Shinee

SHINee
Shinee performing during the SMTown Live World Tour IV (L-R): Onew, Taemin, Jonghyun, Minho, Key.
Background information
Origin	Seoul, South Korea
Genres	K-pop R&B Dance-pop J-pop
Years active	2008 (2008)–present
Labels	S.M. Entertainment Virgin EMI Avex
Associated acts	SM Town
Website	shinee.smtown.com
Members	Onew Jonghyun Key Minho Taemin

Shinee (/ˈʃaɪniː/ SHY-nee; Korean: 샤이니; Japanese: シャイニー; stylized as SHINee) is a South Korean contemporary boy group formed by S.M. Entertainment in 2008. The group consists of Onew, Jonghyun, Key, Minho, and Taemin. They made their debut on May 25, 2008 on SBS's Inkigayo with their single, "Replay".

Since their debut, Shinee has released seven full-length albums (four in Korean language and three in Japanese language), five mini-albums, three live album and various Japanese singles as well as Japanese remakes of their Korean releases. They have also won many awards, held three concert tours and starred in their own reality shows. Shinee is considered to be a fashion icon having started the "Shinee Trend" and are known for their highly synchronized and complex dancing.

They made their Japanese debut on June 22, 2011 by releasing a Japanese version of their single, Replay, and sold over 100,000 copies making it the highest number of sales recorded by Oricon for a South Korean group at the time, followed by their first Japanese studio album, The First on December 7, 2011. Their second Japanese album, Boys Meet U, was released on June 26, 2013. Followed by their third Japanese language studio album I'm Your Boy, released on September 24, 2014.

History

2008: Debut and The Shinee World

On May 22, 2008, the group's first mini-album, Replay was released from label company, SM Entertainment. 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.

On June 7, 2008, Shinee participated in the Dream Concert in the Seoul Olympic Stadium along with other South Korean singers and groups. The group won their first award, "Rookie of the Month", at the Cyworld Digital Music Awards on June 22, 2008. Shinee took part in SMTown Live '08, which was held on August 18, 2008 at Seoul Olympic Stadium. On August 23, 2008, they attended the MNet 20's Choice Awards 2008, where they won the "Hot New Star" award.

Shinee released their first full-length album, The Shinee World, on August 28, 2008. The album debuted on the charts at #3, selling 30,000 copies. The first single released from the album was "Sanso Gateun Neo (Love Like Oxygen)", a cover of "Show the World" by Martin Hoberg Hedegaard, originally written by the Danish songwriting and production team of Thomas Troelsen, Remee and Lucas Secon. On September 18, 2008, Shinee's "Sanso Gateun Neo (Love Like Oxygen)" was the #1 song on M! Countdown. A few days later, Shinee received the "Mutizen" award for the same single on SBS's Popular Songs.

Shinee participated in the 5th Asia Song Festival, where they received the "Best New Artist" award with a Japanese girl group, Berryz Kobo. The group attended the 2008 Style Icon Awards on October 30, 2008, where they won the "Best Style Icon Award". 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 "Amigo" (아.미.고). "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).

On November 15, 2008, Shinee won the "Best New Male Group" award at the 10th annual Mnet Asian Music Awards, beating fellow newcomers U-KISS, 2PM, 2AM and Mighty Mouth. At the 23rd Annual Golden Disk Awards, they performed a medley of their songs and won the award for "YEPP Newcomer Album".

2009–2010: Rising popularity and Lucifer

Shinee in February,2009 performing at Rajamangala Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand.

In early February, 2009, Shinee won "Best Newcomer" award along with Davichi and Mighty Mouth at the 18th Seoul Music Awards. Shinee's second mini album Romeo was released on May 25. Its lead single, "Juliette", was released earlier on May 18. The song was an instrumental remake of Corbin Bleu's "Deal with It". Shinee eventually had their return performance on June 5, 2009, on KBS's Music Bank, where they received the award for first place.

The group released their third mini-album, 2009, Year Of Us, on October 19, 2009. The lead single, "Ring Ding Dong", was released digitally on October 14. In early December, 2009, Shinee won the "Popularity" award along with Super Junior at the 24th Golden Disk Awards. In February, 2010, the group won the main "BonSang" award at the 19th Seoul Music Awards.

The second full length studio album, entitled Lucifer, was released on July 19, 2010. The music video promoting the lead single, Lucifer, was released on the same day. Within hours of the release, the album topped various physical and digital sales charts in South Korea. 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." The group made their comeback on July 23, 2010 at KBS Music Bank. The studio album was re-released as a repackaged version, entitled Hello, on October 1, 2010. The music video of the promotional single, named "Hello", was released on October 4, 2010. The re-released version included three new tracks: Hello, One, and Get It.

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, they performed in a concert at Seoul Olympic Stadium in Seoul. On September 4, 2010, they also performed at a concert at Staples Center in Los Angeles. Later, on September 11, 2010, Shinee also participated in a concert at Hongkou Stadium in Shanghai.

On December 26, 2010, Shinee started their first concert tour, Shinee World by holding their concert at Yoyogi National Gymnasium in Tokyo. The event was attended by a total audience of approximately 24,000 attendees.

2011–2012: Japanese debut, The First and Sherlock

Shinee performs "Ring Ding Dong" at the SMTown concert in New York.

On January 1, 2011, Shinee performed a concert at Olympic Gymnastics Arena in Seoul as a part of their tour, Shinee World. The concert then continued at Taipei, Nanjing, Singapore, Nagoya, and Osaka throughout 2011. On January 25 and 26, 2011, the group participated in the Japan leg of SMTown Live '10 World Tour alongside their fellow labelmates at Yoyogi National Gymnasium in Tokyo, which also continued in two concerts in Paris at Zenith de Paris, three concerts in Tokyo at Tokyo Dome and at Madison Square Garden in New York City.

On June 22, 2011, the Japanese version of "Replay" was released, selling more than 91,000 copies in the first week. It was subsequently certified 'Gold' by RIAJ for selling over 100,000 copies. On June 19, Shinee made history by becoming the first Asian artists to perform at Abbey Road Studios in London, holding their Japan Debut Premium Reception there. On July 22, 2011, Shinee started their Japan Debut Premium Reception Tour. They performed at a number of concerts while touring various cities across Japan including Fukuoka on July 22, Kobe on July 23, Tokyo on July 27 and 28, Sapporo on August 8 and Nagoya on August 11, 2011. On August 28 and October 12, 2011, two Japanese remakes, "Juliette", and "Lucifer" were released, respectively.

The group was invited to be the opening act of The 6th London Korean Film Festival, which took place at Odeon West End Theater on November 3, 2011. They also performed in their hour-long gala concert Shinee in London, the tickets for which sold out within a minute. This also marked the first time that any Korean artist(s) had held an independent concert in London. The group's first Japanese studio album, The First, was released on December 7, 2011. The album featured five new songs in addition to Japanese remakes of seven previously released Korean songs. The regular version of the album also featured the theme song of the drama Strangers 6, a track called "Stranger" as a bonus. On December 8, Taemin, Onew and Key debuted as writers and released a travelogue, "Children of the Sun", containing stories from their trip to Barcelona, Spain. The members shot the photos and wrote the commentaries themselves. Shinee also participated in 2011 Winter SMTown – The Warmest Gift album with the cover of the song "Last Christmas". The compilation album by SM artists was released on December 13, 2011.

Shinee held a commemorative live concert in honor of the successful release of their first Japanese album, The First, at the Tokyo International Forum Hall A on December 24, 2011. The live concert took place three times in order to accommodate the 15,000 fans that won a lottery to attend. They performed a total of six songs including their Japanese debut single, Replay (Kimi wa Boku no Everything) and Lucifer, as well as a new song in their album called To Your Heart. On December 28, 2011 Tower Records Japan announced that Shinee had won the 'Artist of the Year' award at the K-Pop Lovers! Awards 2011, beating out other K-Pop groups for the award.

Shinee performs "Sherlock" at the Special Stage Expo 2012.

Shinee's fourth Korean mini album, Sherlock, was digitally released on March 19, and physically on March 21.

On March 26, 2012, Shinee alongside their labelmates, became stockholders of SM Entertainment. They received 340 shares each (value of around $13,600 for each member).

The Japanese remake of "Sherlock" was released in Japan on May 16. They also started their first Japan nationwide concert tour titled "Shinee World 2012" on April 25, 2012. The tour took a total of 20 concerts in Fukuoka, Sapporo, Nagoya, Osaka, Kobe, Tokyo and Hiroshima. Their first ever Japanese arena tour set a record for the most people in attendance for a Korean act's first Japan tour with total of 200,000 people. On May 20, 2012, Shinee participated in the SMTown Live World Tour III alongside their label-mates at Honda Center in Anaheim, California. Shinee held their second solo concert, Shinee World II, starting in Seoul on July 21 and 22 at Olympic Gymnastics Arena.

On October 4, 2012 EMI announced Shinee's first social game called "SHINee My Love" released October 10. The game is handled by the social gaming network for Android & iOS, mobage. Shinee released an original Japanese single, "Dazzling Girl", on October 10. The single sold 97,111 in first week and was chosen to be the theme song for the Japan TV Series "Sukkiri". To promote their new single, Shinee held "Dazzling Girl Special Showcase" on November 1 to 13 at all Zepp Hall in Fukuoka, Osaka, Tokyo, Nagoya, and Sapporo.

On November 19, 2012, along with actor Kim Soo-hyun, Shinee won the "Ministry of Culture Award" at South Korea's Ministry of Culture, Sports & Tourism and Korea Creative Content Agency's (KOCCA) annual award show, "Korean Popular Culture & Arts Award" at Seoul Olympic Hall. On November 30, 2012 Shinee attended 2012 Mnet Asian Music Awards, which was held in Hong Kong, winning "Best Dance Performance - Male Group" for their latest Korean single, "Sherlock (Clue + Note)".

Shinee released their first Japanese ballad single, 1000-nen, Zutto Soba ni Ite... as their sixth Japanese single and their live DVD for their Shinee World 2012 arena tour on December 12, 2012.

2013–2014: Dream Girl, Why So Serious?, Boys Meet U, Everybody and I'm Your Boy

On January 15, 2013, Shinee attended The 27th Golden Disk Award, which was held in Kuala Lumpur at Sepang International Circuit and crowned with the Popularity Award for the third time after winning the same title in 2009 and 2010 and claim the Disk Bonsang for "Sherlock" as their second Bonsang to date, with the last being a trophy for "Lucifer" in 2010. On February 3, MBC announced that Shinee would be starring in their own Lunar New Year special entitled "Shinee's Wonderful Day" to air on the 10th. The special features the Shinee members visiting various countries. For the special, Onew visited Thailand, Jonghyun visited Japan, Key and Minho visited England, and Taemin visited Switzerland.

Shinee at the MStar in Taiwan on August 2013.

Shinee's third Korean album consisted of two versions. The first part Dream Girl – The Misconceptions of You was released on February 19; and the second part Why So Serious? – The Misconceptions of Me was released on April 29. Its title track "Dream Girl" is a acid electro funk and was produced by Shin Hyuk and Joombas Music Factory. A compilation album was also subsequently released, The Misconceptions of Us, with two new songs: Selene 6.23 and Better Off.

Earlier in the year, Shinee released the Japanese single "Fire" on March 13. Later on, the group released their second Japanese album "Boys Meet U" on June 26. Its lead single "Breaking News" was released on June 22. On June 28, 2013 Shinee started their second Japan nationwide concert tour in Saitama. Another Japanese single "Boys Meet U" was released on August 21. This release also included "Sunny Day Hero" and Japanese version of "Dream Girl".

On September 29, S.M. Entertainment announced that Shinee's fifth EP Everybody would be released on October 14. On November 6, 2013, S.M. Entertainment announced its week-long music festival called SM Town Week. Shinee's concert, titled The Wizard, opened the event on December 21 at the Kintex in Ilsan.

On January 29, 2014 Shinee held their 3rd Korean solo concert in March named Shinee World III, later more shows were added - in South America. On February 24 the mayor of Gangnam District, Shin Yeon-hee, announced that Shinee have been appointed honorary ambassadors of Gangnam District, Seoul. On April 2, Shinee released a live concert album from their second solo concert. This album consists of two CDs with total 29 tracks.

Shinee at the SHINee World Concert III in Taiwan.

On May 19, Universal Music Japan revealed that Shinee would release "Lucky Star", their tenth Japanese single, on June 25 as their first release under EMI Records. On May 29, Universal Music Japan revealed that Shinee will be embarking on their third Japan tour from September till December 2014. Starting from September 28, the group started off their tour at Chiba, with 30 scheduled performances around the country, concluded on December 14, 2014 in Kobe with an encore performed March 14 & 15, 2015 in Tokyo Dome.

On June 25, 2014 Shinee's tenth Japanese single Lucky Star was released by Universal Music Japan sublabel EMI Records Japan. On August 12, Universal Music Japan announced that Shinee would release their third Japanese album, titled I'm Your Boy, on September 24, preceded by the singles "Boys Meet U", "3 2 1" and "Lucky Star". The title track, "Downtown Baby," of the said album, was released on September 5.

On December 11, 2014, the group released their third album live recorded from the tour Shinee World III held in Olympic Gymnastics Arena on 8 and 9 March the same year, containing two CDs with a total of 33 tracks.

SM Entertainment stated on December 15 that Shinee were able to fill the World Memorial Hall in Kobe, Japan with 16,000 fans between December 13 and 14. With that, Shinee successfully completed their 20-city, 30-concert tour which began in the Ichihara City Hall in Chiba, gathering 200,000 audience members overall. Furthermore, Shinee held a solo concert in Tokyo Dome for the first time since their Japanese debut on March 14 and 15, 2015. The Tokyo Dome concert was the finale and encore for their Japanese tour.

2015–present: Your Number, Odd and DxDxD

On February 6, 2015 it was annouced that Shinee would release their eleventh Japanese single, "Your Number", on March 11.

On February 17, Shinee were invited as the only Korean artist to China’s Lunar New Year Program, "Chun Jie Wan Hui", which is hosted by Liaoning TV and has been the highest viewed show for 12 years amongst other shows that air during the same time.

Shinee held a three-day long concert at Seoul’s Olympic Park Gymnastics Gymnasium between May 15 and 17, where the group premiered the new songs of their upcoming album. Their 4th studio album entitled "Odd" was released on May 18 and the following day the music video to the title song "View" was revealed, which was written and produced by LDN Noise and Jonghyun. The music video for "View" was the most watched K-Pop music video in the world for the month of May. After its release, "Odd" debuted at No. 9 on Billboard's Heatseekers Albums chart as well as No. 1 on Billboard's World Albums chart and sold over 2,000 copies in the US. The repackaged album, Married To the Music, was released on the August 3, 2015 with 4 additional songs.

Shinee did extremely well for both Odd and Married to the Music, and set records as well. For instance, the music video for "View" was watched a million times in less than a day, and was also announced to be the most watched music video worldwide in May by Billboards. Furthermore, Shinee won 9 times with "View" on South Korean television programmes, as well as ranking first in weekly album charts for 2 weeks in a row. The album also topped various South Korean charts such as Hanteo, Yes24, Synnara and Aladdin for the whole week. Apart from doing well domestically, Shinee also did well worldwide such as topping Billboard's world album charts, and topped the iTunes album charts as well.

On the other hand, "Married to the Music" music video also surpassed 1 million views in less than a day, and was also first in album sales, and also topped 7 digital charts, The album was also praised by Billboards. Jeff Benjamin, a K-Pop columnist, stated that "Married to the Music" is "the best kinds of K-Pop tracks" as it has a flawless amalgamation in the music like "what initially sounds like a beatbox-heavy, hip-hop sound before flipping to a sexy, bouncy electronic beat on the verses until we get to a funk-inspired chorus that mixes in horn blasts, groovy guitar strums and classic boy-band harmonies." It was also fifth in Billboards word album charts, and was also included in MTV Iggy's Top 25 albums.

Shinee started the year 2016 with their next full Japanese album, titled DxDxD. The album was released on January 1, with the title track "DxDxD". The music video was released on December 13 under Shinee's Japanese label. The album contained Shinee's previous hit singles such as "Your Number", "Love", "Sing Your Song" and the Japanese version of "View". Shinee also recorded the music video for "Sing Your Song" and it was released on October 27.

Image and artistry

Shinee is known for their fashion style, created by designer Ha Sang-beg (하상백), which features high-top sneakers, skinny jeans and colorful sweaters. Their style has created a fashion trend amongst students which the media dubbed the "SHINee Trend". The groups "boyish charm" was an important factor for Shinee to gain fans especially females, young and adult. Even after many years, Shinee still have supporters in their late 20s, which is also thanks to their successful debut single Replay which targets the older female demographic with its line "Noona (older sister), you’re so pretty." With the release of 2009, Year of Us Shinee's style became more mature, though still contained Shinee's unique image. Furthermore instead of working with famous artists and photographers, SM Entertainment's Visual and Art Directing department usually works with up-and-coming talents with new ideas for Shinee's concepts. When Shinee debuted in 2008 with Replay, it was not only their music which gained attention but also their colorful style - especially their colorful skinny jeans but even 4 years later, in 2012, Shinee maintained their colorful concept, for Sherlock. Their designer Ha Sang-beg stated in an interview with the Korean Times: "Much has evolved over the years, since I change their styles to reflect their music. The feel from their debut single still exists, mixing the overground (sic) with the underground, haute couture with street fashion ... but it is very modern, like Shinee.”

According to the media, Shinee are known for their good vocal performances and complex choreographies but also for a unique kind of music that is quite different from usual Kpop. At S.M. Entertainment’s showcase in New York last October 2011, Jon Caramanica of the New York Times summarized them as "the most ambitious" of the evening and also complimented the group strong vocal performance. Furthermore he stated: "Their music, especially Replay, Ring Ding Dong and Juliette, felt the riskiest, even if it only slightly tweaked that polyglot K-pop formula".

Other ventures

Endorsements

During their early career Shinee were endorsers for several brands such as the cosmetic brand Nana's B and the sports brand Reebok. In their later years they endorsed the clothing brand Maypole as well as the popular Korean cosmetic brands like Etude House and The Saem. In 2012 Etude House’s Lash Pump 3-Step Volume-Cara, a PC-based and mobile micro-sites featured “doll eyelashes” advertising main model, Sandara Park and Shinee, appearing as puppets, was awarded the first place for Movile Marketing and Product Promotions categories at the “9th Web Award Korea”. The group was also part of the popular Korean comic, "The Blade of the Phantom Master" for a new webtoon series titled "ENT". Furthermore the group endorsed the sports brand Skechers and collaborated with Naver and Skechers for t-shirts and caps designed by the group members. In 2015, Shinee become the new faces of cosmetic brand 'The SAEM Cosmetics'. With their friendly image and large international fanbase, Shinee is expected to increase and broaden the brand's consumer outreach.

Philanthrophy

On August 9, 2011, Shinee and their label mates f(x) and Girl's Generation, took part in an effort to help African children. The groups were joined by the United Nation's Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, in the "Help African Children" project co-organized by the Korean Red Cross Society and the Korean UNICEF committee.

On June 20, 2012, Donika Sterling, a fan of the group who became afflicted with Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease, which gradually causes the loss of muscle tissue and slows down parts of the body, was invited by S.M. Entertainment and was able to meet the group in person. The boys brought gifts for her including stuffed animals, a photo book, and other Shinee memorabilia. Furthermore Taemin gifted her his own bracelet. In the end the boys performed her favorite song for her, 'Ring Ding Dong'. Shinee member Taemin stated, "I was glad to hear about Donika coming to Korea to meet us. We were extremely touched after hearing her say that our music gave her strength. Please don't lose your courage." Key also added, "I'm glad to have this special meeting with Donika today and we would love to invite her to our concert if we hold one in New York."

Members of Shinee became honorary ambassadors for Seoul's Gangnam district in February 2014 with Exo. Shin Yeonhee, the head chief of Gangnam, stated, “SHINee and EXO will be a great support in promoting tourism in Gangnam. I hope that Gangnam could be the start in promoting tourism business in Korea.”

Shinee became ambassador of "Ministry of Personnel Management" on February 27, 2015. The Ministry stated: "Music, dance, fashion as well as other areas/fields. Trendsetter Shinee will serve as a guide to the future. They possess global competitiveness and have many similar points with Ministry of Personal Management." As ambassador the group performed in Brazil for the event called “Fashion & Passion”, in the presence of South Korean president Park Geun-hye who was on a diplomatic South American tour. The event featured a fashion show and K-pop concert, which were designed to encourage cultural exchanges between the two nations.

Discography

Main article: Shinee discography

Korean

• The Shinee World (2008)
• Lucifer (2010)
• Chapter 1. Dream Girl – The Misconceptions of You (2013)
• Chapter 2. Why So Serious? – The Misconceptions of Me (2013)
• Odd (2015)

Japanese

• The First (2011)
• Boys Meet U (2013)
• I'm Your Boy (2014)
• D×D×D (2016)

Concert tours

Asia tours

• Shinee World (2010–2011)
• Shinee World II (2012)

World tours

• Shinee World III (2014)
• Shinee World IV (2015)

Japan tours

• Shinee World 2012 (2012)
• Shinee World 2013 (2013)
• Shinee World 2014 (2014)
• Shinee World 2016 (2016)

Concert participation

• SM Town Live '08 (2008–2009)
• SM Town Live '10 World Tour (2010–2011)
• SM Town Live World Tour III (2012–2013)
• SM Town Week - "The Wizard" (2013)
• SM Town Live World Tour IV (2014–2015)

Supporting act

• TVXQ! Asia Tour "Mirotic" (2009)
• Girls' Generation Asia Tour "Into the New World" (2009–2010)

Filmography

Film

• 2012: I AM.
• 2012: SMTOWN Live in Tokyo Special Edition in 3D
• 2015: SMTOWN The Stage

Television drama

• 2008: My Precious You (Cameo Ep. 9 and 10)
• 2013: You're the Best, Lee Soon-shin (Cameo Ep. 1)

Reality shows

• 2008: Mnet Shinee's Yunhanam
• 2010: KBS Joy Shinee's Hello Baby
• 2012: KBS World Date with Shinee
• 2013: MBC Shinee's One Fine Day

Music video appearances

• 2011: Super Junior's Santa U Are The One
• 2012: SM Town's Dear My Family

Awards and nominations

Main article: List of awards and nominations received by Shinee

External links

• Official website (Korean)
• Shinee at AllMusic