SHINee's Back! SHINee's Back! SHINee's Back! (a review of the new SHINee album)

Hey folks, didja see the title? SHINee's back!

Okay, okay, I swear I'll talk about music in this post. SHINee are one of K-Pop's most acclaimed artists for a reason. 2023 sees the K-Pop icons reach their fifteen anniversary, an incredible achievement for any boy band, much more in K-Pop's unstable and trend-obsessed world. The group comes back after two years from Taemin's military hiatus, and remain as relevant as ever before. Their previous album, 2021's Don't Call Me/Atlantis was their best-selling album so far, and the title track Don't Call Me was their most commercially successful single in years. In addition to this, the album was adored by fans and critics alike. In my own lists, SHINee made 2021's top 10 songs and albums, as well as topped my 2021 artist countdown.

I am, of course, a little disturbed by how quickly Hard was released. Member Taemin notably suffered from depression in the military, and member Onew has looked noticeably ill as of late, and will thankfully sit out of promotions due to his physical state. Nonetheless, the album is a solid release, and thus it was inevitable that I would review it, especially as a massive Shawol.

Hard

Hard is a bit of a strange choice for a lead SHINee single, but it makes a little more sense when one pauses and thinks about it. The members have been increasingly leaning towards hip-hop for the past few years in their individual tracks. They have a long history with Kenzie, the track's acclaimed producer. The idiosyncratic flourishes and samples are classic SHINee, and of course, the song is performable with Onew's absence.

As a musical piece, Hard is a tough nut to crack. The beat recalls '90s hip-hop at its very best, and the various productional flourishes, from the aggressive alien synth to the choir, to the arpeggios of pianos and violins skirt a thin line between random and purposeful chaotic but are a net benefit. The members, in particular Onew, perform their best through the song. It culminates in a fantastic middle 8.

Unfortunately, the chorus is hard (pun intended) to go through and becomes monotonous quickly. The second half has some nice flourishes, but the anti-drop is frustratingly repeated every single time in the chorus, especially in the final repetition. This more or less derails the entire track, and had made me not want to come back to it as much as I had hoped. Nonetheless, it is a decent track, and I remain a little harsher than normal due to it being SHINee.

Juice

Juice is produced by Dem Jointz, the maker of SHINee's Don't Call Me, and Juice plays as a sonic sequel to the aforementioned track. It stands as a more straightforward '90s hip-hop track compared to Hard, as one SM's pick for the title track. Juice stands as an inverted cousin of Hard, with somewhat underwhelming verses before launching into an epic assault for its chorus, opening with dramatic chants of "I think you like me."

The big with Juice is it comes off as a little straightforward, which is why SHINee chose Hard as the single. Its only flourish, the synth-strings, are frustratingly oversaturated through the chorus. Some minor changes would make Juice a complete highlight, but it remains strong as is.

10X

10X sees the quartet take on funk house, a sound that naturally fits SHINee's brand and styling. The main draw of 10X is the piano, adding a jazzy feel to the track, and adding a much-needed contrast that makes sure the track never feels generic and like H&M background music.

It is in the second half of the track that 10X begins to find its own charms. Minho's rap adds some contrast, and the melody adds some classic SHINee harmonies that make 10X just a little bit better.

Satellite

The opening synth build prior to the vocals reminds me a little of Pasoori. Only me? Okay.

Satellite's main draw is its chorus. It pairs a wonderfully looped melody with SHINee's trademark vocal harmonies for something that feels truly out of this world. The verses never amount to much, and largely just exist to fill the space between the choruses. But golly, that chorus!

Satellite could also benefit from a little stronger production. As it stands, the melody does all of the heavy lifting of Satellite's incredible chorus, but a flying synth-line or something, anything other than the generic funk pop instrumental, would make Satellite astronomical.

Identity

Identity never finds a hook as out of this world as Satellite or a productional choice that stars like the hip-hop duo's flourishes. Nonetheless, Identity stars as one of the album's greatest highlights. It sounds like a younger sibling to 2021's CODE, merging galactic-scale electro-funk with a catchy chorus, thriving on SHINee's unique vocal blend. Identity's chorus also pops like little else on the album, especially with the funky descending vocoder melody line.

The only thing holding Identity back from perfection would be that the song almost merges together, and minus the aforementioned vocoder, the track could use a little pop. Nonetheless, the song is an incredible highlight, and nothing can take away from that.

The Feeling

Pre-release The Feeling has had a few weeks to ingrain itself in my head and thus garners a little edge over the rest of the album. Nonetheless, it is undoubtedly one of the album's peak highlights.

The Feeling's production relies on brass. The trumpet loop at the song's heart is an off-kilter trick for K-Pop, even in the discography of the group that played around with Complextro. The Feeling's other production choices also help the song thrive. Most noticeably the drums go surprisingly hard, while various instrumental flourishes provide a summery feel. The Feeling's instrumental is the most alive on the album, with pianos (a regular theme on the album), synths, and guitars helping the production feel like it breathes.

Of course, The Feeling is more than a production showcase, the melody is a driving force. Given its sentimentality, the song's chorus plays on the idea of rising hooks quite a lot, something the song uses quite a lot to provide "the feel." Even beyond the chorus, the pre-chorus and verses remain electrifying.

The main factor of The Feeling is that the track keeps building. A graph over its YouTube most-watched count shows that nearly all of the most replayed moments occur in the second half, as the song slowly crescendos through its runtime. Add SHINee's unique vocal blend to the mix, and you have a strong highlight.

Like It

Satellite, Identity, The Feeling, Like It, and Sweet Misery are the five best songs on the album, and also the five songs at the center of the tracklist. This makes Hard a strange listen, with an almost fishlike structure. Either way, of the five, the center three are the best, with Like It being an album highlight.

Like It sees the foursome take on a fiercer variety of their trademark electro-funk. I love the synth line following the vocal melody in the chorus. Speaking of which, the chorus melody is simplistic yet effective. The hook grinds its way into your head. Like It is a track where all elements merge together to succeed, and it is fantastic.

Sweet Misery

Since debut, and especially since 2018, SHINee have played around with upbeat emotive tracks. Sweet Misery's chugging electronic groove would normally be paired with an epic dance melody, but instead, it is paired with an emotional ballad's melody. The end result is a song bigger than it appears to.

SHINee's vocal skills are perfectly paired for an electronic emotive mid-tempo like Sweet Misery, and it shows. Every moment, from the post-chorus breakdown to the surging melody benefits from SHINee's performance. Given that I love the genre, expect Sweet Misery to soon become my favorite from the album.

Insomnia

SHINee's skill with ballads and mid-tempos is often grossly underappreciated. That said, Insomnia is far from one of the band's best. Part of that comes from the production, which cannot bring itself to do anything interesting. The track picks up for some piano-based melodies in the pre-chorus that are classic SHINee, but the chorus is only good, not great, meaning this remains mid-tier SHINee. It works as part of the album, but I'll hardly play it outside the tracklist.

Gravity

By any other boy band's standards, Gravity would be an incredible album, but by SHINee standards, it is only decent. Its slow, lurching production works better than in Insomnia, even if it never reaches the heights of 2021's Days and Years. That said, its melody bears at least some level of weight, and the vocal layering is fantastic. I only expect it to grow.

Overall Rating: 7.9/10

SHINee are legends for a reason. Even though Hard may be one of their weaker albums, it still is one of the best releases this year, and for a reason. Hard is a fantastic album, and shows the skills of the legendary SHINee.

Oh, the memes also.

Image Source: Kpopmap