SHINee returns with '90s new jack swings
.jpg?w=728)
S.M. Entertainment’s K-pop band SHINee, from left, Onew, Taemin, Jonghyun, Minho and Key, hold a press conference for their new album “1 of 1” at SM TOWN @ Coex Artium, Seoul, Tuesday. / Yonhap
By Kim Jae-heun
K-pop boy band SHINee introduced their fifth album “1 of 1” at SM TOWN @ Coex Artium, southern Seoul, Tuesday, returning to their fans with a new retro style of music and fashion.
It has been a year and four months since the S.M. Entertainment act released their last full-length album “Odd” in May 2015. Members say they had many discussions on their next concept.
“First of all, our new song is new jack swing genre,” said group member Jonghyun during the press conference. “It was a risk going back to the retro style but we decided to add SHINee’s original signature style on it. We had troubles and concerns while working on the album but at the end we all had fun.”
The new album consists of nine tracks, including the title track “1 of 1.” International producers Mike Daley, Mitchell Owens, Michael Jiminez, Tay Jasper and MZMC composed the new jack swing song and arranged it with a funky rhythm and R&B tune.
SHINee’s member Minho performs during a showcase held at SM TOWN @ Coex Artium, Seoul, Tuesday. / Yonhap
In the video clip message played at the showcase, Daley said the producing team flew to Seoul and sat with S.M. Entertainment to discuss the new song to write for the boy band. He added that after listening to many hit-songs released by SHINee, he came up with the idea of bringing the old vibe to make it modern R&B, which he hopes the group can attract new fans with.
But the songwriter emphasized that he did not want the new song to be caught in the frame of an old fake song. Daley tried to keep the balance between the retro style and modern sound by giving it a strong drum beat to lead the track.
The first track on the list, Prism, is written by composer “Digi” and Deez. It is pop music of the Two-Step genre harmonizing piano and Moog synthesizer sounds. Jonghyun participated in writing the lyrics. He sings the story of love expressed in diverse ways as if it has been refracted while passing through a prism.
Another SHINee member Onew also participated in writing the lyrics for special track “So Amazing”, ninth on the track list. The singer said he actually used the words “so amazing” a lot in his daily life. On his favorite track, Onew compared his love for his fans to two lovers driving along the coastline near the beach.
Grammy-nominated British duo LDN Noise, who wrote SHINee’s previous hit songs “View” and “Married to the Music,” participated in the K-pop group’s new album again, producing the seventh track “Shift.” The track has the unique sound of ‘80s pop music, adopting both House and UK Garage genres by mixing synthesizer and deep bass sounds.
Other songs like “U Need Me,” the eighth track on the album, are written by popular Swedish producer Andreas Oberg.
“The song was written in April during the S.M. Song Writing Camp. We were able to prepare the album in time because we had a specific concept and style set in the beginning and producers had time to understand them,” said Jonghyun.