SHINee’s back!
This is my first SHINee comeback. I’ve been looking forward to it. If you follow me on Twitter, you know Jonghyun and Taemin’s creativity, ambition, determination and hard work ethic inspire me. When it was speculated they were having a comeback, I followed all the teasers, paid attention to the hints dropped…I admit it was a welcomed relief, considering the drama happening in the gaming community right now. Paying attention to the teasers, I was confused on how a teaser about the theme for the comeback being about war and crime had anything to do with a retro theme and the title track being about loving one person but, you know, it’s SHINee! If anyone could pull it off, they could.
It didn’t happen like that. The retro theme was accurate but the video for “1 of 1” has a bunch of models/dancers so I’m confused on what that has to do with loving one person. I originally thought it might be about choosing The One, eliminating the wrong ones to find the right one but I was wrong. At first, I thought the extras were a representation of their fan base but, let’s be honest, their fan base doesn’t look like models (that is an unrealistic expectation). Then there are a bunch of American flags there, but no Americans, and absolutely no war and crime theme. The video looks pieced together in parts, probably due to Onew’s injury, and perhaps that is what caused some things to change in their presentation. During a livestream, Minho revealed what the deal was with the war and crime teaser.
If you are expecting me to neatly explain this, I can’t. Let me be clear, I don’t expect any artist to release things and I like them 100%. I expect, and encourage, musicians to appeal to the diversities in people – it’s what makes us interesting. While I’m not feeling the title track “1 of 1” too much, “Prism” is the hotness, with sexy choreography. Thank the powers that be they are performing it.
“Don’t Stop”, is heaven to my ears and I hope they perform it during concerts, along with “Shift”. Please squeeze in “U Need Me” and I would be sad if they left out “Don’t Let Me Go.” I think it is worth the purchase but it is a shame there was confusion on what to expect regarding the theme of the comeback.
Update 10/17/16: During a fan meet, Jonghyun revealed “Don’t Stop” was initially the first track. Now, “Don’t Stop” is a hidden gem further down the track list. SHINee is managed by SM Entertainment, which has had much success in the music industry in Korea. I’d love to know how they decide not only which songs make it on a LP/EP, but the order of the tracks as well. SM seems to have winning formulas for implementing things based on the knowledge gained from previous successes and failures.
Even with the confusion and mixed messages, I put them aside listening to the solid release of music in 1 of 1. I thoroughly enjoyed their live stream SHINee Begins 1 of 1 and I hope they do more of them. I have no doubts the upcoming weeks of their comeback will be filled with lots of moments their fans will remember for a long time and I wish them much success!
