#The Elusive Chanteur

[shineemoon]

The 40 Best K-Pop Songs of 2021 (by PAPER Magazine) (full article → HERE)

#16 Advice by TAEMIN

Nobody loves drama the way Taemin loves drama. He embodies it fully, visually and physically. The patron saint of carnal pop released just one single this year before he was called to fulfill his enlistment duties, but it left an immeasurable impact. In many ways, "Advice" is classic Lee Taemin, otherwise known as SHINee's eternal maknae and SuperM's sage chaos master. Baroque and intoxicating, the song itself is a harmonious dance between major and minor, of rhythmic arpeggios and mesmerizing EDM riffs. "Advice" is luxurious. It sounds expensive. As if Taemin would have left us any other way.

#12 Don’t Call Me by SHINee

It's one thing to push pop into the future; it's another to dismantle it completely and play with the parts. K-pop legends SHINee fall into the latter category. For 13 years, they've eschewed trends to define their own distinct musicality — from pristine electropop to rhythmic bangers. On "Don't Call Me," their first release as a unit since 2018, SHINee takes a hard-spun K-pop sound as it's currently being expressed — dark synths, clattering hi-hats and weighty beats — and renders it bolder, edgier and more dynamic. And that piano breakdown? SHINee's back, indeed.

#5 BAD LOVE by KEY

Synthwave clearly has K-pop in a chokehold, but there's not a single artist who embodies this style of exuberant dance music like Kim Kibum, SHINee's elusive chanteur. "Bad Love" is as much an extension of himself and his artistry as the wardrobe he painstakingly curated for his album rollout, or the pulpy, retrofuturism concept he conceived and fought for. Key knows exactly who he is and what he wants to bring to the pop ecosystem, and that's genuinely thrilling in an industry where control is rarely conceded. He's been a student of pop his whole life — Bowie, Gaga, those are his muses. With "Bad Love," Key is now the master.

#SHINee #onew #key #minho #taemin #advice #don't call me #bad love

[carissa-law]

“I have a working definition of power, which came to me in an anecdote about Prince. One night at the end of last summer, according to someone who was there, Prince, the elusive chanteur, went to a concert in New York. Twenty minutes into the show, he decided he wanted McDonald’s French fries. Fifteen minutes after that, McDonald’s French fries were served to him on a white china plate. He ate standing up. Power like that has no uniform.” - snp