SHINee Reaction

Playlist link —  duration 74 minutes

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLCulS4m1tA4HjubMw9B3LbDzCX2BTxYv1

ABOUT THE STREAM

Shinee is considered to be one of the best live vocal groups in K-pop and is known for their highly synchronized dance routines and willingness to take musical risks against current trends.

As they have been in the Industry for 14 years, their discography is very extensive with: 12 Studio Albums, 8 Repackages, 6 EPs, 5 Live Albums, and 26 singles. And all of this is not counting their individual solo work.

Today we’ll go back in time to the year 2008. A time before lightsticks were a thing, fans would go cheer their artists with balloons at hand, and mvs were often cheesy. Back then the newest and highest quality you could find on YouTube was 480 x 360, and that is if you were really lucky. But mostly, all that global fans had back then were pixelated versions of their artists to watch and rarely with subs. In these early years, choreographies were simpler so the artist could focus on their vocals. There was no autotune and groups were expected to perform live on music shows.

This is the year SHINee debuted with their first EP, 3 months later they released their first full studio album, and then 2 months later their first repackaged album.

They won 8 different times on music shows with the title tracks from Replay and SHINee World.  SHINee were the first group to achieve the Rookie Grand Slam, winning every end of the year rookie award available. It would take seven years for another group to achieve this.

In this stream we’ll be listening to the five songs from their first repackaged album that best represent their sound throughout their rookie year.

— STUDIO SONGS INDEX —

Guide to SHINee - by Kit and Ria

MINI INTRO — (1:46 minutes)

SHINee introduces themselves and their nicknames.

2008 Top Hits in Korea

2008 in kpop sounded very different from what we hear today from 3rd/4th gen groups. This is a sampling of songs that were popular during 2008. IU debuted the same year.

REPLAY (title track) — Official Music Video (subs)

Album: Replay — 2008

Released on May 22, 2008 and considered one of the best debut songs of any kpop group, Replay, (Older Girl is so Pretty), is instantly recognizable with its beginning notes. The lyrics are from the perspective of a young man in love with an older woman. Taemin initially did not have any solo lines because he was assumed to be a dancer only, however that changed for future live performances when he showed he was also a vocalist. Their album and performance was a surprise to many including their families who only learned they were debuting a few days before.

LOVE LIKE OXYGEN (title track) — Official Music Video (subs)

Album: The SHINee WORLD — 2008

The title track of their first studio album, the lyrics compare the changes in love to ice, water and oxygen, in order to express the pain of letting go of someone. It’s a remake of a Danish song titled "Show the World", one of the original song’s producers worked often with their label at that time. This song gave them their first 2 music show wins.

A.MI.GO (title track) — Official Music Video

Album: A.Mi.Go (The Shinee World Repackaged) — 2008

The spanish word, Amigo, might be more familiar to us but A.Mi.Go is a shortened version of a korean phrase that means “If you like a beautiful woman, you suffer”.  The lyrics refer to a cold ice princess who gives nothing in return. This song has a harder sound than previous SHINee songs with a crunchy electronic sound that was trendy at that time and would have remained a lesser b-side track until several live performances made it more popular.

ROMANTIC — Lyrics Video

Album: The SHINee WORLD — 2008

An R&B ballad where the group shows off their vocals and harmonies. We can’t talk about this song without giving a mention to Producer Yoo. He is the lyricist of the following songs in this playlist, including this one. Apart from being known as a legendary hit-maker who has been contributing to this Industry since its first generation of groups, he is also notoriously known for prioritising rhythmic flow over lyrical meaning when adding English sentences to his songs. In a recent interview, the group shared that while these English sentences mostly make no sense, they were very fun to sing due to their rhythm.

THE SHINEE WORLD (DOO-BOP) — Lyrics Video

Album: The SHINee WORLD — 2008

Minho, their main rapper, has been writing the lyrics for all his rap parts since debut, but there are some exceptions like this song. At the time of recording, the members were really unsure about its lyrics but as fresh rookies in their company, they had no space to voice out their opinions about it. Producer Yoo (both the composer and the lyricist of this song) included several confusing english lyrics and a now comically famous rap verse where the members are introduced. Even now, after 14 years, there are still interviewers that bring it up. While most of the fandom agrees its lyrics are cringey, this song is still widely loved and recognized as an iconic song no fan should miss.

— LIVE PERFORMANCES INDEX —

Note: We chose performances that best represented the songs instead of only using performances from those time periods. You will see SHINee at a range of ages in this list. (we’ll clarify the time they are from in each of them)

• Replay - Debut Performance - 2008
  
• Love like Oxygen - 2008
  
• (Bonus Performance) - In My Room - 2008 only with Onew, Jonghyun, Key
• Amigo, Rock Version -  SMtown in Tokyo 2012
  
• Romantic - SHINee World l - 2011 (subs available)
  
• The SHINee World (Doo-bop) short version - 2008