SHINee's Back: SHINee WORLD VI

Perfect Illumination 16h Anniversary Show May 24-26 2024 Inspire Arena Incheon

SHINee's Back:  SHINee World VI

Perfect Illumination16th Anniversary Show 2024

NOTE: SHINee is a renowned five member boy band from South Korea,  They debuted in 2008 as teens and in May, 2024, they performed three concerts on their sixteeth anniversary weekend. SHINee is considered one of the most talented, important team of second generation KPop idols, who were famous among their senior idols even as trainees for their ability to dance complex, fast, five part choreography and sing at the same time. Today all of them have successful solo careers and a hard won set of skills. They keep coming back time after time with something uncompromisingly new. And brilliant.  

It's July now, and I'm just coming to my senses after my Korean SHINee adventure this May. It was my first time seeing them live and I went in looking for a herd of unicorns. I came out seeing that what makes them magic is how very human they are most of the time. Beginning with the sound check, Taemin looked like my handsome uncle Frank in his street clothes and Key reminded me of my grandfather on the days we'd drive to the stream to collect water.  Childhood memories. SHINee triggers my own past all the time. 

I don't have a dancer's -- or FBI agent's -- trained eye, but I am obsessed with SHINee members' body language as a way to know them better. Likely because I don't speak Korean. Also because I don't trust product made for promotion. A good deal is scripted and directed. Still, the amount of footage available and the nature of these idols' ubiquitous appearances over almost twenty years is a rare opportunity. You can study five multiply talented artists, who have had a consistent core set of behaviors since they were trainees and learn a lot about being an artist and a human being. This, for better or worse, is possible because of the way they live their lives on line.  Finally, as icons locked to their generation, it's also their culture that illuminates my own, a kind of mirror and time machine and alternate story of life. 

When I look at a performance it's searching for the truth or lies, the emotion, everything that makes a singer and dancer a storyteller.  I want insight into that part of performing that can never be expressed directly, the artist's individual soul leaking through all the cracks in a human's animal nature. I rely on SHINee to hold true to the body language they own rather than a precise synchronicity of the choreography or strict recreation. Since the beginning they've had extremely strong ability to project their individuality, something lacking in many if not most idols of later generations. It's not anyone's fault, it was just a time and a place and a combination of personalities and events that created SHINee. Taemin  has called it fate at work, and luck. He's not wrong. I call it, without exaggeration, a miracle. 

 

 So when that anthemic music began -- the sound at Inspire Arena is outstanding -- and the stage that dropped down, SHINee World cheered and the group stood there like superheroes arrived home from another place and time. I was safely home with them from my time and space.  SHINee walked forward, faces still and serious, glowing as their white and gold uniforms were hit with  strategic light.  And I smiled like I haven't in years.  

Key - my eye always goes to him first - has piercing eyes and plump, strawberry lips, flawless skin and a face that can be extremely pretty, very tough, and everything in between. His hair was shaggy, dark and full at these shows. Little black fox tails that gathered in a huddle and held on for dear life when he shook his head. It's a wild look, framing his elven face in a centered intensity and often, power. He's fine boned but tall enough. Despite his physical explosiveness there's a kind of fragility when he's not cracking the whip with dynamic gestures. A softness I saw in the moments they were talking onstage or when he spoke to the audience. And when he shared imagining his spirit member Jonghyun complaining about a song. I've seen it online too. Key being kind, or taking care of somebody is a beautiful thing.  

Key's an artist, and he's definitely one of his major subjects. He's been on this pink eye shadow kick, looking very geisha. But sometimes, Key's more feminine choices reinforce his  masculinity. Those eyes, as expected, were looking for the camera, and holding it as long as he wanted.  Key is surely someone who holds back at times because he knows if he lets go too often, he's likely to hurt himself. This is a guy who, it seems, slept wrong on his arm and had to wear a brace for weeks. God knows how he moves in his sleep. We know he was not intended to be the scene stealer he's become, but we all can see the pull his intention exerts on every camera and eye. On that stage, he had me concluding a cut with a sharp knife doesn't hurt as much, especially when wielded with someone who has such a soft heart.

This was Onew's return to SHINee post-hiatus. He stepped out, amber hair and eyes bright, radiant with that remarkable smile and sang his first line after a year off.  The noise sounded like a rocket launch. It lifted everyone into a state of grace. He's a passionate story telling vocalist with an  instantly recognizable voice.  Really, Onew couldn't smile that way if he didn't have a pure, feather light center. Tender and smart, he seems very strong, but built more from bricks than steel.  He may be gentle and sweet, but in early performances, he could be a complete maniac, and I carry that image always when I watch him. Onew has the most grounded and reliable persona. The simplest body language. He's deeply sincere and crackpot funny all the time. Dad jokes and Onew Condition (slapstick body moves) are his repertoire. Droll, dry, his sense of humor floats over some people, it's got an eccentric cleverness.    The way he amuses himself is -- ah, but the word fits -- so cute he seems he could possibly be a stuffed toy rabbit.  Except when he's all business. He's difficult not to love at first sight, this guy.  Onew is the one who sparked the most hugging and reaching out and smiling at each other among the members. They missed him.  We all did.

Every once in a while my vision went wide and I saw this huge flying saucer shaped venue full of thousands of little bitty people lit by even littler lights. On the stage were these archetypal figures, both life sized and extraordinarily big, and it wasn't the giant screens. It's undeniable that we are all specks of stardust. But it's also true that music in a performance like SHINee's is a universe filled with stars. How they work to hold our attention and take us away from our troubles is alchemical. SHINee makes me wish I was better able to lock down the intention of the performers, not just how successful they are. I feel, oddly, that they might hold some universal secret to life. Also, as a fan said, it’s like they’re debuting every time they make a comeback. Every song had a different history and emotional effect, and they sang forty songs. 

Catching what an artist reveals can be a task for me, particularly with someone like Taemin who has this magician-like tendency towards misdirection and is so magnetically skilled at controlling his fans. Also, I love him but he lies. I might actually love him in part because he lies.  It's such a trickster move.  

I’ve watched Taemin as a soloist go into the zone where he disassociates from his ordinary self and transforms into something ecstatic and otherworldly. His shadow work is glorious. He's one of the bravest performers Kpop has seen, a singularity and a true icon. Taemin talks about showing different sides of himself as one of his career goals. But I somehow think Taemin is torn about how much of Taemin he wants to "show." After all, once you give it you can't take it back. This notion of "duality" often used to define him is far short of the multiplicity of personae he has. Every reveal is a serious risk. He walks a tightrope covered with glass, serious and barefoot and seemingly protected by heaven.

Often, after a video take or a serious stage performance, Taemin has this habit of what looks like coming back to his senses. His slow grin signals a moment of complete freedom.  Sometimes it's followed with a silly dance. As if he were Charlie Chaplin, who has survived a trip to another planet and is very  pleased at his handling of the situation.   

You can say this playful Taemin lives in SHINee territory. Taemin has talked about how he doesn't dance the same when he is with SHINee as when he is solo. He controls his desire to be always front and center or slip into the truth-searcher, contrarian character in favor of being a family team player, a method actor. These days, however it works, SHINee tampers Taemin's dark side with light, and brings out his Maeknae (youngest) role. He has no worries and clearly likes who he is with them. These days he dotes on his members, drawing attention to their charms all the time. They, of course, dote on him back.  His weight shifted onto one hip, his head and shoulders sometimes looking a bit raptor like, he's easily recognizable by his body language. The feral way he crouches. The grace in his arms and hands.  And forgive me, Taemin, but your big old shoes recently have me thinking of a puppet's feet. You use them brilliantly, or is  that damning with faint praise? Wooden feet or not, he was so light, he might be crowned the leader of the happiness festival that this concert was for everyone.  

If handsome Minho and beautiful Taemin were old school Hollywood dancers, Taemin would be Fred Astaire and Minho would be Gene Kelly. Stalwart Minho seems to be who he is always. He reminds me of something a riding instructor told me. Your strength is your weakness. His strength isn't a weakness so much as it's an overflowing current. At the same time, his power, energy and flamboyant charm in person was delightful, a word you don't often see applied to a powerhouse. When he jumps or kicks, or grins, for instance, there's extra energy flying everywhere. You can almost see sparks.  

I was a bit surprised by Minho in 3D. His classic masculinity ends him up in the section of my brain with my father.  Also his solo work has me kind of confused.  It's very Hollywood leading man, tragic romantic, James Dean in a trench coat. With SHINee he's actually more of an action hero with a sense of humor.  In the  concerts he was beautifully buoyant with his love for the audience and all of his members.  Despite his handsomeness he never appears unapproachable or arrogant. None of them do.   

Jonghyun, the fifth member of SHINee, was everpresent as always. How do I explain him?  His loss and our finding him again as playing a different role in SHINee World? He's there at every performance; in songs he wrote, parts he sang, in the eyes and gestures of the other four and their members. He made his appearance first at these anniversary shows in a joyful animation version of One of One at the top of the concert. He stayed for the whole show, always playing his part.  Joy and sadness were mixed in SHINee World for a long time. At this concert, though,  Jonghyun was somehow in a new place where he fit in a way that everyone, members and audience, could celebrate him and be happy.  It felt a little like a rising sun. Or a newly full moon. 

I cherish lots of moments from those two concerts.  The stage talk I didn't understand.  The touching and hugging and teasing each other. What they wore  Key's hair soaked with sweat. His knees.  Those four white butts walking away. Taemin assuming his casual predator posture to drink some water and flirt. Onew's fresh joy. Minho in the air. The glances at each other built of energy or reassurance or warmth. They were simultaneously sexy af and didn't take it seriously. Those voices in harmony.  When SHINee members were younger and very competitive they were just as impressive but differently. You didn't think of it consciously, but you were busy with the hopeless task of picking out who did what best, Now it doesn't matter who you follow, they generously pass attention back and forth, close and aware of each other but also in their own worlds. More than once I imagined when the stage went dark for a few moments it was so they could fall down and pant like greyhounds or Thoroughbreds between races.  

My experience among some fans on line communities has been uneasy. They're a minority, I know, but loud -- hard edged, gang-like people are all over. None seem to have been there at SHINee's inception. They don't make sense as part of the original definition of SHINee World, aka Shawols. Their fundamental lack is kindness. They're incomprehensible to me, How is a crude attention seeking bully a fan? Are you how you act or what you call yourself?

They weren't at the concert. Everyone I met was happy, friendly, smart, generous. Out there in SHINee World the Shawol had been trading gifts for hours. The girl next to me gave me a cookie and a photo-card of Taemin wrapped like a party favor. I met women from Germany, Italy,Australia, all over Asia. People helped me when I had to change seats. I opened my room to a couple of girls who needed a place to leave stuff. I had a very smart conversation with a women from Hong Kong. And the staff actually recovered the iPad I left on the bus in time for me to go to the airport with it the next day.

It was a Shawol who helped me figure out how to get tickets to go to Korea in the first place. We weren't good friends. She was just in the same group as me. It is a lot of work to tutor someone in successfully acquiring seats and accommodations. I will always, always be grateful. And while I'm not testing it, I've had this kind of family relationship before in another community,  through another commonality. Based on that, and the helpful kindness of everyone I met (at times I needed help) I believe you can be in trouble anywhere and a real Shawol will help if they can. Even if they don't know you. Even if you are new. Even if you are older. Even if you are annoyingly weird. 

 

The difference between participating in a live audience and seeing something on line or a theater screen is huge. As Taemin advised his fans with no false modesty, “... real is different...You can feel my power and emotion… my energy, my soul, you can’t feel that on tv”  So a big reason I wanted to go to a live show to be part of what seemed to be a huge synergistic energy between SHINee and the fans. The thing is, that when SHINee World and SHINee are together, a circle is closed. They really do complete each other. You can't tell who loves who more. Who needs who more.  With SHINee that's sixteen years of keeping the promise they will be there for each other. Everyone is inside, protected and loved by everyone else.  I knew it would be a strong wave of emotion, and I've imagined it as a gigantic loving kindness meditation.

Healing,  celebratory, taking the present moment and making that moment expand into an altered sense of time where now was all there was, and now was everything we needed. I was a little sad I was a new fan who couldn't claim years of love. I was sad I was older. But it's not as if I couldn't share the emotions, I did. At the same time I found myself stepping back and watching these OG fans' faces glowing, hearing the cheers rise and fall with the action, listening to them sing too SHINee, watching the boys grow still with feeling and almost serious in response. My heart, my heart. My absolute heart beating in my throat. Nobody wanted to go home.  Ever.

At the last part of both concerts I was getting used to the intense feelings you have when the members appear, disappear, appear again. It's a rehearsal for parting, but also a kind of reassurance.  It's the way SHINee takes that heroic stance and walks onto the stage being themselves. They're not just acting. SHINee has taken on a mission over the years. Implicit in those backlit silhouettes is this: We're here, now. We'll take you away from the troubles of life and bring you to our special world, a place where we live in the moment without forgetting the past or giving up our dreams for the future. We thank you for needing us, saving us from our own troubles with your strength, love and courage. Honestly, they're on a lifetime journey with SHINee World. And as they've said, no matter who comes or goes, they'll always be there, holding up their part of the promise.

*********************************************

The only sense I can make of life some days is that the best use of our lives is to make things a little easier for each other. On the weekend I went to Seoul to find out what it was like to  see SHINee in the flesh, I saw five beautiful, battle tested men creating another space to heal. Singing and dancing their hearts out the way they always do. Feeling every feeling we're feeling, remembering, fearlessly loving, being present. Saving us and themselves for a little longer in the process.

Because we know.  Not everything, but enough. That stance, side by side, quiet hands, legs braced, shoulder to shoulder, bringing their gaze into that exact moment. These are five individuals bound to each other, and us, by that lifetime commitment to do their best, no matter what. To open the door of a life and let anything that needs to come forward make an appearance with them on that stage. Watching from the darkness, some of us holding light, some holding breath, we suspend disbelief. The fourth wall is lifted.  And for those hours and minutes and seconds, SHINee World is a real place, a different dimension that hold us all in its embrace.

Florid writing, right? What do you want me  to do about it if that’s what happens?  It's very real. And it turns out it's exactly the reality that I needed.

So  far it's been SHINee who has pulled me out of a post Covid funk of epic proportions. It's SHINee who's taken me as far as South Korea, somewhere I never envisioned in all my wildest, crazy days. It's SHINee who gave me the courage to ask for help in getting there. It's also SHINee and SHINee World who have made me feel the oddest outsider in the world to my own life. And wish quietly, from  time to time, that I was part of theirs from the start.  Despite that and all the conflicting feelings that come with this happiness, I wouldn't regret it even if they cracked my skull open and bats came flying out to sing their version of Ring Ding Dong.  Because shining SHINee is never gonna let you down. Shining SHINee is never gonna to let you go.   

                  END    

Pat Troise

https://www.instagram.com/pstroise

https://www.facebook.com/PatTroise

https://www.facebook.com/PatTroiseDesigns/

https://x.com/patriciastroise