SHINee- “We are nocturnal. We become active when it becomes night time.” [Part 1]
Let’s start with talking about the album. What is your favorite song in the album?
Key: ‘Electric Heart’. Hitchhiker composed the song. If it wasn’t for this album, I don’t think
this song could have been included in any other album.
Onew: It has a new vibe to it. For me, ‘Your Name’. I wrote the lyrics (laughs).
Jonghyun: ‘Obsession’ for me.
SHINee: Hahahah
Jonghyun: Ah, half the reason is because I wrote it (laughs) but I actually really like this song.
This song was recorded along time ago; I really like the melody and the song.
Taemin: For me, ‘Life’. It’s a calm ballad; I really like calm and soothing songs.
“We accept the members for who they are.”
Is Minho’s favorite song ‘Shout Out’ (Ak)? Because it has such strong beats, I think it’ll fit with his
‘flaming charisma’ image (laughs). It also has a lot of rap parts.
SHINee: Ak! Ak!
Minho: What’s wrong with you guys? It’s not, my favorite song is ‘Lucifer’.
The reason why I asked this question was because this album is a full album. All 13 songs are
new songs. You don’t see many singers participating this much for an album.
Jonghyun: That’s right. Different from the past, we participated a lot for this album. We also
shared a lot of conversations with the producers/directors.
Key: I was relieved to hear that our company wasn’t going to put our previous title songs to this album.
Usually full albums include songs from previous albums.
This album especially contained different genres. It also included a lot of the members’ chords.
Because of that, I think you guys needed to spend a lot of time matching and harmonizing.
Jonghyun: Yes. Because each member had to have a good understanding of each song and their beats,
we spent a lot of time talking with the producers/directors. Also, when we recorded the song, we didn’t record it
together in the same recording room. We had to analyze each of the member’s vocals. Also with the vibrations,
we had to listen to the previous member’s vibrations and voice.
Key: If you listen to it, they know already what to do. The members will know how to take on with the vocals. If the harmonization isn’t right, then it’s their fault (laughs). Each members have songs that suit them so they
automatically know how to sing that part. When we practice, there isn’t a time where a song doesn’t suit a member.
Because all our styles are different, I think it blends in well.
Onew: When we have to match each details, we spent a lot of time thinking how to sing that part.
It’s not like, “I’ll do this part like this and like that.” It’s more like, “You do this part, and I’ll do this.”
Instead of being music, I think the matter of your person life is important. You guys need to
know and understand each other well so you guys are able to communicate.
Key: We’re not the type when we look for our members every time something happens. If we get into an
argument, we don’t argue until it leads to a bad ending. Because all 5 of us live together, it’ll be a lie if we
say that we don’t get into any arguments. But that doesn’t mean we fight and start losing feelings for each other.
Jonghyun: We’ll just have to pay attention. When we practice, our thoughts should be only on practicing.
When we rest, we can just rest (laughs). I don’t know if this is only us but we like to share our personal/private
thoughts. I think that gives us a positive impact. Because nothing special goes on in our dorm, we’re usually quiet.
But we accept that fact and understand each other.
Onew: We have our own borderline (laughs).
We thought our stage for ‘Lucifer’ would be impossible.”
Do the members get anything good out of this? (*talking about the personalities) Last year when we met,
Minho enjoyed soccer and Key liked shopping. Those are two totally different hobbies. How is it now?
Key: 2 years ago, it was simple. I was only in second year of high school. If we’re different we think,”We’re different.” Because of that, we didn’t get to look at the good sides of that.
Now that we lived for 2 years together, our difference in hobbies doesn’t mean we can’t learn anything from each other (laughs).
Rather, if we all had the same hobby and personality, I think we’d argue and fight more (laughs).
Anyways, did we learn something? (laughs)
Minho: We don’t fight (laughs). We lived together for 3 years now. At first when I saw Key,
I thought,”That’s my style. Our styles don’t match.” (laughs). But as we live together, I learned what kind of
person Key was and learned to understand and adjust to him. For an example, even though Key’s fashion style is
different from mine, I sometimes ask him for advice on what to buy. Same with music. We both share what kind of
music we like. I think we come to learn about the members in a good way.
I think the performance for ‘Lucifer’ showcased the members’ daily lifestyle. You guys have to harmonize together,
match the choreography together (laughs). You guys all must be busy, but how did you guys practice?
Taemin: That’s how we felt. A person can do it if they try (laughs). Even if we don’t know, we just have to
try. Honestly we didn’t think it was possible.
Onew: You just have to do it.
Minho: When we learned the choreography first and then tried the live, we were all surprised. This is
impossible. We can’t do it. Let’s just use the MR (laughs).
Key: We even thought,”Can’t we just say we’re sick?” (laughs)
Minho: But interestingly, the second day was better. We thought it sounded better. Third day of practice
we thought,”Hey, this is getting better.” So everything works if you practice.
Taemin: Just before the comeback, I had to go to Hong Kong for
practice was still shaky. So I thought, “I can’t just leave like this!” But when I came back, everything sounded
great. I was thinking what really happened (laughs).
Jonghyun: When we were preparing for our album, we went to our company at 1-2 and arrived at our dorm at 12am.
We practiced together. After filming our music video, we needed to practice on our live (laughs).
Minho: A month before filming for our music video, I really thought I was living in the company.
“Because we are used to each other, I think we are able to be funnier on shows.”
I think the team’s atmosphere changed. During KBS
Taemin: We’re really “night stars” (nocturnal). We become hyper during the night (laughs).
Minho: I realized this right now but before, I think I was uncomfortable being on shows. Half the reason
was because I was young and the other reason was because I didn’t know much about broadcast shows. But after 2
years of monitoring and watching others come on shows, I’ve became more comfortable. We’re usually laughing
most of the times in the waiting room and the car so I think we were able to show that through
I’m thankful for those who enjoyed watching it.
Jonghyun: We have to do a reality show now (laughs). (*he’s saying how because they’re more
comfortable, they can do another reality show)
Being comfortable with each other seems to be a big factor in this.
During
Minho: Not really. If Onew says it’s funny, he watches it. Sometimes we’ll catch some highlights on the
Internet. We can’t watch everything.
How does Minho feel like when meeting seniors on the show
Minho: I’m always the youngest. Even if other idols come on, I’m usually the youngest.
At first it was hard; there were a lot of things I didn’t know about either. As time passed, there are a lot of
parts that I am now comfortable. A lot of people also say, “I saw you on that show, you’re pretty good.”
If you’re a permanent member on a show, a lot of people recognize you. I’m happy to be able to experience new things.
—-
“Music, dance, styling, artwork- we can’t miss anything.” [Part 2]
On KBS
Jonghyun: It really pissed me off (laughs).
Minho: The members didn’t know about it until the staff told me to wink before I went on stage.
I said, “Ah, I can’t do it.” but the PD asked for it. I asked, “Do I really have to do it?” and the PD really
wanted me to do it once. I couldn’t just reject what the PD told me to do. When I told the members they told me
“What? Don’t do it! Don’t do it!” (laughs). I ended up doing it and the members’ reaction wasn’t so good. I told them
the PD made me do it, but they wouldn’t believe me (laughs).
Key: You still do it even if people don’t ask! (laughs)
“SHINee’s color is contemporary.”
It seems like you can’t receive trust from the members (laughs).
Jonghyun: Honestly it’s because Minho is so good looking. At situations like this, if we accept this
then the whole atmosphere becomes awkward and not fun. We’re just joking. But that was a mistake (laughs).
Minho: Ah, of course.. criticism (laughs)
Onew: It’s more jealousy than criticism. It’s because he’s so good looking.
Minho: That’s what they say, but they’ll attack me again. It’s like giving me a disease and giving me
a medicine. (In Korea, there’s a saying like that. Where a person can attack/criticize someone but then
they’ll give compliments at the end.)
Jonghyun: So? There are a lot of people that just give the disease! (laughs)
While you guys do your promotions like this and spend time together, I think SHINee’s own style is coming out.
What do you guys think your color is?
Jonghyun: We say this all the time, but I think it’s that we’re a contemporary band. We may have our own
styles/colors, but I think it’s best described when we’re together, as one (a team).
I think the contemporary is becoming wider. Instead of thinking “SHINee’s singing this song” “SHINee’s singing
a ballad”, it’s more like the composers are throwing the songs at you and you guys turn it to your style (laughs).
Jonghyun: That’s originally what we’re aiming for.
Onew: We do everything. There isn’t something we don’t do (laughs). Through this album, we were able to
see everything from the start and all the processes. When we sing different songs from the album, we feel that
we’re able to do so much.
You’re talking about
Jonghyun: Yes. The performance was very enjoyable. Before recording, we practiced with the band members.
Onew: As we practiced, we all put in our opinions and they gave us different advices. It was the same
process as making our album. I think through that performance, we were able to showcase ourselves really well.
“Our album shows our maturity and growth.”
Songs like ‘Up and Down’ and ‘Your Name’ aren’t like rest of your songs. It’s not exactly a ballad or a dance song. ‘Your Name’ is filled with the members’ harmonization.
Jonghyun: That’s correct. It was really fun. ‘Your Name’ is a song that we prepared during ‘Juliet’.
There’s a lot of our voices and harmonization. One song usually takes up 60 tracks but ‘Your Name’ took about
140 tracks. That’s how much our harmonization and vocals are inputted. It’s not saying the sound is poor but it’s
showing our acapellas, adlibs, and our breathing sounds.
Key: ‘Up and Down’ and ‘Your Name’ are songs that take a big role in our album. If those two songs weren’t
included in the album, our color would have been very dull. If most of our songs were like ‘Lucifer’ then people
would only recognize us for only those type of music. Also think of buying an album that has songs that all are
the same genre..it’s like a waste of money. Those two songs showcased our true colors.
But there are comments that it is different from previous songs. There are also responses that shouldn’t it
be better to connect with the previous sounds?
Jonghyun: I think those responses are because during ‘Noona Numu Yeppeo’ (Replay) we showed our innocent
image but now we’re heading towards a darker image. But I think that this album really showed different sides
of us. And instead of always showing the same image/music, I think it’s best to show different styles. We would
like to hear different opinions and learn from that. In my opinion, I don’t think having the same image is a good idea.
Onew: We think that our albums show our maturity and growth.
With that being said, do you guys think you guys found your individual voices? With all the different variety
of genres, I think you guys are able to find your voices.
Onew: Yeah. Because there are a lot of genres, we can always attempt new stuff. Strong for ‘Lucifer’ and soft
for ‘Your Name’. With doing that, I think we’re able to do a lot. And instead of always sticking with one thing, I
think it’s good to express it any way you want. Any way you want to sing it, but a way for it to sound good.
Maybe that’s why the songs don’t advance. We have to dig one hole but because we do different stuff all the time,
I guess that’s how we advance. I’m worried (laughs).
Onew, when you did your musical, you had to have strong vocals. How did you practice on showing the audience
your strong voice?
Onew: During the musical, I took care of my body a lot and exercised. I think that benefited a lot.
Key, I think you’re able to show your own vocals differently from Onew or Jonghyun. When I saw
you sang ‘Boom Boom Pow’, it was really different.
Key: I like faster songs that slow songs. I also think my voice keeps on changing. When we’re recording,
the voice I have now is I think the best. The composers/producers help me a lot. That’s why I just follow that.
“
Is there a connection between the style of music you do and your fashion style?
Key: I think that if you put everything together, the outcome is the best. Even when making the album,
I only want the best pictures to be out. People don’t just pick out one thing and say, “I like this the best” and just buy the album.
I think it’s best not to leave anything out: music, dance, styling, and artwork.
That’s why I would like to make those all into one. A song is just a part of it.
If you were able to be in charge of SHINee’s styling, what do you want to do?
Onew: I think it’ll come out really nice.
Key: Honestly, I really want to try it. I wish we had 10 bodies so I can follow Ha Sang Bek with choosing
the clothes. I want to try everything but I think it’ll be a difficult task once I actually try it.
Especially finding something that’s different but not difficult. I want to combine non-mainstream style and just
mainstream style. I think that’s when something perfect comes out. I want to study styling in the future.
Key is known to be a successful celebrity because of being a member of Jumping Boa (laughs).
SHINee: Boa Jjang! Boa jjang!
jonghyun: We met Boa for the first time. Honestly at first I thought it’d be hard to approach to her.
But she’s actually really nice and has a good personality.
Key: At first when we gave her a drink during her practice, we were all shivering. We shoved each other
to go in the room. But now we just go in the room (laughs).
Onew: We open the door, “Noona, hello!”
Jonghyun: Then she’d say “I’m practicing so get out~” (laughs)
Onew: “Goodbye”
It should be a different feeling by performing with these seniors during
during this concert, you guys sang a lot of songs from your album.
Jonghyun: It was fun. Because everyone from our company is joining in this concert, the concert is very long
and the fans get tired easily. You should order chicken during the middle and eat it (laughs). But they really
supported and cheered for us a lot. The fans also get a chance to experience the different colors of SM. I think
it’s because this concert is a concert only we can do.
—-
SHINee-“5 members living together is like a sitcom.” [Part 3]
What do you think is the color of SM?
Key: I think it became very different.
Jonghyun: Um… basic. I think basic has a very sturdy and strong feel to it. It goes for the choreography,
visual, and outfits. They’re all following the basic? I felt this since I was a trainee. A basic thing for trainees
are to train.
I’m curious of one thing. What kind of training did you get for you guys to dance like that? (laughs)
Onew: We receive a systematic training system.
Jonghyun: We really do. We keep on repeating the basic which leads to something new. I trained for
vocalization for 3 years.
Onew: I didn’t learn vocalization (laughs).
Jonghyun: Hyung came in a little late so you missed it. But I found out I did it for 3 years because
I wasn’t good? (laughs)
“‘Lucifer’ was the hardest choreography.”
Fans that recorded
far away, you can tell it’s Taemin.
Taemin: I think each movement/step is very important. And maybe it’s because I’m skinny? (laughs)
You can just say it’s because you have a nice body (laughs). Like Taemin said, you’re still growing. Is there
anything you prepared for your dance and vocals? It seems like you put in more strength to your vocals when you sing.
Taemin: Instead of feeling it for myself, people around me tell me. There are still many people that tell
me I have a childish/young voice.
Onew: I think Taemin is always getting better because he has a lot of time to practice.
Watching ‘Lucifer’, you guys match and choreograph really well (laughs). Do you think you guys found your style?
Taemin: When we learn the choreography, the choreographer puts in a lot of our styles that we want.
Because the dance we’re dancing right now is really difficult and has a lot of movements, all we did was practice.
‘Lucifer’ contains beats that continuously changes; how did you guys adjust to this? I think memorizing the
choreography would have been a difficult task.
Taemin: The thing that was most difficult for us was that this was the hardest choreography and the song
was really upbeat and fast. So it was hard to memorize it. And it was sorta like oldschool moves? We would help each
other out by saying, “At this part, you should put your arms a little lower.” We had to match everything including
the fingers.
Minho: We all look at each other’s moves (laughs)
After looking at other performances, it seems like you guys like to perform while playing the piano.
You guys like New Age music. Do you guys usually spend your days quietly?
Taemin: I’m actually an introvert.
Jonghyun: Don’t lie!
Onew: Wait no, he’s not done talking (laughs).
Taemin: People I meet at first, I’m usually quiet but once I get close to that person, I’m really
loud and hyper.
“I want try something that everyone will like in the future.”
How is it spending times with your hyungs?
Taemin: I’m becoming like them. I’m worried.
Minho: Taemin couldn’t adjust at first but now he’s the funniest. Not because he does gags but he makes us
laugh at random times.
Jonghyun: Our life is like a sitcom. 5 members living in the same dorm is just like a sitcom.
Minho: It’s the best/funniest when we lose something.
When we arrive at our dorm Taemin would ask, “Where did I leave my bag? I remember putting it in front of the door
because it was too heavy.” So we ask where’s the first place he went when he came in the house. He said he went
in the room first. We told him to look in his room and there it is, his bags and his cellphone. When Taemin sees that
he would say, “Huh? Why is this here?”
Taemin: Ah, I recently saw a ghost! Onew hyung ghost!
A ghost?
Taemin: I clearly remember seeing Onew hyung in the living room. After seeing hyung in the living room, I went
to the bathroom and opened the door. But the door was locked so I said, “Minho hyung! Minho hyung!” But it was
Onew hyung!
SHINee: ……
Key: Next question please.
Jonghyun: It’s because he’s tired.
Let’s talk about music. With this album, it seems like SHINee’s music expanded. Do any of you want to experience
something else?
Jonghyun: Soul music. I never tried those kind of music. If not, then rock or metal? It’s metal for guys (laughs).
Onew: It seems like we’ve found out that we’re able to do a lot. When recording our album, there are songs
that haven’t been released yet. There are genres like electronica, hip hop, ballad, and reggae. I write ballads
these days.
How about Taemin?
Taemin: If it’s a title song, I like dance songs. I want to try a calm ballad. I’m going to make Minho
do the narration for the intro! (laughs)
Minho: I’m never going to do it again (laughs). Because our group have been trying something different, I want
to try something that everyone will enjoy.
Minho is in charge of the rap. Making rap for hip hop, dance, is different. Instead of paying attention
to the lyrics, rhythm is important so the lyrics will flow. How was it composing your own rap?
Minho: If you match it with the rhythm, many say it’s hard to understand the lyrics. If it was possible,
I wanted to do it easy for ‘Lucifer’, but it was hard. I had to use different tones for the different rap parts.
It was difficult for me to make the rap flow with the rhythm. The song itself was fast so doing the rap faster was
harder. Also my rap and the melody were different.
“We want to go over people’s expectations.”
Key, if you were in charge to produce your own music for SHINee, what kind of style would you go for?
Key: I don’t want to be in charge. I’m afraid I’ll just go with my own style. But if I was able to choose
1-2 songs, I want to try something like David Guetta. Even though there aren’t a lot of singing parts, the songs
are fun. I want to try that.
I think you’ll enjoy going to a club in France.(*I don’t think the interview means the actual club. I think
he’s talking about the music style they have)
Key: I really like that! On a full album, I would like to put in few songs like that.
Because each members have their own favorite genre, I think your personality and the way you think will be
different too. After this album, what kind of group does SHINee want to be?
Onew: The Himalayas. If you say “Himalayas” or “Antarctica”, everyone knows what it is. You also know
right away what kind of feeling it is. That’s the kind of group I want to be.
Jonghyun: Did you really have to use that kind of metaphor? (laughs)
Onew: I needed to use a proper noun (laughs)
Jonghyun: I just want us to be a group that grows. Always developing.
Onew: We also want to grow taller.
Jonghyun: Ahah! Yes (laughs). And instead of deciding on one concept and following it, we want to naturally
go with a concept that’ll suit us. ‘Concept’ shouldn’t be something you choose and follow, it should be something
that suits you and make it your own.
After this album, I think you guys will walk that path.
Jonghyun: It’s just the beginning.
Taemin: We’re still not permanently in once place (laughs) I’m still sort of young. We’re still in the
beginning and we still have so much to show. That’s why we would like to show more sides of us. Of course we would
also like to stand at being one of the best. Until then, we want to work hard.
In a different interview you guys mentioned that you wanted to earn millions of dollar. Working hard until
you guys earn millions of dollar?
Key: Nope, billions! (laughs)
Onew: I think Taemin said that he wanted to earn as much as the huge ship from the movie <2012> (laughs)
Minho: In my opinion, we haven’t shown everything yet. As time passes, we’ll be able to show more of our
development. That’s what we want to show.
Key: I wish that this album will be something that’s “worth it” for people. I think we met some expections:
new songs, new genres, new pictures. It’s not an album so that we can promote, but an album that shows our new selves.
We want to release an album in the future that more people will recognize. Also we want to go over the expectations
that some people have.
Jonghyun: All our dreams are big.
Onew: We’re also selfish. I guess this album is really worth it (laughs)
Jonghyun: Of course it’s worth it! (laughs)
Interview credit: 10Asia
Translations: stalkingfraud @ soompi
**The translations aren’t 100% accurate. There were a lot
of sentences that wouldn’t make sense if it was translated in English. I tried my best! I apologize
beforehand if there are mistakes!**
IT IS OKAY ! AS LONG AS YOU TRANSLATE FOR US :)
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