K-Pop group Shinee are making a comeback. The boy band, which formed in 2008, went into an unofficial hiatus in 2019 as its members enlisted in the South Korean army.
Now, the group have confirmed their return to the music industry, announcing they will hold a special live broadcast on Sunday on their YouTube channel, in which they will reveal details of their new album.
While the album's release date is rumoured to be in February, the band has said fans will get the chance to hear one of the tracks during the online event.
Who are Shinee?
Colloquially known as the Princes of K-Pop, Shinee are a four-piece band composed of Onew, Key, Minho and Taemin. The band are known for their glitzy fashion sense, usually blending skinny jeans with high-top sneakers and pop-coloured sweaters. So much so that they started a movement among students in Korea, now called the "Shinee trend". It can be argued that, when the band released their first EP, Replay, which debuted at number 10 in South Korea, their style caught people's attention as much as their music, if not more.
However, it was when Shinee won the best newcomer award at the 18th Seoul Music Awards in early 2009 that they became a household name in South Korea. Their second album Lucifer topped several Korean music sales charts.
In 2011, the group's popularity extended beyond their home country's borders, as Shinee debuted in Japan, with the Japanese version of Replay. The album sold almost 100,000 copies in its first week of release. Later that year, the group made history by becoming the first Asian artists to perform at the Abbey Road Studios in London.
In 2014, Shinee were chosen as honorary ambassadors for Seoul’s Gangnam District in a bid by the Korean government to promote tourism. A year later, they became ambassadors of the Ministry of Personnel Management to promote Korean music, dance and fashion.
From then on, Shinee became one of the most well-known K-Pop groups in the world.
A tragedy
The group originally included five members. However, vocalist Jonghyun died in December 2017, of a reported suicide. The band had just released their fifth full-length album, Five, earlier that year.
The band, who had a series of performances scheduled in Japan for the following year, were unsure whether to continue with the tour. Ultimately, they decided to continue as a four-person band and proceed as scheduled.
In March 2018, the band released their Japanese single From Now On, which posthumously featured Jonghyun, before releasing their three-part album, The Story of Light.
In December 2018, Onew began his mandatory military service. Soon after that, the rest of the band followed, prompting Shinee to take an unofficial break.
