama Special, entitled
Pianist.
[53]
Lee Taemin (
이태민), commonly known as Taemin, is a Sub-Vocalist and the Lead Dancer of the group.
[46] He was born on July 18, 1993
(1993-07-18) (age 17), and raised in Seoul. He is the youngest member in the group and was discovered at the "2005 S.M. Open Weekend Audition Casting".
[44] Taemin debuted as an actor in the sitcom
Taehee-Hyegyo-Jihyun! (
Korean:
"태희혜교지현이!").
[54]
Discography
Studio albums
Extended plays
Promotional Singles
Tours and Concerts
Affiliated tours
Other activities
The group also recorded a song, "Stand By Me", for the Korean
drama adaptation of popular manga series
Boys Over Flowers by
Yoko Kamio.
[55] In addition to promoting Smart, Shinee recorded a song titled "Blue Pink Song", to further promote their product.
[41] Shinee recorded a digital single "Bodyguard" to promote
Samsung's
Anycall mobile phone.
[56] They have also recorded a song titled "Countdown" for drama series
Dream and "Fly High" for
Prosecutor Princess. In September 2010, the group also contributed to the soundtrack of the Korean National Tourism Organization's web drama,
Haru.
Television work
Shinee was the topic of a mini-series
reality show Shinee's YunHaNam, which was hosted by MNet. The show ran from August 8, 2008 to October 16, 2008, with a total of twelve episodes. Each episode featured the band members going on a date with an older woman, after which she would chose one member for a solo date.
[57] In January 2010, Shinee starred in the second season of
KBS's
Hello Baby, taking care of a four year old boy (Korean Age) named Jung Yoogeun.
[58]
