The South Korean all boy group band SHINee has been making waves locally and internationally since their debut into the Kpop industry in 2008. Their iconic song “Ring Ding Dong” further solidified their fame and popularity, to the point of being called the “Princes of Kpop”.
With their unique and catchy songs, is their iconic fashion style. The group popularized the high top sneakers, skinny jeans and colorful sweaters in their videos and public appearances. These iconic fashion movement was even called the “Shinee Trend”.
Apart from their songs, style and swag, what else do we know about this massively influential boy band? To start, let’s begin to look at the life and work of Lee Tae-Min – member of SHINee, Super M and the first member to have his solo debut.
EARLY LIFE
Lee Tae-min or known for his mononym, Taemin was born on July 18, 1993 in the Dobong district of Seoul, South Korea. At an early age, he already enjoyed dancing, and begged his mother for her approval so that he could audition at the SM Entertainment. And he did.
Juggling his education and the demands of his training, he then transferred to the Hanlim Multi Arts School from the Chungdam High School to accommodate the group’s schedule. Currently, he is pursuing music and film a the Myongji University.
EARLY DAYS
Taemin trained with SM Entertainment for three years prior to his debut. He in fact trained with Kai, who debuted to another boy group – EXO. His success and artistic contribution to the band after their debut was recognized widely, earning him the title “Idol’s Idol”.
Apart from his music career, he also started his acting profession almost the same time the group debuted. In 2009, he played the role of Junsu in the MBC comedy “Tae-Hee, Hye-Kyo, Ji-Hyun”. A few years later, he gave voice to Johnny, the main character of the Korean animated movie “The Outback”.
SOLO DEBUT
In 2014, he embarked on his solo career as an artist. He released his first EP “Ace” with the lead single “Danger”. 2016 was his busy years as he released his first studio album “Press It” and his second EP “Solitary Goodbye” and debuted in Japan.
Only after a year of busy activities, he released his second studio album “Move” in 2017. He didn’t neglect his career in Japan when he released his first full Japanese album “Taemin” in 2018. He also embarked on his first tour in Japan that year.
A prolific artist, in 2019, Taemin released “Want”, his second Korean mini album. In the same year, he was debuted as a member of the SM Entertainment’s super group – called SuperM composed of seven male members from various SM Entertainment boy groups -Taemin from SHINee, Taeyong and Mark from NCT 127, Baekhyun and Kai from Exo, and Ten and Lucas from WayV.
FUN FACTS
Of all Korean artists, he said he would enjoy a collaboration with Kai, from the boy band EXO and Jimin from the legendary BTS.
When not working, he enjoys listening to various music genres, working on his dance skills and playing the piano (which he started playing when he was in elementary).
2020 NEWS
Last July of this year, he announced in his Instagram account that he is going to release his third Korean studio album (after Press It (2016) and Move (2017)). The album is “Never Gonna Dance Again” with the promotional single “2 Kids”. The other singles were “Criminal” which was the first lead single of the first part of the album and “Idea”, the second lead single for the second part of the album. Both Act 1 and Act 2 of the album has 9 songs.
Listening to his music, and understanding the lyrics made me admire Tae-min more. I mean, do you know someone this versatile? He’s good in his own group, he’s perfect as a solo artist and he can work flawlessly well with other artists. Also, he sings really well in Japanese, let alone Korea. He’s such a chameleon! Got to go, will listen to Act 2 of Never Gonna Dance Again!
