[STARCAST] Let’s meet SHINee – Manly man in both love and performance 'Tae-min'

SHINee is shining in various areas including the K-pop world. Each member is drawing attention by being active in musical and drama as well as by proving their power in the K-pop world with their fifth mini album ‘Everybody’.   Particularly, Tae-min is showing his charisma on stage in addition to sweet charm on MBC’s ‘We Got Married’. SHINee is moving away from a boy group of strong performance to a man group with the latest album ‘Everybody’.

At the center is the ‘manly’ man Tae-min both on and off stage! ‘Let’s meet SHINee’, which closely follows each five member of the shining SHINee, met the youngest member Tae-min and analyzed his charisma as a man.

# The youngest member Tae-min? Now he is a manly man!

Waiting for the recording of 'We Got Married'

Do you still think that Tae-min is just the youngest member of SHINee? Tae-min has been called a ‘manly man’ since he appeared on ‘We Got Married’ as a virtual spouse of Apink’s Son Na-eun. The powerful performance of ‘Everybody’ is emphasizing such image even more. What does he think about his new image?

Tae-min said, “I am a person who always tries to do my best once a goal is set. I am no shy or hesitant in the process. Since I debuted as SHINee, I had have an image as the ‘youngest’ member, but, these days, I am thankful that fans found a new aspect of me on the variety show and on the ‘Everybody’ performance, calling me a ‘manly’ man.” Tae-min still has the sweet smile. There is a twist in it. No wonder that fans fall in love with him.

In fact, early in his debut days, Tae-min was in charge of being cute as the youngest, dressing up like a woman for fun, and dancing. Tae-min impressed the public with his beautiful face, slim body, and excellent dancing skills. His dancing ability was already recognized when he debuted. Tae-min performed his solo dance in the debut song ‘Replay’ and his dancing was great enough for him to teach the other members dancing. 

We may have found his real personality from his performance on stage. Billboard said that the performance of ‘Everybody’ would be the best performance of 2013 and at the core if it is Tae-min. The choreography where the other members come together around Tae-min and a robot is assembled requires good teamwork with the axis Tae-min and the other members. Without Tae-min, the choreography would not have been possible. 

Tae-min has a skinny body, but he can show powerful but light and accurate dance moves by controlling power properly. Tae-min’s dance moves look more active and the seamless connection of movements enriches choreography. Tae-min’s own power-controlled dance moves are found in ‘Everybody’ as well when he does a solo dance.

# Voice break? Now he is a powerful vocalist!

The voice of Tae-min, who was only 17 years old when he debuted, was broken. That is why his parts in ‘Replay’ were almost like talking. He could not receive voice training due to the voice break.  

After voice break, Tae-min improved dramatically. He found his voice in ‘Amigo’, improved through ‘Ring Ding Dong’ and ‘Lucifer’, and finally showed his powerful singing in ‘Sherlock’r released in 2012. In the same year, Tae-min released his solo song ‘U’ for the first time in his life for the sound track of SBS’s ‘To the Beautiful You’.

Tae-min’s singing style may look similar to that of Jong-hyun by emphasizing accents in his voice. He has Jong-hyun’s power and Onew’s sweet voice at the same time. Key is a ‘master key’ who is good at both rapping and singing. Tae-min is a multiplayer who is perfect both in dancing and singing. Tae-min have taken more parts since  ‘Dream Girl’. For ‘Why So Serious?’, he replaced Jong-hyun, who had been injured, as a main vocalist. Tae-min’s singing was powerful and amazing enough to make fans worried about his vocal chords.

# Secret behind the manly man? Practice!

The secret behind Tae-min emerging as the main vocalist of SHINee is an endless practice and effort. In fact, Tae-min was aware of his weaknesses. He liked dancing much more since he was a kid and debuted without proper vocal training due to voice break. He might have become an arrogant singer since SHINee gained high popularity early-on, but he did not stop practicing.

When it comes to a member who practices most, all of the members mention Tae-min. He receives a lesson on a holiday and goes to a practice room when he wants to blow off steam. He even said that how much he practiced determined his condition. He said, “If I practice less than usual, I feel anxious. I tend to try to let my body remember performance though much practice.”  

The charismatic Tae-min has another cute secret. Tae-min said, “If I don’t have a bracelet on my body, I feel anxious. It would be fun to look for Tae-min’s bracelet when SHINee is on stage. Tae-min, however, always makes sure to do his best whenever he comes up to stage regardless of the bracelet. Tae-min said, “I always make sure to do my best and show myself to the fullest on any stage whether it is small or large.” Tae-min’s strong mental ability, his natural personality, and endless efforts would be the secret behind the fantastic and art-like performance. SHINee proved themselves as the master of performance through ‘Everybody’. We look forward to what kind of ‘art’ SHINee will show us in the future.

Written by Park Soo-jung (TenAsia)

Photograph=SM Entertainment, Paeng Hyeon-jun (TenAsia), KBS2, MBC, SBS