Everyone is Beautiful

SHINee World 

A really late 10th anniversary/comeback tribute

Five brothers who came together to create something bigger than they ever could’ve imagined. In a world full of darkness, they wanted to create a beacon of light for anyone who needed someone to lean on.

Jinki | The Sun

The sun’s light radiates upon us and keeps us positive. The sun helps us know that someone is always rooting for us and that somebody will always love us more than we love ourselves. Breathing life and perseverance into everyone who embraces the warmth and love.

Jonghyun | The Moon

Our soft voice, the shining brother who left SHINee World to protect us from above yet also keep a watchful eye over us all. He keeps us safe, making sure that we are always at peace. Like the moon, he is prominent in the night sky to protect us when we are at war with ourselves in our mind by sending us sweet words to put us at ease.

Kibum | The Planets

The caretaker of the people. The bridge between the brothers and us. Makes sure that everyone is at peace with one another. He is the voice of the brothers, a diplomat who knows their world better than anyone. Shows that being different is important and that it is something to be proud of.

Minho | Gravity

The glue that holds SHINee World together. He keeps the brothers in alignment and keeps everyone happy. He works nonstop to keep SHINee World the amazing space that it is. Shows that dedication and love are some of the best traits someone can have.

Taemin | The Stars

Young and Wild, inspiring all those in SHINee World. He keeps a fresh and youthful air in SHINee World and whenever we look up we can see him watching and taking care of us. Keeps us full of wonder in the possibilities that life holds.

A/n I just wanted to thank SHINee for being who they are, and I wanted to thank you guys for the endless support <3 I hold so much love for everyone.

They debuted when kpop had a very specific style and concept of what young boy groups could do in order to sell but Shinee really knocked on the doors with replay and as soon as they opened, they deadass shot out Lucifer and Ring DD and no body was prepared lmao.

They legitimately redefined kpop and I really don’t think they get enough credit for that? FROM DAY ONE, they had the most intricate and class choreographies in kpop. There’s a reason why shinee are called performance legends. It’s because you can pick any damn shinee choreography and it’s just so amazingly well executed; Not to mention they’re the first kpop idols who started releasing choreography practice videos and dancing without backup dancers which as y’all can see, has become the norm now.

Also, TILL DATE Shinee had the most packed schedule for any kpop rookie group ever. They were out there performing for 8 hours and then going back home just to rehearse for another 8. Their success was so unexpectedly high and they were literally teenagers handling all that fame. Taemin was a literal child with a bowl cut ffs. Also, don’t come for my bowl cut children, they looked PRECIOUS in the replay MV.

Even as early as 2011, Shinee being known as variety show and pilot experts because they’re naturally so funny and have a bond within them that easily puts people at ease and makes for one crazy episode with no chaos or anything “extra” per say. Just shinee being shinee is enough. In an industry where idols don’t even react to other female idols at award shows cause of the knetz, ya bois, Taemin and Minho really went fuck it and did whole collab stages with Sunmi and Yuri. The flex. Not to mention the way Shinee and especially Jonghyun & Taemin said a huge Fuck you to Korea’s oh so precious “masculine aura” and just went on with releasing pretty boy and Taemin saying makeup isn’t something for girls and that makeup is for all genders, a legend.

The way Shinee had fans in countries like Dubai, Russia, India and many many others at a time when kpop really wasn’t a thing? It was just Korean music for Koreans but shinee went ahead and did their thing and it broke language barriers as if they were air. It’s 2020 and Barack Obama talking about shinee still feels like a fever dream to me tbh.

Not even mentioning anything else now BUT just their music and it’s impact man?? The way shinee put out ALBUM after ALBUM with no rest and the fact being that, Every damn song they put out was a WHOLE BANGER.

Like?? SHINEE’S FUCKING DISCOGRAPHY??

JULIETTE, SHERLOCK, RING DD, REPLAY, LUCIFER, STRANGER, GOOD EVENING, VIEW, PICASSO, MARRIED TO THE MUSIC, WHY SO SERIOUS?? BRUH WHAT EVEN?

SHINEE songs that get covered by rookie idols everyday, mentioned by established idols as their inspiration during trainee days, songs that the entire population of Korea would know. Songs that trainees practice on for hours hoping that one day they too, would debut.

Shinee, a boygroup who’s know as the group who “made their own concepts” and everyone else simple followed.

And the craziest part is they are one of the longest standing groups in kpop, been together for 12 whole years and are still as relevant and iconic as ever. The fact that all five members have so much solo potential and even then nothing trivial like fame or money had ever seemed to break shinee up as a group is really a feat.

Taemin is no doubts THE best dancer and one of the most successful soloists in the entire kpop industry. A living legend tbh. His discography is hot, molten GOLD. Jonghyun’s VOCALS are liter-al-ly one of the strongest vocals in the entire industry and every damn shinee song is a proof of his sheer excellence as a main vocalist. Cue to Stranger. Onew deadass sang opera for a loaded audience once and left everyone shook and his 40 sec long note. Also, this man leads the chaos that is shinee, mad respect. Key’s rapping style is honestly so distinctive. y’all put him in a room with 10 rappers and he’ll still outsell. Also, his ‘born to shine’ solo stage. HE DID THAT. Minho really out there being a multi talented class act, who’s a main rapper but has vocals that could kill. Not only that, man be out here having acted in so many successful dramas.

Imma say this once and I want all you third gen kpop stans to print it out, Shinee did for kpop what no one else did so you might not stan them or listen to their music but the one thing your ass will do, IS RESPECT THEM. Respect shinee and everything that they went through in a time where kpop wasn’t shit and kpop artists were treated so heartlessly as if they were nothing but cash machines. Also they’re from SM so God knows what kinda shit that company has put them through and one can never imagine the sheer amount of pressure on the members to have been so young and so in pain but having no one to trust at the heights of their success; Imagine being loved and cheered on by thousands on a stage only to come back home to nothing but you and your head in the now deafening silence. Imagine waking up one day and finding out that a boy you spent half your lifetime with, shared your best and worst moments with, is suddenly gone? Just like that? AND THEN having the sheer fucking courage to go up in front of thousand teary eyes and questioning glances, leaving a microphone empty on a stage and while using his damn background vocals; singing your heart out to the songs he wrote under an aqua blue moon knowing, for sure, that what began in 2008 will never really end, ever.

THAT IS SHINEE. FIVE LEGENDS. PERIOD POINT BLANK. 

5hinee; OT5 for life, motherfuckers.

Shawol twt promptly lost their damn MINDS abt it, and prececded to get the man trending by tweeting abt how sexy he and his music was, and the whole thing remains the funniest shit I’ve ever seen in my life bc shawols are funny as fuck and petty as hell when u really get them going.

But what was really fascinating, was the underlying point buried underneath all the crass comments and jjong fancams. Which is Shawols insistence that people stop telling them how they should interact with him and his legacy. 

I’ve made no secret of it on this blog that I hate what I used call “hollywood bullshit” but now simply call “idol bullshit”. The crux of my soap box is this: Hollywood romanticizes celebrities who died young, especially of overdose, accidents, or suicide, so that it doesn’t have to take responsibility for the role the Hollywood system played in their deaths. A few examples would be the 27 club, Marilyn Monroe, James Dean, and River Phoenix. I’ve been passionate abt this for a long time.

But the thing abt the people I focus on, like River, is that they have been dead for 20+ years. Their legacy is settled, and in some ways there’s nothing more tragic. They are remembered for dying young, because that’s what Hollywood chose to focus on. People remember tragedy. It’s often the only thing people know about them.

So, from an objective standpoint, it has been very interesting to watch that battle over legacy play out in real time. I remember when the news broke about Jonghyun, and how I saw him trending on Tumblr and clicked on it. I read abt how a guy from SHINee had died, and although I was not into kpop, I had a very very good friend who was. I immediately contacted her, because I had remembered her talking at length about SHINee. And I scrolled through the tag. I read articles. I posted on Facebook, even, “another bright young thing dead at  27, when will we learn?”

But even then, Shawols were taking control of the narrative. I remember y’all saying that ppl shouldn’t talk like he kept it all inside and nobody knew. He spoke openly about his mental health, y’all insisted, he was a real advocate for things that mattered. He wasn’t sad all the time. 

And when they did the concert in February. God. The images and gifs of SHINee dressed in white, flanking that microphone, will haunt me until the day I die. That was over a year before I got into SHINee. I got into them, finally, this August.

And what I found here, and what I’ve observed, has really changed the way I interact with celebrities who die young. It made me realize that I, too, was focusing on the wrong things. To y’all, he is still very much with us, and you talk about everything but his death. SHINee really is still five, because you haven’t let him become a tragedy. You talk about the vast diversity of his music, his talents and skills, his words and his love. The way he loved you, the way he loved his members and family, the way he loved Roo. Like all of us, Jonghyun was more than one thing, and Shawols have worked hard to keep him alive in your hearts as the wonderfully complex human being that he was. And every time people try to reduce him to just that one day, you fight for him. You refuse to let people turn him into tragedy porn. You stand up for his legacy and say, No. Here’s who Jonghyun was, and it is more than just that one moment.