It follows the trajectory of darker, introspective music set by MinHo’s groupmates Key and TaeMin. ‘Heartbreak’, as I see it, completes a trilogy of innovative music by SHINee members that includes Key’s “Bad Love” and Taemin’s “Advice”: each song takes its cues from sci-fi, 80s music, and the arresting visuals of SHINee members subverting the expectations we’ve placed on them. MinHo has always been the secret weapon of SHINee. He’s an accomplished lyricist whose first single ‘Juliette’, co-written with groupmate JongHyun, explored the obsession with unrequited love. ‘Juliette!’ the boys shout in the song’s chorus, “I’ll give you my soul.” In the years since, MinHo contributed to some of SHINee’s most iconic songs, including ‘Dream Girl’, ‘Love Like Oxygen’, ‘Good Evening’, and ‘Alarm Clock’. To SHINee’s fanbase, Shawols, MinHo is the heart and emotional core of the group. When he returned from the military, for instance, his first stop was TaeMin’s final performance of “Idea”. “He’s so embarrassing,” Key shouted when MinHo entered TaeMin’s dressing room still dressed in uniform. But that heart and commitment to his members is what made MinHo so loved by fans. In recent years MinHo has worked to build an accomplished acting career (recently including the dramas “Lovestruck in the City” and “Yumi’s Cells”). His video for ‘Heartbreak’ feels reminiscent of his work as an actor. The video opens with the singer playing the role of an agent who is drawn to and repulsed by the person who continually causes him heartbreak. “What’s left between us is deep and dark,” he sings as he drives the empty streets of Seoul. “You’re just here for the heartbreak.” As he steps away from his car engulfed in flames, near the end of the video, I couldn’t help but think of his nickname: Flaming Charisma. ‘Heartbreak’ rides off a pulsating synth as Agent Choi searches for his lost love in scenes that are reminiscent of films like “The Matrix”. It is here where I want to draw comparisons to the music videos for ‘Bad Love’ and ‘Advice’, which feels intentional: In ‘Bad Love’, Key visits an eighties talk show set where he jumps on the host’s table to extol the toxic relationship he found himself in. Soon, he is transported to Keyland, a universe of his own creation that is free from hurt and pain.
In ‘Advice’, TaeMin, too, plays with the idea of control and pain: “The more you trap me, the more I’ll go off the rails,” he warns as he dances in a dystopian landscape full of smoke and fire. For a genre that is typically bound by accusations of idols being industry puppets, the boys of SHINee want viewers to know: they are artists firmly in control of the direction their careers are going.
At the “BEST CHOI’s MINHO 2021” solo fanmeeting, the day of the song’s release, MinHo had one last surprise up his sleeve: He would perform ‘Area’, a song about grief, that he wrote for SHINee’s latest album “Atlantis.”
‘Area’ he said as he introduced it, “is one of my favorite SHINee songs.” As I watched MinHo perform a solo version of the song, I was reminded again of the singer’s range. From the pulsating slow burner ‘Heartbreak’ to the fragility of ‘Area’ or the rush of euphoria that is ‘Dream Girl’, MinHo has consistently proven, as both a songwriter and performer, he can’t be counted out. Are you also in love with his new release? SHINee’s MinHo Is A Cute Police Officer In The Drama “Lovestruck In The City” KDRAMA STORIES|Jan 21, 2021
