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SHINee Through The Years: From humble 2008 debut to their undefeatable feats today; A look at their journey
In the past twelve years, SHINee has come a long way. With the ongoing success with their new music, here's a look at their journey so far.
It’s difficult to summarize all of SHINee’s accomplishments and their discography, and staying relevant for over 12 years is not an easy feat. As an ode to the group, we’re reflecting on SHINee’s illustrious career and their music evolution! Before their debut, SM Entertainment introduced the group name as having two elements: “shine” meaning light and “ee” as a suffix referring to “one who receives light.” The quintet debuted on May 22, 2008, with their celebrated title track, Replay, including the music video which featured f(x)’s Victoria. Their EP of the same name went on to peak at number eight on the Korean music charts. They performed the track for the first time on SBS Inkigayo on May 25 which commemorates their anniversary.
Immediately following their debut, SHINee released their second project and the first full-length album, The SHINee World, and its accompanying title track Love Like Oxygen the following month. Love Like Oxygen gave the boys their first music show win on M!Countdown on September 18. On October 30, they released a repackage of The SHINee World called A.Mi.Go, which included the title track A.Mi.Go. On the same day, the boys went on to win the Best Style Icon Award at the 2008 Style Icon Awards.
Even within their first few months of debuting, the group already received several awards and was internationally recognized. On their first anniversary, SHINee dropped their second EP Romeo along with the title track Juliette, which also showcased their impressive dance skills and colourful style and had f(x)’s Krystal as the female lead. The EP went on to top the Hanteo charts for three consecutive weeks. It was also the first time Jonghyun had participated in writing the lyrics for their title track since their debut.
Later that same year, the group also released their hit Ring Ding Dong as well as their third EP, 2009, Year of Us in October. Ring Ding Dong went on to become one of K-Pop’s biggest hits, the music video remains the group’s most viewed with over 100 million views! In 2010, the boys released their second full-length album and another mega-hit of theirs, Lucifer. It topped various music charts in Korea and is one of the most recognized songs in the entire K-Pop industry, and arguably the track that launched SHINee to stardom.
At the end of 2010 into the beginning of 2011, SHINee went on their first concert tour SHINee World, performing in cities like Tokyo, Paris, and New York. SHINee released their fourth mini-album, Sherlock, in March of 2012—their first to be digitally released internationally.
SHINee’s third full-length album was released in two parts: Dream Girl—The Misconceptions of You, released in February of 2013 and Why So Serious?—The Misconceptions of Me, released in April, both of which came together as the 18-track album The Misconceptions of Us.
In 2014, we saw Taemin’s solo debut with his first mini-album Ace and the lead single Danger, which was well-received by the Korean public and Shawols internationally. Key formed a duo with his good friend Woohyun from INFINITE called Toheart and released two singles, Delicious and Tell Me Why. At the start of 2015, Jonghyun debuted as a solo artist with his first mini-album Base and the title tracks Crazy and Deja Boo. In 2016, they entered Forbes’ Korea Power Celebrity list once again, ranking 12th.
Aside from solo activities, 2017 was a relatively quiet year for SHINee. In 2018, they released their Japanese single From Now On and a Japanese compilation album—their first release following Jonghyun’s passing.
Since then, each of the boys have found success in their own ventures and collectively in the music industry, and we only wish them good luck for the future. What do you think about the boy band? Tell us below in the comments!
