#like minho said... a fandom is a reflection of the artist

[peppertaemint]

I’m going to be honest: I’ve been following you for a long time (I was already following your previous blog) (mostly for your Shinee/Taemin content because I love Taemin) and I used to think you were too judgmental and harsh and unfair about Army. Well, I guess I owe you an apology because now being 3 years and a half, almost 4 years into the fandom, I’m at my limit… yesterday was my last straw. As much as I love BTS I just can’t stand this fandom anymore. Of course there’s some good things but it doesn’t counterbalance all the bs anymore…… I’m so done, the immaturity and entitlement, constant harassment, no criticism policy, my resentment for the fans is almost starting to turn into bitterness towards the members because they never speak up about it. BTS values my ass. Right now I’m waiting for all the members solo to be done - not even sure why cause JK’s solo is utterly boring and disappointing so far - and I’ll probably log off and just engage with their music and past content on my own. I really hope for a change and for things to be said once and for all when they come back but I doubt this will happen. What a mess..

Oh boy, if yesterday was a lot, I hope you're okay, Anon. Koreaboo has already published an article highlighting the backlash around the supposed "pornographic" concept etc. I know Taemin wants to make waves, and he's well old enough to handle himself and he's dealt with so much worse, but it would be nice for this not to pick up on SK news outlets.

Re BTS, I always give this advice to people who tell me what you just did: take what works for you and leave the rest. Create healthy boundaries and focus on what speaks to you.

People (army, lol) like to paint me as some evil bts-anti who is so mean and unfair etc. I'm not; I just have boundaries and standards. When SHINee made those colorist comments in their content a few weeks ago, I made my thoughts known and fully expected them to speak on it. And they did. And the DMs Taemin sent actually meant something.

I expect him and the whole group to be accountable, and that goes both ways. Minho has talked before about how fans are a reflection of the artist. You know, sometimes there are even dress codes for concerts! But really, what I'm saying is having standards and boundaries is a good thing. Don't lose yours. And you can still enjoy BTS content even though the group ethos doesn't match your standards. It's recognizing it and having the boundary that is important.

Please have a pretty Taeminnie to cheer you up:

[6-v-6]

maybe it's just me being nosy, but im really curious about why you don't like bts. im not their biggest fan either, but that's because of people trying to pressure me into liking them. you don't have to answer if you don't want to

Oh man well it’s a lot of things, honestly. Like... a lot. 

First things first, I used to be in the fandom myself, around the I Need U era leading into the Run era, aka the pivotal moment in time where the group went from “okay I guess I know them” to “my grandmother headbangs to bts every night before she sleeps”. At first the fandom was okay, it was normal, just like every other fandom. And then suddenly? It was the worst fandom I’d ever been a part of. And I was in the Supernatural fandom at one point too.... so... that’s saying A Lot. Like at first it was just really annoying things. Like jokes that made fun of their english, or were just really outdated and yet overused to the point of it being Really Fucking Annoying. Like the “infires” joke and the “jimin has no jams” joke that was fuckng Everywhere. And then army literally were commenting on every single damn video I went to on youtube, regardless of if it was related to bts at all or not. So the annoyance started there. 

And then the group got big, got famous, got internationally popular and the fandom thought they were the hottest shit around (and they still do). They started to send hate messages to other fandoms when they’d have competing comebacks. The usual “XX is a flop bts sells way more albums than XX they should just disband”. And it was super shitty?? But really, the thing that did it for me was (Trigger warning: death mention) when Yoongi dropped his mixtape last year, on the same date of the anniversary of Rise’s death. And you know what Army did? They took to twitter to bash people trending #foreverRise in remembrance of her death. They were offended that another tag was trending over yoongi’s and they went so far as to pull shit like saying she deserved to die. If you don’t anything about Rise, well, it was an unfortunate and really tragic car accident that took her life. And to disrespect someone like that in such an absolutely disgusting way just made me 100% sure that not only would I never return to that fandom, but I’d never support that group again either. Like sorry not sorry, Army can tell me “not all armys!!!” all they want but I’m Never going to like or support them. 

Not to mention when 1 of 1 came out last year they were dropping in with the typical bashing and literally sending messages wishing death upon shinee and fyjjong had to shut down her anon option because of it. And the worst thing is that they half-assedly try to regulate and stop people within their fandom doing things like that. It’s always other fandoms calling them out on their shit and never Armys themselves saying “hey, maybe this is ugly behavior and we should stop”. So. This got long. But yeah. That’s why I don’t like bts and why I won’t like them. 

[allaboutaemin]

Looking back at K-pop group SHINee’s extraordinary 10-year career

T/W: Death, suicide.

We speak to people close to the band to trace the making of six of their iconic songs over a decade of triumph and tragedy 

When SHINee debuted in 2008, K-pop looked very different to how it does today. Although a phenomenon within Asia, it was distinctively niche in the west. The industry, however, was moving forward, particularly in terms of the production quality of its music and videos, and on May 25, SHINee’s Onew, Minho, Jonghyun, Key, and youngest member Taemin (who was only 14 at the time) joined K-pop’s burgeoning ranks. Their debut was the sweet mid-tempo R&B song “Replay”, and their home was SM Entertainment, the long-standing entertainment giant who were, at the time, experiencing major success with another boy group, Super Junior. What set SHINee apart from other K-pop groups was “the harmonic trinity of fresh new sounds, their vigorous nature, and the creative visuals”, says SM’s creative director Min Hee-Jin, who has worked with the group since the beginning. Contemporary R&B has always been SHINee’s base sound, but as early as 2009 they were reaching towards sophisticated funk, lush ballads, and electronica, and would balance this exploration with the powerful, layered vocals that had became their signature. Min singles out their second album Romeo as a turning point for the group, visually as well as musically: in the video for bubbly electro-pop song “Juliette”, the members sported bright clothes and clashing accessories that accentuated their youthfulness. “The visualisation of that album reflected their identity the best,” she recalls. “I aimed to put the group’s signature colour (pearl aqua) on the map, as well as each member’s individual style.” In December last year, mere months away from their 10-year anniversary, news broke that 27-year-old Jonghyun had died by suicide. Although SHINee hadn’t released anything during that year, the members had been busy, with acclaimed solo albums by Taemin and Jonghyun, and acting gigs for Minho and Key. The gut-wrenching shock and outpouring of grief following Jonghyun’s death brought the industry to a standstill. Devastated ‘Shawols’ (a term for individuals within the group’s fandom, SHINee World) flocked to social media to try and make sense of their loss, even today leaving daily messages on Jonghyun’s Instagram posts. In the numb months that followed, Jonghyun’s already completed Poet | Artist album was released, and SHINee performed a previously scheduled Japanese concert as a farewell to their bandmate. Having been encouraged by Jonghyun’s mother to continue making music together, the four members began to pick up the pieces, eventually celebrating their 10th anniversary with a new album and a fanmeet, where Minho humbly asked for fans’ support as they moved forward with their lives. To celebrate SHINee’s 10th anniversary, we’ve looked at six of the most significant singles they released since their debut, and spoke to some of the people who helped make them what they were. “RING DING DONG”, OCTOBER 16, 2009 SHINee won several new act categories at Asian music awards in their first year, but it was the 2009, The Year Of Us EP that accelerated their trajectory. Out was the R&B of their debut single, and in was “Ring Ding Dong”s rhymically dense ‘afro-electro’ (as SM Entertainment call it). The group’s jeans and bowl cuts were replaced with aggressive red, black, and grey styling, and feathered hair. “The idea that got me started was creating a melody with a bongo sound,” says composer and lyricist Yoo Young-Jin, who wrote and arranged several of SHINee’s hits. “SHINee might have felt puzzled when they first heard it. They probably never imagined they’d receive a song in this style.” A heavily produced earworm about the shock of falling in love, “Ring Ding Dong” is unarguably a product of its musically outré time, the period (roughly 2008-2011) commonly known within the genre as ‘K-pop’s Golden Age’. The melody’s power to ingrain, however, hasn’t dimmed (it’s since been refreshed as a killer rock version, with its bongo rhythms front and centre, and as an ambitious rock/electro mashup), and the hook and dance is still so adored that Minho, Onew, and Jonghyun played it into an appearance on Korea’s Saturday Night Live in 2015. “I can’t forget when I first saw their dance practice video. Watching them perform with fire in their eyes completely captivated me,” says Yoo Young-Jin. “No matter how long the recording took, Jonghyun always sung with the same energy for the main vocals, (the) dubbing, (and) even the chorus. It was the same for Onew – he said he didn’t mind re-recording, no matter how many times he had to do so. Taemin, the youngest, but with the most ambition; Key with the special and unique charms; and Minho, who always fulfilled his role perfectly within the overall performances – it was a joy to work on their music.” “SHERLOCK”, MARCH 21, 2012 By 2012, Danish songwriter/producer Thomas Troelsen was a veteran collaborator with SM Entertainment, attracted, he says, by their “taking risks on really insane records. When I write for these guys, I try to think of it as a science-fiction project.” Following a year of shows and Japanese promotions, “Sherlock” was SHINee’s first Korean single since 2010’s winsome “Hello”; it was also K-pop’s first ever ‘hybrid remix’, seamlessly joining two album cuts (the new jack swing of “Clue” and the striding, percussive “Note”) that Troelsen also penned. The idea came from a senior A&R at SM, and the result is coy one moment and showy the next, with the harmonies on the chorus exploding as the group execute a sliding march forward, a little like an upright Russian folk dance. US choreographer Tony Testa says he tried to “create the illusion” that each of the members were “alone, retracing memories, their blurred bodies trailing behind as if trying to piece together their lives”. “It was my first experience in K-pop, but I could see they could dance well, so I brought choreography I felt would help them grow,” he adds. “They worked so hard. I think they were at a phase in their careers when they knew they had something special and really wanted to prove themselves.” The song’s complexity, and SHINee’s performance (particularly the confrontational energy live) signalled a coming of age for the band. Their metamorphosis, which had included controversially sexy teasers that shocked Shawols accustomed to seeing their idols as boyish or, at most, slightly outlandish, was timely – a new generation of idols, including labelmates EXO, were arriving to steal old crowns. “Sherlock”, however, allowed SHINee to step into a sphere that was entirely their own. “EVERYBODY”, OCTOBER 14, 2013 “We show something new with every release,” Onew told The Korea Times in 2012. “Initially, we can feel a bit awkward (in the new shoes), but then we fill them.” Around this time, K-pop songs were frequently incorporating dubstep but, rather than emulate others, “Everybody” juxtaposed SHINee’s melodic sensibilities with the grinding wub-wub of ‘complextro’ (complex electro). “The first time I heard the song, it reminded me of being a kid,” says Tony Testa. “The odd mechanical sounds were like (the) wind-up teeth and action figures I used to play with.” His childhood memories formed the backbone of the song’s choreography and influenced the video’s concept, in which Minho ‘winds up’ the members, dressed as toy soldiers. The “go-go gadget helicopter” move is a stand out for Testa, particularly live – he says he was “continually amending the dance because the track went through so many changes.” It’s also a tribute to the producers’ considerate touch, and SHINee’s vocal strength, that despite the pressing weight of complextro’s hallmarks, it holds a carefree lightness to match its breezy lyrics. “‘Everybody’ would have never worked in Europe – never ever,” says Thomas Troelsen, unwittingly pinpointing why so many westerners, hungry for new approaches to pop, often fall for K-pop. It sounds like nothing else from that era (nor would SHINee make another song like it), but as a benchmark for K-pop’s audaciousness and SHINee’s chameleonic allure, “Everybody” is unforgettable. “VIEW”, MAY 18, 2015 Before British writers/producers Greg Bonnick and Hayden Chapman, aka LDN Noise, made a mark with some of K-pop’s biggest songs (including EXO’s “Monster” and Red Velvet’s “Dumb Dumb”), they were obsessed with SHINee’s “Sherlock”. “(It) was a song and MV we really fell in love with on discovering K-pop – the vocals, the styling, everything,” says Bonnick. When it came to writing “View”, their first credit for SHINee, he says they “wanted to create something fresh rather than trying to do what K-pop had already done. ​We were vibing in the studio and once it started coming together on the topline and production, it was one of the quickest turnarounds from writing a song to it actually coming out​.” The ease with which SHINee’s vocals carry the understated instrumental is remarkable; Jonghyun’s graceful lyrics float high and strong above the cyclical bass, while members double up on lines of verse for extra colour and bring an endearing playfulness to the ad-libs. The faithful adoption of deep house influences eliminates K-pop’s showstopping choruses, but gives the track a lean, elastic quality. The video’s depiction of youthful, summery freedom also broke new ground for SHINee, with Thailand’s back streets replacing the glossy soundstages of their previous videos. As much as K-pop’s ingrained rigidity allowed for, it was naturalistic and intimate, helping make “View” a pronounced and successful change of sound and visual identity. “TELL ME WHAT TO DO”, NOVEMBER 16, 2016 “Tell Me What To Do” began life penned by Americans, including the Grammy-nominated Mike Daley and Grammy-winning Dewain Whitmore Jr, before being rearranged by Yoo Young-Jin. “I vividly remember we changed melody and the lyrics in the hook so many times that I lost count,” says Yoo. “Normally, we modify it once or twice.” SHINee ended up recording it “five or six times”. The track’s magnificent ruse is that for all the lightness of its dance-orientated sound, its true nature is saturated in melancholy and pain. “When you think of breaking up with a loved one, you regard it as the end,” says Yoo. “However, it could be seen as a desperation to bring attention to fading love. It’s such a bitter thing to happen, where fluttering love turns into something that’s just common, like air.” Opened and closed by Taemin, who shifts its tone from questioning to resignation, the story’s depth comes via the back-to-back rap sections (Minho’s is rough and self-realising, Key’s rhythmic and retrospective), and Onew and Jonghyun, two of K-pop’s most distinctive voices, suffuse it with compelling, powerful emotion. “Tell Me What To Do” was SHINee’s last single with five members. The raw, unhampered ache in Jonghyun’s voice makes it a hard listen in 2018, but its dark flame is a poignant reminder that for all the slick moves, unnatural hair colours, and fantastical MVs, SHINee’s greatest strength is music that profoundly resonates with listeners. “GOOD EVENING”, MAY 28, 2018 In late April, the question hanging over whether SHINee would continue as a group was answered as they emerged united for their 10th anniversary with a trilogy of episodic EPs called The Story of Light. “Good Evening”, the first of three lead singles, had its house-driven lead track “already done but (with) no melody,” says US singer/songwriter Bryan Jackson. “And that’s where I came in.” Jackson used elements from 90s R&B group 112’s “Cupid” in the track and worked alongside writers/producers The Fliptones to complete it. “I think the song’s a perfect fit given the heartbreak they went through. It’s about not just loving yourself, but loving others and being a light for those in the dark.” Replacing the synchronisation they’re renowned for, Japanese choreographer Koharu Sugawara portrayed SHINee’s deep emotional bond through loose moves, which she says allowed them to “present their own unique interpretation” of her initial instructions. Their eyes avoid the cameras, and the group dance facing one another more than the audience, stemming from a desire to create a “dance that expresses a sense of love”, where “the way the members conversed with one another showed what love is”. “I wanted SHINee dancing towards ‘SHINee’, I wanted it to be a ‘conversation’,” says Koharu. The music video alludes to Jonghyun’s absence (the third single would be dedicated to him), but “Good Evening”, while delicate, is not encumbered by the grief that precedes it. Rather, SHINee make it nimble and airy, an elegant display of strength and the tying together of old sounds and new. But ultimately it’s so much more – a celebration of life and the closing and opening of chapters, its existence an affirmation of all five members’ talent and ambition, their journey, and the hard work undertaken to rise, succeed, and forever be SHINee.

[stringofhearts]

SHINee World is a reflection of SHINee

I love SHINee and a major part of that reason is because I love seeing how much Shawols love them. Shawol, I’m a big fan of yours. When Minho said that “celebrities and fans are like two sides of a mirror,” that a fandom is a reflection of the artist they support, I truly believe him.

I’ve seen a few posts emerge that are problematic to me and I don’t think it is what SHINee would want. Before this issue gets too big, I think something should be said because I think as a fandom we should be introspective and monitor ourselves.

I know it can be so aggravating when people are attacking SHINee relentlessly, making up blatant lies about the situation, and cursing out I-Shawols and OT5-stans, but I don’t think SHINee would want us to stoop to their level. There can be no winning, it is only a race to the bottom. I have to believe that there is a better way to support OT5 and support Shawols than by resorting to abusive language or depicting violence, no matter how jokingly it is done. I hope that when the dust settles at the end of this, SHINee will be able to look at us and still be proud of SHINee world.

And no, OT4-stans, this post is not for you to justify your “love and support” because honestly, disregarding your bias’ feelings, their decisions, assuming you know what is better for them then they do themselves, that is not love, it is not support, and it definitely is not respect. It means that SHINee is probably no longer the right fit for you and SHINee world is no longer the right place for you. You will happier if you realize this and move on and so will the people who are waiting for this situation to reach its conclusion and/or have chosen to stay.

One of my favorite quotes from Jinki is “You don't know how other people will accept words you say by mistake. I believe that you can change a life with just one word.” So the next time an anti-OT4 post comes across your dash depicting violence or using abusive language, I hope you remember Jinki’s words, about how SHINee world reflects on SHINee and you will think twice before you reblog it or make such a post yourself, just as I will too.

As for myself, from now on, I am going to love OT5 and SHINee even harder by buying OT5 merchandise, supporting OT5 in each and every one of their endeavors, making a new gifset or love post, working on one of my many wips, or reblogging even more SHINee/OT5 posts than I usually would and I hope you, Shawol, will consider doing the same.