By: Julia Ristoska

Taemin is back with his new solo mini album “WANT,” and once again surprises us with his maturity. Once known as “Korea’s little brother” to now being referred as “TaeMAN” is seducing us with his famous graceful and fluid dance moves in his music video for “WANT”. Which really makes you “want” you listen and not just watch. That is the cleverness behind the K-pop industry, they please you with visuals and then captivate your ears. Although the industry is highly organized to pump out boy and girl groups left and right, SHINee member Taemin challenges the stereotype of what K-pop is defined as. There is no bright melodies, nor a catchy hook, and definitely no rap breakdowns. Taemin moves away from the traditional sound of K-pop and instead is giving us a mashup of the 70’s and 90’s together. The 90’s sound definitely hit me at the chorus when he sang “hot, hot” and I got flashbacks to NSYNC’s song “bye, bye.” Later I was not surprised to discover that NSYNC’s JC Chasez co wrote a song on the album.

This song is no common K-pop sound and his company SM entertainment describes “WANT” as “an up-tempo dance song based on a space disco genre that combines a rhythmic bass line and a kick sound.” I am not going to lie and say I didn’t look up what “space disco” meant and after playing the song once more I realized that the synths take centre stage to give it a “disco” sound. The electronic beat in the background is consistent and does supply a good rhythm to dance along to, and it makes sense since he is known for being the “dance machine”.

With this album Taemin’s desire is to expand out of his dancing image, and get more recognition as a singer. He expressed this through an interview as he said “I have strong desires for singing. They talk about my dancing wherever I go. I want to sing.” Compared to the beginning of his career I think he made great improvements on his vocal ability. His solo albums allowed him to be experimental and showcase his new improved sound to his listeners. No doubt he worked hard to have his voice recognized, however his airy and light voice unfortunately does not “wow” me. Although I must give him credit for challenging the K-pop genre and bringing in a retro flare to the bubblegum pop industry. This song for sure will not hit 500 million views on youtube like BTS, but nonetheless Taemin should be acknowledged for not choosing the safe route. This retro “space” disco dance music is far away from being a popular genre in the K-pop world. Yet, he uses his music to improve himself as an artist rather then reaching #1 on the charts, and that I applaud him for.