50 Fun Facts About SHINee

In 2011 Shinee became the first Asian artists to perform at which London recording studio?

Abbey Road Studios hosted the group's Japan Debut Premium Reception on June 19, 2011. Three days later their first Japanese single came out and sold over 91,000 copies in a week.

Which 2009 Shinee hit have South Korean exam takers voted the number one song to avoid while studying?

Ring Ding Dong has a hook so sticky that it is said to distract students from their studies. In 2020 its words went on show at the National Hangeul Museum in Seoul.

Which American singer-songwriter is credited as a composer and arranger of Shinee's 2010 single 'Lucifer'?

Bebe Rexha shares the credit with longtime SM songwriter Yoo Young-jin and two others. The track sold over a million downloads in South Korea in 2010 and stayed 57 weeks on a Billboard world chart.

Which American star originally wrote 'Press Your Number', a 2016 solo single for Shinee's Taemin?

Bruno Mars wrote the demo years earlier with production team The Stereotypes, and SM Entertainment bought it. Taemin did not work with him in person, and penned new Korean lyrics himself.

Taemin of Shinee joined members of Exo, NCT 127 and WayV in which act that topped the Billboard 200 in 2019?

SuperM debuted in October 2019 with a self-titled EP led by the single 'Jopping'. It made them the first Asian act to top the American albums chart with a debut release.

Shinee's 2008 debut single 'Replay' is sung from the viewpoint of a young man in love with whom?

An older woman is the one he adores, a theme aimed squarely at adult female listeners. The group's youngest member, Taemin, does not sing on it at all.

Which Shinee member, the group's leader, played a resident doctor in the hit drama Descendants of the Sun?

Onew played first-year resident Lee Chi-hoon in the 2016 series, which passed 30 percent ratings in South Korea. The part won him the Newcomer Scene Stealer Award that year.

In the video for Shinee's 2013 single 'Everybody', Minho winds up the other members, who appear as what?

Toy soldiers was the concept, with military uniforms by the designer Thom Browne. Choreographer Tony Testa said he drew on the action figures he played with as a child.

Shinee's 2013 funk rock single 'Why So Serious?' tells of which creature falling in love with a human girl?

A zombie that has lived in darkness for ages is the lovestruck hero, so the dance opens with the members lying on the floor and reaching skyward. Kenzie wrote and produced the song.

To match its retro theme, Shinee's 2016 album '1 of 1' was also sold in a limited run on which format?

Cassette tape copies, limited to 50,000, suited an album that reached back to the sounds of 1980 to 1990. Its title video used a plain white backdrop and old film transitions.

The 2008 'Shinee Trend' among Korean students paired high-top sneakers and colourful sweaters with which legwear?

Skinny jeans completed the debut look created by the designer Ha Sang-beg. Minho had modelled in his Seoul Collection show a month before being picked for the group.

The dance for Shinee's 2013 chart-topper 'Dream Girl' is built around tricks with which stage prop?

Microphone stands are the heart of Tony Testa's routine, which won Best Dance Performance at the Mnet Asian Music Awards. The video shoot also had the members bouncing on trampolines.

Min Hee-jin, the SM creative director behind Shinee's visual concepts, later launched which girl group at ADOR?

NewJeans arrived in July 2022 with Min leading their creative direction. At SM she had worked with Shinee from the start, and she called their Romeo EP the group's visual turning point.

Minho of Shinee plays the shop worker in which Girls' Generation video, where mannequins come to life?

Gee opens with the nine singers posed as mannequins in a clothing store until Minho's character leaves. A portrait on the wall shows him as the employee of the month.

Minho of Shinee, praised for giving up early discharge to join defence drills, served in which part of the military?

Marine Corps service ran from April 2019 to November 2020, and he was named an exemplary marine for staying on. His bandmates Key and Taemin both served in the military band.

Minho of Shinee once hoped to follow his father, the coach Choi Yun-kyum, into which professional sport?

Soccer was the dream, but his father talked him out of it, recalling how harsh the game had been in his own playing days. In 2021 the K League named Minho one of its ambassadors.

Shinee first headlined which Japanese stadium in March 2015, as the finale of a 30-concert tour?

Tokyo Dome hosted the group on March 14 and 15, 2015, as the encore to a tour that had drawn 200,000 fans. They came back to headline it again in May 2016.

Alongside numerous accolades, Shinee's musical impact in South Korea has earned the group which title?

Princes of K-pop is the name that stuck. Their music has also been listed among the greatest boy band songs of all time.

Shinee's 2009 single 'Juliette' reworks 'Deal with It', a song by which High School Musical actor?

Corbin Bleu had released the song on Hollywood Records, and SM bought the rights from the label. The lyrics were not part of the deal, so Jonghyun and Minho wrote new Korean words.

Which 2012 Shinee single is a 'hybrid remix' that fuses two separate songs, 'Clue' and 'Note'?

Sherlock stitches the two songs into one storyline about solving a crime by logic and intuition. Jessica of Girls' Generation appears in the video as a mysterious figure who offers the decisive lead.

Key of Shinee made his theatre debut in 2012 as the con man Frank Abagnale Jr. in which Broadway musical?

Catch Me If You Can opened at Seoul's Blue Square in March 2012, with Key rotating the lead with four other actors. He went on to star in Bonnie & Clyde, Zorro and Chess.

As a trainee, Key of Shinee rode a two-hour train to Seoul every weekend from which home city?

Daegu is where he was born and raised by his grandmother. He auditioned for SM Entertainment in 2005 behind the backs of his parents, who had hoped he would go into medicine.

Key of Shinee competed for Yeong Shin Middle School, in his hometown, in which sport?

Water-skiing was his event as a schoolboy, while he studied dance in secret. He later earned a degree in film and musicals from Myongji University.

Key of Shinee formed the 2014 duo Toheart with Woohyun, his close friend from which boy band?

Infinite singer Woohyun was signed to Woollim, so the duo was a joint project between two companies. It won the Popularity Award at the 29th Golden Disc Awards.

Key of Shinee sang in Korean and English on a 2018 remix of 'If You're Over Me' by which British pop trio?

Years & Years released the remix on July 6, 2018. Key wrote his own Korean verses for it, in which he asks a lover to stop pushing and pulling.

Key of Shinee joined which tvN variety show, built on rounds of song dictation, as a cast member in 2018?

DoReMi Market, better known as Amazing Saturday, features a different South Korean market and its food in each episode. Key also joined the cast of I Live Alone in 2021.

Jonghyun of Shinee wrote songs from listeners' stories while hosting which MBC radio show from 2014 to 2017?

Blue Night gave him the material for Story Op.1, a 2015 collection of songs first performed on air. He called the midnight show a turning point in his life.

After Taemin's Ace, Jonghyun's Base and Key's Face, which rhyming title did Shinee's Minho give his 2022 solo EP?

Chase kept up a tradition begun in 2015, when Jonghyun named his debut to echo Taemin's. Jonghyun had also played bass in his school band.

Which singer topped the Korean charts in 2016 with 'Breathe', a ballad written and composed by Jonghyun of Shinee?

Lee Hi took the song to first place on every major Korean digital chart. Her label boss chose it as a title track before learning who had composed it.

Taemin of Shinee was paired on the reality show We Got Married in 2013 with Son Na-eun of which girl group?

Apink singer Son Na-eun and Taemin were the youngest couple the show had cast. Their virtual marriage ran for eight months and 36 episodes, ending in January 2014.

Which shade, Shinee's signature colour since their early albums, joins green and blue in the 'Good Evening' video?

Pearl aqua got its push in 2009, when creative director Min Hee-jin used the Romeo EP to put the group's colour on the map.

Shinee gave their first stage performance on May 25, 2008, handing lollipops to fans afterwards, on which music show?

Inkigayo, on SBS, drew more than 800 fans to that first performance of 'Replay'. The group met them afterwards in a nearby park.

Shinee were first crowned Artist of the Year in 2013 at which ceremony, judged on digital sales and online votes?

Melon Music Awards honours went to the group in November 2013, a year in which they released the two-part album The Misconceptions of Us and the EP Everybody.

In February 2014 the district mayor Shin Yeon-hee appointed Shinee honorary ambassadors of which part of Seoul?

Gangnam had hosted the group's comeback special at its Hallyu Festival four months earlier, where 'Everybody' was performed live for the first time.

Three Shinee members wrote and photographed the 2011 travel book Children of the Sun in which Spanish city?

Barcelona was the setting, and the members took the photos and wrote the commentary themselves. A second book, Surprise Vacation, followed in 2013.

In the final episode of the 2010 reality show Hello Baby, what did Shinee make for toddler Yoo-geun to remember them by?

A time capsule was the parting gift from his five television fathers. The group had spent the season preparing the two-year-old's meals, calming his tears and teaching him new words.

When swine flu sidelined three Shinee members in late 2009, singers from which senior boy band filled in on stage?

Super Junior members Yesung and Leeteuk stepped into the performances. Jonghyun fell ill first, on November 3, and two bandmates followed later that month.

Which Girls' Generation member appears in the 2011 Japanese video for Shinee's debut single 'Replay'?

Yoona took the part that Victoria of f(x) had played in the 2008 Korean original. The Japanese release became the first debut single by a Korean male group to be certified gold there.

Shinee's 2021 comeback single 'Don't Call Me' was originally intended for which solo star on their label?

BoA was first in line for the song, a favourite of the label's founder Lee Soo-man. The group chose it as their lead single because it sounded unlike anything they had done before.

Shinee's 2015 number one 'View', with lyrics by Jonghyun, is often called K-pop's first foray into which genre?

Deep house was new ground, produced by the British duo LDN Noise. Minho admitted he worried how fans would take the change of sound, which is how the album came to be called Odd.

Which pianist composed the instrumental of Shinee's 2013 ballad 'Selene 6.23'?

Yiruma wrote the piano piece for his first collaboration with the group, and Jonghyun added the lyrics. It was one of two new songs on the collected album The Misconceptions of Us.

Minho of Shinee made his film debut in Canola (2016) alongside which veteran actress?

Youn Yuh-jung, later an Oscar winner for Minari, played a Jeju diver reunited with her long-lost granddaughter. Minho appeared as Han-yi, then took roles in the thriller Derailed and the sci-fi film Illang: The Wolf Brigade.

Jonghyun of Shinee credited which Japanese rock band with sparking his early interest in composing?

X Japan and its leader Yoshiki caught his ear in middle school, when he joined a school band. SM Entertainment scouted him at 15 after that band played at a song festival.

Which 2017 single by Shinee's Taemin had a dance so widely copied that the craze was dubbed a 'disease'?

Move went viral after a Seoul Fashion Week performance and won him Best Dance Performance Solo at the 2017 Mnet Asian Music Awards. Koharu Sugawara created its soft, balletic routine.

Shinee's 2008 single 'Love Like Oxygen' remakes 'Show the World', by an X Factor winner from which country?

Denmark's first X Factor winner, Martin Hoberg Hedegaard, sang the original. The remake brought the group their first music show win, on M Countdown in September 2008.

Which hip hop track did Shinee choose over their agency's pick, 'Juice', to lead their 2023 fifteenth-anniversary album?

Hard won out because the members felt it would be a new experience for them. It fronted their first album after Taemin's military service, with ten songs in a range of genres.

Which Japanese choreographer created the dances for Shinee's 'Replay', 'Juliette' and 'Lucifer'?

Rino Nakasone shaped the group's early style, and 'Lucifer' earned a Best Dance Performance nomination at the 2010 Mnet Asian Music Awards. She built that routine with Shim Jae-won.

Shinee's 2018 single 'Good Evening' interpolates 'Cupid', a 1997 song by which American R&B group?

112 recorded the original, and the borrowing lends the track its classic R&B colour. The single led the first of three EPs released for the group's tenth anniversary.

Which 2012 release was Shinee's first original Japanese single, after four remakes of their Korean hits?

Dazzling Girl sold over 97,000 copies in its first week and became the theme of the Japanese TV show Sukkiri. Its video casts the members as photographers and stylists preparing a model.

Which future Exo member, then an SM trainee, danced in place of the injured Jonghyun at Shinee's first concerts?

Lay covered the dance parts at the opening shows after Jonghyun hurt his ankle on a promotional trip to Indonesia. He made his own debut with Exo in 2012.